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Tags: NYT Reviews / Istanbul Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
The NYT Wants You to Get Thee to a (Turkish) Nunnery
In this weekend’s travel section, the NYT checked in to Tomtom Suites in Istanbul, a newish 20-suite boutique hotel housed in a restored 1901 building that once was home to French nuns, and decided Hamlet’s infamous slam—“Get thee to a nunnery”—could be the hotel’s “fun-loving invitation” or slogan.
Highlights:“Tomtom Suites addresses the partier’s paradox: how to find a crash pad within striking distance of a night-life district that isn’t overrun by noisy lager louts,” the NYT writes, describing the location as a five-minute walk to nightlife-heavy Istiklal Caddesi. Spacious suites have contemporary touches (wooden floors, “high-tech gadgetry”) injected with “Turkish touches” (hand-painted ceramics, tubular harem-style tasseled cushions). The bathroom has a Philippe Starck-designed bathtub with underwater jets as well as Molton Brown spa toiletries. The top-floor breakfast terrace serves a tasty morning spread.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Buenos Aires Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
NYT Not Particularly Impressed by the cE Hotel de Diseno
There’s nothing quite like a glowing hotel endorsement from the New York Times. And by glowing, we mean flickering like a string of Christmas lights about to expire. That’s the feeling we got reading this week’s Check In, Check Out column, in which a Times-er describes the 28-room cE Hotel de Diseńo in Buenos Aires as “slightly more stylish alternative to the corporate chains.” Sort of ouchy, don’t you agree?
“While the minimalist-cool hotel, which opened in 2005, offers a few sumptuous extras like Jacuzzi hydro-massage tubs in every room,” writes the NYT, “it lacks such basics as a full-service restaurant and closet space readily available in this price range.”
Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Chicago Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Chicago's Raffaello Hotel is Mag Mile Style Without A High Pricetag
Just when we thought that you couldn't get anything better on Chicago's Michigan Avenue than The Peninsula, we stayed at the Raffaello Hotel a mere two blocks away. Whoa—hold up a second—like the Raffaello could ever trump any Peninsula, let alone one that placed in the top hotels as voted by CN Traveler. No way—what we mean is that the Raffaello is smaller, less fussy, more vintage, quieter, and closer by mere steps to some of Michigan Avenue's top attractions.
We were surprised by the Raffaello's innate charm. Like we said during our video tour of the room, the Raffaello is the Chicago 4-star underdog hotel; it's extremely easy to overlook it when it's neighbors with such illustrious and large properties as The Drake, The Westin, The Park Hyatt and The Four Seasons. And those are just within two blocks. But with a king bed room rate that we scored of $139, it's easy to see why one should pay some attention to the boutique Raffaello.
Tags: Green Hotels / Eco-Friendly Hotels / Boutique Hotels / San Diego Hotels / → All Tags
Parisi Is the Little Green Hotel that Could
When you hear about hotels going green, names of the big brands pop up, like Kimpton and The Westin. But little guys are leading the eco charge too, like the Hotel Parisi, inconspicuously tucked away above a Roxy/Quicksilver and a Victoria's Secret in tony La Jolla, California.
One of the 29-room boutique hotel's greenest accomplishments has been becoming the first and only hotel in the San Diego area to offset all of the electricity it consumes with wind power, according to hotel officials. It purchased 294,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits, thereby lessening its carbon footprint. To save more on electricity, the hotel installed a keycard-activated light system, which ensures that the lights are off when guests leave the room to go to the nearby coves.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Beijing Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
NYT Reviews Beijing's Cool 3+1 Bedrooms
We hate to strum our own chord, but usually by the time the New York Times reviews a hotel we’ve already heaped an overgenerous amount of hype on the place, and often have even already checked the place out ourselves firsthand. But we’ve got to hand it to them this week — they reviewed a tiny little spot in Beijing that wasn’t even on our radar.
The Chinese capital city is home to the hyperbolically understated 3+1 Bedrooms, a teensy hotel with just three guestrooms and one suite. “Too intimate to be pretentious,” writes the NYT, with “all the amenities (well, almost all) of a larger boutique property — minus, of course, the scene.”
The highlight: Location? Check: “…in the heart of old Beijing, a stone’s throw from the historic Drum and Bell Towers and a short walk to the shops, bars and cafes of the artsy-hipster Nanluogu Xiang alleyway and picturesque Houhai Lake.” Clean “minimalist’s dream” décor? Check: “more clean than cold.” And the writer’s room was 500 square feet, with “palazzo-height ceilings” and a private terrace lined with bamboo stands. A walk-in shower that feels “big enough to swim in”? Check. Free Wi-Fi? Check. Free mini-bar offerings? Check: Pellegrino, soda and beer.
Tags: Twitter / Paris Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Twitter Real Time Hotel Recommendation in Paris
Those of you that utilize Twitter to its fullest potential realize that the best gems come from real-time conversations with other users (HotelChatter included). Travel aficionados have found a niche in the social networking medium, like maverickwoman, who recently turned to fellow Twitterers for advice in her search for the best "quirky new boutique hotel in Paris." It's always refreshing to receive recommendations that provide an alternative to those ubiquitous Hilton hotels, and user montyhamilton gave a sharp suggestion:
Maybe look @ [Hotels Des Academies Et Arts] I'm staying there in Oct, has a great TripAdvisor rating too.
If you have something to add, throw in your comments below this post, or chime in on Twitter. If it was up to us, we'd be discussing the City of Lights ad infinitum.
Tags: VIP Hotel Reviewer Series / Boston Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Kimberly Murgatroyd / → All Tags
Boston's XV Beacon Hotel Still Passes The Jet Set Test
Once again, Jet Set Life's Kimberly Murgatroyd returns with another VIP Hotel Review. You may recall her last visit to the exotic Belvedere Hotel in Mykonos, Greece. This time she's landed stateside to revisit the XV Beacon Hotel. Enjoy.
Maybe I keep returning to Boston's XV Beacon Hotel because I'm a true New England girl at heart, or maybe it's that XV Beacon just gets what operating a luxury boutique hotel is all about. When you first walk into this, turn-of-the-century federalist meets modern hotel, there is an immediate feeling of warmth and a definite welcoming vibe.
Without a doubt, what makes this hotel so welcoming is the extraordinary staff that has turned anticipating a guests needs into an art form. From the front desk to the chauffeur, the staff could not have made us feel more at home. It's an obvious reflection of outstanding kindness and leadership from the general manager and the hotel's owner. The staff at XV Beacon are the heart and soul of this operation.
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Volunteer For a Day and Get a Free Night at The Curtis or The Nines
Similar to that offer of a 50% refund on your rate that you can score at two D.C. hotels in exchange for community service, a deal from Sage Hospitality (who manages a collection of 52 hotels; lots of Marriotts and a couple of boutiquey properties) is encouraging major community service: if you complete 8 hours of volunteer service "to a registered 501(c)3 non profit organization," you'll receive 50% off the published room rate — and, in some cases (based on availability), a free night.
Sage has The Curtis (the quirky-cool spot in Denver) and The Nines (a perennial HC and NYT fave in Portland), so this 50%-off thing could be pretty serious if you're looking to book at those properties — all the promotional codes are listed here for all participating properties, so you can check to see whether a hotel you've set your sights on happens to be part of Sage and is running this deal.
Before you do your volunteer work, know this: you'll be asked to present a letter from the organization you worked with at check-in that verifies that you volunteered for at least 8 hours, and the volunteer work must have been completed between July 1, 2009 and December 18, 2009. The discount is applied to only one night of your stay (the first one) and the offer is running until December 30th. So get out there and change the world or whatever it is that you do.
Tags: Hotel Services / Hotel Amenities / Chicago Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Chicago's Wit Hotel Has Awesome Wakeup Calls
Okay, so the cutest wakeup call ever would probably be something along the lines of a bunch of kittens nuzzling your face to rouse you gently from your slumber, but this adorably-quirky service from Chicago's new The Wit Hotel comes in a fairly close second. The Chicago Tribune recently stayed at the brand new Chi-town hotel, and was totally lovin' the cute little touches around the room — the "toilet roll comes with a sticker of Rodin's 'The Thinker' affixed," and a warm chocolate chip cookie is handed to you upon check-in — but the feature mentioned that we seemed to dig on the most was probably the wakeup call.
Apparently, The Wit hired a crew of Second City actors to record a bunch of unique wake-up calls from which you can choose the night before: Ann Landers, Harry Caray, or Mayor Richard Daley, for example — but the Tribune Reviewer chose a bit of an intimidating-ish voice to wake up to:
The phone rang.
It was 6 a.m.
"Yes," I said, groggy.
It was the president.
"Enough filibustering!" he shouted.
"OK, but ..."
"Up and at 'em!" he shouted.
"All right, fine!"
On the other end, I heard a dog bark, presumably Bo, the Portuguese water dog. I swung my feet off the bed. "Are you done?" I asked, but the line was already dead.
Cute. Well, scary-cute. Check out the Tribune's full review here, or check it out for yourself: rates at the Wit can be found for as low as $119.
Tags: Paris Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Pink Hotels / → All Tags
Murano Urban Resort in Paris Makes Hot Pink Faux-Fur Look Cool
When a hotel round-up catches our eye that's called coolest hotels in Paris, we usually find the said hotels are actually not that cool. But it looks like we've been proven wrong this time because we are now pretty convinced that the Murano Urban Resort is a truly funky place to stay.
We've already been impressed by the fingerprint entry system for the rooms at the Murano, but there seems to be a lot more. Just for starters, know this: the elevator is lined with hot pink faux-fur! [Ed Note: Hot pink fur is so very Cher Horowitz, no?]
It's also one of those hotels where you can change the lighting to suit your mood (good, if we ever figure out what kind of lighting fits which mood), and the apparently comfortable beds are resting on platforms, which somehow gives us the illusion that we're pretty important people. And the lobby is so funky we might not even get past it to get to our room.
The smallest rooms start at €264 ($365) in July; the "extra large" Murano suite is just a little more at €1,500 ($2,075). Yes, cool costs. But it's cool.
[Photo: SamW_DC]
Tags: Anti-View / San Francisco Hotels / Snapshot / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
The View From Hotel Boheme Is Not a San Francisco Treat
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Does Rice-A-Roni still call itself "The San Francisco Treat?" Because it's welcome to keep that slogan forever, since it certainly doesn't have much competition for that title — well, not from Hotel Boheme in San Francisco, anyway. More accurately, from the hotel's views: a San Francisco treat this is not.
This shot comes from Flickr user Dominus Vobiscum, who uploaded a whole album of interior and view shots of this San Fran hotel. Something like a 10 or 15-minute walk from Union Square, Fishermans Wharf and Chinatown, the hotel (according to some TripAdvisor reviews we read) has "staff that are fantastically helpful" — and one reviewer mentioned complimentary sherry at night (oooh, yes please).
Unfortuntely, this particular room's view totally sucks. Also, the rooms are on the smaller side — or so we seem to be reading over an over on most of these TA reviews — and the hotel has no AC. So hopefully, if you get stuck in this room, whatever that thing is hopefully isn't too loud if you've gotta leave your windows open. Rooms start at $174, and WiFi is free.
[Photo: DominusVobiscum]
Tags: Hotel Openings / Croatia Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Super-Lux For Not So Much? Try Croatia’s Lešić Dimitri Palace
You know the argument about how small a hotel has to be to qualify as boutique? Well here’s one that’ll definitely qualify: Lešić Dimitri Palace on the gorgeous medieval Korčula island in Croatia, which is opening next month, has only six rooms.
We say "rooms," but we can see why the hotel likes to call them "residences" — because even the smallest has a separate sitting area. In fact, the largest has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a living room.
The building was the old bishop’s palace on Korčula — so there are a few creamy stone walls about, and the rest of the decor is simple but classy, giving those cream and greige palettes a workout. Don't confuse that for stark though – it’s themed on the Silk Road (Marco Polo was supposed to have lived on the island), so those plain colours are nicely latticed and patterned.
The hotel reckons it’ll be providing an “extremely high level of personalized service”, and because of the small number of rooms, we’re betting that they won’t be wrong. For a start, they’ve got private yachts (yup, plural) if you fancy floating round the nearby islands. Best of all are the prices. If this is as swish as it sounds, the starting rates of €180 ($248/Ł158) per night sound pretty swell to us. Better hope it lives up to expectations (and if it doesn’t, you can always private yacht it out of there).
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