NEW JERSEY Travel Guide
Hotel News / Hotel Woes / New Jersey Hotels / Atlantic City Hotels / Revel Resorts / → All Tags
Revel's Financing Approved as Summer Approaches the Jersey Shore
Last time we checked in with Revel, they were in the process of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Last week, a court judge approved a $250 million financing plan that will allow the hotel and casino to continue its operations, including employee wages, sustaining loyalty programs, and paying its bills.
That’s good news for visitors this summer, who, in theory, shouldn’t see any operational changes if they look to help Revel make a comeback. That said, Revel laid off 83 workers last Wednesday from a variety of positions, so it remains to be seen whether those cuts will have any noticeable effect on the consumer (they still have 3,217 employees, so we’re guessing they’ll be all right).
According to the Associated Press, Revel is also rumored to be considering whether to drop its non-smoking policy, which is thought by many, including HC, to be one of the reasons for the casino’s poor performance. It is one of the few Atlantic City venues to have such a regulation.
Hotel Woes / Hotel News / New Jersey Hotels / Atlantic City Hotels / Revel Resorts / → All Tags
[UPDATE] AC's Revel *Plans To File For Bankruptcy
[UPDATE: We received an email from Revel's public relations firm who has asked us to reword our story to indicate that the hotel "plans to file a consensual prepackaged chapter 11." ] Things just keep getting worse for the Revel in Atlantic City. On Tuesday, the most expensive casino ever built in New Jersey announced that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
While it is a shame to see, we suppose it doesn't really come as a surprise as Revel's performance has not only been under tight scrutiny since its opening last spring, it has also been pretty poor, consistently at the bottom of the rankings when it comes to gambling revenue in Atlantic City. A lot of that disappointment and inability to attract a wide variety of clientele has been blamed on the hotel's non-smoking policy and high-priced restaurants.
Apparently, the house doesn't always win.
Celebrity Chefs / Atlantic City Hotels / Wolfgang Puck / Borgata Hotels / → All Tags
Wolfgang Puck at The Borgata: Sets His Sights on Doha
We had the pleasure of being invited to the recent Savor Borgata Event in Atlantic City where chefs Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Geoffrey Zakarian and others were there presenting food demos and a huge culinary showcase for a crowd we were delighted to see come out in droves to support the city just a week after Hurricane Sandy hit.
We were lucky enough to spend a few minutes interviewing some of the chefs. We talked about some of their holiday plans, and more importantly what’s on their hotel horizon.
We spoke with the personable Wolfgang Puck:
Celebrity Chefs / Atlantic City Hotels / Bobby Flay / Borgata Hotels / → All Tags
Bobby Flay At The Borgata: Dishes On Thanksgiving and His Food Future
We had the pleasure being invited to the recent Savor Borgata Event in Atlantic City where chefs Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina, Geoffrey Zakarian and others were there food demos and to present a huge culinary showcase for a crowd we were delighted to see come out in droves to support the city just a week after Hurricane Sandy hit.
Though the Borgata and sister hotel The Water Club are not on the Boardwalk, they did feel some of the effects of Sandy, but, as they say, the show must go on—and that it did.
We were lucky enough to spend a few minutes to interview the chefs. We talked about some of their Thanksgiving Plans, and more importantly find out what’s on their hotel horizon.
We spoke with Bobby Flay, after his Thanksgiving-dinner demo where he showed his huge audience how to properly cook a turkey, prepare a spicy pumpkin soup (with chipotles, of course!), convinced naysayers to embrace Brussels sprouts, and bigged up Geoffrey Zakarian's Lamb's Club at The Chatwal as one of his favorite restaurants--despite Zakarian telling us Conde Naster's were getting too fat from his food!
A little more from Flay:
Football Hotels / NFL Hotels / Hurricane Sandy / New Jersey Hotels / → All Tags
Even The Pittsburgh Steelers Can't Get a Room For Sunday's Game
Things are tough all over! Some hotels and travel apps are whining about our reports that their Hurricane Sandy fees aren't unfair at all, and now it looks like the Pittsburgh Steelers are in trouble! They'll have to march right back home after their game against the New York Giants at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. scheduled for 4:25pm on Sunday.
Why? There’s simply no room at the inn. Any inn,(not even the no-tell motels?), to take on the 53-man football team.
The Steelers' regular hotel in Jersey City is without power for their booking tomorrow night and they can't find alternate lodging. This will force the team to fly the great distance to Newark (an hour) on the day of the game (the NFL requires visiting teams to arrive at least one day before kickoff) and return to Pittsburgh that same day. But again, take note of the game time: 4:25 p.m. So, we’re not talking a break-of-dawn flight, here, buddies. Perspective!
Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Marriott Hotels / Airport Hotels / Newark Hotels / → All Tags
Newark Gets First Hotel In 40 Years
Today, for the first time in 40 years, Newark has a new hotel—the Courtyard Newark Downtown. Don’t roll your eyes! This is good news for several reasons. First, for those who have to, for whatever reason, fly out of Newark and also must stay overnight in the area, there's now a brand-spanking new option in a place where the selection has become a quality crap shoot.
This property is four miles from the airport (there's a free shuttle), plus it's within walking distance of Newark Penn Station, so if you can’t afford NYC hotel rates, bingo—you’ve got a friend in Newark and it’s only a short train ride away.
The 150-room hotel is owned by Tucker Development and Robert Finvarb Companies, but managed by Marriott International, so the well-known amenities and points are in place, but there are more in case you haven’t checked out a Courtyard in a minute. At this outpost the traditional front desk experience has been abandoned in favor of the more au currant boutique hotel method with individual welcome kiosks for a personal and private check-in experience.
Free WiFi and a business library with complimentary computers and a printer gets a thumbs up, as well as the Courtyard’s GoBoard 4.0, which dispenses local info such as maps, weather, news, and even flight information on a 55-inch LCD touch screen. It has mobile integration so guests can send the info directly to their smart phones! And, guests can dine and get Starbucks coffee at The Bistro, as well as get snacks and must-haves 24/7 from The Market.
Photo Gallery / Revel Resorts / Atlantic City Hotels / → All Tags
Inside The Revel Resort in Atlantic City
We've been chatting about Revel, Atlantic City's newest hotel/casino for a while. The project has been an exercise in patience that culminated in a grand-opening event this past Memorial Day with none other than Beyonce.
We thought it was time to actually go in and take a look now that most of the resort is completed, so you know what to expect in case you book a stay at this behemoth boardwalk property. Here is our experience, in living color:
Our stay coincided with the Atlantic City Airshow and needless to say, the Revel was packed. From our gallery, you'll see just how long the check-in line was. Now, there are kiosks that are supposed to help this kind of congestion, but they were broken.
We were appalled to see senior citizens with canes, wheelchairs and the like being made to wait in what seemed like an endless line, while we, the media, were whisked away to check-in within minutes. When we mentioned this to the Powers That Be, they assured us that this wasn't a normal occurrence to have special-needs customers ignored.
At any rate, the best way to show the Revel is through pics, because honestly, the place really is a sight to see and will give other hotels in A.C. a serious run for their money.
Keep reading to see photos of The Revel!
Hotel Technology / Hotel Remote Controls / Revel Resorts / Atlantic City Hotels / → All Tags
The Do-It-All Room Remote At Revel Resort
Lately we've been entranced with in-room iPads and fancy-dancy remote controls. Both seem to be getting super hi-tech and we're all for it so long as the boasted features actually work. We're not keen on lengthy how-to sheets that give us agita.
We'd like to see the end of multi-remote controls in hotel rooms and instead be able to power nearly everything with a touch of a button. Well, we saw just that recently at Atlantic City's Revel Resort. While our full gallery of A.C.'s newest hot spot is coming soon, today we're hyper-focused on this little gem--the room's souped up Prodigy PLX3 remote control.
The same size as your average TV remote, this little powerhouse actually controls just about everything the buttons on the front panel says it does. And we know because we pressed them all just like a little kid would!
Here's what worked--and the one thing that didn't.
