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'Explorer Passes' Aren't Worth It at The Marriott New York Brooklyn Bridge
Marriot Hotels have been very good lately about alerting us hotel guests to their newest hotel deals and packages via Facebook, Twitter and even the individual Marriott hotels' websites. However, just because Marriott advertises it as a deal doesn't necessarily mean it's a good one. The other week we expressed some disappointment with a New Orleans package which, based on its marketing and pricing, made less than zero sense.
Now it's the Explore Your New York package deal from the New York Marriott At The Brooklyn Bridge. Room rates range from $274-$524 per room, per night, plus tax. The ostensible bonus is that rooms come bundled with two Explorer Passes that have three discount coupons for 40 different shops, tours, or attractions. Breakfast for two is also thrown in.
We'll get into the mechanics of this non-deal after the jump, but before we highlight the specifics: there's no way this is ever going to be a deal. The rules never change. Deeply discounted resorts and cruises are sometimes bargains because you're purchasing a unique experience. Not so much hotels in major cities, which are functionally interchangeable. Tourist coupon books are worse than useless, locking you into events for which you'd be better off picking and choosing deals.
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Construction / Budget Hotels / New York City Hotels / Best Western Hotels / Hyatt Place / → All Tags
No Sleep Til There Are More Budget Hotels in Brooklyn
We know NYC room rates are dropping. But when you really want to do up the Big Apple on a budget, we've been telling you to take a second look at Brooklyn. We consider ourselves sorta like Brooklyn cheerleaders here at HC; we've already profiled the Five Best Hotels for Those Willing to Go to Brooklyn — and we're happy to tell you over and over just how easy it is to hop on a subway to roll a few stops into Manhattan. Heck, we promise you: it's even easy to hail a 2 a.m. cab back to the ol' BK after you've indulged in a few too many swanky Manhattan hotel cocktails. Really!
And apparently The Borough of Trees is really hoping we do our Brooklyn cheerleading job well: they're adding even more hotel rooms out there. The Daily Eagle is reporting that a Hyatt Place Hotel and a Best Western are on their way to Downtown Brooklyn.
Tags: Hotel News Briefs / Hotel Woes / Edition Hotels / Brooklyn Hotels / Spain Hotels / → All Tags
Are Brad and Angelina the Only People Who Can Afford To Travel These Days?
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Travel CEOs Talk Back to the Economy: Big honchos at hotels and booking sites are mad as hell about how the economy is affecting travel and warn against "travel boycotts." This we totally get. As a travel blog we want folks to keep on exploring! But if you've been laid-off, is it really prudent to take a vacation? Similarly, if you've just been bailed out by the American people is it really prudent to send your employees on an all-expense paid trip to a five-star resort? And out of curiosity, is Brangelina hiring for a new nanny? [Reuters]
· What Happens When Britons Stop Visiting Spain: Some of you have complained about vacationing in Spain only to find the beaches and bars were packed with Brits but those lovable wankers are a very important lifeline to the country's economy. [Reuters]
· Hotels Don't Grow in Brooklyn: We had high hopes for Brooklyn's burgeoning hotel scene but the economy has effectively smacked down that hotel dream. [Curbed]
· Wishin' on Edition: We're hearing rumblings that the DC Edition is not looking very likely at all. Thanks economy! Thanks for making us wait even longer for the Marriott-Schrager lovechild. Is nothing reliable in this world?
· Finally, Some Good News!: Drug charges against Lil Wayne stemming from an arrest at the Twelve Hotel in Atlanta have been dismissed! [Hollyscoop]
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / NYT Reviews / → All Tags
NYT Retreats to Brooklyn to Check Out the Nu Hotel
We know it’s unflattering to be too smug, but we could have saved the New York Times the hassle of retreating to Brooklyn — if only they had read our coverage of the outer borough’s Nu Hotel.
But alas, such was not the case, and this past weekend the NYT checked in to the downtown Brooklyn boutique hotel, which you might remember opened last August. The experience produced obvious results (well, obvious if you’ve been eyeing the place as closely as we have been): bright, modern rooms; cork floors and hammocks (in three of the rooms); views of the Brooklyn House of Detention across the street; a fantastic location but noisy traffic from Atlantic Avenue.
Tags: Halloween Hotels / Hotel Openings / Brooklyn Hotels / Christina Aguilera / HotelsDotCom / → All Tags
Hotel News Briefs :: Wanna Stay Someplace Deadly?
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Deadly Hotels: Concierge goes grisly for their Halloween Hotel special, rounding up the hotel's with the deadliest past. Gulp. [Concierge]
· Nu Hotel Still Suffering from Bus Exhaust: Not only does the Nu Hotel guests have to see prisoners across the street, they also have to inhale bus exhaust. [Observer]
· Jumeirah Brand Expands to Glasgow: If you like the Jumeriah Hotel in London, you can stay at one in Glasgow too. It will open in 2011. [BBC]
· Xtina Checks Into Celeb Meltdown Hotel: We hope Christina Aguilera knows what she's getting into by shacking up for a few nights at the Dorchester Hotel. Celebs go kinda nuts here. [XtinaWeb]
· Hotels.com Improves iPhone Application?: While we bagged on the Hotels.com first foray into iPhone apps, this blogger thinks it's gotten better. [Geeky Traveller]
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / New York City Hotels / Hotel Openings / TripAdvisor / → All Tags
Checking In On Brooklyn's Nu Hotel :: Big, Clean, White and Bright
We listed Brooklyn's Nu Hotel as one of the top five hotels in Brooklyn and ever since it opened, we have felt like it could be a place we wouldn't mind stashing our visiting parents, whether we lived in Manhattan or right around the corner.
Since our parents (or friends) haven't had a chance to check it out for themselves -- hammocks in the rooms and all -- we dropped into TripAdvisor to see what reviewers had to say.
Feedback was mostly positive -- a couple "teething problems," but nothing out of the ordinary for any recently-opened hotel. But what really jumped out to us were the number of reviewers who commented on the differences between Manhattan hotels and the Nu: Nu's rooms are apparently bigger, brighter and cheaper than their counterparts over the bridge.
A couple of our fave comments after the jump.
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The Five Best Hotels for Those Not Afraid to Go to Brooklyn
You may not know it, but part of HotelChatter HQ happens to be located in Brooklyn, NY. And if you were, say, heading to NYC for a big-city visit, we'd be quick to recommend our 'hood instead of that busier, slightly more stressful borough over the bridge (don't be scared! Brooklyn kicks ass!) But hey, we'll be the first to break the news to you: hotels are pretty hard to come by 'round these parts.
But we're here for you. You're gonna be tired when you get here (you know, cause "no sleep 'til Brooklyn" and all) so we'll get right to it: after the jump, our five fave Brooklyn hotels.
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Construction / → All Tags
Brooklyn Hotel Boom :: Maybe Not So Much
Curbed pointed us to a kinda sorta sad story about the Brooklyn hotel boom turning out to be, uh, notsomuch a hotel boom at all. Those 5000 hotel rooms on the way? Nopers! They summed it up:
A Post report claims that of the 5,000 new hotel rooms planned for Brooklyn, more than half may never see their first check-in. According to an industry expert, of the roughly 25 Brooklyn hotels in the pipeline, many planned for Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg, only seven will be completed within the next three years. That's a total of about 2,000 hotel rooms, which would still significantly increase the borough's current tally of 1,200.
Gene Kaufman may be screwed now -- he had a bunch of projects in the works. But maybe we shouldn't be so sympathetic -- a Curbed commenter left a note saying that he's "one of the most talentless and unlikable people [he's] ever had the displeasure of working with." So -- eh!
Tags: Hotel News Briefs / TV Set Hotels / Hotel Crime / Brooklyn Hotels / Olympics 2008 Hotels / W Hotels / Hotel Cocktails / → All Tags
Hotel News Briefs :: Can You Tell Me How To Get to The Sesame Street Hotel in Gowanus?
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Gowanus's New Hotel Looks Like Sesame Street: Brooklyn's newest hotel looks like something from Sesame Street. Does anyone see Oscar's garbage can? We do! [Brownstoner]
· They're All Gonna Spy on You!: Beware guests staying in foreign hotels in Beijing. The Chinese government will spy on you, so says a Republican senator. But the U.S. State Department backs him up saying hotel rooms will be monitored. Hmm...we don't want to go to the Olympics that badly. [AFP]
· More Honeymooner Sadness: The husband of a honeymooning couple in Antigua who was shot by robbers has been declared brain-dead. His wife died instantly when shot in the head. [Telegraph]
· Hotel History: Do you love the TV Show Mad Men? This blog is looking at all of the historical spots mentioned in the episodes. Check out the Savoy-Plaza Hotel. [AMC TV]
· W Dallas Lowers Its Drink Prices: A sure sign a recession is here? The W Hotel has lowered its cocktail prices in Dallas. Specialty cocktails are $9 from 4:59 to 6:59 p.m., and small plates are half off. [QuickDFW.com]
Tags: New York City Hotels / Brooklyn Hotels / → All Tags
RoomMate Hipster is Way Cheaper Than RoomMate Grace
NYC's RoomMate Grace Hotel (formerly the Hotel QT) had her dorm-sized rooms going for $349 a night on Quikbook last time we checked. Pass.
Luckily, for those of us who happen to be down with the dorm-style hotel thing, we've got another NYC option in that lovely alterna-trendy Williamsburg/Bushwick area of Brooklyn.
And it's $29.99 a night. How do you like that, RoomMate Grace?
Take the L train (natch) down to the New York Loft Hostel on Varet St. where you can live like the kids these days and stake out a bunk bed in a big, shiny room full of cheap hip young things.
RoomMate Hipster (ha! We're so funny) offers three choices: a 14-bed female room, a 20-bed male room, or a 22-bed mixed room. And even though this is technically a hostel, the beds and floors are all as shiny and new as your fellow guests' 3G iPhones. For now.
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / New York Times / → All Tags
Brooklyn Hotels Safe from Weekend Power Outages
Things got unpleasantly steamy in four parts of Brooklyn yesterday - Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park and Park Slope - when 4 "big feeders" malfunctioned and knocked out power to 2,000 Brooklyn residents and businesses. And it was hot. Like, really hot.
Con Ed reduced voltage in the area by 8 percent to keep the power failure from spreading, so for those who still had power, "television sets flickered, washing machines halted midcycle and fan blades turned at lower-than-usual speeds all day."
So what about the hotels in the area?
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / New York Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags
Brooklyn's "Nu"-est Hotel Gets Thumbs Up From Neighborhood Blog
The Brownstoner blog checked out Brooklyn's newest hotel, The Nu Hotel, and was "positively surprised" by what they saw.
They didn't try to get too cute with the design, keeping it light and modern, made the room sizes decent (helped by the fact that the building was originally designed as a condo) and priced it right; it's also in the best location of any hotel in the borough that we can think of, with Smith Street at its doorstep.
Speaking of pricing, the introductory room rates are so reasonable, at $199 during the week and $149 on the weekends. Let's just hope this hotel wisely chooses to forgo obnoxious gaming advertecture.
[Photo: Brownstoner]
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