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Hotel Technology / Hilton Hotels / Hotel Design / Hotel Closets / Hotel Business Centers / → All Tags

Hilton is Turning Out Some Nifty New Designs

For the past year, Hilton Hotels have been working to upgrade their look, using the Hilton Tysons Corner in Virginia as their guinea pig.

The hotel is unlike any other Hilton in that it features new guestroom design concepts, a Technology Lounge and a new lobby bar and restaurant concept where guests and locals can interact, work and collaborate.

But now, Hilton is rolling out some other new design concepts which Hilton Hotel owners can start implementing in their properties--new and old.

The first concept borne out of the newly created Hilton Design Studio is the Hilton Valet, a multifunctional armoire.

You might be thinking, "Armoire?" Ugh that's so 90s but this armoire does more than just hold a TV and your shoes. The Hilton Valet comes with a a built-in ironing boards, outlets for the iron, a safe for valuables positioned at standing height (for easy access), a mini-fridge and a coffee/tea tray that slide into drawers so they are only seen when in use (perfect for when you have guests come to your hotel room?)

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Hilton Hotels / Hotel News / Omaha Hotels / Warren Buffett / Hotel Events / Liz Claman / → All Tags

All Eyes Will Be On The Hilton in Omaha This Weekend

Where: 1001 Cass Street [map], Omaha, NE, United States, 68102

You'd never think it but the the Hilton Omaha. is going to be bumpin' this weekend, thanks to Buffettchella aka the annual shareholders conference for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Fox Business's Liz Claman (@LizClaman) dished out her tips on what to do in Omaha for our brother site, Jaunted and in it she gave a shout-out to the Omaha Hilton for their service. She said:

We stay and broadcast from Hilton It is right across from the (Qwest) convention center where the meetings are taking place and centrally located downtown near all of my favorite restaurants. It is actually my favorite hotel of any place I have ever stayed. Who would have known? Once a year shareholders, business leaders, and the media descend upon this tiny city once and they handle it incredibly well.

Liz doesn't even leave the hotel for a java jolt as the hotel brews Starbucks coffee in the lobby. (We just hope the hotel waives their WiFi charge for her.)

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Hotel Rooftops / Hilton Hotels / Conrad Hotels / Trump Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Bars / Killer View / Yotels / Dream Hotels / → All Tags

Where To Hotel Rooftop When In New York City

Yes, there are plenty of places to do it in NYC—by "it," we mean enjoy a cocktail in the open air from a hotel rooftop or terrace. But some places are more exclusive than others, some have better nibbles to munch on, and not all killer views are created equal. So to help you find the best hotel rooftop to suit your mood, we've broken down the top seven venues by each day of the week. Starting with...

Sundays

We've already taken a gander inside the monumental lobby, but this summer we'll be riding the elevators straight to the top of Conrad New York to hang out at Loopy Doopy (above). The new rooftop bar, located on the 16th floor, is set to open in May with a full menu of cocktails and nibbles from Atrio downstairs. Oh, and in addition to the cool name (Loopy Doopy references the Sol LeWitt wall mural in the lobby), this summer the bar will be offering the perfect end-of-weekend hangover cure: boozy popsicles!

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Hotel Rooftops / Manhattan Hotels / Spring Hotels / Hotel Bars / Morgans Hotel Group / Mondrian Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Peninsula Hotels / Indigo Hotels / → All Tags

It's Officially Rooftop Season In New York

Nevermind what the bees are up to on hotel rooftops, we're here to remind you that New York has an abundance (literally) of rooftop spaces built for recreational human endeavors like eating, drinking and sunbathing.

One of our favorites, perhaps, is the sun terrace on top of the Peninsula New York. Mainly because we can do all three of those things at once, and then cool down afterwards with a relaxing 60-minute holistic massage. But if lounging on a fancy-shmance sun deck isn't your cup of tea, you've got plenty of other options around the city...

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Hotel Technology / Hotel DVRs / DirecTV / Hilton Hotels / Hotel News / Geek Hotels / → All Tags

Woot! DirectTV is Rolling Out DVRs for Hotels

Have you ever stayed in a hotel and wished you record your favorite TV show to watch after you come back from a night out? We have, plenty of times. Especially if we forgot to set up the recordings on our TV back home.

It might sound crazy but we've actually wondered when the heck hotels were going to start installing DVRs. But it looks like we won't have to wonder any more.

DIRECTV has just announced their new DIRECTV Residential Experience for Hotels which will allow guests to pause, rewind, forward and best of all record from over 100 HD television channels during their hotel stay. Just like you do at home. It will even look the same (but of course, hotels are allowed to put some "branding info" onto the home screen.)

DIRECTV also offers an anti-microbial remote for guests to use too (We still hope housekeeping wipes down every remote anyways.)

Right now the Residential Experience for Hotels is in 110 hotels across the country, including a few Hilton Hotels. We'll be on the lookout for more hotels to add this amenity soon.

Have you stayed in a hotel with a DVR recently? Let us know where!

[Photo: ColbyPerry/Flickr]

Hotel WiFi / Hampton Inns / Hilton Hotels / Presidential Hotels / Campaign Hotels / Mitt Romney / Ann Romney / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Ann Romney Stays at Hampton Inn for The Free WiFi

It turns out it's not just us hotel nerds that choose our hotel stays based on whether the joint has free WiFi or not.

According to CNN's Political Ticker Ann Romney, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, says that she prefers Hilton's Hampton Inn Hotels when she's on the road because they have free WiFi.

As someone who spends life on the road, Ann Romney knows a thing or two about hotels. Her favorites, she said Wednesday, are the ones that come with free Wi-Fi.

"It's so convenient just to be able to get your internet," Ann said on Mike Huckabee's radio show. "I personally like Hampton Inns, but that's an aside."

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Hotel WiFi / Hilton Hotels / Gay Hotels / Orlando Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Freebies / Spring Hotels / → All Tags

Free Internet For LGBT Travelers At Hilton Hotels This Pride Season

Where: 6001 Destination Parkway [map], Orlando, FL, United States, 32819

Did we mention spring was here? Well, along with spring comes a rather important annual event for fun-loving LGBT travelers around the world: pride season!

If you've already got plans to try out the new gay-themed Out NYC in Manhattan, or be shepherded around Miami by the Lords South Beach's specially-themed iPhone app, fair enough. But one other thing you might want to keep in mind: 140 Hilton Hotels are offering a "Stay Hilton. Go Out" package for LGBT travelers celebrating pride, which includes, among other nifty perks, free Wifi.

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Hotel News / Green Hotels / Eco-Friendly Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

Millennium Hilton Tests Out A Power Plant, Hazmat Suits Not Required (For Now)

Where: 55 Church St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10007

As Earth Day approaches, and hoards of organizations attempt to "raise awareness" about the environment by giving away tons of free, useless crap like tshirts, mugs and stickers, the Milennium Hilton New York has made a big step in the right direction by installing a power plant that converts natural gas into electrical and thermal energy.

The combined heat and power plant will consist of two 250 kilowatt cogeneration units inside the actual hotel. Now, if anyone wanted to write in and explain what that actually means, we'd be grateful. But for now, we're content just knowing that Hilton has been proactive about cutting down on its energy consumption.

As far as we know, this won't put any pressure on the hotel to increase rates. Which is good, since a hotel room in lower Manhattan sure is expensive enough without having to worry about subsidizing a power plant too. For upwards of $400/night, you'd at least like to feel that your money has done something good.

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What Is This / Manhattan Hotels / Conrad Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Hotel Ballrooms / Hotel Furniture / Hotel Design / → All Tags

What Is This At Conrad New York?

Where: 102 North End Avenue [map], New York, NY, United States, 10282

We like to keep it fun but informative here at HotelChatter so our newest series, What is This? is devoted to odd-looking items in hotel rooms that upon first glance look as if they serve only a decorative purpose. But everything happens for a reason, right? And we're here to tell you what these things really do.

Here's one highlight from our recent tour of Conrad New York's lobby. We admit, at first we couldn't quite wrap our head around this. Yes, it's some kind of staircase. But why all the bars? And where exactly does it go?

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Celebrity Scoop / Whitney Houston / Thanatourism Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Beverly Hills Hotels / → All Tags

Whitney Houston Thanatourists Not Welcome at the Beverly Hilton

Where: 9876 Wilshire Blvd [map], Beverly Hills, CA, United States, 90210

The Beverly Hilton has been under siege, for various reasons, since the February 11th death of pop legend, Whitney Houston but their latest move might end all the postmortem chaos once and for all.

TMZ (of course, who else?) is reporting that the hotel has removed the room numbers from the door to the suite 434 where Houston drowned in a bathtub. Apparently, the hotel has taken the room out of circulation and it will no longer be available to hotel guests and more importantly, thanatourists who simply just want to be in the room where Houston died. This is something the hotel should have done immediately after it happened but we guess better late than never.

Anyways, let's hope this is the last of the Whitney Houston-Beverly Hilton hotel news for a while, or ever.

Hotel Lobbies / Hotel Openings / Hotel Design / Conrad Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Photo Gallery / → All Tags

First Look At The Public Spaces Inside Conrad New York

Where: 102 North End Avenue [map], New York, NY, United States, 10282

Just a week after officially opening, we stopped inside the brand new lobby at Conrad New York, which, for a Sunday morning, was more bustling than we expected. Still, no amount of people traffic could really detract from what we think is one of the most impressive lobbies to hit New York in a while.

First off, the place is frickin' huge. Gray circular couches are interspersed around the floor, while the ceiling stretches up thirteen floors above. All of the guest room hallways gaze down on the massive atrium, which makes for awesome people watching; meanwhile, suspended in mid-air by hundreds of cables are Monica Ponce de Leon's Veil aluminum sculptures (which are a million times more impressive than the renderings we first saw).

Like we said, a few haggard suitcase-toting guests aren't really going to detract from the whole experience. However, we wouldn't recommend trying to get any work done in here. The sheer scale of the place could prove distracting, to say the least...

Want to see the rest of our photos? Click below!

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Foursquare Hotels / Foursquare / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags

Hilton is the Latest Big Hotel Brand to Hop on Foursquare

Just this week, location-based social app Foursquare released a new "Trainspotter" badge that recognizes users who ride the rails. That's great, but we're still waiting for something like a Hotelhopper badge. Fingers crossed!

Until a real badge comes around, we recommend following the newest big hotel brand to join Foursquare: Hilton. Follow them here, to get their tips to pop up when your nearby one of 27 of their hotels around the world. Hopefully they'll add more, but for being on Foursquare for a month, this is a great start.

As it goes with any Foursquare tips, Hilton's are hit or miss and they need to be put on an exclamation mark diet. Still, we particularly love these two tips:

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