Every so often we feature a hotel review from one of our readers that we feel should be shared with the rest of you dear hotel guests. These reviews are highlighted because they are timely, about cool hotels in cool places and are relatively level-headed. Think you can submit one just like this? Send it in. Now, we present you with solid reviewer Michael S. Dacko's review of the W San Francisco which got a new look. Enjoy.
The W San Francisco was one of the original W's that laid the foundation of what "W" stood for in 1999. Fearing that I was going to spend 2 weeks at a trendy hotel to find "wear n tear" left and right was my main concern. Boy was I wrong!
The W San Francisco has renovated their interior quite a bit to keep sleek and posh like the rest of the new Ws, but original and unique just as all the Ws are. Since San Francisco has such an Asian influence in the city, the designer took much of that Asian influence and incorporated designs in with it. (Check out the elevators!)
Because it's never too early to start planning your therapeutic, wellness trip to South Beach, the soon-to-open Canyon Ranch Miami has begun taking reservations for October 16.
On that night you can reserve an Intracoastal Suite for $300 a night. This one-bedroom suite is 950-sq.ft. and comes with two Queen-sized beds, a kitchenette with a small refrigerator, a flat-screen TV and westward views of Miami and the Intracoastal. Oh and course, bathrobes and slippers too for when you stroll on down to the 70,000-square-foot Wellness Spa. You may not even need clothes on this trip!
Several other room types (all suites) are available with different types of views (ocean, pool or intracoastal.) One word of advice: overnight valet parking is $35. So we say skip the rental car if you can.
Page Six has a classic item about two ladies supposedly visiting Derek Jeter at the Shore Club in Miami and haggling the front desk for some free parking.
"The girls were wearing what looked like the same clothes they wore the night before - a tight cocktail dress and a mini-skirt. They were making a huge scene because they were asked to pay for parking.
"Obviously, they'd spent the night there," giggled the onlooker, who noted that one of the overnight guests was screaming into the phone, "After last night, he'd better [bleep]ing take care of it!"
After a bit of insistence, "they eventually left happy. I assume he paid for their parking after all," said our snitch.
We sort of don't blame those ladies for complaining because hotel parking can be such a bitch--to the tune of $24 for an hour visit. Overnight parking is $34. Plus, everything at the Shore Club is ridiculously expensive. And if Jeter is staying in the hotel's triplex penthouse with its own private pool, then we're pretty sure he can afford the parking charges.
It's kind of ironic that a hotel with park in its name might turn out to be a bad place to find a parking spot. This week the Park Hyatt Sydney hit the headlines Down Under not so much because guests can't find a spot for their cars, but because a whole floor of the car park has been carefully hidden away for allegedly more important people.
Yes, the furor is that the state government has cordoned off an entire floor of the Park Hyatt's underground car park for the exclusive use of its employees.
Apparently it's just too much trouble for the senior public servants to struggle with Sydney's public transport system like normal people do, so the state's taxpayers are spending at least A$200,000 a year so that these so-called important people can find a very convenient covered parking spot under the Park Hyatt. So curse at the government next time you find Sydney's Park Hyatt car park full.
As we mentioned the other day, Omni Hotels are currently hosting an Apple iPhone giveaway at all their North American properties. Yesterday was the final day that entries were excepted and the hotels will be announcing a winner sometime today at 7pm.
Because we have other things to do than wait around for the winner to be announced (like eat dinner and watch Friends reruns) we thought we would just pop in real quick a the Omni Hotel Los Angeles to check out the giveaway display. And here it is.
On the left side of the table is the entry box, which we noticed was pretty stuffed, and alongside the rest of the table are various apples. Cute.
Two other things we would like to make note of--the WiFi in the expansive hotel lobby is free and working spectacular. The bad thing is parking is outrageous at $3.25 for each 15 minutes and the maximum charge is $28. Yikes, good thing we type fast.
