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Nothing Says 'I Love You' Like a Kimpton Bathrobe

Unlike other industries, where it's just about guzzling free candy and wearing too many red cardigans, Valentine's Day is a special time of year for hotels. The January slump is suddenly reversed by couples seeking out romantic getaways, anonymous hook-ups, and indulgent spa treatments. Not to mention special food that puts you in that special mood. Here are our three picks for Valentine's Day hotels in NYC.

Remember when we found out Kimpton Hotels devoted an entire month to flaunt their funky leopard-, giraffe-, and zebra-print bathrobes? And remember how, unless you were a guest, it was kinda hard to get one? Well, that part is still the same. But they're making it more worth your while with a month-long "Robe-mance" package ($269, booking code ROBES) that includes a $25 dining and beverage credit and two robes.

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Choco-holics, Stay Away From The Jumeirah Essex House This Christmas

Where: 160 Central Park S [map], New York, NY, United States, 10019

This is the kind of Christmas tree that you do not want to have around the house—because if you did, you'd just end up eating it.

Luckily, this 10-foot-tall beauty, made entirely of chocolate (white, dark, milk, fondant, you name it, it's on there), is on view inside the Jumeirah Essex House, which luckily isn't a place we frequent very often.

The chocolate theme is continued into the rest of the lobby with a weekend-only Chocolate Bar. Boy, this hotel is pressing allll the right buttons. Included in the mouth-watering buffet are a chocolate fountain, assorted truffles and house-made hot chocolate. Tickets go for $35 a head, but if you bump it up to $49, they'll throw in a glass of champagne.

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Hotel Chocolate / Hotel Food / Hotel Restaurants / Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Candy / → All Tags

Get Sweet For Chocolate Lovers Day With Kimpton On Thursday

Goodies at the Fifth Floor restaurant in San Fran.

Since Valentine's Day is over, Kimpton Hotels is shifting it focus from lovers to chocolate lovers. The company will celebrate Chocolate Lovers Day on February 17 with free sweets in hotels all over the country.

So in case you didn't get any chocolate valentines, you can get hopped up on the sweet stuff on our new favorite holiday. Plus, Kimpton's hotel restaurants will keep the sugar high going all month long with chocolatey desserts.

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The Ritz Paris: Now With Balls. Chocolate Balls

Where: 15 Place Vendome, Paris, France, 75041

Stumped for holiday gift ideas? Wish you could give someone an awesome stay at the Ritz Paris, but not quite making the bank to pull it off? You may want to consider a ball instead.

Not just any ball, though--a chocolate ball. One prepared by the Ritz pastry chef Sébastien Serveau.

The Ritz Paris Christmas Ball is now available--in a limited edition, naturellement--from the Ritz Paris Boutique.

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Hotel Breakfasts / Paris Hotels / Hotel Chocolate / → All Tags

Le Meurice Has The Ultimate Chocaholic Breakfast

Where: 228 Rue De Rivoli, Paris, France, 75001

What's a sure way to get us interested in a hotel promotion? It's pretty easy, especially on a Friday – just include some kind of chocolate in the deal. That's exactly what the fine Le Meurice in Paris has done, by letting us know about the Choc'Alléno special breakfast they've got going at the moment.

Put together by the hotel restaurant's head chef Yannick Alléno, the breakfast special includes original Choc'Alléno pain au chocolat and croissants, as well as a chocolate baguette, chocolate chip butter, jam and honey, fruit juice and a choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate. It already sounds good, but listen to how those special pastries get made:

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Ritz-Carlton Hotels / DC Hotels / Hotel Chocolate / → All Tags

Gorge on Chocolate at the Ritz-Carlton D.C.

Where: 1150 22ND ST NW [map], Washington, DC, United States, 20037

If drowning your recession woes in booze isn’t tickling your fancy, perhaps a chocolate buffet will do the trick. And what better place for a chocolate buffet than Chocolate City? That's right, the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. has transformed its Lobby Lounge into what we’d like to call choco-pocalypse.

Each Friday and Saturday evenings this month and then again in February, pastry chef Jerome Giardot is whipping up a Chocolate Decadence Buffet of “candy, cakes and tarts galore,” yours for the gorging for $35 (that's for five items). More specifically, we’re talking Black Forest cake, Opera cake, white-chocolate-lemon crème brulee and Gianduja crème brulee; a selection of chocolate caramels, dark and milk chocolate bouchees, housemade truffles, warm chocolate-caramelized banana bread pudding, chocolate blinis, and more.

And…decadence doesn’t end there! (After all, how can you be expected to enjoy chocolate of such magnitude without the pairing bubbly?) Well fret not, for the Ritz is nothing if not in touch with the worries of the common man. Alas, the Champagne Flights of Fancy (an additional $38) include Moet & Chandon White Star, Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial, Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial, and Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label.

Sure, this all might sound a bit lavish, what with a global economic crisis, blah blah. Still, we’re going to have to go Liz Lemon on this one: We want to go to there.

[Photo: Ritz-Carlton]