HotelChatter

Celebrity Scoop / Justin Bieber / Chile Hotels / W Hotels / Buenos Aires Hotels / Hotel Mobs / → All Tags

This Is Why You Should Pray Justin Bieber Never Stays at Your Hotel

Imagine going on vacation and having your long-awaited, hard-earned days of rest interrupted by this? That's yet another, in a long list of, crowd of screaming girls hoping to get a glimpse of Justin Bieber at the W Santiago. Except...Justin wasn't even inside!

TMZ reports:

We know Justin decided to stay in Buenos Aires an extra day ... so he wasn't even in Chile when the fans stormed the hotel. According to our sources, the mob scene prompted local authorities to contact Bieber's camp and order him to come to the hotel by helicopter ... because they feared they couldn't control the crowd.

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Boozy B and Bs / Chile Hotels / B and Bs / Wine-Tasting Hotels / → All Tags

Boozy B&B’s: Casa Lapostolle's Residence

Where: Ruta I-50 Camino San Fernando a Pichilemu Km 36, Cunaquito, , Santa Cruz, Chile

We love us some wine travel—the tastings, the food, the activities, and especially the long naps. That’s why it’s important to find just the right place to stay wherever we go wine-tasting in the world, and why HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen fills us in on a boozy B&B he visited on a recent trip to Chile.

Since it’s #WineWednesday, we got to thinking about some of our recent wine adventures including a visit to Chile’s famous Colchagua Valley, where we happened upon a little Relais & Chateaux property at one of the area’s best-known wineries: Casa Lapostolle.

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Snapshot / Boutique Hotels / Santiago Hotels / Chile Hotels / → All Tags

An Alternative to the W Santiago, The Aubrey

Where: 299-317 Constitucion, Santiago, Santiago, Chile

We know, we know, you want photos of the inside of the W Santiago (and we might or might not have some of those, too, so you better be nice to us!), but for now, we wanted to let you in on a secret little boutique hotel we found in the city during our recent stay there: The Aubrey. Here are the vital stats.

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Glamping / HotelChatter Guides / Chile Hotels / Patagonia Hotels / → All Tags

Places To Get Your Glamp On: Patagonia Camp, Chile

Where: Camino Milodon Porteno KM 74, Patagonia, Chile

All this week, we’ll be trekking across the globe with HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen as he tells us about the most exciting new glamping experiences out there. From the savannahs of Africa to the shores of Western Australia to the peaks of Patagonia, this is a full-fledged, five-star adventure to the most thrilling and luxurious camping resorts in the world.

Patagonia. That mysterious and exotic land at the end of the earth. Even the name conjures up the sense of adventure. Few places on earth boast natural settings that are more pristine and awe-inspiring. So naturally, this is one of the natural habitats for glamping.

Today, we’re going to take you to the shores of Lake Toro, near the famous gnarled spires of the Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia to visit a luxury experience like no other: Patagonia Camp.

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Hotel News / Hotel Emergencies / Chile Hotels / Starwood Hotels / → All Tags

Starwood Hotels Remain Open in Chile and Will Waive Cancellation Fees

After Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile, which has caused 708 deaths, according to the Associated Press, Starwood Hotels announced that no guests or employees have been injured as a result.

Starwood's Chilean properties include the Sheraton Santiago Hotel and Convention Center, the San Cristobal Tower, Four Points by Sheraton Santiago, the W Santiago, the Sheraton Miramar Hotel and Convention Center, and the Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles. All of the hotels continue to be open and are tending to their guests.

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W Hotels / South American Hotels / Chile Hotels / → All Tags

Santiago Gets a Touch of W Cool

Where: Isidora Goyenechea 3000, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile

Give us two weeks off and 50,000 frequent flyer miles and we'd high-tail it south of the equator to Chile – especially since the dreary winter season is about to cast its Vitamin D deficient pall upon us until April, at least. Note to self: when it’s winter in the northern hemisphere, it’s always summer somewhere else.

In our Chilean travels, we’ve had our way from Calama to Cape Horn, but have yet to spend more than an overnight and a few in and out flights from Aeropuerto de Santiago in Chile’s fine capital city.

For such excursions, we really dig the Holiday Inn Santiago directly across the street from the airport ticketing gate, but are excited to expand our city wide explorations now that W Hotels has opened its first-ever South American hotel, The W Santiago.

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Hotel Packages / Hotel Deals / Chile Hotels / Ski Hotels / → All Tags

It's Not Too Late to Ski Portillo in Chile

Where: Chile

If we could tame our wanderlust ways, we’d consider holing up in the northern Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama for a good long time. Earlier this year, we traveled everywhere--from Calama to Cape Horn (via the small cruise ship, Mare Australia--and simply could not get enough of the country, the people, and culture of Chile.

What we love best is that, as you know, when it’s summer here, it’s winter there. Depending upon how high the sweat factor’s been this summer (our condolences to Phoenix), we’re betting some of Northern Hemisphere dwellers would happily swap the final few weekends at the lake/river/beach/pool for a flight south of the equator and some last minute summer ski fun.

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Hotel Pools / Chile Hotels / → All Tags

Lovin' the Biggest Pool in the World

Where: Ave. Kennedy 8830, Chile

We did briefly mention last month that the world's largest swimming pool is now officially found in the San Alfonso del Mar Resort in Chile, but given our deep love for hotel pools, we figured it's time to take a closer look, especially since the Guinness Book of World Records decided it was worth looking at, too.

The San Alfonso del Mar Resort, on the southern coast of Chile, spent around $1.5 billion to create this lagoon of a swimming pool, which is a full one kilometer in length. Two neat facts strike us about this pool: hotel guests get to use small boats and kayaks to get around, because the pool is so big, and cleaning is a breeze because they've got technology to clean and recirculate ocean water into the pool.

As for staying at the San Alfonso del Mar, you've got two choices. Either buy a vacation apartment there--some buildings are still under construction--or check their resort website if you read Spanish. Be prepared for a heap of annoying pop-up windows. But keep your eye on the prize--that beautiful pool--and you'll be able to get through 'em.

[Photo: ervega]

Explora Hotels / Chile Hotels / Adventure Hotels / Monica Guy / Cubicle Dreamin' / → All Tags

Cubicle Dreamin': Explora Hotels are an Adventure Playground

Where: Chile

Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.

In this episode, Hotel Maven Monica Guy returns to Chile. Enjoy.

Split the cubicle in half: I'm dreaming of two superb hotels at opposite ends of the longest, skinniest country in the world - Chile.

The Explora Hotel in Atacama and the Explora Hotel in Patagonia are my constant fantasy ever since a stay in the Explora Hotel in Easter Island last month.

Let me gush:

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Chile Hotels / Monica Guy / South America Hotels / → All Tags

Chilean Hotel Scene: Villa del Rio in Valdivia

Where: Av. España 1025, Valdivia, Chile

This week our roaming correspondent, Monica Guy, is giving us the low-down on the Chilean Hotel Scene. Here she checks out a five-star hotel Chilean style. Enjoy.

Some hotels are 5-star for their facilities, some 5-star for their service, some for their location. Some are 5-star because they simply award themselves the title, and nobody knows the difference.

The Hotel Villa del Rio in Valdivia, Chile, fits right into the second and third categories.

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Business Travel Hotels / Anti-View / Chile Hotels / Monica Guy / → All Tags

Chilean Hotel Scene: How Do You Say Anti-View in Spanish?

Where: Av. Vitacura 2610, Las Condes , Santiago, Chile, 6760197

This week our roaming correspondent, Monica Guy, is giving us the low-down on the Chilean Hotel Scene. Here she encounters una vista mal. Enjoy.

Lucky Lorie and Paul Bennett, who found a killer view staring at them out of the window of the businessy Park Plaza Hotel in Santiago, Chile.

We on the other hand spent the night in the Radisson Plaza Santiago Hotel, a similar 160-room 5-star mega-hotel in Santiago's business district.

In their information about the local area, they forgot to mention they're backed right onto a mega-building site which actually seems to create 100 times more dust and noise and pollution than buildings.

If you're lucky, you'll be on the other side of the building, which faces a blank tower block.

How miserable. You're in one of the hottest capitals in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, you have to work (presumably you're here on business, or you wouldn't be staying at the Radisson) and to top it all off, the view out of your hotel window is enough to make you want to top yourself off.

The hotel is fine - standard business-hotel affair, with a piano player tinkling away in the small bar, a small swimming pool and a well-equipped gym on the top floor (at least you can see over the top of the building site) and all the usual knobs and whistles of a Radisson.

Service is sloooooow, and we couldn't get WiFi to work, but apart from that you'll get pretty much what you expect.

Rates are standard business hotel rates, with a bit taken off for Latin America. If you can't pass the bill on to your boss without looking at it, don't bother staying here.

Budget Hotels / Easter Island / Chile Hotels / Monica Guy / → All Tags

Chilean Hotel Scene:: Easter Island on a Budget

Where: Te Pito o Te Henua s/n - Isla de Pascua, Rapa Nui, Chile

This week our roaming correspondent, Monica Guy, is giving us the low-down on the Chilean Hotel Scene. Today, she tells you how to enjoy Easter Island on a budget. Enjoy.

You're all fired up to go to Easter Island and you're desperate to stay in the new luxury Explora Posada de Mike Rapu.

Unfortunately, your bank manager isn't quite so enthusiastic.

The Hotel O'tai is the only place worth staying if you can't afford the rates at the Explora. It's even got a couple of benefits. Unlike the Explora, it's based right in the center of the only town on the island, Hanga Roa. The town's not exactly a heaving metropolis and the nightlife wouldn't win prizes over London's, but it does mean you'll meet other travellers and get closer to the native inhabitants.

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