http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2009-11-24T14:00:50Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Ski%20Resorts http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/10/8/6403/31322 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/21888/Chalet_Le_Ti_Dining_area.jpg" class="top"><p>You may be feeling impoverished at the moment, but the ski season is about to start and the Alps don&#146;t do poor, darlings. Neither do the people who ski there &#150; which is why ulra-lux chalet company <b>CK Verbier</b> is opening a fourth chalet for the 2009 season. <p>We say &#147;chalet&#148; but <b>Sagittaire</b> is more like a private hotel &#150; for a start, it sleeps 31, and it&#146;s split into three apartments with a pool, spa and gym to share between them. <p>Each chalet comes equipped with a 24-hour chauffeur, host and personal chef, as well as access to the <b>CK Verbier wine cellar</b>, which, they reckon, is &#147;one of the finest private wine collections in the Alps&#148;. juliab 2009-10-08T16:33:56-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/7/15/15495/9162 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/21888/airelles.jpg" class="top"> <p>Date for your diaries: December. <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Hotel+De+Charme+Les+Airelles/ian/131733"><b>Les Airelles</b></a> in <b>Courchevel</b> has just been given five star status by FAGIHT, the Federation Autonome Generale de l&#146;industrie Hoteliere Touristique (which, for those of us who don&#146;t speak French, is an association of seasonal-opening hotels). <p>Les Airelles is one of six Courchevel gaffes on the FAGIHT&#146;s books (there are 11 across the country) to be awarded five stars. And it&#146;s not that surprising; it&#146;s coming to the end of a three year, &#128;35 million revamp, which will be unveiled when it opens for the season in December. <p>Rooms and suites have been refurbished, there&#146;s a Valentino boutique, a 7000 square foot <b>"spa and snow cave"</b> (for between saunas), and a juliab 2009-07-15T16:06:04-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/7/10/9317/76563 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/westinriverfront5.jpg" class="top"></p> <p>We&#146;ll admit we&#146;ve never totally gotten behind the whole &#147;Christmas in July&#148; concept, but we may have to change our tune. Our newfound festive spirit comes courtesy of Vail Valley&#146;s new <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Westin+Riverfront+Resort+and+Spa/local/749"><strong>Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa</strong></a>, whose Christmas in July promo offers <strong>half-price rates</strong> for November and December stays that are booked this month.</p> <p>Perched at the base of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Beaver%20Creek%20Hotels"><strong>Beaver Creek</strong></a>, the typically-pricey Westin Riverfront&#146;s half-off prices are pretty good for ski season, starting at $149 for studio suites, $219 for one-bedroom condos, $329 for two-bedroom condos, and $549 for three-bedroom condos. All options feature fireplaces, living areas, and fully stocked kitchens. Rates must be booked by the end of July and are available for KatieK 2009-07-10T10:00:23-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/4/15563/4896 <![CDATA[<img src="http://hotelchatter.com/files/1425/rustyparrot2.jpg" class="top"> <p>The confusingly named <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Rusty+Parrot+Lodge+And+Spa/ian/218254">Rusty Parrot Lodge &amp; Spa</a></b> (Who ever heard of a lodge being named for a tropical bird? In Wyoming?) is welcoming the new <b><a href="http://www.tram-formation.com/">Jackson Hole Mountain Resort</a> Tram</b>, an engineering feet years in the making: <blockquote><p>Two years in construction, the new tram is one of the most expensive and technically challenging aerial trams in the U.S. Twice the size of the original, the new tram will carry 100 passengers and cover 4,139 vertical feet--the longest continual vertical rise for a ski lift in North America--in nine minutes to the crest of the Tetons where untracked powder awaits.</p></blockquote> <p>Right then. A ten-minute ride scaling a mountain so that you can plummit down it. abigailmschilling 2008-11-04T16:08:55-05:00 43.4814873 -110.76641 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/12/3/72733/2165 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/VillaRokaBulgaria.jpg" class="imgborder"><p> <p>NYT columnist Matt Gross's latest expedition has been a skiing holiday in, of all places, Bulgaria. In particular, he set out to figure out whether the ski resort area of Bansko, the biggest in the country, was about to make skiing in Bulgaria famous.</p><p>The answer: possibly not. Amidst tales of queue jumpers in the lines for the ski lifts, and resort staff who groom away all the good powdered snow, Gross did manage to get in some good snowboarding, but it didn't sound all that great. What did look cute was the hotel he stayed in, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Villa+Roka/local/1006"><b>Villa Roka</b></a>, all modern and trendy-looking and with a spa center including solarium, sauna and steam bath.</p><p>The best part amandak 2007-12-03T09:27:17-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/