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The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Gets Jazzed About Brunch

EricRosen — 2009-11-20T15:04:30-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/DAK0TAJazzBrunchAD.jpg" class="top"> The <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Hollywood+Roosevelt+Hotel/local/11">Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel</a> has a long and checkered history that well pre-dates todays celebrity tantrums and Super Sweet 16 parties. As a way of hearkening back to that golden-hued heyday, the hotel has started offering a new Jazz Brunch on Sundays from 11:00am-3:00pm. Since the special brunch starts at $18 per person, its actually a pretty good deal, especially for a Thompson Hotel, and especially considering that overnight parking will run you around $30, and the standard rate for a stay at the hotel starts at $225 a night.If youre anything like us, youre naturally dubious about any meal that is accompanied by live music. What is this, the shoe department of Nordstroms? But we

Desert Chic for Cheap(er) at Borrego Ranch Resort & Spa

globetrotting gourmet — 2009-11-20T13:29:30-05:00

Okay. There are officially 31 days until Winter Solstice (a.k.a. the shortest day of the year) and we’re already going a little stir-crazy with the decrease in daylight and the plunging temperatures. The solution? Head to warmer locales, like Borrego Springs in the Southern California desert.

Sure, springtime may steal this remote desert destination’s tourist thunder with its insanely beautiful display of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, but wintertime temps that hover around 70 degrees are what call our name. Right. About. Now. Besides, is there anything more spectacular than seeing the moon come up over the desert? Nah, not really.

Washington Marriott at Metro Center Gets Spiffed Up

KatieK — 2009-11-20T12:09:30-05:00

<![CDATA[ <img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/fireandsageresto.jpg" class="top"> In recent years, Washington DC's downtown has transformed into a destination you might actually want to hang out. Or at the very least, those safe-clean-friendly claims being made about it a few years ago are now much closer to being true! Think haute restaurants, quality theatre and galleries, and much, much more foot traffic. (There's even a trendier name for the 'hood: Penn Quarter.) For Marriott's part, they've responded to the neighborhood's spiffier image with an $11 million renovation at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Marriott+At+Metro+Center/ian/107184">Washington Marriott at Metro Center</a>, just in time to celebrate the hotel's 15-year anniversary. The 459-room hotel recently unveiled its new contemporary look and feel, which includes 32-inch plasma screen TVs, tech-friendly plug-in panels,

Rooms at The Distrikt Not As Funky as the Hotel's Name Suggests

MsRebecca — 2009-11-20T10:44:30-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/30451/Distriktbed.jpg" class="top"> One of our favorite milestones when tracking a new hotel opening is the release of photos. Not renderings, not collages, but full color pictures of the guestrooms were so eager to check into. Today <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Distrikt+Hotel/local/1548">The Distrikt Hotel</a> reaches that milestone by posting photos on its <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DistriktHotelNYC">Facebook page</a>. Weve been dying for a glimpse inside the hotel since the funky collages on the <a href="http://www.distrikthotel.com/press-gallery.php">website</a>--while arty and cool--left us without a clue as to room design. Now The Distrikt delivers and were both relieved and disappointed. Relieved that the neighborhood theme is not an OTT mish-mash as it could have been, but a little sad that the décor plays it so safe. For all its savvy

Al Gore Keeps It Local at Hotel Vintage Park

juliana — 2009-11-20T10:05:47-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/algore30rock.jpg" class="top"> If you watched "30 Rock" last night then you may have seen former Vice President Al Gore make a confusing cameo as an eco-concerned janitor for Rockefeller Center (above.) But if you were dining at Tulio Ristorante inside the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Hotel+Vintage+Park+-+A+Kimpton+Hotel/ian/130132">Hotel Vintage Park</a> in Seattle the other night, then you would have seen Al Gore live, in person. The veep was in town for a town hall meeting to promote his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. He stopped in at Tulio which serves authentic Italian cuisine, for some halibut washed down with cabernet. According to the hotel peeps, he was very gracious to the staff and shook everyone's hand who came