http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T15:11:10Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Andrew%20Ferren http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/5/21/83632/3355 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/hotel_alicia.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p>The New York Times actually does us a favor this week with <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/travel/20check.html">a helpful review</a> of a stylish hotel--with rooms under $600 a night. It's the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Hotel+Alicia/local/586"><b>Hotel Alicia</b></a>, which is part of the <a href="http://www.room-matehotels.com/index.htm"><b>Room Mate Hotel</b></a> chainlet, a minimal-service, stylish hotel group for the done-staying-in-hostels set.<br> <p>Reviewer Andrew Ferren gives his room high marks, as does his friend:<blockquote><p>We've often paid three times as much for rooms in which we constantly bump into each other, dodging faux wenge-wood consoles and manqu&#233; Mies Barcelona chairs. The place is comfortable and functional with a loft aesthetic of open, flexible space, with pictures propped on broad shelves rather than hanging in gilded frames.</blockquote></p><p>Though the bathroom suffers from that boutique pbb 2007-05-21T09:03:08-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/4/9/102020/0391 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/hesperia_tower.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p>The latest <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08check.html">hotel review</a> from the New York Times isn't what we normally expect: Reviewer Andrew Ferren doesn't hate on the hotel, nor does he really love it. The <a href="http://www.hesperia.com/hotels/Hesperia-Tower/"><b>Hesperia Tower</b></a> just sounds better than average. But Ferren spices things up with his knowledge of interior decorating:<blockquote><p>Everything seems to have a pewter-lam&#233; thread running through it or a scrunched-up gauzy perma-wrinkle...There is a distinctly upscale ocean-liner feel to the rooms, which are tautly designed and outfitted with luxurious materials: varnished mahogany panels with stainless-steel insets and buttery velour upholstery in shades of wheat and burgundy</blockquote></p><p> Of course, the focus would have to be on design when the hotel's architect, Richard Rogers, just won the <a href="http://www.pritzkerprize.com/">Pritzker pbb 2007-04-09T11:08:08-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/