Would you pay $200 or more to stay at a 228-year hotel that once was a brewery, then headquarters for Stockholm's guards (a.k.a., "sausages," earning the building the enviable moniker of "a sausage pot"); next as a jail of sorts, housing thieves and beggars; and later as a temporary hospital during the city's cholera epidemic in 1834, before finally becoming a hotel with no room service and very few individual bathrooms in 1976? The New York Times thinks you should. ]]> jennm 2008-07-14T11:35:00-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/6/18/104012/757 Get your hot dogs, sunscreen and beer guts ready: Independence Day is just over two weeks away! If you're headed to a big city for some fireworks fun, we'll be taking a look at hotels with prime fireworks views. Have a favorite hotel for gawking at bombs bursting in air? Send it our way.

Celebrate your country's independence by spending a night in an old jail! Head to Boston and check out our Fourth of July SPLURGE hotel pick: The Liberty Hotel.

The swanky, newly-converted jailhouse is offering the Independence Day Perfect View Package, a bundle of goodies that may be best for you to indulge in without the kiddies. ]]> Jenna 2008-06-18T12:00:01-05:00 42.361968 -71.070175 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/6/16/997/14450 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/alcatrazhotel.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>It's very possible that <b>Alcatraz</b>, once the country's most treacherous prison, will turn into a hotel by 2010, so says the National Park Service. <p>The organization is trying to spruce up some of the Bay Area's national parks and make the most of the land they are sitting on. Thus Alcatraz may have a hotel on it's lonely island. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/08/BA0F115AIB.DTL">The SF Chronicle</a> reports: <blockquote><p>One of the Alcatraz proposals would allow visitors to camp out on the island; another would involve rehabilitating a complex of old buildings and possibly turning one of the buildings into a hotel. Building 64, once used to house guards, could become a science and education center, with classrooms, a kitchen and a hostel juliana 2008-06-16T09:17:09-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/9/7/114428/3085 <![CDATA[<p><embed src="http://admin.brightcove.com/destination/player/player.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="allowFullScreen=true&initVideoId=1177182321&servicesURL=http://www.brightcove.com&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://www.brightcove.com&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&autoStart=false" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="bcPlayer" width="400" height="339" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed> <p><br>Approaching Boston's newest swank hotel, <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Liberty+Hotel/local/794"><b>The Liberty Hotel</b></a>, is not a simple proposition. The hotel is directly behind the new Yawkey Center at Mass General Hospital and you are bound to run into squealing ambulances, harried doctors and Charles St. Brahmans as you enter. <p> However once inside the old Charles Street Jail you are immediately blown away by the atrium architecture and escalator mural, which includes mug shots of actual former inmates. Our first impression is that MTM Luxury Lodging did a good job of shutting out the chaotic surroundings of the Charles St. T stop and turning this old jail into a 298-room markj 2007-09-07T12:23:11-05:00 42.361968 -71.070175 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/8/29/121850/155 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/liberty_hotel_august.png" class="imgborder"><p>Last fall it was announced that a former Charles Street jail in Boston would be converted into a luxury boutique hotel. The hotel estimated a Summer 2007 opening date and guess what? <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Liberty+Hotel/local/794"><b>The Liberty Hotel</b></a> has opened today.<p>However, you can't stay overnight there until Sept. 7 but when you do you can expect room rates to start at $275 for a 400 sq.ft. Fantastic Double Double. A Ultra Fantastic King starts at $305. Looks like someone borrowed from the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/w%20hotels">W Hotels</a> room descriptions.<p>The hotel also has three restaurants/bars in the works including a "jail" bar in the lobby that pays homage to the building's former life. A casual restaurant and bar will be on the second juliana 2007-08-29T12:36:32-05:00 42.361968 -71.070175 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/