Imagine you are a jet-setting rock star and your label is being really pushy about getting you to lay down some new tracks for your album. But all you really want to do is be big pimpin' all over the world. Is there a way to do both? Actually there is.
A few hotels offer recording studios inside their properties, making it possible for rock stars and pop stars to take a working vacation.
Of course, you don't need to be a big time rock and pop star to book these hotel studios, you just need plenty of cash.
That means any monied up schmo can throw down a hack version of Chocolate Rain, upload it somewhere, dream of going viral, then end up on VH1's The Best Week Ever. Ah, the wonders of the new millenium.
Dipping into the new members of the design hotels group again, a new hotel in Japan has caught our attention. Opening on December 13, the Hotel Screen in historic Kyoto, north of Osaka, is a 13-room hotel that sounds pretty unique.
Hotel Screen is designed around the concept that "no two guests will have the same experience on any given night". That means that each room was designed by a different designer so you could, theoretically, spend almost two weeks getting a completely different experience each night.
As well as the varying rooms, guests can experience the open-air sky lounge (kind of a fancy name for a garden with seats, we suppose) and buy the hotel's very own soundtrack CD.
Once a week, in a nod to the environment, the restaurant in Screen has "Candle Night" to save electricity, although presumably the kitchen still operates in full light. They turn out "Kyoto nouvelle cuisine" which is a mix of traditional Kyoto-style food and French cuisine.
It's probably pretty tasty, but you just won't be able to to see it so well if you happen to eat there on Candle Night.
Soon, only Sony BMG artists will be playing from these Starwood-owned iPods.
iTunes may have a monopoly selling music online, but other music execs, and their crafty marketing people have plenty of tricks up their sleeves like targeting hotel guests.
The latest trick is an exclusive partnership between Sony BMG Entertainment and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Under the agreement, Sony BMG will produce song playlists tailored to individual properties, digital music stores, $20 compilation albums, live and VIP performances and, oh, a free in-room VH1-esque TV channel.
The first brands in the Starwood Empire to receive musical royal treatment are stateside Sheratons, W Hotels, Westins, Four Points, Le Meridiens, St. Regis and Luxury Collection brands. If all goes well, the program will go global later this year.
[Ed. Note: Contributing Editor PBB has been very busy lately...partying. Here's the first of two Party Dispatches for us.]
Went by the Hudson Hotel on Monday to check out a set by Ben Watt, who's half of Everything but the Girl. It was super loud--which is a good thing--and had quite a club vibe for a sunset show. Pretty good crowd, too.
Rumor is that another show in the hotel's Private Park is coming up in two weeks, but don't see anything on the Giant Step website about it.
The FlyerTalk.com message forums are not just for flying talk: there are plenty of threads on hotels. This can be the perfect place to find out, for instance, what others think about the latest hotel tech item, like Hyatt Hotel's "aren't we hip" iPod docks. (Never mind those XM radios that were going to be in all rooms starting in 2005.)
The iPod docks are also the alarm clocks, which you know is going to be trouble for people who just want to wake up in time for their flight. Sure enough, here are a few choice comments from this thread.
· "It appears that my 3rd gen iPod isn't fully compatible. It stops playing after one song, and I can't control the iPod through the dials on the clock.
· "Didn't use it, sound quality sucked."
·"Where did your husband find the dimmer control? I stayed at the Greenwich property last week, and, after 15 minutes of trying every conceivable option (or so I thought), called the operator, who said they receive loads of complaints every night. I declined her offer to send "engineering" to my room to sort it out. Miserable excuse for an alarm clock."
Even if it worked really well though, it could still be trouble in hotels with thin walls. As one poster commented, "Oh Joy, I get to hear 'Frampton Comes alive - remastered' coming from my neighbor's room while he takes a shower."
Your experience may differ. If it does and you really love it, you can buy one from Hyatt for $99.
[Update 2.8.07: The blog has been removed from Blogspot, so we have removed the now broken link.]
We stumbled across a lovely little blog called the Hotel Pianist, written from the perspective of a female pianist in her early 30s who makes a living playing a baby grand in the small lobby bar of an NYC hotel. She doesn't reveal her locale, but with just the tiniest bit of Web research we were able to figure out her not-so-secret venue--Hotel Giraffe.
It's not easy being a hotel pianist. You are usually invisible, but if you are seen at all, it's usually as an object of ridicule. And in one of life's great ironies, a musician is often paid more to play music that people don't listen to than music they do.
There's a wealth of stories here about crappy guests, weirdos who wander in everyday and people with annoying requests. Even staff members--clueless bartenders and bellhops who keep the door open so cold air blows in--get on this pianist's nerves. Posts to look forward to are the "Comment of the Night" posts like this one: "'Look, someone's actually going to play that thing,' said one particularly enlightened guest when I sat down on the piano bench after a break." And personnel changes where she details which clueless bartender was hired and which annoying bellhop was fired.
Of course, after reading nearly every blog post posted over the past year, we were desperate to figure out what hotel this pianist was playing at. Suffice to say, there is a way of determining the hotel based on a post she made last summer. So the next time you are strollling down Park Ave South or hitting up dinner at Dos Caminos, pop into the Hotel Giraffe and show some appreciation for this hotel pianist. She deserves it after dealing with Trumpet Nose and requests from the musical "Annie."
Yesterday, we looked at some Los Angeles hotel options for a friend looking to get some "Award Season Boondoggle." Today we found a more subdued query on the A Luxury Travel Blog from a Randi I. who was looking for a hotel in LA with good musical entertainment.
I am just overnighting there and I will be by myself, but I'd like to hear some good jazz, folk, or classical music if possible. I'm not really into traveling around a lot or even renting a car, but if there were some place that had entertainment in the hotel itself that would work very well for me.
Randi also goes on to mention that LA might be culture shock for her as she is coming from Alaska and might not want to leave the hotel much. Totally understandable as LA can be scary but a shame if you've traveled so far to get there.
Luxury Travel's suggestions and HotelChatter's suggestions for Musical LA hotels after the jump.
This holiday season iPods and iTunes gift certificates will probably be everyone's favorite stocking stuffer, despite the fact that Apple will churn out a newer and better iPod in three months thus rendering yours obsolete. Nevertheless to celebrate the popularity of the iPod and its fifth birthday the Westin Times Square has created a new menu of services for guests and their iPods.
As we reported over the summer, each room comes with an iHome docking staion/alarm clock. Other rooms also have iPod docking stations with Bose Wave Radio. Now the hotel has Playlist Concierges who help guests find the perfect mix of tunes to listen to while on the road. Yes, you read correctly. A playlist concierge.
These digital DJs have put together a variety of soundtrack lists including song title and artist to make it easy to download. Guests needing to unwind after a day of traveling may enjoy the Relax playlist including soothing sounds from Beethoven and Gershwin. Those reveling in the Big Apple spirit can enjoy spectacular city views from their guestroom while listening to tunes from New York, NY including title tracks "On Broadway", "NY State of Mind," and "Spanish Harlem." Great White Way aficionados may enjoy a compilation of show tunes such as "Memory" from CATS and "All that Jazz" from Chicago on the Broadway playlist.
From now through January 15 for travel from January 1 to February 2007, the hotel is offering guests who book one of the technologically-advanced rooms, a $10 iTunes gift card. (Rates start at $269. When booking ask for the IPOD rate plan.)
Here's a hint: If you can, book an Executive Club room as it comes with Apple iMac G5 computers with wireless mouse and keyboard.
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by juliana
