We got a morning surprise from Sevensummerz, who dropped this shot of Aloft Nashville into the HotelChatter Flickr pool.

If you look closely, you can just barely make out a bunch of furniture lined up by the front door. It almost looks like a scene from college move-in day -- and we feel like we're watching our newly-grown-up child moving into his first college dorm room... except it's Starwood's child, and they've had so many children they probably don't even get excited about them anymore.

For more photos of the completed Aloft Nashville, hop on over to the Flickr pool.]]> Jenna 2008-09-04T11:01:39-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/3/144525/1544 <![CDATA[<p><p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/pinkHClogo.jpg" class="imgborder" align="right">The way we see it, there are three distinctive types of "<a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Girlfriend%20Getaways">Girlfriend Getaway</a>" packages offered at hotels. <p>There's the Sex and the City-ish types, designed for Midwestern Bradshaw-lovers to come to Manhattan, drink cosmopolitans and eat cupcakes until they feel satisfied that they've accurately experienced the "girls'" fictional lifestyle. <p>Then you've got your standard girly packages -- which always appear to be put together by a faceless, single middle-aged man who believes women enjoy all things pink and spa-like. <p>Then you've got your for-reals Girlfriend Getaway packages -- you know, the kind that nicely supplement the itinerary you'd <i>actually</i> complete if you went on a vacay with your girls: a bit of exercise (ideally), a bit Jenna 2008-09-03T15:44:16-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/3/104527/7554

Yeah, so -- did you know there was no W Hotel in London yet? One would think that London would have been one of the first cities to get a W once they started expanding, right? Think about it: it's stylish. It's hip. It's modern. It's London. Hello.

And yet, our good friends at Starwood haven't gotten around to building any W's in England -- well, until now.

The W Hotel and Residences London-Leicester Square was announced today -- along with the W Manchester -- and both are slated to be completed in 2010. Hell, if Hoboken can get a W, England should have a couple too. ]]> Jenna 2008-09-03T11:22:59-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/9/2/12555/03144 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/spglogo.png" class="imgborder"><p>Here at HC HQ, we like to joke around about <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Starwood%20Hotels">Starwood's</a></b> plot to take over the world. It started with the insane expansion of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Aloft%20Hotels">Aloft</a>, with new properties popping up all over the globe within a matter of months. Then there was that whole <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/5/31440/29763/hotels/Starwood_Continues_World_Takeover_with_100th_China_Hotel">100-hotels-in-China</a> thing we just heard about, too. <p>And once they've conquered the land, we suppose the next order of business was to go after the skies: Westin recently <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/20/124433/943/hotels/Westin_Partners_with_United_Airlines_to_Send_Heavenly_Beds_Into_the_Skies_and_Airports_">partnered</a> with United to bring some of the Westin amenities to United flights -- but they're not stopping there. <p>Today marks the launch of <b><a href="http://www.spgflights.com/travel/arc.cfm?tab=a&amp;EM=VTY_SPG_FLIGHTS">Starwood's SPG Flights</a></b> program, a feature added to the S-wood loyalty program that will allow members Jenna 2008-09-02T12:14:22-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/