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Standard LA Charged With Illegally Disposing Of Hazardous Waste
This is what happens when you cut out early for the weekend--a hip hotel gets charged with illegally disposing of hazardous waste.
While Andre Balazs might be the hottest hotelier around these days, something not so pretty was going down at the Standard Downtown LA.
Andre Balazs' hotel management company has been charged with one felony count of disposing hazardous waste without a permit, according to a federal complaint which made the news today. AB Hotels could be fined up to $500,000 if convicted. So what was the hotel doing with the hazardous waste? This:
The complaint alleges that hotel employees poured acid and chlorine down a roof drain beside the hotel pool at The Standard on Jan. 19. The chemicals snaked down to a street-level storm drain, and the fumes caused people to start vomiting at a subway station two blocks away.
"They thought initially it was a terrorist incident," said Johns. "You get a report of chlorine gas in the subway, and everyone starts thinking nerve gas a la Tokyo."
"We are sorry for this employee mistake involving diluted swimming pool chemicals," Nadine Johnson, a spokeswoman for The Standard, said in a statement. "We will continue to assist the government."
The complaint singles out a hotel supervisor who instructed an employee to run water down the drain as he pumped chemicals out of two 50-gallon tanks. The water supposedly was to used to not make the chemicals "so hazardous." Except people started vomiting in the subway. Hotel Hell indeed.
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / AB Hotels / → All Tags
Gearing Up for NY Restaurant Week With The Mercer Kitchen
If there is one place that can get away with sitting you underneath an active sidewalk with the possibility of plaster falling into your food, then it is Mercer Kitchen at The Mercer Hotel. A magnet for hungry hipsters in Soho, Mercer Kitchen owes its fame to the fashion set who regularly make The Mercer their hideout of choice. With Restaurant Week quickly creeping up on New York, we decided to do a little sniffing around the scene by hitting up a Sunday brunch.
Since The Mercer is something of a legend among New York hotels, you can imagine that the room rates are sky-high; think $495 a night for a courtyard-facing room during low season, and an extra $200 if you stay during any of the high fashion holidays (if you can get a room). Luckily the Mercer Kitchen accommodates a more casual and less indulgent crowd. Typical brunch meals, like our goat cheese omelet and roasted potatoes, cost between $10 and $15, or opt for a 3-course prix fixe meal available year-round, at $24 for lunch or $35 for dinner.
For once, the place wasn't packed to the gills for brunch--probably because everyone has reservations for next week--and we were able to scope out a mixture of downtown kids and older tourists. The food didn't blow us away, but at least it's an economical way to bask in the glow of The Mercer and fill up our bellies at the same time.
[Photo: jeffsb*]
Tags: HotelChatter 2008 Awards / Andre Balazs / AB Hotels / → All Tags
All-Star Map :: Andre Balazs' Real and Rumored Hotels
We're very visual people and we assume all hotel geeks are as well — so when we've got a whole bunch of info about hotels in an area, we map 'em all for you so you can see the big picture. We've been all over the maps this year (again with the wordplay!), and it was tough to pick a fave among hits like our Thompson Hotels Map charting the progress of the rapidly-growing chain; our Beijing Olympics Map, our Malibu Beach Hotels map and the definitive guide to the hotels you should hit up in Carmel... but one came out on top for us: hottie hotelier Andre Balazs' Real and Rumored Hotels Map.
We promise we're not just picking this just because we heart Andre (we pink heart him, in fact), but Balazs' hotels — the Standard properties among them — have consistently been the most fun for us to gossip about ... not to mention the board-game-esque rush we get from mapping out all the rumored hotels around Manhattan and separating fact from Page Six column fodder.
Another hotel near the Standard NYC? Or was it just a private club? A Sin City hotel for Sir Balazs? So many questions — and we did our best to dig up the truth. Yup, we did the dirty work (and the mapping!) so you didn't have to. You're welcome, Andre fans.
Tags: Art Basel / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Art / AB Hotels / Standard Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Art Basel Inspires The Standard and The Raleigh's Towel Art
Rejoice: we have found the perfect holiday gift that you can distribute to that artsy sister of yours, your hotel-geek friends and your "practical gifts only" mother. Though today's HotelChatter holiday shopping recommendations were not half as fun to spend time researching as the collection of items we picked out at the HHonors store (they have raincoats for dogs! Come on!), this is still kinda kickass: towel art.
Yeah, that sounds fairly unexciting and likely conjures up images of monkeys and elephants built from cruise-ship towels, but think of it like this: you can wrap your body in art, people. The artwork is printed on the towel.
Tags: Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Deals / AB Hotels / Hotel Bicycles / → All Tags
The Raleigh Hotel Says You Can Be Chic and Green At The Same Time
Surround yourself in art-deco luxury while you pat yourself on the back for being green - and saving some green. The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach is offering a last chance for summer fun rate of $175 (for an ocean view room!), a $20 gas rebate, and use of their bicycles to explore South Beach.
This is seriously your last chance - the rate is good only through September 30. Use the code SUMMER when you book online.
If you can tear yourself away from the pool scene--complete with the waterfall, the bar and the lovely pool attendants and their cool scented towels--you can tool around South Beach without putting out any of those ugly emissions. Bicycling the day away, you'll also work up an appetite for dinner, which you must take under the moon in the Upper Terrace.
By the end of your day biking the beach, sipping martinis by the pool and feasting in the night air, you will no doubt be exhausted, so it's a good thing you can fall into your bed dressed with 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and linen duvet. And while you're in there, you should order the in-room massage. You know you've earned it.
Tags: Andre Balazs / Hampton Hotels / Bloomberg Reviews / AB Hotels / → All Tags
Andre Balazs' Sunset Beach :: Food, Good. Rooms, Not So Much.
Sure, it was a long weekend, full of hurricanes and scandals and blue skies...and journos checking out the allegedly French-style digs on Shelter Island at Andre Balazs's Sunset Beach.
We're pleased to hear that the hotel's food is to die for -- a rave review of the Sunset Beach menu recommends the bouillabaisse and the moule frites, two classic French dishes, bien sur. The writer notes, "With a little help from the Frenchies at the next table, you could almost make believe you're in St. Tropez admiring the Mediterranean."
Interestingly, the writer failed to mention the hotelier's Reserve Sunset Beach Rose.
The terrific food is a plus, but the rooms apparently leave much to be desired.
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Andre Balazs' Dark Secret Wine
Perhaps Andre Balazs is not so ashamed of his "dark secret"--Sunset Beach hotel--after all.
NY Mag reports that the hotelier is going to debut his own private wine label in his hotels--The Andre Balazs Reserve Sunset Beach Rose. Damn, that's a lot of accents.
The grapes are grown near Balazs Sunset Beach Hotel on Shelter Island and processed by Wolffer Estate of Sagaponack. It's a blend of merlot, cabernet, sauvignon, cabernet franc and cahrdonally and Balazs argues that it can challenge any california vino.
Apparently South Fork is the new Napa Valley for Balazs. The bottle will cost somewhere between $40 to $50 and a wine expert sought out by NY Mag said it has whiffs of strawberries and cherries and will be a nice "afternoon summer sipper kind of thing."
Tags: Hotel Fashion / Miami Hotel Mambo / Andre Balazs / AB Hotels / Fashion Week Hotels / → All Tags
Chanel's Cruise Fashion Line Debuts at The Raleigh
Andre Balazs has always been about fashion and art. Where there is Andre Balazs the man (whose ex-wife runs a modeling agency) and Andre Balazs the hotels, there follows models and modelizers. Also, Art Basel parties and Spiegelworld. Now you can add fashion shows to the mix too.
WWD has the scoop on Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld's cruise line last week at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach.
With a lifeguard perched above the Raleigh pool, and double-C logo life preservers and beach balls scattered throughout, the Chanel cruise extravaganza kicked off on Thursday night.
Those expecting Miami Vice pastels or even a touch of Golden Girls were in for a surprise though. Karl Lagerfeld set the mood with an all-black start, from a sleek tuxedo to a slouchy blouse-and-pant combination that was more Paris and New York than some of the world's sunnier locales.
A smattering of fashionistas including actress Diane Krueger and former tennis star Anna Kournikova along with Anna Wintour were on hand to take in the show.
Could the Raleigh be the site of more fashion shows? Possibly. Krueger said, "Everyone associates Miami with the Raleigh's kind of glamour." Let's just hope those models don't eat it on the runway. The wet look is totally out this season.
[Photo: Hello! Magazine]
Tags: Andre Balazs / Hot Hoteliers News / AB Hotels / → All Tags
A Semi-Regular Update on the Always Busy Andre Balazs
We must have been so distracted by the crazy curtains in the windows of the rising Standard Hotel NYC, that we have been neglecting the man behind the hotel himself, Andre Balazs.
Interestingly enough, a bunch of AB-related stuff has come in through our inbox. Here it goes in no particular order of importance:
· Hotel QT Sold: A while back we learned Andre Balazs was looking to ditch some of his hotels from his portfolio. According to our well-connected tipster, AB sold off Hotel QT to a Spanish hotel group. We're also hearing that his partner may have sold some shares in the Standard Hotels to the same company. All this is very real-estate centric so it really won't affect the guests unless AB Hotels stop managing the properties.
· Not Setting a Good "Standard": It seems as if the old-timey residents of the Meat Packing District, including a "disco devotee", aren't so happy with Balazs' Standard NYC project. And we're not just talking about the curtains.
· Balazs Momma's House: This arrived in our inbox. Take it for what you will:
Eva Balazs, the mother of Andre Balazs, lives in a house in Arlington, Massachusetts, that is falling apart.
C'mon Andre, we know you treat your mother better than that, right? Right??
· Who Is He Dating?: We all know that the Andre-Uma love affair is kaput but who is he into now? This random site says he dated Naomi Campbell and Renee "Squishy Face" Zellweger" in 2007. Interesting...but again, who's he dating now? Let us know.
Tags: Hotel Bars / AB Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Andre Balazs / → All Tags
How to Get to the Mercer Hotel's Super Secret Underground Bar
Thanks to Urban Daddy, we now know how to get to Submercer, the previously hard-to-find (and get into) bar at The Mercer Hotel.
Apparently, the place was closed for over five years (at least to the public) but is once again open for business. UD reports:
To get there, pass the Mercer Hotel (no. 147) and enter a little nook in the wall (no. 147 1/2). You'll know you're there when you see two unassuming henchmen hanging out in front of a doorway--just walk on by and enter the industrial freight elevator.
Two floors underground, cruise down a long dark hallway stocked with bathroom supplies, turn left, pass the boiler room and then turn right through a heavy red door. One more hallway filled with wine and the faint sounds of lounge music will lead you to the promised land.
Tags: Hotel Hell / Hotel Theft / Miami Hotel Mambo / AB Hotels / → All Tags
Guard Your iPods at the Raleigh Hotel
We love The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach so we were pretty disheartened to hear from a recent guest who claims their iPod was stolen from their room.
Hotel Maven Texan44 recounts what happened:
Lock all belongings up when you leave the room...
My boyfriend and I had an overall pleasant experience at the hotel besides the event of his new 80G iPod being stolen from the room when we went out for dinner. The hotel staff did nothing other than suggest that we file a police report (what will a police report do for a stolen iPod?).
Tags: AB Hotels / Times Square Hotel Reviews / Manhattan Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Semi-Stream of Conciousness Hotel Review: A Boutique Dorm Hotel
Remember, hotel qt? the glorified scene hostel where you can actually get a hotel room in Manhattan for under $200? Well, we spent the night there recently. We were not lucky enough to pay under $200, however, we did pay $239 in all for our "F" type platform and it lived up to its just-a-step-above a pod room billing.
Egalitarian, to say the least.
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