Tag: Hotel Amenities View All Tags
Art Basel
Art Basel Inspires The Standard and The Raleigh's Towel Art
December 4, 2008 at 10:25 AM | 1 Comment
Rejoice: we have found the perfect holiday gift that you can distribute to that artsy sister of yours, your hotel-geek friends and your "practical gifts only" mother. Though today's HotelChatter holiday shopping recommendations were not half as fun to spend time researching as the collection of items we picked out at the HHonors store (they have raincoats for dogs! Come on!), this is still kinda kickass: towel art.
Yeah, that sounds fairly unexciting and likely conjures up images of monkeys and elephants built from cruise-ship towels, but think of it like this: you can wrap your body in art, people. The artwork is printed on the towel.
Hotel Amenities
Algonquin Forgoes Bookshelf Trend for Kindles
December 3, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments
As the bookshelf craze in hotels seems to be blowing up in a big way — with trendy modern hotels ranging from the sleek, spankin' new SLS to the funky Mercer throwing displays of book collections into their lobbies — we think we've seen the future of literature in hotels...and it's at the Algonquin.
Yeah, the hotel that's had its doors open for more than a century actually seems to be a little more ahead of the curve on the books-in-hotels front: they've got Kindles.
Days Inn Hotels
Relax in Luxury...at the Days Inn?
November 24, 2008 at 11:35 AM | 1 Comment
You know how other countries always seem to get the cooler McDonalds', with chandeliers in the dining rooms and exotic, non-McD's-ish food items on the menus? Well, according to yesterday's New York Times, we apparently not only get to be jealous of the fast food offerings of faraway lands, but now we can envy their economy hotels, too. Well, in China at least: they have super swanky Days Inns over there! Who knew?
Since the cost of labor isn't too bad in China (construction workers can be paid as little as $100 a month, according to the article), developers can afford to spiff up Days Inn-branded hotels with stuff like marble floors and fancy chandeliers in the lobbies while still charging the same $30 or $40 rates as the American Days Inns — and the rooms (shown here) are considerably sexier, too.
Hotel Technology
German Scientists Hawking Another Hotel Room of the Future
November 10, 2008 at 11:39 AM | 1 Comment
Over in Germany, the Fraunhofer Society in Duisberg has been working on yet another prototype for the "hotel room of the future." It would appear that this concept for a futuristic hotel room looks like an institutional version of the Jetson's house, but io9 reports that there are some nutty space-y amenities that are hiding beneath the curves and terrifying stark-white-ness of this room:
Its carpet is lined with sensors which monitor the guest's arrival and, without delay, heats the room to the required temperature. The bed simulates a light pendulum motion. "It feels as if you were being gently rocked from a seven meter long rope," project leader Vanessa Borkmann said. "It's like being in Nirvana."
Santa Monica Hotels
The Shangri-La Might Be Actually Green, Not Just Gimmick Green
November 5, 2008 at 4:32 PM | 1 Comment
It's hip to be green. And when something is hip, marketers jump all over it promising that everything they do is green. Usually they're not lying, but they are creatively explaining their budget cuts. Green gimmicks like one-page menus instead of four, or no more bottled water, are examples of hotels cutting costs rather than actively helping the environment.
We can't help but frown on this sort of behavior, so we're super excited that the newly renovated Hotel Shangri-La is bragging greenness with actual green evidence:
· dual flush toilets
· amenities are all natural and come in bio-degradable packaging
· bottled water is in glass bottles which will be sanitized and re-used
· men's restrooms will have waterless urinals (don't worry, they still get cleaned, just differently)
· restaurant food will be from local vedors and purveyors
· wine list will feature AMerican wines to help lower carbon impact
· pool will be solar heated (which might be code for unheated, we're not sure)
In addition to the above, they have all the standard green stuff: newspapers will only be delivered by request, sheets will only be washed by request, windows are double layered to prevent loss of heat/air, non-toxic, organic cleaning products will be used, all paper is recycled, and other easy green moves.
We're hoping for a mid-November opening, but don't have a confirmed date yet. It looks like they have a pretty good reason for that delayed opening.
In-Room Dispensers
Hotels Are Searching for Sexy Toiletry Dispensers
November 5, 2008 at 3:48 PM | 5 Comments
Hey there! Remember when we created a guide to Hotel Toiletries? And we listed all of our favorite hotel toiletries, then we asked you to drop in your best hotel toiletry sightings? You do? Ok well, we are really regretting those stories right now.
While we love snatching up the mini-toiletry bottles to take home with us (especially if the products are from Fresh or Kiehl's), we recently learned of something that we didn't even think of once in our toiletry buzz--the amount of waste those cute little bottles create. D'oh.
So it's no wonder that hotels are trying to reduce the amount of waste they produce by using toiletry dispensers. For one, they can call themselves "green" hotels in doing so. And second, using dispensers is actually a heck of a lot cheaper. Ben Bethel the owner of the Clarendon Hotel in Phoenix, says using dispensers means hotels will be spending less money on ordering those little bottles and less money on trying to get rid of the waste.
But the question is: how can you find a dispenser that fits in with the crazy/sexy/cool vibe of a hotel?
Sneak Peek
What's Inside The Rest of the SLS Hotel
November 5, 2008 at 3:05 PM | 0 Comments
This is part three of a three-part series.
Today we are rounding up everything else left in the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills for you to check-out.
Altitude: Continuing the guests-only service is the rooftop pool area called Altitude on the 6th floor. This was specially created for the hotel as the old Le Meridien pool was located at ground level. The roofdeck area is a seriously serene oasis for guests. There's a reflection pool only about six inches deep as well as a regular-depth, infinity pool. Cabanas surround both pools and the entire roofdeck gives you great views of the city.
Starck-inspired design is here too. Most striking is the giant frames and mirrors that line the edges, thus in effect serving as a stylish fence.
While the area is hotel guests and VVIPs-only, there is a rental cost for the cabanas--about $250 for half a day. Food service from The Bazaar kitchen is available up here and there are plans for a small bar.
Keep Reading for More of What's Inside SLS below.
Hotel News
How to Brew a Decent Cup of Coffee in Your Hotel Room
October 22, 2008 at 11:14 AM | 1 Comment
We can think of exactly zero instances in which we have been completely satisfied with coffee we've brewed in our hotel rooms using the drip coffee maker provided for us. Maybe we're Starbucks brats, but it always seems like the hotel room's coffee is not hot enough, it tastes like ash or it is reminiscent of coffee-flavored dishwater. Not so delicious.
Budget Travel hears us. A coffee fiend over there consulted Cook's Illustrated, who recently tested out a bunch of drip coffee makers, and found that "the devices can't brew your coffee at the perfect temperature, which is roughly between 195 degrees and 205 degrees Fahrenheit." So really, it isn't necessarily operator error or the fact that the coffee grounds in your hotel room have been sitting in that little package for lord knows how long.
In other words, getting a hotel room's drip coffee maker to brew you a nice cup o' joe isn't easy -- but there are workarounds!
Hotel Technology
Marriott Also Has What We Want :: Plug-In Panels
October 10, 2008 at 9:43 AM | 3 Comments
Ta da! Marriott has Plug-in Panels.
Sound familiar?
We just wrote about Hyatt's similarly named panel. Both panels make it super easy for you to plug in your computer to hook up to the TV, plug in your iPod to play through the TV, plug in your portable DVD player to play through the TV, plug in your video game console (!) to play through the TV, and well, you get the idea.
Unlike Hyatt, though, Marriott's got all the cables for free already in your room.
Overservice
Adventures in Overservice :: The Art of Toilet Paper Origami
October 9, 2008 at 4:30 PM | 1 Comment
Origami is again assuming its rightful place in the world thanks to the hotel business. Housekeepers at luxe lairs around the world are neatly folding the loose end of a partially used roll of toilet paper into a neat little bow or fan--because toilet paper origami is an art form only enjoyed by the highest end travelers.
So when the room's temporary inhabitant next finds himself on the pot, he'll know that this hotel takes its commitment to creating an "experience" for him seriously, even while he's on the throne.
And if the hotel fancies themselves that much more deluxe, the tissues poking out of the tissue box will have been made to resemble the petals of a carnation (never again to be unbound, forcing anyone who needs to blow their nose to reach for the TP).
Hotel Technology
Hyatt Hotels Have What We Want :: The Plug Panel
October 9, 2008 at 10:15 AM | 2 Comments
Geek heaven is this Plug Panel, being rolled out on the "media and entertainment center" at Hyatt Hotels. Basically, we're saying that this panel of connection possibilities is attached to the 42" HDTV and you can go wild plugging in whatever you want.
You can plug in your laptop and use that massive screen to read your emails, or practice your PowerPoint presentation if you're so inclined. You can plug in a video game system or an MP3 player or even a DVD player and you'll still have some spots left over. And it's all in easy reach so you don't have to fiddle about behind the TV in the dark ... been there, done that.
Hotel News
"Breaking" News :: CBS Discovers Hotel Sex Kits
October 7, 2008 at 11:35 AM | 0 Comments
It's sort of quaint when traditional media pinpoints a "new trend." CBS News, for one, recently broke the shocking (we mean really, shocking) news of hotels stocking guest rooms with sex kits. But, wait, you say. Hasn't that been going on since, like, the beginning of sex? We joke, of course, but the sex-kit-in-room trend is, in fact, a couple of years old.
Trawling the good ol' Hotel Chatter archives, our mentions of hotel sex kits date back to at least 2006. But whatever, we're glad CBS News is finally getting in on the action. Their sleuth reporting uncovers the passion kit at The Water Club, the newish hotel from The Borgata with their frisky "Do Not Disturb" signs (you know, where you can indicate why you, ahem, don't want to be disturbed).
