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Books & Board Games at The Bowery

Where: 335 Bowery [map], New York, NY, United States, 10003

Pick up a book or magazine at New York's Bowery Hotel, and you’ll feel the careful curation of co-owner Sean MacPherson. Surprised? We weren’t.

The master of cool details selects all of the vintage volumes and magazines himself, shopping up a storm at New York’s favorite used-book haunt, The Strand. Unlike other hotels, which rotate their libraries, the Bowery’s collection stays the same, and most of the books stick to a New York theme.

But as is becoming abundantly clear, MacPherson’s real passion is Hollywood. As the New York Times gushed earlier this year, MacPherson has quite the thing for movies like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange (both influences on the Bowery design). And while we’ve heard all about how The Jane’s ballroom references The Royal Tenenbaums, we’ve also learned that the Wes Anderson flick gets some mileage at The Bowery.

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How to Become a Virtual Bill Marriott

It looks like Christmas is coming a little late this year for budding hoteliers; the popular video game for PCs and Nintendo DS is releasing a sequel, Hotel Giant 2, in mid-February. We reported on this release way back in last summer, but it was sadly delayed and to get the hype back up, they've released the above preview video.

It's like an obsessive, business-minded kid's dream! Improving on the first edition of Hotel Giant, the follow-up features 26 new locations (think Munich and Phuket) for building your dream hotel and working toward the magical 100% approval rating. We're most intrigued by the concepts of building your own pool as large as you want and being able to fire staff for indiscretions.

Now all they need to do is add a Second Life-like element to this game, whereby you'd get to interact with other player's hotels and guests, and we'd never leave the house again in favor of becoming the virtual Bill Marriott. On second thought, we'll just wait until it comes for out for the Wii.

Tags: Geek Hotels / Boston Hotels / Hotel Games / Guitar Hero / Hotel Happenings / → All Tags

Seaport Hotel in Boston Hosting Guitar Hero Contest Tomorrow

Where: Boston, MA, United States

The Seaport Hotel in Boston has always been a geeky...er tech-savvy hotel, having employed the SeaPortal, a sort of iConcierge that eliminates the need for human interaction when staying at a hotel.

But now they move from software to playware (?) with their Guitar Hero contests.

The hotel has a Twitter account (as does HotelChatter) and has let its followers know that tomorrow it will be holding a Guitar Hero contest from 5:30 to 7:30pm in the hotel's Tamo Bar. And judging from regular SeaPort "tweets", it seems the contest is a standing Wednesday night thing. So if you can't make it tomorrow, try the next week.

However, there's not much info we could find after that. We searched the hotel website high and low and found no mention of the contest. And we think it's a shame the hotel hasn't made mention of this event on their tricked out web calendar.

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Be Your Own Hotelier With Hotel Giant on Nintendo DS

Speaking of hotel geeks, we wonder if Heather Mills' new boytoy has ever played this game, Hotel Giant.

For anyone who's ever wanted to enter the hospitality industry but is like, still under age, Hotel Giant enables you to be your own hotelier. Kinda like Aloft was in Second Life but more hard core. Now Hotel Giant is coming out with a second edition and it's available on Nintendo DS. From Gamezplay:

Enter the challenging tourism industry and test your skills by building, designing and managing the luxurious hotels in the world! As guests go about their lives, follow their behaviour, moods, activities, and find out exactly what they like and dislike about your hospitality.

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Get Your Game On At These Hotels

So the Le Parker Meridien in New York is not the only place where you can get your Wii Workout on these days. It seems as if a lot of hotels are paying attention to the family-friendly gaming trend that's out there now.

Hotels Magazine has a list of the next batch of hotels to get all geeky on us. They are:

· Westin Hotels: Is in "groundbreaking" talks with Nintendo to offer customized Wii consoles in its more than 150 hotels and resorts. We wonder, will the Wii pump out a white green tea scent as well?

· The Conrad Chicago: The hotel will start offering competitive Wii Meeting Breaks in May. Virtual rockers can rock out on a mock stage set up with fog and flashing lights.

· The Phoenician: This Scottsdale resort has a brand-new Family Activity Center that features a 60-inch plasma TV with a Wii system.

· Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort: The Florida resort has gone all Xbox 360 offering Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero in its game room. The resort has all been allowing teens to play the games on the beach with a 10-foot-screen.

[Photo: PickleDShark]

Tags: Geek Hotels / Hotel Fitness / Wii Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Games / Hotel Technology / → All Tags

Geeks Get Fit with the Le Parker Meridien's Wii Workout

Where: 118 West 57th Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10019

We're starting to think there is very little that the Nintendo Wii gaming system can't do.

Recently, the Le Parker Meridien in New York introduced the Wii Workout at their gravity fitness and spa. The workout takes place inside the center's racquetball courts where the Wii workout is projected off the 20-foot wall with surround sound and a private instructor takes you through an intense workout centered around the Wii sports.

A round of jabs with the trainer before you perfect your skills on the Wii Boxing! Some sprints to warm you up before you use that forehand on Wii Tennis. The minutes will fly by! The one hour session will consist of a warm-up and exercises based around the game. Intermittently, one will play the 'Wii" game using the skills just learned and with the trainer coaching one through it.

The cost of the training session is $120. But if you aren't keen on doing a Wii workout, you can still play the Wii. The hotel allows up to four players in the racquetball court to play the Wii sports. And it's not limited to hotel guests. NYC residents looking for more space  are welcome too. The rental cost is $50 for the court plus the $25 gravity fitness fee if you are not a hotel guest or gym member.

We used to think the Wii at the Gansevoort's penthouse was awesome but this is bigger and better and doesn't cost the price of a penthouse suite.

The gym and the Wii workout is open from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, weekends 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.

[Photo: TechFreeP]

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Microsoft Swarms the Viceroy Hotel for E3

Where: 1819 Ocean Avenue [map], Santa Monica, CA, United States, 90401

Now that the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is getting into full gear, we wanted to let you know that the entire Viceroy Hotel has been taken over by Microsoft.

That means, no hotel rooms, no partying by the pool, nothing. And we also hear from our gaming industry insiders that you need a Microsoft badge/pass/ID to get into any event that's being held at the hotel. We even think you might need this pass just to eat at the hotel restaurant!

However, rooms are once again available starting July 14th at a hefty price of $489 a night.

And interestingly enough, last time we checked Viceroy Santa Monica had Sony Playstations in their guest rooms. Let's hope Microsoft can gift them with a few (repaired and upgraded) Xboxes on their departure.