HotelChatter

Unfortunately, the place was so packed that we had a tough time seeing a lot of the hotel's features. What we did manage to spy: first off, the lobby and public areas are massive. It's a huge change from the W's across the river, whose lobby areas are limited (obviously due to Manhattan space).

Everything in the hotel is slick and beautiful; the front desk was expansive, with fun grass patches flanking the work stations. The staircase just beyond the reception area leads up to the Chandelier Room (the nightclub) and the banquet space, and what is normally the Living Room on the main floor became a ginormous dance floor last night — so we're not sure what that area looks like in normal daylight.

We didn't have a chance to see a room, but we did manage to sneak out onto a terrace between the first and second floors to catch the fabulous view of Manhattan across the river, though a crane sorta ruined our fun.

All in all: the people came. The party was great. The party was jumpin, jumpin in the Jerz. Later in the evening, partygoers were herded into the ballroom to catch a performance from Jamie Foxx — who apparently started off the performance by shouting "Hoboken in the house" before singing "I Got a Woman" and "Blame It (on the Alcohol)" — and there were apparently some other celebrities there, like Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh!) and Pepa, of Salt 'n Pepa fame.

One gripe, though: we were sauntering around with cocktail(s) in hand when we came upon the business center, hidden (no, seriously: hidden) on the second floor next to the ballroom. There were two iMacs and a gigantic fax or copy machine of sorts, and a staffer informed us that the business center charges users by the hour. Um, a tip? If you've got a W in Hoboken, you're probably going to want to do something to lure the business traveling-folk out of Manhattan — charging by the hour in the business center is not the way to do that.