Tag: Hotel Minibars
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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.
Interviews / Hyatt Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Minibars / → All Tags
Hyatt Regency NOLA's GM Does Not Want to Gouge You With His Minibars
We already took you on a tourof the guest rooms at the back-in-business Hyatt Regency New Orleans--and told you all the gourmet tailgating goodness that can be found at the hotel's bars and restaurants.
As for the reason your minibar is empty, we decided to let the Hyatt Regency NOLA's GM explain. We caught up with Michael Smith at the hotel's 24-hour market Lagniappe Exchange, which factors heavily in his plans not to rip off his guests at the minibar.
OpenThread / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Snacks / → All Tags
What's Your Favorite Hotel Snack?
Hmm! Hotel snacks...
It's no secret that we love the freebie snacks and soft drinks at Andaz Hotels. But those North Fork Potato Chips and Jacques Torres dark chocolate have recently been topped by some other amazing hotel snack finds.
Our favorites? The FunkyChunky Popcorn available at Spice, the market at The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos (an emporium of gourmet eats) and Nom Nom's--if just for the name alone--at Grand Velas Riviera Maya--dangerous because it's an all-inclusive and your minibar is replenished daily.
Of course, these sweet and savory delights are not as healthy as a Hotel Welcome Fruit Bowl, but they're usually a lot more fun, especially when you stumble across foreign yummies or noms you've never seen before.
Hotel Minibars / InterContinental Hotels / InterContinental Royal Ambassadors / The Points Guy / → All Tags
InterContinental's Royal Ambassadors Have Been Cut Down in Vegas
Last month, the erstwhile Points Guy aka Brian Kelly let us in on a little-known perk of InterContinental Hotels' upper echelon loyalty program tier, Royal Ambassadors--raiding the minibar.
Brian demonstrated the perk while in Vegas at The Palazzo, which is actually now a part of InterContinental. Because he's a Royal Ambassador, that means he's allowed to clear out the minibar totally free of charge and yes, that includes all the alcohol.
While we debated the ethics of doing this sort of pillaging, it turns out the powers that be at The Palazzo and The Venetian (also a part of InterContie) took notice of this free-for-all. And then effectively put a stop to it.
Commenter RicGarrido let us know of the new minibar policy for Royal Ambassadors when staying in Vegas:
Video Tours / Hyatt Hotels / Hotel Minibars / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Wine / → All Tags
Stash Your Wine In Style At Hyatt 48Lex
Beverages seem to be a theme over at the newly-opened Hyatt 48Lex. If guests aren't downstairs slurping freshly brewed coffee (or tea!) at Lexicon Lounge, they can raid the wine minibar (stocked with ten mini bottles), which conveniently folds into the rest of the cabinet. Out of sight, out of mind!
Take a look at our video tour of a Lexington Studio, located on the ninth floor. The kitchenette/minibar area is located right by the door as you walk inside, which leaves the rest of the room relatively un-cluttered. West-facing windows deliver plenty of light and offer some great unobstructed views down Lexington Avenue. We dug the stylish lounge area outside the bedroom, which, rather cozily manages to pack in a couch, chair and desk. Rates for the Lexington Studio start at around $500.
Hotel Minibars / Honor Bars / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel Services / → All Tags
What Does an Honor Bar in a Hotel Really Mean?
We've always thought that honor bars were different from hotel minibars in that if you took a Coke from the bar, you were expected to be on your best honor and check it off on a little sheet next to the bar so that the establishment would know what to charge you.
In our experience, we've seen these honor bars at country clubs and other sort of clubby places but hotels are adopting them too. Except it's not quite the same honor system.
At the Ritz-Carlton at LA Live, the honor bars in the guestrooms come with some very real prices as well as an 18 percent service charge. Here's a look at the honor bar menu where you can see a chardonnay available for $28 and a pinot noir for $40. (And yes, those are full-sized bottles.)
Hotel Minibars / Manhattan Hotels / Trump Hotels / Hotel Makeup / → All Tags
The Trump Soho's Minibar is Sealed with a $25 Kiss
We actually love spotting makeup in hotel minibars like the cosmetics kit we once saw at The Cooper Square Hotel. After all, we're more likely to use lipstick and mascara than condoms and sensual oils. (Sad but true.)
Yet before we pluck this La Bella Donna Lip Sheer off the minibar tray at the Trump Soho in Manhattan, we should be mindful that it costs $25. While it's not the priciest thing on the tray (that distinction goes to the bottle of Grey Goose for $95), it's definitely more than we'd pay for a lip sheer. (Shout out to Carmex!)
Hotel Minibars / InterContinental Hotels / InterContinental Royal Ambassadors / The Points Guy / → All Tags
The Points Guy Asks, 'Is It Wrong To Clean Out the Hotel Minibar?'
The Points Guy aka Brian Kelly has long been a favorite hotel and travel expert of ours, especially since he's a whiz at figuring out how to get the most out of your credit card points, frequent flyer miles, hotel rewards and other loyalty programs when you travel.
And because he's such a genius at navigating the extremely confusing waters of loyalty program promotions, Brian has seen and done some pretty cool things this past year, one of them being obtaining Royal Ambassador status at InterContinental Hotels.
Aside from getting numerous perks upon arrival at an InterContinental Hotel such as room upgrades, instant check-in, fresh fruit and mineral water at arrival, VIP greeting, in-room welcome gift, one free pay TV movie per stay, complimentary newspaper and a late check-out, Ambassadors are also given free reign of the minibar. Meaning they can clean it out and not get charged a single penny.
But is that wrong? Allow Brian to show us exactly what he's struggling with in the video below.
Hotel Amenities / Hotel Minibars / Ace Hotels / Portland Hotels / Hipster Hotels / → All Tags
More Metal Thingies in Hotels, This Time at the Ace Portland
Okay, it's official; we are totally on the look-out for hotel rooms that feature the little extra amenity of a wall-mounted bottle opener. First, we spotted in the business traveler-oriented, $300+ rooms of the Sofitel Heathrow Airport, and now one has made an appearance in the hipster-centric $95 rooms of the Ace Hotel Portland. Beer—it transcends all economics and demographics.
Truly, having a bottle opener fixed to the wall (and therefore not so easily stealable) makes total sense in a hotel room. No need to call room service at 2am when you've cut your teeth trying to open a bottle you thought was screw-top. And, if you have a special guest up to your room for drinks, the suave movement of popping the cap without having to fuss with a gadget is some minor James Bond seduction stuff. At least, to us.
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