http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2008-11-22T03:18:13Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Hotel%20Opening%20Rates%20 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/20/114929/42 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/vuhotelmarch.jpg" class="top"><p><i><b>UPDATE:</b>The VU Hotel is actually taking online reservations beginning <b>February 16th</b>, not March as we previously stated. So get booking!</i><p><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Vu+Hotel/local/1019"><b>The Vu Hotel</b></a> was supposed to be open <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/4/15523/77700/hotels/Kimpton_s_Vu_Hotel_is_Almost_Ready">by now</a> but it doesn't look like guests will be sleeping there until March. <p>We hit up the <a href="http://www.vuhotel.com/">hotel website</a> and despite a friendly line telling us to book our reservations now, we couldn't get anything to come up until March 15th. When we did, we found a king superior room with 1 king bed for $299 a night. That's not too bad but the room category is tiny, ranging from 250 to 275 square feet. A king deluxe bed bumps up to 300-sq.ft. at $319 a night. juliana 2008-11-20T11:57:46-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/16/231452/01 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/EasyHotel_Room.jpg" class="top"><p> <p>Last we heard about the <b>easyHotel Heathrow</b>, it should have been open already--<a href=&#148;http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/30/1427/41433/hotels/easyHotel_Finds_Expansion_Easy&#148;>October, in fact</a>--but now it&#146;s just started taking bookings for a January 1, 2009 opening.<p>In the tradition of <a href=&#148;http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/EasyHotels&#148;><b>easyHotels</b></a> this one is cheap and, well, tight. If you want to watch TV, need an extra towel or want to use the internet, you&#146;ll have to pay extra for everything. But the room itself: just £25 ($37) per night, or at least that&#146;s their opening special price. Being at Heathrow is obviously handy if you&#146;ve got an early morning flight or are transiting to somewhere else in Europe.<p>The biggest catch that we see with easyHotels is not that you have to pay something for amandak 2008-11-18T16:05:15-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/18/103429/48 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/montagbhphoto.jpg" class="top"><p>From the folks who brought you <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Montage+Resort+And+Spa/ian/208480">Montage Laguna Beach</a></b>, the <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Montage+Beverly+Hills/ian/269818/">Montage Beverly Hills</b></a> &#151; a super-luxe 201-room property right in Beverly Hills' Golden Triangle (the area that falls between Santa Monica Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard and Canon Drive) &#151; officially opened yesterday. <p>Boasting an extensive list of super upscale details like outdoor topiary gardens, hand-painted ceilings in the ballroom and Library and a curator-assembled art collection, the hotel is for the affluent traveler who, somehow, has tons of dough to blow right now. <p>And if you don't have tons of money to spend and you're stressed cause you just spent it anyway, go get a massage or something at the two-level, 20,000-square-foot spa. We're talking 17 treatment Jenna 2008-11-18T11:45:45-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/18/53521/356 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/anantara_phuket.jpg" class="top"><p> There are some places that simply don&#146;t need another hotel. The poor, overloaded, little island of Phuket is one of them. However, we have to give props to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Anantara+Phuket/local/1387"><b>Anantara Phuket Resort &amp; Spa</b></a>, which managed to find an unspoiled place on the island to build its hotel.<p>The resort <a href=&#148;http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/15/42540/6991/hotels/Coming_Soon_to_Northern_Phuket_Another_Eco_Friendly_Anantara&#148;>opened its doors on October 1</a>, and has actually done so in an environmentally-responsible way--even building around a rare Banyan tree. Plus, despite Phuket's drawbacks, it's a great jumping off point to see the rest of the Andaman Sea and its beautiful resorts (which we'll be telling you about after we finish taking a gander at this week).<p> So if you fly into Phuket, it looks like ced138 2008-11-18T09:50:56-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/14/15216/467 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/maunakea.jpg" class="top"><p><i>Hopefully the hotel will update the room photos soon. This is seriously from the Golden Girls era.</i><p>After shutting down for two years due to earthquake damage, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Mauna+Kea+Beach+Hotel/ian/128089"><b>Mauna Kea Beach Hotel</b></a> on the Big Island of Hawaii, is expected to open again on Dec. 20th in a soft opening. The hotel, which is part of the Prince Hotels and Resorts, got a complete makeover in the process too. From the <a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081114/NEWS18/811140336/1029/LOCALNEWSFRONT">Honolulu-Advertiser</a>:<blockquote><p>The number of rooms and suites was reduced from 310 to 258 because some rooms in the main building were enlarged. The renovations focused on improvements to guest rooms and suites, restaurants, the lobby and other common areas, the company said.</blockquote></p><p>The amenities found inside the rooms juliana 2008-11-14T15:46:24-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/