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HotelChatter Lists
The Five Best Hotels for Las Vegas Virgins
December 4, 2008 at 4:15 PM | 5 Comments
Pop your Vegas cherry and be merry! Take our word for it: this holiday season would be the ideal time to hit up Las Vegas if you have, somehow, never set foot in Sin City before. Room rates are plummeting, crowds are thinning, and if the lure of booze, glitz and gambling doesn't entice you, we'll remind you that you probably only have a small amount of time to experience the alleged glorious trainwreck that is Criss Angel's "Believe" before it gets the inevitable axe.
To make your first Vegas experience as pleasant and manageable as possible, we've picked out the Top 5 Hotels for Vegas Virgins.
Hilton Hotels
Hilton's Boutique Brand Not Quite Ready for the Limelight
Where: United StatesDecember 4, 2008 at 3:32 PM | 0 Comments
The other week we speculated (based on other internet reports) that Hilton Hotels would finally announce it's boutique hotel brand in January at the annual ALIS conference in San Diego.
Yet our giddiness over learning about a new boutique brand from one of the big-box hotels has been deflated, thanks to an industry rag's latest news.
Jeff Weinstein, Editor-In-Chief of HOTELS Magazine reports on his blog today:
As I suspected and Hilton execs all but admitted to me, this [Berlin Investment Conference] will be the time and place for Hilton to launch its new lifestyle brand on the evening of March 10.
Yup, we gotta wait until March now to hear about Hilton's plans for the boutique hotel world.
Sneak Peek
The First Look at the Standard NYC's Lobby and Entrance
December 4, 2008 at 2:17 PM | 0 Comments
Damn, there's no chicquarium! Check out this exclusive snap of the newly-finished lobby of the notorious hotel construction site, The Standard New York. While there seems to be plenty of stonework—check out the marble at reception, the slate floors and hardcore building blocks back behind the screens—there is a serious lack of color. We only hope this will be remedied with furniture and lighting tricks to bring about needed visual interest.
Hotel Emergencies
Mumbai's Trident Hotel to Re-Open December 21
December 4, 2008 at 12:26 PM | 0 Comments
Bloomberg News is reporting that the Trident Hotel Nariman Point in Mumbai which was attacked in last week's horrific terrorist attacks on the city, vows to re-open on Dec. 21.
Additional security will be put in place at the hotel, Oberoi Group, which manages the property, said in a statement e-mailed from New Delhi.
While the damage wasn't as bad as the sister Oberoi Hotel, the Trident Hotels website also says a "round-the-clock" effort is going on to get the place to re-open. The hotel evacuated over 300 hundred guests during the attacks.
W Hotels
Know Your Exits: W Hoboken Now Hiring
December 4, 2008 at 9:35 AM | 7 Comments
[UPDATE:] Here are some more detes about the hiring fair which IS indeed being called a W Talent Show.
Monday, December 3, 2008 – January 2009
Monday – Friday: 9am – 6pm
Saturday 12/6: 10am – 3pm
*Subsequent Saturdays will be based on initial turnout and demand.
The W Hoboken is expected to open on February 26 and further proof that the opening day is nigh is the recruitment center (no mention of a talent show here) that is open for the next six weeks: NJ.com reports:
The W is running a recruitment center at 1203 Hudson Street (behind the uptown Starbucks) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays for the next six weeks. You must go there to apply. They will be fulfilling all positions to run the hotel.
In a time where layoffs are escalating across all industries, there's something comforting about the W Hotel hiring people. Anyone interested in applying for W Hoboken, we only ask that you know what Taylor Ham is.
Hotel News Briefs
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Fontainebleau Airs Tonight
December 3, 2008 at 5:05 PM | 4 Comments
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.
· Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Airs Tonight: Just a friendly reminder that you can catch a glimpse of the post-billion-dollar-makeover Fontainebleau when the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show airs tonight at 10:00 on CBS.
· Armani Hotel Milano Construction Begins: Construction has begun on the Armani Hotel in Italy (in the designer's hometown of Milan), which is taking shape in the same building as the largest Armani boutique in the world. [Luxist]
· The Apple Store Was Once a Hotel: Once upon a time, that crazy underground Apple Store on 59th St. in NYC was the luxe Hotel Savoy. You've come a long way, baby. [Ephemeral NY]
· Sound of Music House Will Not Be a Hotel: The original von Trapp family villa in The Sound of Music was on its way to becoming a hotel — but the city of Salzburg said no because they didn't want their town to be overrun by more tourists. But you can still get married there! [Reuters]
· Become a True HotelChatter Fan!: We know you love HotelChatter. Sign up for our Fan Page on Facebook to receive the latest tips or, at the very least, look at the teensy profile pics of your fellow hotel geeks. [Facebook]
[Photo: Getty Images]
Thompson Hotels
Smyth Tribeca Opening in January
December 3, 2008 at 2:37 PM | 1 Comment
A king superior room at the hotel.
We blame it on the Turkey Dinner. Last Monday, we heard from Thompson Hotels that Smyth Tribeca would be opening in January. And our mouths literally dropped open. But they insisted that it was true. So it was either the turkey we ate two days later or the sheer idea of this hotel opening in January that caused us entirely to forget about it.
But NewYorkology did not. According to the hotel's own website, rooms will be opening on January 6th starting at $205 a night. Here is the room description:
Our Queen Superior room measures 260 sq ft and features a queen bed with custom made 400 thread count SFERRA linens and is decorated in a contemporary design with vintage wine accent colors, rich walnut paneling and furniture, polished chrome light fixtures and features a sleek stainless steel desk. The full marble bathroom is lavishly designed with rain showerheads, luxurious fixtures, a centerpiece floating sink and features a floor-to-ceiling translucent glass shower wall that discreetly separates it from the bedroom.
Oh god. We loved the rainshower at Thompson LES. We sincerely hope it's the same one.
A Jour Et Nuit ("Day and Night") restaurant will be opening inside, although we're not sure when. You know how Thompson likes to open piece by piece. Rounding out the rest of the hotel are killer suites, 24-hour room service, a bar and lounge and presumably a fitness center. You can bet we'll be there opening night.
Hotel Hype
NY's NoMad Hotel to Get Costes Treatment
December 3, 2008 at 2:06 PM | 1 Comment
[NoMad rendering image via WWD]
Remember back ten years ago when Paris' Hôtel Costes was THE "it" hotel and the various CDs produced by the hotel were being played in hip cocktail lounges around the world? Well, when the NoMad Hotel opens in 2010 at Broadway and 28th Street in New York, a little of that Paris magic will be tagging along.
WWD reports that French designer Jacques Garcia, the man behind the swank of the Costes, will be outiftting the NoMad and looking to create a buzz like that of his other projects, which include NY's Spice Market restaurant and the Hôtel Métropole in Monte Carlo. Despite the ballooning number of boutique hotels in Manhattan, he sounds optimistic: “New York has always brought me luck ... In 2010, I have a new dream for the city and this hotel."
NoMad's 12 stories, 160 guest rooms and 11 suites will need much more than velvet curtains, however, as the hipster Ace Hotel sits on the very same block and seems determined to at least crack, if not break, the boutique hotel mold. In any case, the plushification of this North Madison Square district does mean more places to party and less historical buildings in disrepair.
Steve Wynn
Steve Wynn Exposes Inner Daredevil To Promote Encore Las Vegas
December 3, 2008 at 1:11 PM | 1 Comment
If you didn't know, we're getting extremely excited for the opening of Encore Las Vegas, Steve Wynn's follow-up to his hugely successful Wynn Las Vegas. The opening date is not until Dec. 22nd but we will probably be writing something about Encore every day until then, starting with the making of the Encore website video.
If you head over to EncoreLasVegas.com (or if you don't want to wait for that to load, go here) you will see a video of Steve Wynn sitting atop the corner of the top of Encore which is 675 feet above ground. Naturally, you assume that this is a green-screen trick. Wynn is kinda old and that is really high up. But Encore wants to let you know that Steve Wynn was actually sitting atop the resort's precipice.
Andre Balazs
Andre Balazs Named People Mag's Sexiest Hotelier
December 3, 2008 at 12:43 PM | 2 Comments
Alright so we're a little bit late to the game on the whole People Magazine's Sexiest Men issue but this is what happens when you decide to save your money--the first to go are the frivolous tabloidy magazines.
Yet during our Thanksgiving Travels last week we couldn't resist picking up the Sexiest Men issue, if not for the hope of seeing Robert Pattinson naked, then at least for the interview with Eliot Spitzer's call girl.
But we got a bonus surprise when we noticed that Andre Balazs was dubbed Sexiest Hotelier in the A-Z sexy section where People nominated a sexy man for each occupation of the alphabet. (FYI: Jarod Miller is the sexiest Zoologist.)
Hotel Amenities
Algonquin Forgoes Bookshelf Trend for Kindles
December 3, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments
As the bookshelf craze in hotels seems to be blowing up in a big way — with trendy modern hotels ranging from the sleek, spankin' new SLS to the funky Mercer throwing displays of book collections into their lobbies — we think we've seen the future of literature in hotels...and it's at the Algonquin.
Yeah, the hotel that's had its doors open for more than a century actually seems to be a little more ahead of the curve on the books-in-hotels front: they've got Kindles.
Criss Angel
Even Taxi Drivers Are Hating on Criss Angel's "Believe"
December 3, 2008 at 9:35 AM | 1 Comment
We're almost starting to feel bad about giving Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil show at the Luxor, "Believe", so much crap. The show's clearly got issues — and when we read the first line of an Richard Abowitz's LA Times story this morning, we were feeling like the meanest kids on the playground: he introduced the show as "roundly trashed by critics," (we covered that), "thoroughly mocked on the Web," (us again!), "and even had its celebrity opening ridiculed" (yup, we did that too).
But we said we almost felt bad. We've been quiet about the show since we covered all the absolutely brutal reviews of the show and its lackluster opening, and, on the bright side, Cirque du Soleil did claim that "Believe" had sold a whopping $5 million in pre-sale tickets.
