Tag: Hotel Minibars
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What’s Out, What’s In: Raiding the Minibar
We've started a series of what’s trending in hotels these days: What’s Out, What’s In. Do we like what we see? Think it's a dud? You be the judge!
What’s Out: Cheetos and johnnie Walker
What’s In: Locally-made or healthy alternatives
Sometimes it’s late in the day, dinner was hours ago and you’ve got the munchies bad, or it’s early and you just want to grab something before you rush out the door to your meeting. Your eyes drift over to the minibar, but that ubiquitous, teensy can of Pringles isn’t going to keep you fuelled, never mind toned. What’s a road warrior to do?
Fifteen Beacon goes beyond the standard M&M's and sodas to include local faves like Boston Baked Beans and Cape Cod all-natural potato chips, plus healthy alternatives including coconut water, protein bars and Emergen-C. To top it off, they even offer pampering products like cucumber eye-cream and Sprayology -- a holistic product for your travel-stressed immune system.
Local products abound at the Fairmont Pittsburgh including Betsy Ann Chocolates, Torn Ranch snacks, Naturally Yours trail mixes and local beers (Penn Pilsner and Yuengling). And here’s the best part: in keeping with the idea of “be good to your body, be good to the earth” they also offer complimentary, refillable glass bottles for you to fill with filtered water from dispensers located on each floor.
For you appreciative craft beer lovers, the minibar at Enchantment Resort in Sedona has swapped out mass-produced beer brands for locally-made Grand Canyon Pilsner. They also keep full bottles of local Arizona wines, chocolates, snacks and full-size bath products atop cabinets and vanities to really tempt you to indulge yourself.
Hotel Amenities / Hotel Design / Hotel News / India Hotels / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Bars / → All Tags
Is This The Hotel Minibar of the Future?
An India-based company that specializes in designing bars for high-end hotels throughout New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore (including ITC Maurya, where Obama stayed during a visit in 2010) has come up with a new concept that's sure to catch people's attention: a fully-equipped personal bar for hotel suites.
The nifty "BarTrender Pro" basically whittles down all the elements of a high-end hotel bar—cocktail mixing station, built-in refrigeration, dual zone wine preservation, separate storage for glasses and bottles—into one compact, fully integrated unit.
Just looking at it, we get the sense that even ignoramuses like us who have never bartended a day in our lives (save for once, during college, which was a failure on all accounts) would be able to slap together a half-decent beverage. With the bar's attractive smooth surfaces and backlit shelves, at the very least, we'd look good doing it!
The bar has been on display at multiple showrooms in Jasola and Mumbai, and plenty of folks have expressed interest in buying a unit for themselves, but the company's chief designer said that production is still being limited to two hundred per year. He went on:
"These are prized possessions, and we plan sell limited numbers each year per region. Luxury hotel chains have considered the bar for their suites."
What do you think? Is this something you would use if it showed up in your hotel room? Or would you rather just head downstairs and order a drink the good old-fashioned way? Let us know your thoughts below!
Sweet Suites / Manhattan Hotels / Autograph Collection / Marriott Hotels / Hotel Furniture / Hotel Design / Hotel Bars / Hotel Libraries / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Speakeasies / → All Tags
Notice Anything Unusual About This Hotel Bookcase?
Marriott swooped in last year and made plenty of Marriott Rewards members happy by adding the Carlton Hotel to its Autograph Collection. And while perhaps the place isn't quite as historic as its Autograph Collection sister hotel, The Algonquin, the Carlton still has a few tricks up its sleeves...
So for those of you planning on staying here, here's a little secret: up in room 1105, you'll find the exact bookcase you see pictured above. Looks like a normal bookcase, right? Wrong. The bookcase is in fact a door that opens onto a hidden wood-paneled room, accessible only to guests staying in room 1105, which is also known as The Speakeasy Suite.
For more photos, click through!
Hotels Doing Good / 50 Cent / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Charity / Celebrity Scoop / Hotel Minibars / → All Tags
50 Cent Wants To Wake You Up At The Strand Hotel
We know how hard it can be getting out of bed sometimes. We normally use our iPhone alarm to jolt us awake (followed by a big cup of strong black tea), but we're aware there are other more soothing ways to get the job done. Like...a wake-up call from Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson when you stay at The Strand in New York City.
Sound crazy? Here's a little background: 50 Cent, along with entrepreneur Chris Clarke, founded a line of all-natural energy drinks known as SK Energy Shots back in 2011 (actually, the product name was originally Street King, but in 2012 it got abbreviated to the less confrontational "SK".) Better yet, the SK Energy brand has a philanthropic mission, with every energy shot sold providing a meal to a hungry child through the United Nations World Food Programme.
Now, the Strand has partnered with SK to offer the energy shots in all 176 guest rooms. But to really help raise awareness, the hotel is offering the option of a (pre-recorded, duh) wake-up call from Mr. P-I-M-P himself. No further details have been released, though we're wondering, if it happens to be your birthday, do you get your name called out in a special rendition of In Da Club?
Celebrity Scoop / Britney Spears / Hotel Minibars / Hotel News / Celeb Hotels / → All Tags
Britney Spears Is Avoiding the Hotel Minibar These Days
It would be accurate to report that every time Britney Spears checks out of a hotel, the minibar has been cleaned out. But it would be more accurate to report that the minibar is actually emptied before she even gets there in the first place.
Us Weekly is reporting that, as a preventative measure, Britney's team requires all hotels to remove the contents of the minibar before the star arrives. That way, she won't be tempted back into her maniacal old head-shaving ways. She's got a proper job these days, crushing the dreams of aspiring pop stars. She ain't got time to be boozing it up in hotel suites!
The Smooth Operator / Toronto Hotels / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Minibars / → All Tags
No Iron and a 'Weak' Minibar for The Smooth Operator at The Hazelton Hotel
Welcome to another hotel dispatch from our newest special contributor, The Smooth Operator. We can't divulge his identity but we can tell you he's spends about 70 percent of his time on the road, staying in all the hot hotels and checking out their restaurants and bars to see if the social scene is up to snuff. If you're deciding whether or not to take a chance on that hip boutique hotel in the city, read The Smooth Operator for his opinion first. (Or send us an email and we'll have him answer it for you!)
During my last stay at the Hazelton Hotel in Toronto, I was put in room 323. An expanded suite with extensive square footage, the room was impressive but the layout didn’t work and the room felt like a long hallway – not comfortable at all.
The closet units, however, are exceptional – definitely more than enough hangers (which has proven challenging in premium hotels lately) and great space / design overall. The closet was larger than some rooms I’ve stayed in this year, but shockingly, no iron or ironing board available for the premium clients who stay there.
After three requests over two days I finally had someone from housekeeping provide an iron. (Ed. Note: We guess the iron is not a totally useless amenity for our S.O.)
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Capture Your Hotel Stay in a Stylish Way at The Mark
Sometimes, it's the little touches that make a hotel stay which is why we spend a large part of our time devoted to showing you what's in a hotel room minibar, what magazines are laying on the nightstand and what toiletries are placed on the sink.
Right now, over at the fashionable Mark Hotel on New York's Upper East Side, they are going a little old-school with their mini-bar items by offering Kodak disposable cameras alongside the usual snacks and booze. Except these cameras are done in black and white stripes, a reflection of the hotel's signature marble floors of black and white stripes.
Now you can capture your stylish stay in a stylish way. Then you can show your grandkids that once upon a time photographs were actually done on film. Priceless!
Rates at The Mark start around $455 for a superior courtyard queen but the hotel is running a special summer offer that gives you 20 percent off the room rate if you stay two nights or more. That brings the price down to about $365 a night. The cameras are $18.
Hotel Minibars / Chicago Hotels / Public Hotels / Hotel Souvenirs / → All Tags
Public Chicago's Postcards Show Just How A List Their Public Was
It’s not often a hotel minibar can tempt us with something we actually want to buy, which is why the minibar at Public Chicago made us smile during our stay the other week.
As we showed you back when the hotel opened, the minibar contains a Public-branded pack of postcards of film stars, like Dustin Hoffman as a bell man for the Ambassador East.
This time, we took the $10 plunge and opened the pack, tempted by a picture of Elizabeth Taylor. But if you’re looking for postcards that trumpet their origins, as we were, prepare to be disappointed – the hotel’s name is on a sticker on the pack, and nowhere on the cards.
Having said that, not only do you get a neat little clutch of glam black and white pics of the stars of yore – they’re all pictures of said stars at the Pump Room, or the Ambassador East. The same photos as you’ll find by the Ppublic bathrooms downstairs below the lobby.
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Which Hotels Are Doing Good For Heart Disease Awareness Month?
It's National Wear Red Day, and across the country, the American Heart Association is urging everyone to raise awareness about women's heart disease by wearing the color red. And since we've already done our work pointing out the best Valentine's Day hotels (for both NYC and Miami), here's a look at some heart-conscious hotel efforts happening this month.
First stop: Kimpton's Hotel Palomar, which is offering a new gluten-free minibar to provide guests with healthy snacks when they get back to their rooms. Our favorite item? The KIND fruit and nut bars, which we always make a point of slipping into our carry-on whenever we travel. So fruity and chewy and delicious! The minibar will also be stocked with Izze soda, Glutino pretzel twists, and Lundberg rice chips.
Hotel Shopping / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Toiletries / Gramercy Park Hotel / → All Tags
Everything's For Sale at The Gramercy Park Hotel
Operation blips and woes aside, the Gramercy Park Hotel has a lot going for it.
The plush, dark rooms feel more like your rich, moody uncle's place than your typical hotel room and they are full of lovely little details, including the Allure magazine-editor-curated toiletries--a mix of best-of-the-best products rather than all items from the one brand.
And now, you can take a whole lot of the hotel home with you. For a price. You see, the rooms at GPH are designed for you to shop til you drop. Everything in the collage above—from the pretty tassels right down to the tray that the bathroom toiletries are sitting on—is for sale.
Hotel Minibars / Photo Gallery / Amsterdam Hotels / Hotel Design / Holland Hotels / → All Tags
The Biggest, Baddest Hotel Minibar in All the Land
Have you ever walked into a hotel room and spotted a piece of furniture where you're just like, "what the heck is that?" The hope is that it's something awesome—say a turntable closet or a washer/dryer—but at luxury Amsterdam hotel The Dylan, the surprise is a custom-made minibar cabinet.
Open its mother-of-pearl handles (yes, they're real). The Dylan's bespoke cabinets can be found in each room, and they contain everything from fancy teas and bottle opener to Pringles, Heineken, and a fridge of champagne and soda. You won't find Keurig cups or plastic stirrers here; the espresso machine is serious business and so are the china and glassware. For rooms which begin around $460 per night, amenity overkill of this sort is not only appropriate, but appreciated.
Photo Galleries / Hotel Openings / Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Pools / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Bathrooms / → All Tags
First Look Inside The Hotel Williamsburg
It's the beginning of the end: Williamsburg's first boutique hotel flung open its doors earlier last month on a quiet, park-facing street near the waterfront. Though we initially had assumed Brooklyn would allow for significantly more square footage than, say, an equivalent hotel in Manhattan, we might have been proved wrong.
But all is not lost: the hotel's prime location has already begun attracting tourists and film crews alike (The Good Wife, a Vogue fashion shoot, and an unnamed MTV pilot, have all shot here). And if it weren't for the taco truck (it will eventually be installed next to the pool and bi-level art gallery (opening date still TBD), we wouldn't be nearly so excited about the public spaces here. Most of all, we can't wait for the opening of Pillar & Plough, the hotel's farm-to-fork eatery, next week.
