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Celebrity Magazine Editor Shacks Up at The Mondrian in Scottsdale

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 7353 E. Indian School Road [map], Scottsdale, AZ, United States, 85251

January 16, 2008 at 2:02 PM | 0 Comments

We now present you with our VIP Hotel Reviewer Series in which we hand-pick experts in the travel and media worlds and beyond to tell us what are their favorite hotels and why. Once a week, we'll feature a hotel review from said VIPs about their favorite leisure or business hotels. Pay attention: These VIPs are experts at what they do and they don't mess around when it comes to their hotels.

The next VIP in the series is Jennifer Birn, the society editor of OK! Magazine, who keeps daily updates about her life at her OK! blog Simply Jen. Enjoy.

As Society Editor of OK! Magazine I travel...a lot. Whether it be Cancun for their film festival, Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, Miami for Art Basel, Las Vegas for New Year's, Tahiti to write a travel story or Peru to hike Macchu Picchu, I'm often living out of a suitcase at a hotel.

My next trip is for the Super Bowl, and since this year the big game is back in Arizona, I'm excited that I get to go back to one of my favorite hotels, the Mondrian Hotel Scottsdale.

I lived in Scottsdale during college, and while working at The Arizona Republic afterwards, so I still have a lot of friends there and go back often. Rather than stay at a friend's house, I always insist on having them meet me at the Mondrian- my home away from home in my often frantic world.

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When I was in college (several years ago) the Mondrian was a Holiday Inn! The first time I stayed there a few years ago it was retro boutique hotel The James. It was only last year that the hotel got a complete makeover and became the Mondrian.

Now the lobby is awash in white and reminiscent of the Morgans Hotel Group's other famous hotels like the Shore Club in Miami or Miami's Delano Hotel. And the Patrick McMullan photos on the walls remind me a bit of NYC as does the restaurant, Asia de Cuba, where I frequent for lunches when I'm home.

Unlike the resort/spas that draw many visitors to Scottsdale, The Mondrian caters to a younger, hipper guest who wants to have a little fun while they're in town. Arizona Cardinals star Matt Leinart shuttled friends, including his BFF Nick Lachey, there for a weekend to celebrate his birthday and I once saw the guys from Maroon 5 playing cards poolside.

For those like myself who aren't fans of driving, especially after drinking their pitchers of margaritas by the pool all day (where you can find me if there in August when it's 105 degrees or January when it's in the 60s), the hotel is conveniently situated in the middle of Old Town Scottsdale near the most trendy bars and clubs and a short walk from Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall.

Better, they have the lavish lounge the Red Room on-site and Skybar, where you can sip cocktails while sitting on a couch by the fire - outside under the stars.

For those looking for more of a rejuvenating vacation, you can do what Jamie Lynn Sigler and a few of our friends did when they stayed at the hotel and get massages and spa treatments in a cabana steps from the beds around the pool, work out in the large gym that overlooks the pool or escape to the serenity pool.

If you really want get away, you can melt into the comfy beds and choose one of 60 on-demand movies to watch on the 42-inch plasmas or, like me, just plug your iPod into the iPod docking station and read a book or do yoga on the patio, safely shielded by lots of lush foliage.

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Author Photo: JenniferBirn by JenniferBirn

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