Picture this: A hotel guest, sleepless after a night spent at the posh Marriot Champs Elysees, asks the concierge for help getting an emergency passport.

She is without hair product or makeup, sports a blotchy face swollen from tears, and is wearing the clothes she went out in last night. Long story short: her purse--ok, fine--our purse containing the key to our rental apartment, cell phone, money and credit cards -- and th all-important passport -- was stolen the night before.

Also, it was just two nights before we were flying home.]]> travelingmcmahans 2008-08-20T11:51:07-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/12/114410/066

While we are sure golden-boy Michael Phelps is safely ensconced in the Olympic village somewhere, far, far, far away from any distractions that could derail his eight golden medals quest, the International Olympic Committee is kicking it at the Raffles Beijing Hotel.

And they aren't shy about letting you know that either. In fact, there's a press release on this which says that Raffles recruited the best of its employees from around the world to serve at the hotel during the Olympics:

In preparation, Raffles Beijing, which has 100% occupancy during the Olympics, has undergone more than 1,500 hours of Pre-Olympic preparation training since March 2008.

Are the 2008 Olympics going to be a huge flop or what? We say this because we think it's really weird that the most popular hotel in Beijing (according to TripAdvisor reviews, at least) isn't even booked out on the night of the Opening Ceremony.

This #1 hotel is the Holiday Inn Central Plaza Beijing, and it's popular despite being located in a less-than-convenient spot (most people say taxis are cheap and easy enough that the exact location doesn't matter).

Apparently the big attraction at this hotel is a concierge named Storm Li, whose good deeds are described in literally dozens and dozens of detailed TripAdvisor reviews.