Tag: Hotel News Briefs

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Could London Hotels Suffer a Post-Olympics 'Hangover?'

December 12, 2011 at 11:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

2012 will be a huge year for London in more ways than one. With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and a certain international sports event set to descend upon the city, Londontown will see a massive influx of tourists. Hotel rooms are rapidly being snapped up by intelligent travelers, and profit projections for city lodgings remain promisingly high.

But what will become of the city after the torch has been extinguished and tinsel and confetti from the Queen's celebration swept away? According to a recent report by local commuter publication of choice, the London Evening Standard, a dark cloud may descend over the city come 2013.

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Some Hotel News to Nibble On Over Thanksgiving

November 23, 2011 at 3:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

The world may be living in a 24-hour news cycle but we've got some news of our own for you--we're taking the rest of the week off. So barring any major hotel news or events, you won't be reading us again until Monday. Of course, we'd never leave you totally empty-handed. So here's a bunch of hotel news and info to nibble on until our return.

· At Thompson Beverly Hills, BondSt Sushi is out and Caufield's is in (pictured above.) Laurie Mulstay and Ron Marino, the duo behind LA's Magnolia and Bar Chloe, have created an all-American culinary experience at the hotel with classic renditions, farmers market small plates and homemade desserts. The bar will feature handcrafted cocktails, artisan wines and craft beers. We'll have more from inside Caufield's next week so save some room in your tummies!

· The Redbury Hotel in Hollywood has just launched their own dog pampering program in the form or two packages. The Standard Dog package comes with custom beds, bowls, and an in-residence door tag. Owners will get a Redbury-curated guide to everything dog-centric in the neighborhood. The Pampered Pooch package goes above and beyond the Standard with a Redbury dog tag, a Doggie DVD to watch while owners are out, plus the ability to watch your dog on a webcam and the services of a Canine Concierge to check in on your dog and you text updates. Packages start at $120 a pup. The Redbury also says, "With advance notice, The Redbury is happy to accommodate most any type of pet." So bring your pig!

· InterContinental Mark Hopkins in San Francisco is celebrating its 85th year on December 4 with fresh new guestrooms and special dining and drink packages at it's famed restaurant, The Top of the Mark. It's also giving away a weekend at the hotel on Facebook.

· Hotel Americano, the hot new hotel in Chelsea, now features iPads in every guestroom. The iPads run on the Runtriz platform so that guests can order room service, make spa appointments and put in requests all from the iPad's touch-screen. But the hotel also has their own app which features personal recommendations for things to do in NYC from Hotel Americano designer and architect Enrique Norten and creative legend Richard Pandiscio. It also comes loaded with a selection of digital newspapers, blogs, useful links and customized music playlists reflect the "cosmopolitan and nostalgic, yet decidedly Latin flavor of the hotel."

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As If We Needed to Tell You: Book Your 2012 Olympics Hotel NOW

October 14, 2011 at 12:38 PM | by | Comment (1)

It doesn't look like much now, but the Olympics Stadium site in Stratford, London will transform East London…and cause hotel rates to skyrocket

File this story under "O" for "obviously": per a recent report from Travelio.net, those trekking to London for next summer's Olympic games should aim to book their hotel rooms, like, now.

A Hotels.com review of how sporting events effect accommodation prices revealed that, in the case of the recent Rugby World Cup, room rates rose around 29% in Wellington and 11% in Auckland. Over the summer, the Wimbledon tennis tournament saw London rates jump 3% with the city at full occupancy during this time. With the world's biggest sports happening soon coming to Londontown, travelers are being told to expect prices reaching "you've got to be kidding me" heights—up to 50% more than the average in some cases.

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Start Planning That Staycation: European Hotel Rates 'Soar' to Ridiculous Highs

September 22, 2011 at 4:30 PM | by | Comments (0)

A hotel room high in the sky with a price to match too!

As if the weak dollar to euro/dollar to pound exchange rate wasn't enough to deter you from booking that trip to Europe, a recent surge in hotel prices provides yet another reason to plan a staycation this year.

According to a report in the U.K.'s The Independent, European hotel rates are reaching ridiculous highs, jumping "19 percent since last month," with popular destinations seeing the biggest increases of all. Per a survey by Trivago:

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London Hotels Can't Get No Guest Satisfaction

September 13, 2011 at 8:50 AM | by | Comments (0)



Surly, not sweet: London hotels slammed by a recent customer satisfaction report

The oft uttered stereotype that Brits lack grace in the service department was recently reinforced by a report compiled by Trivago, a hotel price comparison website. Measured against 1,000 cities and towns throughout Europe, London ranked dead last by way of reputation amongst travelers, followed closely behind by Birmingham.

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The Batman Hotel Room is Only for the Die-Hard Batman Fan

March 14, 2011 at 5:16 PM | by | Comment (1)

There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.

· Travel booking site, Kayak, now allows guests to book directly through their site. This is a much easier and smoother option but as we just heard again, hotels really like it when you book with them directly. It may be the difference between getting the ocean view upgrade at check-in and that room by the elevator. [Kayak]

· No surprise here. London Hotels are set to charge five times more their usual prices during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Considering that we often find ourselves priced out of London hotels, we thinking the only peeps who can afford these rooms are Russian and Facebook billionaires. [Daily Mail]

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Are Hotels Already Filling Up for Tiger Woods' Return to Golf?

March 16, 2010 at 4:49 PM | by | Comments (0)

According to TMZ, golf fans are so eager to see Tiger Woods return to action at this year's Master's Golf Tournament. So much so that mere hours after his announcement that he would return to golf, hotels near the August National Golf Club were sold-out for the tournament which takes place next month.

Of course, it's likely that the hotels were already booked well in advance as this is the most popular golf tourney of the season. But TMZ says that folks thinking of canceling their hotel rooms suddenly decided to firm up their plans once they learned Tiger Woods was coming back.

We just hope that Tiger himself is not staying in any hotels while in town. After all, part of his rehabilitation program probably involves staying away from any "triggers."

Going to the Master's? Got your hotel room squared away or in need of a hotel room? Let us know.

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Why Can't Hotels Keep Our Information Safe From Hackers?

March 10, 2010 at 4:15 PM | by | Comments (0)

Budget Travel tweeted at us about hacking incident at Wyndham Hotels where guests' credit card information including names, credit card numbers and card expiration dates were stolen. This was the second time in recent years Wyndham has been hacked.

How does this happen? We would think that securing the computer systems at a hotel should be just as important as securing the guestrooms. Sadly, according to this report from BNET, hackers love to hack hotels because it's easy and because it can take several months for hotels to realized they've been hacked.

Making it worse is that much like the Hotel WiFi conundrum where most hotels are franchises owned by different owners and WiFi charges vary from hotel to hotel despite having the same brand name, there doesn't seem to be a uniform computer system to safeguard guest info.

Like we said, protecting our identities before and after we check-in to a hotel should be just as important as protecting us when we're inside the hotel room. Otherwise, we're paying cash!

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Admit It, You Just Love the Hotel Penn for Its Doggie Style

Where: 401 7th Ave [map], New York, NY, United States, 10001
February 15, 2010 at 5:20 PM | by | Comments (0)

While the fate of the Hotel Pennsylvania is still up in the air, all systems are a go for the Annual Westminster Dog show at Madison Square Garden. Dogs began arriving at the Hotel Penn, the show's host hotel, over the weekend. This year, a doggie spa was created to pamper the stressed-out pooches before and after the show.

We love this picture of the dogs and their owners checking into the hotel. Let's hope they didn't have to wait in line too long.

Here's what else is going on in the hotel world:

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Coming Soon, The Nelson Mandela Boutique Hotel?

February 2, 2010 at 4:44 PM | by | Comments (0)

We really hope this hotel plan isn't all hype. News reports out today say that the land where Nelson Mandela spent his last days of freedom before spending 27 years in prison will be turned into a boutique hotel that will accompany a historical museum already on the land. The Daily Mail reports:

As South Africa prepares to celebrate 20 years since Mr Mandela's release on February 11th 1990, three acres of land on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, north of Johannesburg, are set to be developed into a 75million rand hotel (around £6million).

Construction on the 48-room hotel is likely to begin in June and the property is scheduled to open in September 2011.

We're adding that to our Hotel Openings list right now.

Here's what else is going on in the hotel world:
· The Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis is now a Le Meridien. [TwinCities Biz Journal]
· Cruise Ship Hotel for the Vancouver Olympics sinks...in theory [Victoria Advocate]
· The Problems with Condo-Hotels from the condo owners side of coin [NY Times]
· Cougars Hunt Cubs and vice versa at the Clarion Hotel in Millbrae, Calif. [Mercury News]

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Is Your Dog Fat? Loews Hotels Wants to Help That Doggie Lose Weight

January 19, 2010 at 4:45 PM | by | Comments (0)

We're used to hotels pampering our dogs but the Loews Hotels wants to get those dogs off their lazy hind legs and start working out. For real!

The hotel collection has introduced the pet fitness package called, Pumped-Up Pets which includes a deluxe room, workout tips for both the guest and their pet, a Zisc dog Frisbee, and a specially-created and veterinarian-approved “Scratch My Flat Belly” meal for pets. The package also comes with workout tips like throwing a frisbee around, jumping rope with your dog, climbing stairs and um, going for walks.

The package is available at 17 Loews Hotels from now through May 1, 2010. Rates start at $124 a night. For more info, check out the offer here.

In more serious news, hotels are pitching in to help the relief efforts in Haiti. Here's how your next hotel stay may send much needed donations to Haiti.

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How Do You Solve a Problem Like The Plaza?

January 18, 2010 at 4:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

The NY Times has a depressing article about the faded star that is The Plaza Hotel in New York. It turns out the massive renovation that took place a few years ago--which included creating a bunch of overpriced apartments inside--has been largely a failure. At least on the residences and retail side of things.

The folks on the hotel side of things, which is run by Fairmont Hotels say that occupancy was up in December, the first five-diamond rating from AAA was just issued, several princes and princesses stayed there recently and of course, every bride still wants to get married there come May.

But there's no denying that The Plaza just isn't what it used to be. That's not to say it isn't very pretty. We absolutely loved the rooms when we stayed there in June. It just did not feel like the old hotel that belonged to Eloise. Maybe the Plaza just needs to bring its price point down a bit for everyone to be able to try it out. Currently, rooms are $595 a night.

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