Are you sitting down? Because it's not often that we readily dole out the ol' compliments -- especially when it comes to our Hotel Blog Watch feature (seriously, do some of these hotel companies know what a blog is?), but Best Western has officially won our hearts with "You Must Be Trippin.'"

Aside from the fact that we were already partial to the blog because of the name alone (looks like a HotelChatter headline, doesn't it?), we are loving the constant updates, the variety of authentic, personal voices, and the fact that this blog is actually useful to guests and not just a big giant read-at-your-own-will advertisement for Best Western. ]]> Jenna 2008-10-07T16:59:58-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/10/1/71258/4283

Two things immediately grab us about the blog being run by the owners of Christopher's Inn in Florida: first, it's not just full of boring, blatant advertising, and second, the name of their blog has a good pun: Innside Story. That's a big thumbs up right from the get go.

Delve a bit deeper into this blog and you can certainly learn more about Christopher's Inn and the locality of Mount Dora. And you can also find a bunch of useful recipes, including some delicious-sounding sweet potato pancakes which, just to show that the competition is friendly in Mount Dora, actually come from the kitchen at another nearby inn!]]> amandak 2008-10-01T12:16:48-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/30/85747/1710

Is it just us, or do Aloft hotels make anyone else reminisce about the old-school cartoon show "Animaniacs," with Pinky and the Brain on a persistent quest for world domination? The dialogue writes itself:

Brian McGuinness, vice president of Aloft: Gee Frits, what do you want to do tonight?
Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood: The same thing we do every night--try to take over the world.

And in spite of a few documented setbacks, Aloft gets one step closer January 1. Aloft Dulles-North, located near Washington Dulles Airport some 30 miles from our fair nation's capital, has rescheduled its November opening for one (presumably) well-timed with inauguration mania.

The Rydges Hotel chain across Australia and New Zealand keeps a blog but if we're honest, it rarely produces any particularly interesting posts--and it doesn't help that they post on average once every six weeks. But today we read about their newly anointed Green Globe hotels and we're happy to spread the word.]]> amandak 2008-09-26T10:50:34-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/22/7153/81964 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/My_Day_In_New_York_Blog.jpg" class="imgborder"><p> <p>In New York, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Apple%20Core%20Hotels"><b>Apple Core Hotels</b></a> are a bunch of five mid-range to budget hotels that seem to be doing the job of giving decent accommodation for a reasonably decent price. And they're even doing something a little more.<p>Yep, the Apple Core gang also run a blog called <a href="http://www.mydayinnewyork.com/">My Day In New York</a>. They don't make a secret of the fact that the blog is sponsored by the hotels, yet it's surprisingly readable and quite useful.<p>It's not a super-fancy blog, but they post almost daily with tips about what's happening in NYC. For example, last week they mentioned the Women in Jazz Festival that's running until October 12 and the Under the Bridge arts amandak 2008-09-22T09:30:32-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/