While we were totally preoccupied with the Olympics, other sporting events have been getting prepared in the background: like the US Open, which had its big Players' Party on Friday night at the Empire Hotel in New York.

While an awful lot of non-tennis-playing celebrities paraded around the Empire, a big slab of attention did go to the rightful stars: Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams both turned up in pretty eye-catching color that was kinda hard to miss.

Apparently the party was held on the Empire's pool and bar deck on the rooftop but we don't have any reports of tennis players being thrown in the pool. Pity.

[Photo: Daily Mail]
]]> amandak 2008-08-25T10:45:16-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/15/51148/7673 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/bphfacebook.png" class="imgborder"><p> <p>New York's <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Bryant+Park+Hotel/local/68"><b>Bryant Park Hotel</b></a> has got in with its own <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/The-Bryant-Park-Hotel/28021851092">Facebook page</a> while it's still early enough to be cool. We reckon any hotel who doesn't get onto Facebook this year will end up looking pretty slow.</p><p>As far as Facebook pages go, well, they all look pretty standard, and when we last checked the Bryant Park had just 21 fans (and since they're all based in New York we're guessing they're staff). They do have a good photo album of hotel pics up, though, and they've started writing about specials on their Wall, along with posting links to write-ups of the hotel.</p><p>The current "Facebook special"--well, it's mentioned there at least--is $289 a night plus amandak 2008-07-16T09:15:18-05:00 40.752928 -73.984053 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/14/164954/011

The Brownstoner blog checked out Brooklyn's newest hotel, The Nu Hotel, and was "positively surprised" by what they saw.

They didn't try to get too cute with the design, keeping it light and modern, made the room sizes decent (helped by the fact that the building was originally designed as a condo) and priced it right; it's also in the best location of any hotel in the borough that we can think of, with Smith Street at its doorstep.

Speaking of pricing, the introductory room rates are so reasonable, at $199 during the week and $149 on the weekends. Let's just hope this hotel wisely chooses to forgo obnoxious gaming advertecture.

[Photo: Brownstoner]]]> juliana 2008-07-14T16:54:19-05:00 40.688860 -73.988994 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/6/6/151044/3717 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/4912/thompson_les.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>Could the <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Allen+Street-Thompson+LES/local/31">Thompson LES</a></b> actually pull it off? We're less than six weeks from <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/5/13/211328/166/hotels/Thompson_LES_to_Open_July_15">a reported July 15 open</a>, and East Village Podcasts has the latest report from downtown:<blockquote><p>The constructionaires at Thompson LES finally covered most of the insulation on the north side of the new hotel. Are $450 hotel rooms nearly available?</blockquote></p><p>Maybe! And at a discount, too. We've mentioned Quikbook as a way to score good deals on <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/thompson%20hotels">Thompson Hotels</a></b>, but this time it's the hotel itself offering 'em up.<br> <p>A search for July 15 turns up a standard room for $299 plus taxes, while a "King Studio" goes for $339+. That's better than Quikbook's offer of $359. Though who knows if the hotel pbb 2008-06-06T15:23:08-05:00 40.722436 -73.988696 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/