MO Travel Guide
Hotel Desserts / Hotel Rooftops / St Louis Hotels / Odd Hotels / Hotel Design / → All Tags
The Moonrise Hotel's New Moon Room Shines With Homemade Moon Pies
The last time we were in St Louis, we had a grand old time checking out the 135-room Moonrise Hotel, a contemporary boutique spot in downtown St. Louis with a lunar theme.
We loved their rooftop bar back then, and we love it now, as the hotel recently re-launched the rooftop space with a new name: The Moon Room. A local blog went over to check out the bar, and in doing so, learned that it is the first hotel restaurant in the US with a roof made entirely out of solar panels.
The 107 glass panels apparently provide enough energy to power the whole bar, as well as part of the floor below. Pretty impressive, huh? (They also make for some cool light effects, as evidenced by these photos).
Elsewhere on the ceiling are sphere-shaped light fixtures that resemble different planets in the solar system. The turquoise walls and NASA uniform-wearing-waitresses add to the effect, though our favorite snapshot from the opening night might just be the dessert: homemade moon pies!
Celebrity Scoop / Modern Family / Sheraton Hotels / Kansas City Hotels / Hotel Emergencies / Vine / → All Tags
'Modern Family' Cast Trapped in Hotel Elevator, A Vine Ensues
Think about this: a few members of a hit sitcom get stuck in an elevator and still have access to social media. Can we expect anything other than hilarity and showboating? Probably not. This is exactly what happened when some cast members from the hit TV show, Modern Family were stuck in an elevator during a charity event at the Sheraton Kansas City.
Julie Bowen, Eric Stonestreet, and Jessie Ferguson got cozy with nine other people in the hotel elevator on their way to an event benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Kansas City, Stonestreet's hometown. The group were stranded for almost an hour and took to Twitter and Vine reach out to the free world for help.
Hotel Desserts / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Snacks / Hotel News / Four Seasons Hotels / St Louis Hotels / Hotel Cafes / → All Tags
Meet Me In St. Louis, At The Four Seasons' New Italian Doughnut Shop
Where can you find good Italian food in St. Louis? Well, probably lots of places. But what about authentic hand-made Italian doughnuts—known as bomboloni—fresh out of the fryer?
That's what Fabrizio Schenardi, Executive Chef at Four Seasons St. Louis, is working on at the hotel's new eighth-floor doughnut bar, which will also be serving muffins, croissants, fresh-baked breads, juice and Lavazza espresso. And the best part? It opens tomorrow!
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And Finally, Kansas City Gets A Skywalk Memorial
In 1981, the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Crown Center was the site of one of the worst hotel disasters in the country. Around 1,500 people were attending a popular "tea dance" in the lobby, when two overhanging skywalks suddenly collapsed through the ceiling. 114 lives were lost, and over 200 were injured. Now, after 30 years of honoring the victims, headway has been made on the construction of a Skywalk Memorial.
Due to be completed next summer, the structure will sit in Hospital Hill Park, only a block away from the hotel. On Sunday, an emotional crowd gathered for the annual memorial ceremony. To everyone's delight, committee members unveiled an artist's rendering of the monument itself, which features 114 individual lights that will "sparkle" by day and "illuminate" by night.
Hotel Openings / St. Louis Hotels / Hotel Art / → All Tags
The Arty Hotel Ignacio Opens in St. Louis
You might not picture St. Louis as a hotbed of art, but there's a lot of creative juice flowing in the city and the newly opened Hotel Ignacio wants to take advantage of it by offering a fun arty boutique hotel.
The 49-room hotel is in the midtown Grand Center arts district of the city, across from Saint Louis University and steps from the Fox Theatre. The hotel tries to blend it in this artistic environs by giving each room an artsy spin. A Plexiglas installation hangs above each bed that explores themes such as fine art, performing arts, architecture or music.
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Ok, This Might Really Be the Worst Hotel in the World
Not shown: the meth lab that can be setup in the kitchen and the kiddie porn accessed on the laptop.
We often see hotel reviews, blog postings, listicles and other internet stories that declare a hotel to be the worst in the world but this Value Place Hotel in Arnold, Missouri might truly be the worst of them all.
The city of Arnold, which is just outside of St. Louis, recently forced a closure of the hotel because the police department received over 200 calls in just 22 months to the hotel. Putting that even more into perspective, the hotel itself has only been open for 23 months.
The City said the Jefferson County Sheriff's Drug Task Force, the DEA and the FBI responded to drug overdoses, prostitution, child pornography, stealing, assault, drug sales, drug manufacturing, rape, burglary and other felonious actions at the hotel at 888 Arnold Commons Drive.
Wow. Finally, something that makes bedbugs seem like cuddly creatures.
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This is How Some Valet Parkers Treat Your Car at The Hotel
It's a scene straight out of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." You pull up to the hotel in your expensive ride and after forking over an insane hotel parking fee, the valet parkers whisk your car off into a garage where you have no idea what could be happening with your baby.
You pray the valet guys aren't joyriding in your car and racking up the miles but at the Hyatt St. Louis, Cameron's your worst nightmare has come true.
CarScoop reports:
Employees from a valet company are being Accused of ABUSING guests' cars at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown St. Louis. A person who goes by the alias "election Underground" posted dozens of Videos on Youtube that show valet drivers doing burn outs, donuts and numerous other antics with all sorts of cars ranging from a Ford Focus to a Porsche 911 and a Maserati Coupe.
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Four Seasons St. Louis Has Love For Its Famous Neighbors
Now that it's been over a year since the new Four Seasons St. Louis opened along the Mississippi River with unparalleled views of the arch, all of the public spaces are complete and the guest reviews are pouring in.
The 19-story glass tower with 200 rooms offers rooms as low as $195, made all the more a steal on account of the newness of the property. Here, the focus is on the floor-to-ceiling windows and the view to Saarinen's Arch; the hotel's lobby is even located on the 8th floor within a grand glass atrium to maximize the drama of the neighboring iconic structure.
This, along with a pool, sounds well and good, but it's only a success if the guests love it. And, scrolling through the high ratings on TripAdvisor, it seems they do! They really do! Compliments like "We were traveling with my 8-year old son, and they hit it out of the park, as far as he was concerned ... they have won a customer for life" and "I agree with the many other reviews here that it is a beautiful, new facility, with spacious, clean and modern rooms, and friendly, helpful, professional hotel personnel." There also seems to be free self-parking; hallelujah!
It's too bad we didn't have a chance to head to St. Louis this week for the All-Star baseball game at Busch Stadium, another neighbor of the Four Seasons, as this property sounds like a much-needed, and what's more, much-loved addition to the city.
Movie Set Hotels / Kansas City Hotels / → All Tags
KC's Hotel Phillips Semi-Unwillingly Makes An Appearance in 'Bruno'
Ha! Kansas City's Hotel Phillips is a movie set hotel now. Kinda involuntary. And they're pretty pissed about it.
According to the Kansas City Star, the hotel is a pretty significant part of a scene about halfway through Sacha Baron Cohen's (yes, the Borat dude) Bruno — and the staffers at the Phillips are notsohappy about it, because they "signed a waiver under false pretenses."
Hotel Packages / Desires Hotels / → All Tags
We Have An Addition to This Moonrise Package (We're Sitting On It)
Quick: name every single thing you can think of that relates to the word "moon." Ready? Go. Space! Moon pies! Blue moon! Cows jumping! Hitting your eye like a big pizza pie! What your fratty college friends did out the passenger-side window on your last road trip!
If we were in charge of putting together hotel packages for the Moonrise Hotel (the brand new Desires Hotel down in St. Louis), we'd probably do our brainstorming in exactly that fashion. And we kinda suspect that's precisely what went on during the making of the "Fly me to the Moon" package to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of man's first steps on the moon.
The package includes:
· Cosmic Jacuzzi Room decorated with moon-themed art
· Two Tang-Tini Drink Certificates – redeemable at Eclipse Restaurant – inside the Moonrise Hotel
· Two Moonrise Breakfasts
· Two Delicious Moon Pies provided during nightly turndown service
· Two Blue Moon Bottles of Beer upon arrival
· Two OMNIMAX Theater tickets to the 'Fly Me To The MOON' – at the Saint Louis Science Center
Moonpies? Yeah?
The package is available From July 1st to August 31st, starting at $229. And if we happen to roll by St. Louis, we'll be sure and add our own special addition to the package. Which we're currently sitting on. (Get it? Our butt? Mooning? Moon? Ha!)
Hotel Openings / St. Louis Hotels / Desires Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
The Moonrise Hotel and Rooftop Lounge Officially Open in St. Louis
It's not often that we get boutique hotel news out of somewhere as hardcore-midwestern as St. Louis, but when we do this is what we like to hear: the new Moonrise Hotel has officially opened today, complete with contemporary design while milking the lunar theme.
The 135-room property gives fans of New York boutique style a comfy place to kick off their shoes while on business or leisure in St Louis, and believe us when we say that this place will be maxing out on leisure. Say hello to what will be one of St. Louis' hottest rooftop lounges this summer: the Satellite Bar. There is no such thing as too many rooftop bars in a good urban landscape, and thankfully the Moonrise understands this. Add to this the fact that the roof will sport an actual, spotlighted replica of the moon, and we're thinking that the laid-back humor of the midwest managed to creep into this property after all.
Room rates start at $159 a night, and of course adding them on Facebook scores you access to some sneak construction pics and the possibility of secret deals.
[Photo: Moonrise Hotel]
Hotel Openings / Boutique Hotels / St. Louis Hotels / Desires Hotels / → All Tags
Desires Hotels' Moonrise is Rising Over St. Louis
Leave it to Desires Hotels to keep on bringing the hotel funky-freshness to places that, um, you wouldn't so much expect the funky freshness to be brought (please see: the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee). The quickly-growing family of luxe boutique hotels has added one more to its portfolio in the Midwest: The Moonrise Hotel, arriving (er, "lifting off," per their press materials) in St. Louis this April.
Located in the heart of The Loop, St. Lou's entertainment district, this 135-room quirky-luxe hotel's got the moonlight thing going on inside and out: there's an illuminated, rotating moon on top of the building and an iridescent lobby wall that changes color.
