PA Travel Guide

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Gordon Ramsay Heads To Pennsylvania For More 'Hotel Hell'

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 210 2nd St [map], Milford, PA, United States, 18337
January 13, 2012 at 9:20 AM | by | Comments (0)

Yep, it's that bad

After discovering late last month that The Keating Hotel in San Francisco will be one of the hotels featured ripped apart by Gordon Ramsay on Hotel Hell, we've been dying to know which other towns across the country will be getting visits from his spiky-haired highness.

Now, we can add Milford, Pennsylvania to the list. The New Jersey Herald is reporting that Ramsay will be making over the River Rock Inn, a B&B housed in a 10-bedroom Victorian-style house built in 1876.

According to the hotel's Facebook page, producers for the show have taken over all bookings, and have so far received over 1500 reservation requests, from (we're guessing) hotel geeks trying to get front row seats of Ramsay working his magic. And judging from the pictures, this place really does need some magic. Or a sledgehammer.

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White House Shooter Captured While Chilling at a Hampton Inn

November 16, 2011 at 3:57 PM | by | Comments (2)


[Photo of a different Hampton Inn]

Look. If you fire a round of bullets into the White House, you will be found and arrested, even if you've checked in to a hotel hundreds of miles away from Washington DC, in Pennsylvania.

This is the case of 21-year-old Oscar Ortega, who on Friday used an assault rifle to hit the side of the White House (and some bulletproof windows) from his SUV on the road. President Obama was away at the time, but the reasons for Ortega's shooting haven't quite been deciphered. They do, at least, have the man in custody after a hotel employee at the Hampton Inn in Indiana, PA recognized Ortega from news reports.

No word on how Ortega paid for his nights at the Inn when he's believed to be mentally ill and formerly camping out at Occupy DC.

[Photo: Herald Tribune]

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Hotel Palomar Philly is Offering Boss Prizes for Mobile Scavenger Hunt

October 11, 2011 at 1:22 PM | by | Comments (0)

It takes a lot for us to get excited about hotel contests, which are a dime a dozen in these heady social media days, but when the prizes include either a brand new iPhone 4s or an iPad2, we've got our game faces on and are ready to roll.

Those are the gadgets that the winner of the Hotel Palomar Philadelphia's first annual "Philly Finds" mobile scavenger hunt will receive this weekend if they can find all the items and document their findings on their mobile phone using the iPhone and Android app, "Scavenger Hunt with Friends."

The contest is open to locals and guests alike so you don't have to be staying at the hotel to play. Yet with the contest starting at 8am on Friday and lasting until noon on Sunday and with the hunt going all over Philly, it can't hurt to have a hotel room to crash in, especially since we suspect at least one item in the scavenger hunt will be in the hotel.

To participate in Philly Finds, here's what you gotta do:

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Edie Sedgwick Lives On, As a Dog, at Fairmont Pittsburgh

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 510 Market St [map], Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 15222
September 30, 2011 at 3:30 PM | by | Comments (0)

We already know that Fairmont Hotels loves dogs--and has quite a few Canine Ambassadors. But most of them, apart from the infamous Catie Copley in Boston, live in Canada.

Thankfully, the latest addition to the pack is installed a little closer to home, at the Fairmont Pittsburgh.

This lovely girl is Edie. Just as the bar at Fairmont Pittsburgh is named after the city's favorite son, Andy Warhol, the newest staff member is named after Warhol's muse, Edie Sedgwick. Instead of appearing in incomprehensible art films, though, this Edie is on hand to welcome guests to the hotel, and walk them to their rooms if they so choose.

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A 'Never-Ending' Story For Kids In the Poconos

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1 GREAT WOLF DRIVE [map], Scotrun, PA, United States, 18355
September 27, 2011 at 2:13 PM | by | Comments (0)

In the era of complimentary iPads and electronic check-ins, it is the job of certain people to ensure that kids—as well as adults—benefit from all the newfangled gadgetry adorning hotels. And over in the Pocono Mountains, PA, Great Wolf Lodge has unveiled a new interactive video game called Great Wolf Story Explorers, in which the kids themselves become the main characters of the story.

Here's how it works: the little tykes are first paired off with an RFID-tagged stuffed animal. Interestingly, this was the same technology used by hotels to track stolen linens. But instead of catching criminals, the RFID wristbands here "unlock" each successive part of the interactive story. As they travel from one video screen to the next, the young "explorers" are slowly written into the story they are being told. Neat-o!

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Home2 Suites 2 Expand 2 Philly

September 26, 2011 at 3:58 PM | by | Comment (1)

Hilton Hotels' new hip extended stay brand, Home2 Suites, keeps on growing. Fresh off a Baltimore opening, the brand has just announced plans for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Business Journal reports:

Home2 Suites by Hilton, with 246 guest rooms, is planned for 12th and Arch streets, across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center. A summer 2013 opening is planned.

Yes, that's a ways off so we'll have to be content with the smattering of Home2 Suites that are open so far (in Baltimore, Raleigh and Salt Lake City.) But if you're dying to check out a Home2 Suites on your next trip to San Antonio, there's one opening up on October 2 near the Riverwalk.

And remember, all rooms come with plenty of space including a kitchenette, free WiFi, free breakfast and an iPad docking station if you need it.

[Photo: Home2 Suites/Facebook]

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The Hotel Monaco Philadelphia is Readying Its Rooftop

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 433 Chestnut Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States
September 15, 2011 at 10:08 AM | by | Comments (0)

It's been a while since we checked in on Kimpton Hotels and their plans for Philadelphia but thanks to the Uwishunu blog, we've got an update on The Hotel Monaco Philadelphia on 5th and Chestnut Streets out of the old Lafayette Building and it's tres exciting.

Construction on the hotel is breaking ground this week (with a groundbreaking ceremony today) but don't fret, the work will go fast as the opening is now set for Summer 2012. Uwishunu reports on all the goodness we can expect to find inside and most importantly up on the roof.

In addition to the 268 guest rooms, the hotel will feature 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a 3,200 square foot ballroom overlooking Independence Mall, a 130-seat chef-driven restaurant, and — wait for it — a spacious rooftop bar and lounge overlooking Independence Mall.

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Meet The Woman Who Tried To Bamboozle A Renaissance Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 500 Stevens Drive [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19113
June 15, 2011 at 2:33 PM | by | Comments (2)

With all the perks available to hotel workers (free rooms, free food, celebrity sightings on the reg), you'd think they'd be content with their lot. But Tia McNeill, a Pennsylvania sales manager has proven us wrong. The suspect, who has now been taken into custody, was apparently leveraging her position in the hotel to pocket thousands of rewards points, which she then used to purchase items from a Skymall catalog. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

"McNeill worked at the Renaissance Hotel, part of the Marriott chain, in Tinicum Township as a sales manager until Nov. 24, according to court papers. According to court documents, McNeill allegedly created six fictitious accounts in Marriott's rewards program and logged points into the system. Purchases using those accounts were made between October and December of last year."

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Philly's Four Seasons Taps Their Courtyard for a Beer Week Biergarten

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: One Logan Square [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103
May 16, 2011 at 4:17 PM | by | Comments (0)


The courtyard, pre-biergarten

We have three very inspiring words for you: hotel beer garden. We don't know about you, but just the words "beer garden" inspire us to dress casual-cool, get outside and order a foamy pitcher. Add "hotel" onto that and we're planning a weekend around it—specifically June 6-10 as the Four Seasons Philadelphia plays home base for Philly Beer Week.

Daily from 4pm-8pm during this time, the Four Seasons will transform their al fresco courtyard into a full-fledged beer garden, complete with taps for special and limited-edition brews, like Victory Brewing Company's second annual release of Summer Love Ale.

What's more is that the beer garden will be doing giveaways to those who check in on Foursquare and Facebook Places (of course), and if you're hungry, there's a menu of cookout favorites coming from the Four Seasons' Executive Chef Ralph Gonzalez. Here is the full schedule of goings-on at the hotel, which is just one hotspot for beer guzzling awesomeness during Philly Beer Week.

[Photo: VisitPhilly]

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What's That Smell in the Kitchen at the Fairmont Pittsburgh? Oh, Just Soap

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 510 Market St. [map], Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 15222
April 19, 2011 at 12:32 PM | by | Comments (0)

If you smell something sweet coming from the kitchen of the Fairmont Pittsburgh's Habitat, it may not be edible. The hotel restaurant has started cooking up its own soap for guests.

The housemade signature soaps are all natural, with such ingredients as tallow (rendered beef fat), water, coconut oil, blended vegetable and olive oil, lye and natural aromatic oils. The result is soap bars in scents like oatmeal honey, Earl Grey bergamot, lemongrass pear ginger, rosemary mint and lavender chamomile.

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Pennsylvania To Get Some Vegas Glitz With The Sands Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 77 Sands Boulevard [map], Bethlehem, PA, United States, 18015
March 30, 2011 at 9:01 AM | by | Comments (0)

The Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is finally getting a hotel for its weary gamblers. The Sands Hotel at the Sands Casino Resort will have 300 guestrooms, 16 executive suites and not one, not two but six presidential suites.

Like its glitzy Vegas cousins (The Venetian and The Palazzo), The Sands Hotel will have an Emeril Lagasse restaurant (supposedly a new Italian concept from the chef) and guests will have access to the multiple bars and lounges in the casino.

But unlike its greedy Vegas cousins, the Sands Hotel will have free WiFi. Free. We know, it's hard to believe our good fortune this week. First, the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, now The Sands Hotel in um, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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Inside Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams' 'Robot's Vagina' Sex Room

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1160 First Ave. [map], King of Prussia , PA, United States, 19406
February 22, 2011 at 9:31 AM | by | Comments (0)

In the heartbreaking film Blue Valentine the troubled married couple played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams try to repair their in-tatters marriage by stealing away to a the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge for a romantic weekend. That may have been their first mistake.

A diplomatic Williams described the futuristic room as "trashy" to the Los Angeles Times, but Gosling went all out and said it was more like the "inside of a robot's vagina." Delightful.

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