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Hotel Carter No Longer 'The Dirtiest Hotel' in America?
TripAdvisor released its annual Traveler's Choice list yesterday and while a whopping 719 hotels were winners of awards and mentions, we're guessing the Heritage Marina Hotel in San Francisco is not too proud to be considered the #1 Dirtiest Hotel in the United States.
Recent reviews called the place "filthy" "disgusting", "cockroach-infested", "horror hotel", "had the ambiance of fresh vomit" and "the most smelly discusting place ever!" [SIC]. This really doesn't come as a surprise to us since way back in 2006, we had an in-depth report of bed bugs at the place. Yuck.
Tags: Japan Hotels / Capsule Hotels / Hotel Hell / Business Hotels / Recession Hotels / New York Times / → All Tags
Japan's Job-Seekers Find Home in Capsule Hotels, Just Don't Invite the Mistress
Hearing about businessmen who turn their hotel room into a home-away-from-home is no new phenomenon. There may even be a wife-away-from-home involved, but that's a different story altogether.
Also nothing new are those teeny, tiny capsule hotel "rooms"—if they can even be called that—common to Japan. They're cute and quirky to us Americans, sure, but these days they're serving a different purpose. With the economy having taken a turn for the worst in 2009, some of the country's unemployed have turned to dwelling at places like the Hotel Shinjuku as they search for new jobs, reports the New York Times.
Tags: HotelChatter 2009 Awards / Hotel Hell / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Beijing Hotel / Hotel Fires / → All Tags
Worst Hotel Hell: The Mandarin Oriental Beijing Burns Down Before It Opens
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2009 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year (and the decade) all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
WORST HOTEL HELL: MANDARIN ORIENTAL BEIJING FIRE
If you've ever stayed in a Mandarin Oriental Hotel before, it will likely be an luxury hotel experience you (and your wallet) won't forget. Which is why it was so sad that the Mandarin Oriental Beijing burned down just as it was nearing completion. Even sadder, the fire was a result of Chinese New Year fireworks that had been set off by China's state-run broadcasting company near the hotel. D'oh.
The fire-ravaged hotel is still standing and the hotel's website says that the project has (obviously) been postponed. According to the StructureHub blog, the hotel can be repaired but may not necessarily rebuilt. We hope something good can come from these luxury ashes.
Keep reading for more of the year's worst events.
Tags: Video / Hotel Valet / Hotel Parking / Hotel Hell / Hotel Employees / YouTube / → All Tags
This is How Some Valet Parkers Treat Your Car at The Hotel
It's a scene straight out of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." You pull up to the hotel in your expensive ride and after forking over an insane hotel parking fee, the valet parkers whisk your car off into a garage where you have no idea what could be happening with your baby.
You pray the valet guys aren't joyriding in your car and racking up the miles but at the Hyatt St. Louis, Cameron's your worst nightmare has come true.
CarScoop reports:
Employees from a valet company are being Accused of ABUSING guests' cars at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown St. Louis. A person who goes by the alias "election Underground" posted dozens of Videos on Youtube that show valet drivers doing burn outs, donuts and numerous other antics with all sorts of cars ranging from a Ford Focus to a Porsche 911 and a Maserati Coupe.
Tags: Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Hell / Resort Fees / Hotel Fees / → All Tags
The Fontainebleau Now Has a 'Voluntary' Resort Fee and Other Ridiculous Charges
Don't stare too long, it might cost ya!
If the recent reviews on TripAdvisor are to be believed, it looks like the Fontainebleau Resort is hoping guests can cover their $1 billion renovation bill.
A tipster pointed us to the TA reviews today and we saw that recent guests are saying that the resort is apparently charging fees up the wazoo, starting with a new resort fee that is voluntary for now but will become mandatory by May 2010. Yes, voluntary now. Mandatory in May.
The $12.95 fee includes unlimited internet access on the in-room iMac, beach chairs, free daily newspaper and access to the gym. And may we mention again that it's "voluntary?" So at first you may not be inclined to agree to it but it might be better instead of doing things a la carte. Then again, everything at this hotel costs extra.
Tags: Hotel News / Hotel Hell / Hotel Sick / Miami Hotel Mambo / Kimpton Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Guest Dies After Contracting Legionnaire's Disease at The EPIC Hotel
A guestroom at the EPIC Hotel in downtown Miami.
One guest has died and two others are still ill after contracting Legionnaire's Disease at The EPIC Hotel in Miami earlier this fall. The EPIC, a Kimpton Hotel, has currently stopped accepting new guests and have relocated current guests to different hotels.
Sadly, it looks as if the hotel was only trying to improve its drinking water but ended up harming its guests instead. The Miami Herald reports:
An investigation this week by county and state officials revealed that the hotel had installed a water filter powerful enough to remove chlorine from its city-supplied water, a move that encouraged bacterial growth.
``What's ironic is the hotel installed a special filtration system to enhance the quality of their drinking water,'' said Dr. Vincent Conte, the county's top epidemiologist.
Not much is known about the guest who died the bacteria infection, except that it was a foreigner who stayed at the hotel this fall.
Tags: Hotel Hell / Kansas Hotels / Hotel News / Bedbugs / → All Tags
Kansas To Stop Safety and Sanitary Inspections for Hotels
Clean, kinda clean or unclean? That's the new guessing game you could playing the next time you're in Kansas.
We almost seem to take for granted the safety and sanitary inspections that frequently take place in hotels and motels but upon hearing that the state of Kansas has halted its inspection program for licensed hotels, we're a little fearful that this could become an awful but necessary trend as governments struggle to balance their budgets.
KansasCity.com reports that the program was stopped after $300,000 cut from the Department of Agriculture (which randomly oversees hotel inspections.)
The inspection program aimed to ensure the cleanliness and safety of guest rooms in the state’s nearly 1,000 licensed hotels. All currently licensed hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts have been inspected.
The Department of Agriculture hopes to resume the program when funding becomes available. Thankfully, restaurants will still undergo inspections. In the meantime, if you're traveling to Kansas we say bring your own blacklight.
Tags: Art Basel Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Why One Guest Won't Be Staying at The Delano For Art Basel
But it looks so pretty!
The Delano is on the list for Art Basel's preferred hotels and if you're interested in staying there during the art fair it will cost you $825 a night, before tax.
But given what happened there last year during Art Basel, one guest is not returning. A tipster wrote into us with her account of The Delano during Art Basel:
My stay at the Delano in '08 was anything but posh. Two mornings in a row I woke up to no hot water, to make matter worse I was at Art Basel for work.
The hotel said a pipe burst and after I complained they took 50% off one night. They assured me it would be fixed, but the next morning still no hot water. What did they give me that day, free breakfast, but no adjustment to the bill.
Needless to say, I will not stay there this year which brings me to my second tip for HotelChatter. There is a campsite available for use in Miami during Art Basel, does this mean the show has finally jumped the shark?
Tags: Hotel Hell / Swine Flu Hotels / Romania Hotels / Hotel Sick / Hotel News / → All Tags
Swine Flu Hotel Closes After 40 People Become Ill
Earlier this year when swine flu first erupted, 280 people were quarantined at the MetroPark Hotel in Hong Kong, we lightly dubbed it a Swine Flu Hotel. But now we have a real Swine Flu Hotel.
Hotel Sinaia, a resort in the mountains of Sinaia, Romania, has been closed after 40 Romainian and foreign law students attending a conference caught the dreaded H1N1 virus.
Health state secretary Adrian Streinu-Cercel says 40 people were hospitalized Sunday in Bucharest, suffering from medium to severe forms of the flu.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Hotel Hell / Viceroy Hotels / Santa Monica Hotels / → All Tags
Viceroy Santa Monica Will Be Getting a Renovation
The other day we took a look at What's on The Block at the Viceroy Santa Monica, a happening hotel near the beach that is always giving us good enough excuses to get drunk on a random weekday.
But could it be that the guests are also partying too hard? A commenter on our story pointed us to his TripAdvisor review which showed an Empire Suite (about $640 a night) in seriously worn down condition. Cigarette burns in the carpet, wrecked furniture and low shower head pressure were some of the complaints.
Needless to say our commenter was pretty unhappy about having paid so much for just a so-so room. We were sort of shocked ourselves since we've stayed in a regular room not too long ago and the room, while definitely not brand, spanking new, it was in good condition.
We asked the hotel's rep if they could comment on the situation for us and they told us they would answer the TripAdvisor review instead. Here's what Caroline Dyal, Director of Hotel Operations, wrote:
Tags: Hotel Hell / Hilton Hotels / Sharm El Sheikh Hotels / Egypt Hotels / → All Tags
Why We Won't Be Staying at the Hilton Fayrouz in Sharm El Sheikh
Let us preface this post by saying that we are not hotel snobs. We can take just as much pleasure in spending the night in a bamboo shack on the beach (more of that tomorrow) as we do checking out the latest fancypants hotel (although we’ll make sure we’re wearing full-cover, Damian Barr-style PJs in the shack – just to make sure of those sheets).
However, if a hotel is trading under a brand like, oh, say, Hilton, we do expect it to be a certain standard. And that standard is a little higher than a lobby that makes us want to run straight back to the airport:
Tags: Hotel Hell / Hotel Crime / Hotel Safety / Hotel News / TownPlace Suites / Erin Andrews / → All Tags
Hotel Peeping Toms Not Limited to Pretty Sportscasters
We were just starting to get over the uncomfortable idea that the creepy stalker of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was actually helped on his perv mission by a hotel staffer when we came across this news last night--a family staying at a TownPlaces Suites Hotel outside Denver were also the victims of a hidden camera placed inside their hotel room.
Robert Reams and his family checked into their hotel room during a vacation in August. But while they were there, they had no idea that someone was watching them. WOWT TV reports:
From a hole nearly invisible to the eye, David Fugate was in the room with the family. The hole caught the attention of a hotel employee after the family checked out. "The maintenance people poked a pin in the hole and it poked back. They went and got a knife and cut it open to look inside," says Reams. "When they looked inside the wall they found a camera." Fugate had been observing the Reams family from an adjacent room using a wireless camera.
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