The boutique dorm room hotel QT has become Room Mate Grace.
After we reported in May that Andre Balazs sold his Hotel QT to Spanish hotel group Room Mate, the place sort of dropped off everyone's radar and we didn't hear much about it.
But thanks to a heads up from Concierge.com we visited the QT's old website today and, lo and behold, the property has become Hotel Grace.
"She" appears to be an actual woman, and all the marketing stuff sort of talks about the property as though she is, like, a person. The website asks you to "discover her":
Room Mate Grace is the stylish solution for the savvy traveler who wishes to experience the sophistication and fun New York has to offer. Room Mate Grace features a unique lobby and event space, complete with an indoor pool, sauna and steam room. The 24 hour kiosk is stocked with everything from the most basic supplies to the most decadent treats.
Um, er, yeah. We're just happy the free WiFi is still there.
Fellas on the other hand, now you can say you went to Manhattan and slept with your buddy's Room Mate, Grace, and not be lying! Ha!
There's something odd about the Altamont Boutique Hotel in Sydney. Their website describes it as being "formerly Sydney's most exclusive boutique hotel."
We're not sure which bit is "former", but it is still a boutique hotel and still in Sydney. However we think what they're trying to hint at is that the building used to be a nightclub with hotel attached and a bunch of celebrities stayed here, apparently including Madonna and the Rolling Stones.
How ironic! Most boutique hotels these days are actually accused of operating like nightclubs with rooms attached (Hollywood Roosevelt circa 2005, several Morgans Hotels, etc.)
In an expensive town like Marbella, a good deal can be hard to find--and we mean that quite literally. While our stay at The Town House was easy on the pockets and the eyes, with its under-$200 room rate and roof top terrace, finding the place was a bit harder.
The nine-room pensión is located off a square inaccessible by car, so it may not be ideal for disabled travelers or travelers with lots of and/or heavy bags. Otherwise, The Town House provides a practically flawless stay.
OK, fine, so Heathrow's not exactly a vacation hot spot, but since its opening last year, the hotel has earned rave reviews from travelers faced with long layovers or early a.m. flights. Often compared to a cabin on a cruise ship, guests profess love for the property's comfy beds, free WiFi, rain shower and accessibility, in that you can book a room for as little as four hours.
As one reviewer put it: "Far better than the transit lounge benches!"
Yesterday we mentioned how when we visited Tarifa, Spain, in preparation for a trip to Tangier Morocco, we stayed at a hostel--certainly not something that made T+L's It List, though it does deserve to be on the list of any budget-minded traveler who appreciates friendly staff, a clean room and a hot shower.
Hostal Alborada offered us a large double room (though with a bit of an anti-view), full bath (all rooms here have full baths), TV and free working WiFi for just $94 per night.
The family-owned operation also houses it's own café, serving up small items like croissants and fresh-squeezed O.J., as well as two clean and sunlight indoor "patio" areas.
The easyHotel South Kensington (damn you, annoying lower-cased brand names) is not close to the shops we adore at Kensington and Hight Street.
In fact, it's a ways off (about 15 minutes) and we say only attempt the walk when the weather's nice in London.
We actually had a chance to go by this hotel and while rooms are cheap at 25 GBP a night, this is still a budget hotel and rooms are notoriously small.
However, the easyHotel gets pretty solid reviews on TripAdvisor. It seems most guests know what they are in for before they arrive.
A few tips: Guests said that rooms with windows are smaller than the ones without. Internet is £5 an hour and watching the telly will cost you another £10 a day. If you want housekeeping, that's £10 per room and extra towels are £1 a piece. So we really wouldn't recommend booking this place for more than two nights.
On the other hand, skimping on the hotel room does leave you more money for shopping in Kensington.
Our inbox just brought word of a recently opened hotel/hostel/lounge in Hamburg, Germany, and we must say that staying in a hostal has never looked like so much fun.
The place is called Superbude, a name we find ourselves partial to for no other reason than that it reminds us of the hilarious "Superbad." Rooms, priced from about $90, come with up to four beds and are spread across six different colored floors. Guests get to choose whether they want to stay on the brown, grey, red, pink, green or blue level.
Amenities include in-room TVs, a Wii sports room, an in-house "private cinema," Skype cordless phone rentals and a Kitchen Club, comprised of three fridges full of food for the paid-taking. However, the best part may just be rooms' individual showers. Turn the loo's red light on to turn it into a discoteque: the mirror, your discoball; the showerhead, your mic.
Problem is, the hostal is so new (it opened April 18) it lacks guest reviews. So, if you've recently stayed here, let us know about it, bathroom concert review optional.
It's been a while since we last took a look at easyHotel, the European lodging chain for the incredibly frugal-minded.
The nearly three-year-old chain now has properties throughout London, as well as Budapest, Basel and Zurich. Its latest hotel opens today in Luton, featuring special opening rates of $39.45.
Before you rush to book that darling rate, remember the adage that "you get what you pay for." In this case, the attractive price at this 58-room hotel in Luton's city center does not include use of a TV, towel changes, Internet access or housekeeping services--all things that require you pony up anywhere between $2 and $20 to use.
It's all part of the master plan by the singularly monikered Stelios, easyHotel's chairman, to appeal to the cost-conscious--fine, we'll just say it: cheap--traveler. With the launch of easyHotel Heathrow later this summer, the company will continue to focus on establishing hotels near airports, with more properties appearing throughout Europe and the Middle East in 2009.
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by Jenna
