There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.

· Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica Delayed: We've spent a lot of time today talking about hotel openings and delays here so it's fitting we end the day with another. The Hotel Shangri-La was to re-open tomorrow after a long renovations process. However, the reservations line says the hotel will open at the end of October. Meanwhile, the website is only taking bookings for after November 12th. Either way, it ain't opening tomorrow.

More news briefs are after the jump. ]]> juliana 2008-10-09T17:00:42-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/21/141155/151

Tipping. Yikes. While most of us know to regularly tip our bellmen and some of us routinely tip our housekeepers (and all of us should!), things start to get a bit dicey when it comes to room service.

See, in most hotels, gratuity is included on a room service order. But then when you open up your folio to sign off on your charges, you breeze past the line detailing the auto-gratuity that's been added...and you encounter it: the additional gratuity line before the total. ]]> Jenna 2008-08-21T14:30:13-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/5/164333/1551

From Post Secret. Also see this video for more reasons on why it might be a good idea to get on hotel housekeeping's good side. So give them a tip or two. Well, you know...not the ones that are actually cleaning the toilet with your SonicCare.]]> juliana 2008-08-05T16:45:21-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/5/14/141959/230 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/colincowiechic2.jpg" class="imgborder"><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/colin%20cowie"><b>Colin Cowie's</b></a> main jobs are as a celebrity wedding designer and a luxe party planner but he's also the proprietor behind the CBar in Greece inside the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/7/10/22651/0592/hotels/Colin_Cowie_Debuts_CBar_in_Mykonos_Hotel"><b>Belvedere Hotel</b></a> so he knows a few things about the hospitality business.<p>We got a copy of his book <i>Colin Cowie Chic: The Guide to Life As It Should Be</i> and we are a little tickled to see a section on travel and staying hotels. <p>Colin's #1 thing as soon as he's checked into his hotel? Change into exercise clothes for a quick workout that includes some push-ups, sit-ups and stretches. <p>If he has more time, he'll do some cardio. His reasoning is valid--after being on an airplane for juliana 2008-05-16T12:15:01-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/