Beijing is opening new hotels left and right just before the Olympics begin and you can now add Doubletree to the list of major hotel chains with vacancy in the host city.
The Doubletree by Hilton Beijing is an upscale, 547-room hotel located between the city's Central Office District and prestigious Financial District along the Southwest 2nd Ring Road in the new Lar Valley International mixed-use business complex.
The hotel is centrally situated within 10 km/6 mi of the historic Dong Cheng District and Tian'anmen Square, the red-walled Forbidden City and Imperial Palace, Beijing Zoo, Panjia Yuan Antique Market and the Temple of Heaven.
Oooooo...you had us at "upscale" so what does that mean for a Doubletree? Well the guestrooms feature contemporary decor (aka boring), high-speed internet and flat screen TVs along with the Sweet Dreams(TM) by Doubletree sleep experience which includes high-quality sheets and lots o' pillows.
The hotel cater will cater mostly to business travelers but does have a Chinese restaurant and they are still at work on a rooftop garden "featuring trees from around the world and a stream that presents a green oasis in the heart of the city."
Oh yeah, and the signature Doubletree Cookie will be served here too.
For a limited time, the Doubletree is celebrating RMB868 per night, about $127USD a night, plus 15 percent service. Advance booking and deposit are required.
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.
·Gramercy Park Hotel Gets Its First Lawsuit: The GPH and others are being sued by a former worker at its Wakiya restaurant who claims she was assaulted by a co-worker and fired for speaking Spanish. [NY Sun]
· Wolfgang Puck at a Doubletree Near You: Wolfgang Puck and Doubletree Hotels have teamed up to offer you the celeb chef's Wolfgang Puck Estate Grown Coffee in every room. [PR-Inside]
· Aloft Now Set for DIA: Aloft Hotels will open up at Denver International Airport next year inside the planned 17-acre Landings at DIA, a retail development. [The Denver Post]
· In-Room Wine Tastings: The Muse Hotel in NYC is now offering in-room wine-tastings in the hotel's private suites. Called "Red, White, and Bubbly", the experience includes wine and champagne tastings and light fare from Chef Patricia Williams. Ovenight stay is required and the program starts at $65/per person. [Muse Hotel]
If it's Doubletree Hotels that really takes your fancy over other chains, then you have to be ready to deck your home out with Doubletree lamps. Because that's about the only Doubletree swag that looks slightly original, although we're not quite sure where their lamp obsession comes from.
The Doubletree at Home online shop has some of the usual suspects: sheets and blankets, and a bunch of not so exciting bathroom accessories. It only comes into its own when you start with the lamps.
The choice is tough: a wooden lamp, the teardrop lamp, even the banker's lamp. They're priced between $150 and $320--the teardrop lamp falls in at the top of the market--and they all look a bit like they just come out of a hotel room. Lamp fetishists only need go shopping here.
Down in Costa Rica the Doubletree Cariari by Hilton San Jose has been open a few months now since its renovations, and now they're trying to drum up some extra business by jumping on the green bandwagon.
We are definitely fans of some green hotel action, but this package from Doubletree Cariari seems a bit misleading. Yes, they call it the Green Getaway package, but that's making us think of environmentally-friendly hotel features and warm fuzzy give-back-to-the-earth thoughts. In fact, the only slightly green thing about this package is it includes a day tour out to a volcano and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. That, and the fact that Yale ranks Costa Rica as the fifth greenest country in the world, apparently.
But apart from this suspicious labeling, the deal sounds nice--you also get a buffet breakfast, access to the fitness center and WiFi in public areas, and it starts at US$199 a night all the way through 31 October. Don't expect to save the rainforest, but you'll probably have an enjoyable vacation.
Hilton is kicking off 2008 with three new properties in Costa Rica, two of which are offering introductory rates of $199.
The Doubletree Resort Puntarenas is actually the refurbished and reflagged Fiesta Resort. The all-inclusive has four restaurants, seven bars, beach access and plenty of entertainment. It's also close enough to national parks to make day trips for hiking and birding easy.
Rooms and public areas at the Doubletree Cariari in San Jose have been spruced up, and the capital city hotel also offers two pools, a pool bar, a fitness center and a casino. Both the Resort and the Cariari will open on January 1.
A few weeks later, the Hilton Papagayo Resort joins the party with rates starting at $539. While that's a bit steep for a hotel in Costa Rica, it's a bit further afield, on a quiet stretch of beach in Guanacaste. While it's secluded, it's not hard to get to: Liberia International Airport is a short 20 minute drive away.
While we expect the design/art/boutique hotels of Miami Beach to host several art exhibitions when Art Basel comes to town next week, who would have thought that the Doubletree Hotel on Collins Ave. would also get in on the game? We just learned from a news report that:
The models captured by fashion photographers Thierry Mugler, Jean-Baptiste Mondino and 18 others replace the usual sunbathers around the palm-lined pool at the oceanfront Doubletree Surfcomber Hotel in Miami Beach Art Photo Expo's "In Fashion '07" exhibit, Dec. 2-9.
The good news? It's just photographs, not actual models hanging around the pool. The bad news? The pool is closed. And you may not feel so hot in that bikini on the beach when you're surrounded by pics of models back at the hotel.
Being a local in Niagara, we try out a new hotel each year on our anniversary. This newer hotel is the best stay we have had in Niagara.
The Doubletree experience was amazing from the start; they give you warm cookies at check-in. The room was spacious, clean and had the best beds I have ever slept on. The hotel has an amazing Aveda spa, and an excellent restaurant - my husband had the lamb, I had the salmon - excellent. There is a really neat little art gallery and a Starbucks. Take it from a local, this is the best option in Niagara.
Ah...those famous Doubletree cookies will win anyone over but we were surprised to hear about an Aveda spa inside a Doubletree. As for the restaurant, that would be the casual dining spot Buchanans. But the hotel also has a little cafe with a funny name--The Moose & Squirrel Coffee & Pub. How very...Canadian?
We have spies all over the hotel industry who like to send various miscellaneous tips--and in some cases, press releases--our way. Some of these are post-worthy, others are not much more than one sentence tid-bits. So here's the latest batch of whispers through the hotel grapevine.
· The Half Moon Resort in Jamaica offers an equestrian program for its guests of all ages and skill levels. You can sign up for day excursions like the Beach Ride ($50) or the Jungle Jaunt ($70) and you can also sign-up for one-on-one lessons.
· In what we consider a pretty smart move, Rome Hilton Cavalieri famous for its Gladiator training program has unveiled two new ones---Jogging with the GM and Kids' Cucina (cooking lessons for kids.) The hotel's GM is a marathon runner and will take guests from the Ponte Milvio and continue along the Lungotevere with a shuttle bus taking the wear back to the hotel at the end of the run. Meanwhile the kids can sign up for the Saturday and Sunday 50 minute cooking classes and learn to cook--what else?--pizza.
· DoubleTree Hotels will be offering up their infamous chocolate chip cookies for free to all those who pass by or stay in a Doubletree on July Fourth from 12:01am to 11:59pm. Don't miss 'em!
· We missed this the other week but someone pointed it our way. Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fare is looking to purchase the Oak Bar in the revamped Plaza Hotel. Elad Properties, the hotel's news owner, has renovated most of the place, turning hotel rooms into private residences. But they have agreed to leave the Grand Ballroom, Palm Court and The Oak Bar intact.
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by juliana
