Colin Cowie's main jobs are as a celebrity wedding designer and a luxe party planner but he's also the proprietor behind the CBar in Greece inside the Belvedere Hotel so he knows a few things about the hospitality business.
We got a copy of his book Colin Cowie Chic: The Guide to Life As It Should Be and we are a little tickled to see a section on travel and staying hotels.
Colin's #1 thing as soon as he's checked into his hotel? Change into exercise clothes for a quick workout that includes some push-ups, sit-ups and stretches.
If he has more time, he'll do some cardio. His reasoning is valid--after being on an airplane for a while you want to get those vital organs jump-started.
Our first thing we do when we check into a hotel? Check the internet connection. God, we're such geeks!
You might remember that we were already a little uneasy about the book deal given to the two former concierges from the Four Seasons Chicago. And it turns out we were right to think this wasn't really the way concierges should go.
We've now heard that the book deal has been canceled because the concierges signed confidentiality agreements when they worked at the Four Seasons.
The concierges say the publisher, Random House, knew all along about these agreements, and that attorneys had agreed they didn't apply to the content of the book--but in the eleventh hour, following a complaint from Four Seasons, Random House decided not to release the book.
On the one hand, we love this. Two former concierges at the Four Seasons Chicago have written a book, Great Reservations (pun on Dickens title duly noted) about the celebrities who used to stay at the hotel with their outrageous (but normal for celebrity types) demands.
Abigail Hart and Nancy Joyce Callahan spent years as concierges at this swank luxury hotel and have tons of tidbits on who requested what when they visited. For instance:
For a mere 12-hour stay, assistants for Nicole Kidman shipped a set of pink, 800-thread-count Italian sheets to the hotel ahead of her visit - along with diagrams and pages of instructions on how to make the bed. The then-Mrs. Tom Cruise never actually arrived.
Have you ever wondered how great companies get their mojo? No? Well you probably wouldn't be interested in Chip Conley's new book then. But if you're hoping to grow your hotel brand, you'd better listen up.
The book, Peak, explains the hotelier's management strategy, which he attributes to famed psychologist Abraham Maslow. Basically, Maslow argues that people perform well when they're needs are being met and do even better when they're self-fulfilled. What that means for a boutique hotel owner is that your customers can't be happy if the staff isn't happy.
It all sounds a little new age-y to us, but you can't deny that Conley's brand, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, is booming or that his employees don't appreciate his efforts. (To wit: his housekeepers love their brand new vacuum cleaners.) If you find yourself not self-actualized by reading just this book, remember Conley has two others out in paperback: Marketing That Matters and The Rebel Rules.
Among HotelChatter's functions is to peer forward into the new, and track the latest news in hospitality.
But do you ever think to yourself, why ARE there hotels? How did hotels come to be, and why are they the way they are? Why are hotels homes-away-from-homes? Why are celebrities attracted to hotels? Why do hotels strive to be so darn glamorous and sexy?
HotelChatter was privileged to conduct a virtual interview with Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, author of the recently released and critically acclaimed book Hotel: An American History, which charts the unique rise of the hotel specific to the United States, and how its distinct growth runs parallel to our country's economic development.
Besides making a perfect gift for Hotel Chatter-ees, the book is a fascinating, fantastic romp through the past few centuries, from the rough accommodations at public houses ("George Washington Slept Here!") to the hotel's firm influence on architecture, society, politics, and travel.
Along the way, there are juicy anecdotes involving prostitution, adultery, corruption, segregation, elite society, bankruptcy, bad service, and wild parties - in short, the whole hotel hog.
In the NYT Book Review, Jeff Giles, an executive editor at Entertainment Weekly, reviewed the new book Legends of The Chelsea: Living With the Artists in New York's Rebel Mecca by Ed Hamilton, a short-story writer who has lived at the Hotel Chelsea for 12 years.
The book is a compilation of essays written for Hotel Chelsea blog. On the site, Hamilton calls Hotel Chelsea "the last outpost of Bohemia." Such a statement requires that he print his evidence of this on paper to give it heft. After all, who trusts a silly hotel blog?
Colin Cowie's main jobs are as a celebrity wedding designer and a luxe party planner but he's also the proprietor behind the CBar in Greece inside the Belvedere Hotel so he knows a few things about the hospitality business.
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by juliana
You might remember that we were already 
