The Bayram Hotel in the city of Van, Turkey, survived last month's 7.2 earthquake with just "some cracks and a damaged elevator," according to a report by AJC. But another quake last night, this one of a lesser magnitude, rocked the city again, bringing down about 25 buildings.

So far, seven have been declared dead, though dozens are still missing. In some cases, the victims were actually journalists who had traveled to the city to report on the wreckage from last month's earthquake, which killed 600. The Bayram Hotel, along with another unnamed hotel, were occupied during last night's quake, and rescue workers are still working to locate guests buried beneath the rubble. ]]> ASchechter 2011-11-10T09:15:01-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/9/22/144330/828

In case you need another reminder that gas leaks are no joke, an entire hotel went up in flames today because of one. The hotel, the designy-boutique JIA Shanghai, suffered exterior damage, as it was mainly the facade that caught on fire after "work being done by the government on a gas main that ruptured," according to Shanghaiist.

Almost as quickly as the gas leak caused tongues of flame to reach each balcony at the hotel, the fire was put out and all guests safe and accounted for. This is the reason hotels have emergency escape plans posted on the back of every room door.

[Photo: @dave1447]]]> JetSetCD 2011-09-22T15:50:02-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/9/9/13546/50480 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/westinsandiego_blackout.jpg" class="top"><p> Yesterday we were giddy that one of our trusted FOHCs (Friend of HotelChatter) would be spending the night in the newly <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/6/5/235911/8042/hotels/San_Diego_s_Westin_Gaslamp_Stays_Classy_with_New_Rooms">renovated guestrooms</a> at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Westin+San+Diego/local/4887"><b>Westin San Diego </b></a>. Except not long after he arrived there, a massive power outage struck, affecting huge swaths of Southern California from San Diego to Orange County to Riverside and the Palm Spring area. (Supposedly, a <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/blackout/">clumsy utility worker in Arizona</a> is to blame.)<p>As of 10:30pm PST last night, the hotel still had no power and our friend was powering up his car to charge his cellphone but at the same time, trying to conserve gas as gas stations were closed. He was also navigating his hotel room juliana 2011-09-09T09:40:02-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/9/2/105756/5512 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/fsseattle_fallingglass.JPG" class="top"><p> Just when we thought the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/6/17/115344/936/hotels/What_is_Wrong_With_The_W_s_Windows_">falling glass</a> trend was behind us, some windows have shattered again, this time at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/FOUR+SEASONS+SEATTLE/local/1531"><b>Four Seasons Seattle</b></a> on Sunday. And much like what happened with the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+W+Austin/local/4761">W Austin</a> the loose window panes were actually from the residences that are attached to the hotel. But what's worse here is that this is <i>the third time</i> windows have fallen from the building since July.<p>Thankfully, no one's been hurt or injured but the glass has cracked the glass awning at the entrance of the hotel and a car was slightly damaged.<p>Needless to say the hotel has finally gotten the idea that all 300 of the tempered-glass windows need to be replaced. juliana 2011-09-02T11:01:36-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/8/29/11288/4700 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/londonnyc_hurricaneirene.jpg" class="top"><p> You survived!! Looks like <b>Hurricane Irene</b> was far worse in the fantasies of meteorologists everywhere than it actually turned out to be. That's not to say the hurricane, excuse us, tropical storm wasn't scary at times and even though it didn't pack the punch we all expected, there are still lots of people without power along the East Coast. <p>We'll let the regular news outlets handle the aftermath coverage but we did watch all the hotel-related Irene activity as it was happening on Twitter and here were some of our favorite hurricane-related hotel tweets. <p>&#183; <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/London+NYC+Hotel/local/239"><b>The London NYC</b></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/TheLondonNYC/statuses/107608166036021248">tweeted</a> us this gorgeous shot above from their hotel waiting for Irene to hit Central Park. The juliana 2011-08-29T11:33:49-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/