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Hotel Openings / Frankfurt Hotels / Airport Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Hilton Garden Inns / → All Tags

Now Arriving at Frankfurt Airport: Two Fresh Hilton Hotels

Finally finally Frankfurt Airport has more hotels to offer than the Sheraton with the horrible internet situation. Both the Hilton Frankfurt Airport and Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport debuted yesterday, though this December opening date is a long delay from March, when they originally planned on polishing the door handles.

Whatever. We're just happy we don't have to stay in that Sheraton again.

So, what does the duo of Hiltons have to offer? First off, they're in a striking new building with an odd name— the "Squaire." It's connected to the airport via walkways, but it's got far more going for it than that; this is a mega center with restaurants, shops, landscaped atriums and—the real clincher—a major transit hub on its ground level. Zipping below your hotel rooms are 185 daily high-speed rail links across Europe.

That's our most favorite feature—its convenient location to both the airport and the German ICE trains—but our second favorite is the promise of Free WiFi at the Garden Inn, and more:

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Hotel Beds / Hilton Garden Inns / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

Hilton Garden Inn's Bed Dials Just Need Some Time to Relax

Last week we learned about the bed dials at Hilton Garden Inn which are a part of the brand's new Garden Sleep System. While our Flickr pool member BNilsen thought the dials were "useless" a rep from Hilton Garden Inn tells us that the dials just need some time to adjust to your body.

When a guest turns the dial, it takes 2 ½ - 5 minutes for the bed to adjust, so you won’t feel the change immediately. But, the pressure relief you feel on your hips will be felt. Plus, the bed will never be “springy”—it’s not a spring mattress, so it will feel different. Essentially, it takes time for the baffles to self-adjust to the guest’s unique weight and shape.

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Hotel Beds / Hilton Garden Inns / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

What are These 'Useless' Dials on The Beds at Hilton Garden Inn?

Yesterday as we were bemoaning the anti-view from the Hilton Garden Inn we noticed that Flickr member BNilsen also dropped in a shot of an interesting looking dial on the side of the bed. Ever curious, we skipped over to the Hilton Garden Inn website to find out more.

It turns out this dial is just one part of the Garden Sleep System that's installed in most every Hilton Garden Inn. The "revolutionary" bed is created from a system of something called air baffles along with oxymoronic-sounding flexible wooden slats. The bed is supposed to contour to your body by "displacing air based upon your weight and shape."

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Anti-View / Hilton Hotels / Hilton Garden Inns / → All Tags

The Trade-off of Staying at a Hilton Garden Inn for Its Free WiFi

Where: 85 Glastonbury Boulevard [map], Glastonbury, CT, United States, 06033

You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.

While the internet charges at Hilton Hotels vary in price, you can usually count on their budget brand, Hilton Garden Inn, to offer up free WiFi. But the tradeoff? This anti-view from your room. Yeah, and the snow piles aren't doing much to help.

HotelChatter Flickr member Bnilsen dropped this in our Flickr pool last month and while we don't expect much from a suburban budget brand hotel, this view still put us in funk.

And the scene looking in wasn't that much better either.

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Hotel Surveys / JD Power / Hotel News / Omni Hotels / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / Aloft Hotels / Microtel Inns / Drury Hotels / Hilton Garden Inns / → All Tags

No Brainer: Low Room Rates Equals Happy Hotel Guests

We got this room at the Affinia Chicago for $159 a night. And we liked it!

A new report released by J.D. Power & Associates says hotel guests are more satisfied this year with their hotel stays and hoteliers have reasonable room rates to thank for that.

Because of the recession, hotels have had to drop room rates and as we've known here at HotelChatter for quite some time, when we get good deals on rooms, we're happier guests. Also thanks to the recession, hotels have had lower occupancy levels so more guests have gotten room upgrades at check-in. J.D. Powers' Mark Schwartz told the LA Times:

“If occupancy is lower, we find satisfaction with the speed of check-in is higher,” he said. “Guests are spending less time in line, are less likely to face overbooking and are more likely to be able to get an upgrade because more rooms are available.”

And guests are probably happier because hotels are rolling out all sorts of new amenities and services to keep them happy, from free WiFi to wine-tastings to cool in-room technology and upgraded lobby cafes.

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DC Hotels / Olympics Hotels / Curling / Hilton Garden Inns / → All Tags

Hilton Garden Inn in DC Kicks Off Curling Expo Today (Yes, Curling!)

Where: 815 14th Street NW [map], Washington, DC, United States, 20005

Looking to get your curling on this weekend? No, not hair curling. Real curling, the Olympic sport where people throw a kettle down a sheet of ice and start sweeping up immediately after it.

Ok, so maybe that isn't the most technical way to describe curling but if you are curious about this sport and want to learn how to play it, pop into the Hilton Garden Inn at 14th and I streets NW in Washington DC where the hotel will be hosting a three-day curling exposition.

This particular hotel is actually the official hotel of the US Curling Association and the hotel's general manager (a curling fanatic) has gone to great lengths to get the curling expo set up at the hotel, including making a few trips to Canada. But he still needed the help of others. The Washington Post reports:

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Green Hotels / Travelocity / Kimpton Hotels / Hilton Garden Inns / Element Hotels / → All Tags

Travelocity Keeps Tabs on Hotels Keen to be Green

Finally collecting the world's sustainable hotel properties and top eco destinations into one list, Travelocity has launched the Green Directory with the aim of connecting travelers to "options that will help to diminish the footprint their trips leave on the planet."

All we can say is that it's about time a popular booking engine drew attention to these properties working to improve and innovate. Showcasing approximately 250 environmentally responsible hotels on the international list, Travelocity points out some obvious choices like the LEED platinum Proximity Hotel and Element Hotels while surprising us by including affordable chains like Hilton Garden Inn and Kimpton Hotels. The list includes properties doing more than just planting saplings, but serving organic and local cuisine, reducing water usage, recycling, and even going so far as carbon neutrality.

Matching the dedication of these hotels is Travelocity itself as they have joined in the talks for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria; this means that one day, hotels hoping for the "earth-friendly" label will have to run through Travelocity's eco-gamut first. The Green Directory may be one small step for hospitality, but it's totally one giant leap for the "greenvolution."

[Fairmont St. Andrews photo: Travelocity]

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Hilton Garden Inn Trains Employees Via PSP Game

Okay, so we're not sure whether this is some sort of comprehensive official training program or just something that supplements training programs to add a little bit of fun and dorky excitement, but Hilton Garden Inn has designed a PSP game for employees called "Ultimate Team Play" (officially, the name of the game is supposed to be in all caps — if that gives any indication of how intense and serious this game is meant to be).

Via Kotaku, the official description:

ULTIMATE TEAM PLAY puts the player in control of key Hilton Garden Inn hotel roles including front desk, housekeeping, maintenance and food service. As players roam the virtual hotel they interact with guests as they would in the real world seeking to perform their jobs in specific ways to improve customer service scores using a unique scoring system that drives all brand service assessment for hotels that are part of Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Yeah. It's no Halo or Call of Duty or whatever, but surely someone out there is into this, right? And it probably beats scavenger hunts and pop quizzes during formal training.

Some gamers, however, see a bit more potential for excitement in the game and have delicately inquired over at CityPages about whether a somewhat notorious incident at HGI Minneapolis that involved some sort of employee orgy happens to be incorporated into the game anywhere. How lovely. Um, we don't think that's what they mean by "team play."

[Photo: Matthew J. Stinson]

Hilton Garden Inns / Russia Hotels / → All Tags

Hilton Garden Inns Expands Into Russia, They Pick Perm

Where: Mira Street 45 B, Perm, Russian Federation, 614022

Russia's sixth biggest city, Perm, may not be too famous yet, but it is at least notable for being the first Russian city to get a Hilton Garden Inn. Perm is 700 miles east of Moscow and is an important city industrially with lots of rail and shipping links; it's also on the famous Trans-Siberian railway route.

Incredibly, they say that the city of Perm and its one million people have been served by only 500 hotel rooms in the whole city until the Hilton Garden Inn Perm opened, so it certainly sounds like it was needed. The Hilton brand--not just their Garden Inns, but standard Hilton and Doubletree hotels too--is focusing on Russia as a growth region and we reckon they're pretty on target with that.

Perm's Hilton Garden Inn has 102 rooms and all the Hilton Garden Inn stuff we like, and it's got free WiFi too in guest rooms and other areas. Room rates begin at RUB 2900 (US$115) a night. Doesn't sound like much but it's probably a fair bit pricier than the other 500 rooms in Perm.

[Photo of Perm Station: musatych]

Hilton Garden Inns / Costa Rica Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Airport Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Hilton Garden Inn Lands in Costa Rica

Where: Costa Rica

We love Hilton Garden Inns. The experiences we've had with most of the new HGI's over the last couple of years -- the big, fluffy beds, the flatscreens and the overall chic look of the newer properties -- always makes us feel clean and comfortable no matter where we are.

Now, some people may frown upon flying outside of your home country and staying at an American big-box chain hotel the same way they may frown upon an American forgoing the local cuisine to stop into McDonald's while abroad, but we'd totally consider staying in an HGI wherever we went because they're clean and consistent and affordable and just nice.

Needless to say, we were happy to hear the brand has spread -- finally -- to Central America. Hilton Garden Inn just announced news of their first property in Costa Rica, to be located near the Liberia International Airport ("the gateway to Guanacaste, Costa Rica") with 169 guest rooms and 10 suites We were told the hotel would be completed in Fall 2008, but the website is currently only accepting reservations for January 1st 2009 and beyond -- just to be on the safe side, maybe? And no, we won't judge you if you book a room there instead of opting for a hotel with more colorful local flavor. We get it.

Hotel Breakfasts / Celebrity Scoop / Hilton Garden Inns / Top Chef / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags

Top Chef's CJ Cooks Up Healthy New Breakfast Menu for Hilton Garden Inn

Where: United States

Faithful Top Chef viewers (or dedicated Padma Lakshmi oglers) may remember CJ (Chris Jacobson) as the absurdly tall, absurdly handsome Season 3 chef who -- spoiler! -- was doing really well in the competition until a particularly disastrous "broccolini" dish sent him packing. Of course, his departure was sealed with a kiss by guest judge Anthony Bourdain, who went through the trouble of gently letting CJ know that his dish "wasn't fit to serve in prison."

But still, we know in our heart of hearts that our big tall kitchen-man is an all-star chef when broccoli isn't involved -- and CJ, who was also a pro volleyball player, definitely knows healthy food.

Apparently, the Hilton Garden Inn chain agrees with us because they commissioned him to design some items for their brand new Big Day Breakfast Menu. Ahem, sorry: "BIG DAY Breakfast" Menu.

Check out highlights from the new menu after the jump. Hint: there does not appear to be any broccoli, but there IS brisket.

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Homewood Suites / Hilton Garden Inns / Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Hilton's Homewood Suites and Garden Inn Coming to Brooklyn

Where: 313 Gold Street [map], Brooklyn, ny, United States, 11201

Hilton's Homewood Suites is coming to New York City for the first time and it's just five miles from midtown Manhattan! Wait, what?....Yeah, that's what it says on the press release but these peeps are actually talking about Brooklyn. Still, nice try. We're sure someone in Fargo bought that.

Anyways, the 100-suite property at 313 Gold Street, is in Downtown Brooklyn near Manhattan Bridge, likely affording guests some killer views of the city's famed skyline.

The groundbreaking, which will be part of a joint new build with a Hilton Garden Inn, is expected to start this September and be completed a year later. The hotel will sport all of the amenities Homewood Suites is known for, like the Suite Start breakfast, Welcome Home Reception and free Internet.

We're guessing the hotel will appeal to cost-conscious travelers who aren't afraid to navigate New York's subways, because anyone who's attempted to go to Brooklyn from Manhattan via taxi knows how often cab drivers refuse to go there.

One suggestion to Homewood Suites Brooklyn: Don't put an advert for Grand Theft Auto on the side of your building. Or pictures of the Twin Towers on your website for that matter either.

[Photo via Brooklyn Eagle]