There's something just a touch too snobby about a hotel that proclaims itself "the only designer boutique hotel" in the country, because New Zealand might be small, but there are definitely other boutique hotels--who's to say whether they're "designer boutique" or not?

So we got off on the wrong foot with the Ohtel in New Zealand's capital, Wellington. Can it redeem itself? It depends. ]]> amandak 2008-08-12T10:05:22-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/15/1346/49277 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/stregiskrug.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>Taking an <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/5/28/21535/8379/hotels/Miami_s_Hotel_Victor_Still_Offering_Guests_an_11_000_Soak_in_Evian_Water">$11,000 bath</a> in Evian water may sound like the bee's knees to some germ-o-phobes, but for most of us level-headed decadents, if we're gonna shell out serious cash, we want to at least get out of the bath with a nice bubbles buzz.<p> <p>Luckily the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/St.+Regis+San+Francisco/local/494"><b>St. Regis San Francisco</b></a> offers a bath menu for a variety of rich addictions. For couples in love, the Rose petal package is right up your alley for throwing on a snorkel and diving mask momentarily and coming up with a diamond for proposing.<p> <p>For those of us looking to just straight kick-it all luxe, there is a Chocolate Extravagance package and two separate Champagne packages.<p> <p>But our DanielR 2008-07-15T11:30:28-05:00 37.786291 -122.40137 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/13/23655/9872

Upon our visit last week to the excellent guests-only hotel pool and rooftop, ABH, at the Thompson Beverly Hills, we happened to notice something interesting in the ladies room.

Thompson-branded toilet paper.

It's subtle of course. The logo is merely imprinted on each square, making it just barely discernible to a hotel geek like ourselves. We're not sure if this special toilet paper is in all the guestrooms but it is in every stall in the rooftop restroom.

Wow. Did we just write a post about toilet paper? ]]> juliana 2008-07-14T09:15:16-05:00 34.066704 -118.39625 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/8/113923/0924 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/THOR_balcony.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>There's always been some concern about the voyeuristic taste at <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Hotel+on+Rivington+THOR/local/1"><b>The Hotel on Rivington (THOR)</b></a> with its all-glass, see-through showers facing the street for all of the Lower East Side and peeping Toms with binoculars further uptown to see. <p>However, just because the free world may peer at hotel guests doesn't mean guests aren't spying back. From a tipster:<blockquote><p> My friends took showers in Thor's standard glass showers (only 3/4 of which are frosted). The girl had a problem and waited until daytime, but my guy friend put on a show for some random neighbor smoking on her fire escape. We also had a prime view down into the lounge, to see people eating breakfast.</blockquote></p><p>Is it wrong juliana 2008-07-08T14:59:27-05:00 40.719764 -73.988116 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/6/9/101522/2334 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/21CMensUrinal2web.jpg" class="imgborder"> <p>Things that do not come to mind when we think of the scene of one of our most pleasant, if not religious, bathroom experiences: many pairs of eyes upon us while we do our business, one-way mirrors and a red breed of Billy Madison-esque giant penguins. <p>And yet! The funky-fab (if not a bit creepy sometimes) <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/21C+Museum+Hotel/local/347"><b>21C Museum Hotel </b></a>in Louisville, Kentucky, featuring all of these unsettling delights, <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/SCENE05/806080360">has been named</a> one of ten public bathrooms nominated for the honor of America's Best Restroom. <p>It's a cool bathroom and all -- and yes, we get it, it's art in a hotel that dually functions as a public art museum -- but imagine taking a pee Jenna 2008-06-09T10:39:42-05:00 38.257131 -85.761604 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/