Tag: California Hotels
View All TagsHotel Delays / Palm Springs Hotels / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / California Hotels / → All Tags
Will the Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage Ever Recover From the '08 Crisis?
This year will be the five-year anniversary of the big crash of 2008, a financial crisis that hit the hotel industry – like so many others – hard. All the hotel openings these days notwithstanding, many a project was scrapped as a result, long before they started breaking ground.
Yet, some others got caught in the middle, stuck in a weird kind of hotel-limbo: well on their way to completion, but without any sight of the moment when the finishing line, and paying guests just beyond, will be reached. Case in point: The Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage.
Gay-Friendly Hotels / Palm Springs Hotels / Party Hotels / Ace Hotels / California Hotels / → All Tags
Palm Springs' New Skylark Hotel Is As Gay As It Gets
If you're familiar with Camp Palm Springs—the clothing-optional resort where guests get super naked for some random meet and greets—then a) shame on you! and b) you should know it's no longer in operation. It's now Skylark Hotel, featuring 28 contemporary rooms, a large pool, shamrock-shaped hot tub and an al fresco bar. Oh, and the cruising is still 24-7 but only clothed (nothing but a jockstrap counts, we think).
You'll notice the gay themes haven't changed much (gay owners, gay clientele, gay staff, gay magazines in rooms) but heteros are welcome. All rooms look out into the central pool area, so whether you're voyeuristic or egotistic, everyone wins. Except uncomfortable heteros.
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Get Salty! Celebrate National Margarita Day
Not only is it Friday, but apparently it’s National Margarita Day, too! Seriously, we think people just make half these celebrations up, but this one we can get with, even though we think margaritas are best served with sunshine and high temps. But no matter, we're good sports.
To honor this "holiday", hotel bars around the country are rolling out their best margs. Naturally some are getting fancy with the fixins, while others refuse to mess with the original recipe--tequila, triple sec and lime.
Here are a few versions that caught our eye and have us chomping at the bit for quittin' time. Although, didn't someone say it's always 5 o'clock somewhere?
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Exhale Spa Now Open at Loews Hollywood
Attention "Mind Body Spa" junkies! Exhale Spa is now officially open at Loews Hollywood (formerly the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel), so Core Fusion fans no longer have to trek to Santa Monica for barre squats. We do love the beach but you can bet we're signing up in Hollywood STAT.
Exhale had a grand opening party on February 13 and we are officially regular customers. The 7,000-square-foot spa has men and women's changing rooms equipped with glass-wall steam rooms, a relaxation lounge with clove-spiced, hot-neck pillows and another lounge with all sorts of munchies and beverages. There are seven therapy rooms (two that have showers), including a couple's room with jacuzzi tub. Clean up them nails in the mani/pedi station and, should you need to cool off, the outdoor swimming pool with cabanas is plunge-worthy.
Exhale means serious business here. As in, they knocked down three hotel rooms to accommodate for their cultish classes (ahem, Core Fusion), so expect that to roll out this summer. In the meantime, get a massage, facial, acupuncture, whatever you need to restore Zen. If you require some inspiration, there's a Buddha statue in the hallway. Namaste!
Rates from $249 a night.
[Photo: Exhale Spa]
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California's Sierra Neveda Lodge Is All Fired Up
The main complaint we've heard/read about the Sierra Nevada Lodge at Mammoth Lakes is that it's a little outdated in its decor, that the rooms are a bit old.
Well, they certainly addressed that comment card with a three-year multi-million dollar renovation, including the new construction of six chalets and 15 fireplace suites. The resort officially "re-opened" on February 1, although it never really closed, and now has a total of 149 rooms.
The chalets (pictured above) are located next door to the lodge and have full kitchens with butcher-block countertops and wood burning fireplaces. We dig the old-school snowshoe lights on the wall -- that's the good kind of "outdated" decor -- and the wood-burning fireplace is a mountain treat that's becoming less and less common thanks to liability and lawyers.
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Five Reasons to Book Granada Hotel in San Luis Obispo
We recently stopped in San Luis Obispo on the California Coast to check out Granada Hotel & Bistro. It's about a three-hour drive from Los Angeles and we just got a sunroof in our car, so we thought, 'why the heck not?'
Thankfully, the place didn't disappoint. This 17-room boutique hotel is industrial chic and quite classy at the same time, housed in an original 1920s exposed-brick building, with the only rooftop patio and lounge in town. Rooms are gussied up with hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, nickle-plate fixtures, Fili d'Oro Italian linens, goose down dive and pillows, four balcony suites and some of the showers double up as steam baths. Fancy!
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New Asian-Themed Menu at Solage Calistoga is OTFC
When we went to Napa last week, we did what anyone visiting Napa would do. We ate. We ate our way through the valley, we ate food with food, food on top of food and quite possibly would have had sex with the food if the opportunity was there. Did we make our point clear? The food here is otherworldly.
But there's just so much steak and pastas and steaks our hearts could take. So imagine our sigh of relief when we parked our extra weight at Solage Calistoga's SolBar.
Don't let the name fool you. "SolBar" might sound like a cafe lounge where hippies congregate for hemp kale crisps but it's actually a Michelin-star rated masterpiece. Like, people drive in from San Francisco to dine here, thanks to easy-on-the-eyes executive chef Brandon Sharp's magic wand (or, uh, spatula).
The sustainably farmed ingredients with a twist on soul food recipes (the fried chicken is TDF) is truly exceptional. But that's not what we're all about right now. The kitchen just introduced a new Asian-inspired lounge menu last month. The culinary team of white people prove they can make some crazy-awesome, fancy Asian cuisine.
Read on to hear a few of our favorites!
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The Hard Rock Palm Springs is Happening, but is It a Good Idea?
If you think you've been hearing a lot about Palm Springs lately, the trend is far from over. It was just announced that the 160-room Hotel Zoso in downtown PS will soon be renovated and re-branded as the Hard Rock Palm Springs.
According to TravelPulse, the Hard Rock Palm Springs is due to offer "a VIP rock star suite; Rock Spa; Body Rock workout facility; the Rock Shop featuring Hard Rock merchandise; myriad dining options, a lobby bar, and outdoor spaces for cocktails and lounging."
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The Saguaro Palm Springs: Bright and Budget Friendly
Welcome to Palm Springs. We hope you like bright colors and sunshine, because that's the specialty of the The Saguaro Palm Springs. This is only the second Saguaro, after the The Saguaro Scottsdale, but it comes from a company with a very large collection of hotels: Joie de Vivre.
The Saguaro Palm Springs opened in February 2012 and used to be a Holiday Inn, a fact immediately evident from the classic, motel-style architecture. Still, one can't help but imagine how Holiday Inn execs would think of the place now—they'd probably regret having lost it! The Saguaro is a cheerful hotel that fills a gap in the Palm Springs hotel scene, for new family- and pet-friendly accommodations of modern design and amenities at a reasonable price.
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There's No Writing On Hotel Abri's Ipad Wall
It's no surprise that Cali is always on the cutting edge when it comes to technology, but even we were stumped when we first heard about Hotel Abri's "iPad wall". We knew it had to be gimmicky in some sort of way, but hopefully helpful, too.
The "wall", which is located in the hotel's lobby, holds five iPads loaded with the latest and best apps out there to help guests tour San Francisco. There's a bunch of best of lists, links to Alcatraz tickets, details on Napa tours, games and more.
Along with the iPad wall, Hotel Abri has a "Tech Menu" for guests who've forgotten important items at home. Need to borrow a phone or laptop charger? They've got it. How about some ear buds, speakers, or a flash drive? Yeah, they've got those for you, too. All for free. Love it so much you want to keep it? They'll sell it to you, no problem.
And of course, your room, with its free 100 Megs of WiFi, will be laced with all the bells and whistles, from the in-room iPod/iPad docking clock radio to the new iPhone 5 adapters (whew!).
Rates at Hotel Abri begin at $279 per night in February.
[Photo: Hotel Abri]
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Coolest Hotel Instagram of The Day Goes To...
...the Beverly Wilshire! The hotel helped Today Show host Savannah Guthrie do her best "Pretty Woman" impersonation outside the property.
No doubt with all those bags she was getting her shopping on in anticipation of the upcoming Oscars. The tv segment can be seen here. http://ow.ly/gNLdP
[Beverly Wilshire, Instagram]
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The First Ever U.S. Legoland Hotel Will Open on April 5
One hotel goes off the list and another one comes on!
Ahoy there, matey's! North America's first Legoland Hotel has just pegged its stateside opening for April 5 at the entrance to the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, California.
Newly released images snapped by Reuters show the lobby of the world's third Lego hotel (there's one in the UK and Denmark) will be staffed by life-sized, Lego-built employees including bell hops and a dragon.
