Welcome to our newest new feature, Design Thursdays! Thursdays are now our day to focus on hotel design through photo tours, video walkthroughs and interviews with hotel designers. Got a cool hotel design story we should know about? Let us know.

Now that the United States finally has its first Radisson Blu hotel—the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago—what kind of awesome modern design details can you expect to find when checking in?

To check out all the nooks and crannies of the room, see our previous story, photo gallery and video here, but if you're more interested in the lobby, bar, restaurant and art gallery, you're in the right place. Yes—we said art gallery!]]> JetSetCD 2011-11-03T17:59:01-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/11/2/14057/3376

Guess what? The United States finally has a Radisson Blu hotel, and it's in Chicago in an architecturally striking building named the Aqua Tower. This very first Radisson Blu on US soil only opened to paying guests last night—November 1—and since we just happened to be in Chicago enjoying the fall foliage, we also spent the night to enjoy some of that "new hotel smell."

Booking directly on the hotel website we paid $287 total for the lowest category room, a "City View" with a king bed. So what did we think of room 720?

For photos and video of the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, keep reading! ]]> JetSetCD 2011-11-02T16:58:32-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/10/25/114245/68 <![CDATA[<object id="flashObj" width="486" height="412" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=1238535694001&playerID=4862856001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAE7CVnI~,RUihgoZlRJi9tuTl58qaAut8tr6OMl2M&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=1238535694001&playerID=4862856001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAE7CVnI~,RUihgoZlRJi9tuTl58qaAut8tr6OMl2M&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p>We love a new hotel opening. But what's even more exciting is a <strong>hotel reopening</strong>&#151;especially when it's one as symbolic as this. On October 19, the <a href='http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel/local/1819'><strong>Hyatt Regency New Orleans</strong></a> finally threw open its doors again, after a four-year top-to-toe refurbishment. <p>The hotel was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina&#151;and a highly visible sign of the storm, situated right behind the Superdome. Its return has locals beaming with pride and it couldn't come at a better time, with MsRebecca 2011-10-25T12:30:01-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/