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Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Sweet Suite / Hotel Penthouses / Extended Stay Hotels / → All Tags

Fifty Cent and Ciara Kick It in AKA New York's Penthouse

Where: 123 west 44th st [map], New York, NY, United States, 10036

And now we know of three people who have stayed at an AKA Extended Stay hotel (so many celebs grabbing headlines from their stays at AKA these days!): Page Six is reporting today that the AKA Times Square, the ultra-luxe extended-stay property in Manhattan, may have been the birthplace of a hip-hop power couple as badass and song-worthy as Beyonce and Jay-Z.

From the NY Post:

Could this be the start of a match made in hip-hop heaven? A source tells us rapper 50 Cent and Ciara recently shacked up together for a night in one of the penthouse suites at the AKA Times Square Hotel & Residences on West 44th Street. "And there was only one bed in that penthouse," our source observed.

In all fairness, there is more than one penthouse at that property, and they can have both one or two-bedroom layouts depending on which one they chose. And um, in case you want to live out a romantic evening a la Fiddy and Ciara: rates for a one-bedroom penthouse start at $2,995, and we're assuming the security here is a little better than at the Philly AKA property.

Tags: Palihouse Hotels / Avi Brosh / Hotel Openings / Extended Stay Hotels / Hotel Video Tours / → All Tags

Inside the Palihouse Holloway

Where: 8465 Holloway Boulevard [map], Los Angeles, ca, United States, 90069

Yesterday, we gave you a sneak peek of the newly opened Palihouse Hotel in West Hollywood--a new twist on the extended-stay concept from hotelier Avi Brosh.

Now feast your eyes on this. This is a video tour of the corner suite on the 2nd floor, overlooking Santa Monica Boulevard and our favorite hangout spot, Barney's Beanery. But even if this room was mired in anti-views, we would still have lots to make us happy.

Check-out that kitchen! And the sitting area! And the bed! Don't forget the C.O. Bigelow bath products! Or the washer and dryer! (Ok, that bit you can't see as it's hidden.)

We know we sound overly excited about this place but since we see a lot of hotels for this gig, this is one of the few urban properties in recent memory that has made us giddy.

More visual treats after the jump.

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Tags: Palihouse Hotels / Avi Brosh / Hotel Openings / Extended Stay Hotels / → All Tags

Welcome to the Palihouse Holloway

Where: 8465 Holloway Boulevard [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

Click here to see upclose.

The other day we were able to tour the just-opened Palihouse West Hollywood, a new concept in extended-stay from hotelier Avi Brosh, the man behind the Custom Hotel.

We actually don't want to call this place an extended-stay hotel because it's just way too cool for that sort of corporate terminology.

Essentially, Brosh took all that he liked about independent boutique hotels (like the Mercer, the Bowery, THOR and UK's Firmdale hotels) and mashed them together with his own little twist. For instance, he's hand-picked every item in all the rooms and public spaces and he and his team custom-designed the furniture.

This here is the reception area which is tucked off to the side when one first enters the building. Already, you can see this place is very different from any other extended-stay brand.

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Tags: Hilton Hotels / Hilton Homewood Hotels / Hotel News / Extended Stay Hotels / → All Tags

Choose Your Room at Hilton Homewood

We're pretty used to selecting our own seat on an aircraft, especially if we check in online. So being able to select our own hotel room from a birds-eye-view layout seems like a logical next step, and something we think could be really cool.

Hilton's brand of extended-stay accommodation, Hilton Homewood, claims to have premiered the Suite Selection system. You can check in online and see a floor plan of the hotel, including an indication of the rooms available to you. The map also shows the amenities of the hotel like the pool or the elevators, as well as shops and streets surrounding the hotel. You can click on your room of choice and have it guaranteed for when you show up in person.

So what are the advantages of being able to choose your own room? According to Hilton, choosing an east or west facing room depending upon the guest's preference for being woken up by streaming sunshine or not is one of the reasons they've implemented this system. Or of course if you prefer to be near the elevator, or want a room near the pool. Kind of nice to know they care.

Related Stories:
· Choose A Room Like An Airplane Seat [Budget Travel]
· Hilton Hotels Coverage [HotelChatter]

Tags: hotel news / extended stay hotels / Holiday Inns / Staybridge Suites / → All Tags

Mid-Range Hotel Execs: Good Customer Service Costs Too Much

[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel takes a look at how the hotel industry's bean counters figure out when extra bodies are worth it--and when you're on your own.]

Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an enlightening story on how finance executives decide whether it's worth it or not to have more people on staff for customer service. At Starbucks it pays to have an ample staff (because the most free-spending customers hate waiting). Apparently at Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites hotels, it does not. ""Bellmen they have no use for," Holiday Inn President Mark Snyder says of the people who stay at the midscale chain's hotels. "Why would I invest in bellmen at the doors for people who've already dragged their bags through three airports themselves?"

If you have stayed at a Staybridge Suites, you may have been pleasantly surprised by the free food and drinks at the mid-week "Sundowner Reception." It's not done just to be nice: executives say it takes guests minds off the lack of service. "Housekeeping does a full room cleaning just once a week, and the front desk usually has no more than one or two people staffing it."

During their limited interactions, employees are also supposed to chat it up with guests.

"A lot of our guests really want that personal interaction -- the thing they get from home that they'd like to get from a hotel," says Rob Radomski, the vice president of brand management for Staybridge Suites. "There's conversations between guests and staff about projects they're working on, and their family back home, and the kid, the dog."

So, it's totally cool if housekeeping can't do a full room clean before we check-in, just as long as we can have a nice heart-to-heart about it.

Image via Vladka/Flickr

Related Stories:
· Good customer service costs money; some expenses are worth it, and some aren't [WSJ via Post-Gazette]