Blackstone already submitted plans to turn Bahia Mar into Waldorf=Astoria. Conrad is an interesting thought. Maybe taking over an existing property would be easier though.
I can't imagine how unhappy unit owners are now at the former St. Regis.
I was staying next store at the Aruba Resort and Stellaris Casino Resort, but we spent a few days at the pool at the Surf Club because it's so awesome. But yeah, there were some people getting their drink on, but nothing even remotely resembling spring break... Unless you're used to spring break sunday rehabs at the Boca Raton retirement center.
Hopefully, the majority of you out there are still finding ways to travel this summer, despite the high gas prices, the bankrupt airlines and weakening dollar. And if you've been tripping around the world, there's a way you could get something in return for all your travel expenses--like a free three-night stay at a Turks & Caicos hotel.
As we've told you before, HotelChatter has teamed up with Condé Nast Traveler's Michael Kinsley for the Layover Nation Contest where readers like yourself can suggest a layover stop for Kinsley on his trip around the world in September.
If your layover suggestion gets picked for Kinsley's itinerary you could win a Palm Centro Smartphone. And if Kinsley finds your tip to be his absolute favorite, you could win a killer stay at The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos. Can you imagine sunning in the Caribbean at a luxury hotel gratis? Hello, heaven!
All you have to do is enter your suggestion here including the airport, the layover activity, how to get there, how long it will take and why Kinsley should do it. And don't worry, you don't have to be a travel writer or blogger to hand in your description. Simple bullet points can do the trick.
Chalk up another mega-celeb sighting for the Beverly Hills Hotel.Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's hottest soccer export who currently plays for Manchester United was spotted cooling off in the hotel pool.
While TMZ says he was in Hollywood, we would recognize those green-and-white-striped lounge chair cushions anywhere.
The footballer was in town for the ESPY awards, just weeks after his ankle surgery. Ooo...what we would give right now to be those lucky ladies in the pool with him.
Considering a trip to Mexico to cap off your summer vacation? Consider that we are now about to enter hurricane season so there is a chance your idyllic time by the pool could be a bit interrupted.
To prepare for such vacation bummers, The Tesoro Manzanillo resort is offering travelers all-inclusive deluxe accommodations with free travel insurance, rum-based hurricanes at check-in, a large umbrella and waterproof mascara.
But what we might like best about this deal is that it's only $80 per person per night.
Quite possibly the worst hotel in the world is the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. This is not because the hotel is infested with bed bugs, or has crappy service, pay-for-WiFi or outrageous valet parking charges.
Nope, it's the worst hotel in the world because it has been abandoned for over 16 years with construction on the 105-storey pyramid-shaped hotel halted in 1992. It's never even hosted hotel guests. Oh yeah, and it's in North Korea.
Indeed, it's been dubbed "The Hotel of Doom" and the "Phantom Hotel." And if you think it doesn't look so bad, ugh. Check it in Google Earth.
Illegal Hotels in Manhattan have been a problem for a few years now but only recently has the city begun to crackdown on these "hotels" in a major way.
Yesterday, officials arrested Israeli businessman Raziel Ofer, 48, for illegally renting out rooms at swanky addresses (some hotels included) to travelers.
Advertising through his Woogo and Global Hotels Web sites, Ofer would offer the apartments to business travelers and vacationers needing places to stay for a night or a month.
But he never owned a single one of these "hotel" apartments - some of them in actual hotels.
He would sublet them from their owners, who may or may not have been aware he'd use them for transients, said Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau.
What tripped Ofer up was not his failure to get the proper licensing or city approval but his admitted failure to turn over to the city and state some $1.3 million collected in sales taxes from his guests, the DA said.
Ah...yes. Once you cheat the government out of taxes, they will come after you. Some of the hotels Ofer was selling? The Central Park Hotel on West 73rd Street, the Lincoln Center Hotel on West 64th and the Encore Hotel.
New York's grandiose Plaza Hotel is bringing in some equally high-brow retail tenants to solidify its reputation as something special. After luxe British cell phone brand Vertu opened their second US store in the Plaza (the first is in Vegas, natch) at the end of April, the Warren-Tricomi salon followed and then all fell still until recently.
Assouline, the publisher of vellum-inous artsy coffee table tomes, has just opened their first US store inside of the Plaza, overlooking the lobby so that shoppers can look down at everyone else not buying Assouline (and who are probably Taschen fans).
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by juliana
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Hopefully, the majority of you out there are still finding ways to travel this summer, despite the high gas prices, the bankrupt airlines and weakening dollar. And if you've been tripping around the world, there's a way you could get something in return for all your travel expenses--like a free three-night stay at a Turks & Caicos hotel.
