Tag: Budget Hotels
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Aloft Costa Rica Won't Cost-a You Too Much
Aloft launches its second Latin American hotel this month with the opening of Aloft San Jose in Escazú, close to the Juan Santamaria airport. Though Aloft Bogota opened last year, this is the company's first location in Costa Rica. The budget, easy-in-easy-out appeal of Aloft must have outweighed its flashier big sister, W when it came time for Starwood to decide which brand to introduce.
A quick TripAdvisor search reveals that until now, Escazú has boasted little in the way of hotels. While Real InterContinental Costa Rica and Marriott San Jose are both viable options (and also both boast killer spa servies) $149/night rates will make Aloft very attractive to cost-conscious travelers.
And all the usual Aloft trimmings (w xyz bar, re:fuel snack station) are here. The website is also showing photos of a "backyard" space with tables and chairs—since we know how much Aloft loves its social butterfly guests...
Budget Hotels / London Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
London Moves Forward With a 600-Room Capsule Hotel In Picadilly Circus
Say cheese!
How much does London like its budget hotels? A lot, we tell you, a lot! Just two weeks after the Malaysian-based, Beatles-loving Tune Hotels announced plans for two new London hotels before the Olympics (and plenty more UK ones on the way), we now have The Economist reporting on a brand new 600-room capsule hotel planned for London's West End. The only catch? None of the rooms will have windows.
The hotel is scheduled to open in 2014 inside the Trocadero, a 450,000 square foot entertainment and shopping complex in Picadilly Circus that at one time housed the Segaworld theme park and Pepsi IMAX cinema. Madonna also apparently shot her Hung Up video there in 2005. Though sadly, neither rollercoasters nor pink leotards will be part of the design.
London Hotel Openings / London Hotels / Hotel Openings / Budget Chic Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
The Z Hotel Soho in London is Easy on the Wallet, Not So Easy On Your Wingspan
Our spies on the ground in London have told us there's yet another new hotel open for us to check out. And fortunately, this one is billing itself as "designer label but without the designer price tag."
The Z Hotel Soho is located off Charing Cross Road, south of the Soho Square Garden, with 85 rooms built around a central courtyard. While the exterior is described as having "classical architectural proportions", the rooms boast a way more contemporary look with 40" flatscreen TVs, glass partitions around the bathroom, iPod docking station which plays through the TV and our fave amenity, free WiFi. For your toiletry whores, they've got Thierry Mugler in the bath.
But don't get too comfortable. At just 8-9 square metres, the rooms are teeny tiny about the same size as the Tune Hotel. In fact, the loo is at the foot of your bed and you may have to watch for the shower head going awry and spraying your bed. But it's not like the hotel doesn't warn you about the cramped quarters. Right on the Z Soho's website it says:
Hotel Hype / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Hotel News / Budget Hotels / European Hotels / → All Tags
Courtyard By Marriott is Courting Europe in a Major Way
Last year, we were tres excited by the opening of the Courtyard By Marriott in Paris as Paris is one of our favorite cities and Courtyard is one of our favorite budgie brands. Starting at 81 euros a night, we don't have to fret about spending all our money on a hotel room, just train rides into the center of town. (And sadly, on WiFi which is not gratis here as it is stateside.)
And it looks like Courtyard is tres excited about being in Europe as well since they are planning on adding 80,000 rooms in Europe by end of 2015. These rooms will also be brand-new room layouts, designed to be a "haven for business travelers" with 42" LCD TVs, ample work spaces, spa-like bathrooms and multiple, accessible outlets.
Downstairs in the lobbies, the European Courtyards will feature a hybrid of dining/meeting/relaxing layouts, very much like what we see in the U.S. right down to the 24-7 market, an all-day Bistro and the interactive GoBoards with the latest news, weather and local information.
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Premier to Welcome a Whopping 3,245 New Rooms to London in the Next Two Years
In a manner quite characteristic of Londoners, we found ourselves getting sulky over recent news that European hotel rates are soaring up, up, away and out of affordable reach. London is regarded one of the world's most expensive destinations, inspiring vague resentment among travelers desperate for a jaunt to the land of Royals and all manner of pies.
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EuroCheapo: Not Strictly Euro But Still Cheapo
The other week we helped out a tech reporter looking for a hotel room under $200 in San Francisco's Union Square.
But if you're in need of a hotel room for even cheaper (like under $100 or even under $50) then consider the ultimate cheap experts--EuroCheapo.com which just launched a San Francisco budget hotel guide. Yes, despite their name EuroCheapo has branched out beyond Europe to New York City (that guide launched a few years ago) and now to EssEff.
All of the 25 recommended hotels (including B&Bs and hostels) in EuroCheapo's San Fran hotel guide are not just wallet-friendly but they've been snuffed out by the site's editors with in-depth write-ups and best of all, their own photos so you can see just exactly what you're getting for your $100 or less.
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Second Time Around, These Delta Shotgun Houses Gave Us The Blues
All this week, Julia Buckley will be taking us down the Blues trail in the Mississippi Delta and giving us the lowdown on the hotel scene. So kick off your blue suede shoes and get comfy.
It’s almost exactly two years since we visited the Mississippi Delta to follow the Blues trail, and we were so entranced by what we found there that we’ve spent the last two years fantasizing about a return. Finally, two weeks ago, we made it out there, and for old time’s sake, we chose the Tallahatchie Flats in lovely little Greenwood as our first stop.
Last time, we adored it – comfy bed, gorgeous setting and, the Flats’ jewel in the crown, their fantastic manager Les. This time, though, we couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, and not just because it turned out Les was no longer chez Tallahatchie (he’s been replaced by an equally nice lady).
No, what bugged us this time was noticing that the cleaning standards had gone down a steep hill. Last time we’d noted that our bathroom sink could have been cleaner; this time, it wasn’t just the streaky sink that was the problem; the toilet didn’t look as it if had been cleaned, the shower almost certainly hadn’t (it had the label off someone’s facecloth on the dirty shelf, and we had to rinse black dirt from the shower tray) and the entire bathroom smelled a little, err, steamy.
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Inside a Single Room at The Rockwell London
It's rough there for a budget traveler heading to London. What are the options? Well, you can go the sketchy hostel route assuming you're still somewhat young, you can try your luck making friends in a pub who'll let you crash on their couch, or you can splurge on a reasonably priced, private hotel room. There aren't a whole lot of options for the latter, but we managed to find one in The Rockwell, a Victorian townhouse turned small hotel.
For 110 GBP or so per night, you get a bed, desk, TV and ensuite bathroom in this cozy place with a stylish lobby and quaint back restaurant and patio. So is it worth it? Let's see...
Hotel Swag / Yotels / Times Square West Hotels / Hotel Design / Manhattan Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
$10 Buys You a Yotel NYC Room If You're Really, Really Small
Well, isn't someone really proud of their hotel room design? That's right; the just-opened Yotel New York is already selling souvenirs of itself, from the banal (water bottles) to the intricate (these mini room models).
For $10, you take home a flat panel of metal, pre-cut to fold into a 3-D model of one of the Yotel's Premium Cabins. It's far cheaper than springing for the real rooms, which begin at $149 per night, but then you can't even fit your big toe in the bed of the mini-room.
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Inside The Ace Hotel in Portland, Oregon
You've heard all about the Ace Hotel New York, we're sure, but what about the other three Ace properties scattered on the west side of the the country? There's just as many people strolling through the lobby thinking they're cooler or more influential than they really are, and there's still rooms chock-full of commissioned art and irreverent items like turntables or vintage furniture.
Thus, while recently in Portland, we hunkered down for two nights in a single room with shared bathroom at the Ace Hotel PDX. The damage? Only $95 per night, which bought us lots of surprising quiet, a desirable location, a hopping restaurant scene and...um, communal workspace.
Snapshot / Hotel Graffiti / Hotel Art / Manhattan Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
Does The Pod Hotel Have Resident Graffiti Artists On The Roof?
As part of a blitz on budget New York last week, we ended up staying in The Pod. And while we liked the room and all (yes it was tiny, and there was some noise from trash collection in the night, but it was spotless and all we needed), what we were most intrigued by was the roof terrace, hidden up a flight of stairs from the 14th floor.
It wasn’t the astroturf that intrigued us, or the plants, or the views of the neighbors’ rooftops; no, it was the fact that the hotel seems to have a couple of resident graffiti artists.
By the looks of things, there’s been someone called Tuse seeing to the doors and the drainpipes, and DR AM taking care of the walls and benches. There’s another tag on the doorway going back into the hotel, but that doesn’t look so professional.
Tuse has also decorated the “fireman’s telephone jack” in the stairwell, too.
Hotel Openings / Bloc Hotels / Birmingham Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags
The New Kid On The Bloc is in Birmingham
There's yet another new hotel chain on the, ahem, "bloc", offering small but high-designed guestrooms--Bloc Hotels.
The first Bloc Hotel has opened in Birmingham, England with 73 rooms all with flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi, soft lighting and Nespresso coffee machines. The rooms look compact, to say the least and remind us a little of Tune Hotels Westminster rooms as well as Yotels Japanese-capsule inspired rooms.
With rooms this small the focus is of course on the bed and Bloc hotels claim to offer the perfect night's sleep by creating the exact temperature and humidity required for maximum Zzzzz’s defined by the Scandinavian sleep institute.
The cheapest rooms cost from £55 a night for a room without a window (yet another feature of the Tune Westminster). Thankfully, there is no talk of add on charges like Tune. While Bloc has a long ways to go before they catch up with Tune or Yotel, they are adding two important new locations soon, Manchester and London. Let's just hope more of these rooms have windows.
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