Tag: Hotel News
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Saving Rupees is Now a Reality with Tune Ahmedabad
Let's all say "namaste" to Tune Ahmedabad, the first-ever Tune Hotel for India. Located in the "Science City", the hotel officially welcomed its first guests but not before hosting a colorful ceremony blessing the new building with flowers and other offerings.
Keeping with the Tune model of pay-for-what-you-use, a Comfort Package is available now for about an extra $9, which gives a full 24-hours of wifi, TV, and air conditioning access. If you're looking to dive into some vindaloo to start your day, for just over $3 you can tuck into breakfast in the lobby's XO Cafe.
The hotel is perfect for travelers looking to save a few rupees and still get a full Indian experience with some shopping and sport. Along with being annexed to the city's newly developed 4D Square Shopping Mall, Tune is also a short walk to the local cricket stadium, after all this is 'cricket country'. (the sport, not the insect)
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5 Hotel Booking Sites You Should Know About and Use
One of the questions we get asked the most (after "Can you get me a free hotel room?") is, "What hotel booking site do you use?" Our answer often varies depending on the city, the time of year and whether the trip is business or pleasure, but we've definitely got a few sites that we trust more than others.* So allow us to round them up for you here:
5 Hotel Booking Sites You Should Know About and Use
*Sorry, these won't help lower the rates for NYC in mid-June but at least you'll be getting the best rate you can.
Boston Hotels / Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Pools / Hotel Bars / Hotel Uniforms / Hotel News / → All Tags
The Revere Hotel's New Pret-A-Surf Staff Uniforms Are Tres Belles
If you have difficulty trying to get work done on hotel rooftops, then we have two pieces of advice for you: one, stop trying to get work done on hotel rooftops, and two, definitely don't visit the new rooftop pool at the Revere Hotel, where attractive female employees will be prancing around all summer long in matching swimwear outfits designed by Pret-a-Surf.
The checkered hot pants, striped bikini tops, and nautical-themed jerseys that you see above are the new staff uniforms up at Rooftop @ Revere, which debuted last week.
As hotel uniforms go, we like the breezy, New England look—certainly racier indeed than the silk embroidered robes we saw in Bangkok, yet tamer than the W New York Downtown's double-breasted tuxedo shorts.
And if you fancy yourself (or your loved one) dressed up like one of the Revere cocktail servers, then all you have to do is head down to the lobby retail shop, and pick out some matching Pret-a-Surf attire of your very own.
Luxury Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Amenities / Hotel iPads / Hotel News / → All Tags
But Will The Burj Al-Arab's Golden iPads Make The Internet Work Faster?
The answer is: of course not! But this is The Burj Al Arab and whatever their high-paying guests want, or think they might want, they will get. Hence the new 24 carat gold iPads that are now available in all guestrooms. (No doubt, these will show the Emirates Palace just how silly their gold Christmas tree was!)
The iPad will be loaded with the Burj Al Arab's own virtual concierge software, enabling guests to order up whatever they wish through the iPad. The glittering iPad is just one of the latest high tech amenity additions to the Burj which already has iMacs in each room, plasma TVs and private butler service. Fortunately, the WiFi is free.
The golden iPads are also another attention getter for the attention-seeking hotel which also has $7,250 ashtrays, the fanciest concierge desk ever and a helipad tennis court.
But as Business Insider points out--the starting room rate is $1,500 so perhaps offering up gold iPads is the least the Burj could do.
[Photo: @BurjAlArab/Twitter]
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Will This Pop-Up Hotel Be Opening in an Office Space Near You?
Last week at the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas, it wasn't all about brightly colored chairs, interesting light fixtures and high-tech toilets. We actually got a glimpse of possible future hotels at the Radical Innovation in Hospitality Awards.
The competition, now in its 7th year, aims to "discover, identify, and explore radically innovative hospitality concepts" either ones that are already in development or just in conceptual form. It's sponsored by Hospitality Design and The John Hardy Group, the developers behind the recently opened Anza Hotel in Calabasas as well as several big hotels in NYC and worldwide.
In Las Vegas, the top three finalists for the contest made their presentations to a rather large panel of hotel industry experts from Starwood's president of global development, Simon Turner; master planner and architect Wing Chao and John Hardy himself. The entire thing was moderated by industry expert, Barbara DeLollis. Yet despite the big names on the panel, it was the audience who got the final vote in which team should win.
While we were swayed by the idea of a traveling train hotel and a hotel with shared coworking spaces, it was clear that The Pop-Up Hotel was not just the most innovative idea for a hotel but also one that could be implemented rather easily.
Miami Hotel Mambo / sbe / Redbury Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags
The Redbury South Beach is For Real and It's Opening This Fall Too
We had the news yesterday that the SBE company would be spinning off their Redbury Hotel in Miami but today, we've got the full lowdown from SBE themselves. And it's good, like really good.
First off, The Redbury South Beach will open this fall. Wham, bam, thank you mam! As you can see from the Twitpic from @DeeTCL, work is already underway. (The hotel is opening out of the old Fairfax Hotel.)
Word is the design will be inspired by its Hollywood roots but will also weave in the art deco vibe of South Beach. All in all, the hotel will have 69 rooms and suites.
Restauranteurs Larry Levy and Bob Heyat are responsible for bringing in the hip food & beverage offerings including the lobby restaurant, Lorenzo, which will be helmed by James Beard Award-winning Chef Tony Mantuano who has four great restaurants in Chicago, include Spiagia and Terzo Piano at the Art Institute. As you can guess, the restaurantwill serve up authentic Italian cuisine.
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London Keeps on Keeping On With All These New Hotels
Will this be the Hudson London?
If you thought London would be taking a break when it comes to hotel openings after a rather frenetic Olympic year, think again: the next few years look to be filled with all sorts of exciting stuff to keep us happy. We’re listing the hotels we have our eyes on for you below, and stay tuned as we will be taking you inside when we can.
- A rebirth rather than a brand new hotel, the former St. John Hotel became One Leicester Street on May 1, including a refurbished restaurant and outdoor terrace
- Over in King’s Cross, the Great Northern Hotel also got a new a lease on life as part of the revitalization of the entire station, with sleeper compartment-inspired rooms called Couchettes
- South Kensington got a new boutique hotel contender this month in the form of the 99-room Xenia Hotel on Cromwell Road, not far from the Ampersand we showed you last year
- Affordable-chic brand base2stay is re-branding itself as Nadler Hotels, and its flagship The Nadler Soho will open on June 1, a stone’s throw from the likes of Dean Street Townhouse and Firmdale’s the Soho Hotel
- This isn't really a new hotel but it is newsworthy--The Waldorf-Astoria Syon Park has now been downgraded to just the Hilton London Syon Park. A Hilton Worldwide spokesperson told Business Insider that, "Having operated the property since March 2011, we've mutually agreed with our owner that the new positioning will be the best fit for the local market."
Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Four Seasons Hotels / Orient-Express Hotels / Park Hyatt Hotels / Rosewood Hotels / → All Tags
Could There BE Any More Luxury Hotels Opening In The Near Future?
The Westcliff Johannesburg
You guys, the hotel news keeps rolling in so fast we can barely keep up with it. In order to get us all up to speed, we’ll give you a brief rundown of some of the latest news & rumors for Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, Rosewood and SBE that have us mighty intrigued.
FOUR SEASONS
Starting in South Africa, Business Traveller reported last week the venerable Westcliff Johannesburg will move from Orient-Express to Four Seasons, and based on our own investigation, that does look to be happening. If you’ve had Sunday brunch at the glorious La Belle Terrasse, spent time at the pool, and wandered its cobblestone streets and lush gardens, you know this place is easy to fall in love with. If indeed ‘substantial’ renovations will be part of the transition, things will only get that much better.
Surprising as it might be, late next year will be the first time Four Seasons will get in on the luxury hotel action in Dubai, with a 237-room resort at the northern end of Jumeirah Beach. More in the Middle East should follow in Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain, Doha, Jeddah, and Kuwait. Like Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons is also planning on Kyoto and Casablanca, and if that wasn’t enough, we’re hearing about South America (with a number of hotels in Brazil) and various rumors elsewhere as well.
Hotel News / Dubai Hotels / Viceroy Hotels / → All Tags
Can Dubai Squeeze Another Hotel Onto the Palm? Viceroy Thinks So
Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi generally gets most of the attention when it comes to Viceroy hotels in the Middle East. But that's all about to change, as word got out last week that Viceroy is planning to build a 481-room beachfront resort on the Palm Jumeirah.
We kinda figured one 1,500-room mega-resort would be enough, but we guess we were wrong.
Set to open in 2017, Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah will be a mixed-use development, with an adjoining 220 pre-furnished luxury residences, a spa, private beach club, 3 outdoor swimming pools, and the hotel itself. Of course, plenty of this already exists in Dubai, but this is a city practically founded on the concept of one-upmanship, so there's always room for something bigger, better, and more bombastic.
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Prince Harry May Be Blacklisted By St. Regis Hotels For Defeating Their Polo Team
Oh, who are we kidding? We're sure St. Regis Hotels and their polo team, captained by hunky Nacho Figueras, let Prince Harry and his Sentebale Land Rover team win the match with a final tally of 4-3. After all, the hot ginger Prince Harry even scored the winning goal.
The polo match took place last week as part of the Royal Salute Sentebale Polo Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club in Connecticut. The match was the opener to the polo season and it's primary goal was not to give us pictures of Prince Harry and Nacho together but rather to raise awareness and support for healthcare and education of the children of Lesotho, Africa.
Several other St. Regis Connoisseurs came to cheer the St. Regis team on--which includes Dawn Jones (wife of Tommy Lee Jones)--such as fashion designer Jason Wu, Starwood’s SVP Brand Management Dave Marr, Greenwich Polo Club Co-Founder Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, Nacho's wife Delfina Blaquier (pictured above), model Karolina Kurkova and Olivia Palermo.
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After 3-Year Delay, Four Seasons New York Downtown Is Back On Track
Three years ago, we told you to mark your calendars for the 2014 opening of Four Seasons New York Downtown. Well, here we are in 2013 and not much progress has been made. In fact, we were juuust getting ready to strike said reminder from our iCal when we stumbled across this article yesterday throwing our hopes back into the air.
The reports says that the project is once again moving forward—now that financing has been secured—and that the 185-room luxury hotel is now set for a 2016 opening. Originally, this hotel was slated to open in 2011 (ha!), though by now we've come to understand that projected opening dates mean diddly squat and any hotel that opens on time is a rare thing indeed.
But back to the Four Seasons: the report doesn't give us too much new information except that the building will be 926 feet tall (one of the tallest hotels in NYC) and that the lobby will be a three-story atrium with lounges, a ballroom, a restaurant, meeting spaces, and a spa.
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Scenes from The 2013 Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas
This week we attended the Hospitality Design Expo Conference in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and never before have we seen so much hotel furniture in one spot--from chairs and beds to desks and lamps and beyond. It was thrilling for hotel nerds like us.
We'll have more from what we learned at the show next week (keyword: MILLENIALS) but for now, we thought we'd simply show you what we saw. Take a, um, seat and enjoy!
