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Hotel Openings / Omni Hotels / Dallas Hotels / Texas Hotels / Infinity Pools / Hotel Pools / Sports Hotels / Hotel Rates / Opening Rates / → All Tags

Omni Dallas: It's Definitely Opening, And It's Definitely Got An Infinity Pool

Where: 555 S. Lamar Dallas, Texas [map], Dallas, TX, United States, 75202

Omni Dallas, which is set to open on 11/11/11, will include an infinity pool

Whoever said 11/11/11 would mark a pivotal world-changing event must have been cc'd on development memos issued from Omni Hotels' corporate office. That is to say, Omni's latest creation, Omni Dallas, a 1,001-room convention hotel on South Lamar St, will be opening on the portentous date—and with $111 rates, no less.

As part of the "Definitely Dallas" package (this name is putting dirty thoughts into our head), guests who book rooms through December 30, 2011 will receive $111 deluxe guest rooms. Inside the rooms, you'll find a 111-inch flat-screen TV; and on top of the beds, you'll rest your head on 111 pillows. And in the bathroom....OK, we're just kidding. In fact, the bathrooms do come with mirror TVs (which we remain undecided over), and the rooms all feature pieces by local artists.

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Europe Hotels / Hotel Prices / Hotel News / Hotel Rates / London Hotels / Paris Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / Belgium Hotels / Hotel News Briefs / → All Tags

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

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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Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel Rates / Hotel Deals / → All Tags

Rates Get Low at These 5 Brooklyn Hotels

There's been a lot of action on the Brooklyn hotel opening front as of late, but right now, only one of those new properties is actually open (see below).

Here's a look at the options for independent budget hotels in the Brooklyn area that you can book right this instant. All of them, except for Nu Hotel, have availability for the July 4th weekend, which, lest we forget, rapidly approaches.

Selecting one random one-night date, July 21, we plugged it in for all the properties to see what they had to offer.

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Room Rate Increase Watch / London Hotels / Hotel Rates / Hotel News / → All Tags

London Room Rates Are Up, But Good News For the Weekend

Now that the volcanic ash incident is nearly over, things are getting back to normal in the UK. Perhaps, too normal for our liking.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a stonking deal for a London hotel, and now it’s just been announced that the first quarter of 2010 has seen room rates rise by nearly 5 percent. Damn the end of the recession!

The average room in the capital will now set you back £123 (£188). RevPAR (revenue per available room) has more than doubled in the past three months, and occupancy rates are up by 5.4 percent. Good for hotels, bad for us.

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Hotel Rebrandings / Hotel Rates / Hotel News / St Giles Hotels / → All Tags

The St. Giles Hotels Rates Aren't That Different From When They Were Ws

Where: E 39th Street [map], New York, NY , United States, 10016

Now that a bunch of Londoners are ruling the roost at the Hotels Formerly Known as the Ws of East 39th Street—that would be the St. Giles, The Court and St. Giles, The Tuscany—there are new rates to go with the new name. And if you were a fan of these quiet East Side W's then you'll be pleased to know that they're not too different from the old rates—in the $275–$300 a night range.

Both hotels got their new St. Giles identities last Wednesday, and since it sounds like the new owners weren't going to change much, there was no need to close the properties and spiff them up. They look pretty much like the old Ws, only without the words "Whatever Whenever" all around the place.

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Hotel Openings / Hotel Rates / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

The Chatwal Wants To Take New York By Storm, With $695 Rooms

Where: 130 West 44th Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10036

Working on a hotel opening as hotly anticipated as The Chatwal New York is not for the faint of heart. So it’s a good thing the hotel's general manager Joel Freyberg is full of chutzpah. “I’m going to take New York by storm!” he told us—more than once—during a visit to the hotel’s site last week. And with rooms starting in the $695-a-night range, he’s not kidding.

That price point isn’t exactly news in New York City, but this may be a first for the Times Square area The Chatwal sits smack bam in the middle of. It’s also pretty high for what will be an intimate hotel. But then, The Chatwal has big ambitions.

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Hotel Rates / Michael Jackson / Santa Barbara Hotels / Holiday Inns / → All Tags

Cheap Hotels Are Hard to Find for Michael Jackson's Neverland Memorial

Here at HotelChatter we have a very informal indicator of how popular an event is going to be: the price of the nearest Holiday Inn.

If the room rate for the Holiday Inns in the city where said event is taking place remain low, we're sorry to tell you, event promoters, but this gig is probably a bust. If the Holiday Inn's rates in the city where said event is taking place have skyrocketed to unreasonable prices that no one would ever fork over for a budget hotel, then you're in luck: your event is going to be a success! Too bad Michael Jackson isn't here to see just how massive his funeral is going to be.

The memorial is taking place at Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California, and the Santa Barbara area is prepping for a flood of one-glove wearing, Thriller album-holding, fedora-sporting fans. And all these "Billie Jean" lovers are going to need a place to stay.

We headed over to Expedia and checked the Holiday Inn Express Santa Barbara hotel for rates from Thursday through Sunday, and the 2.5-star property has rooms open for $222 a night. The Holiday Inn Santa Barbara-Goleta, a 3-star property near the UCSB campus, is down to $182 a night.

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Kentucky Derby Hotels / Hotel Rates / → All Tags

The Only Derby Hotel We Will Be Staying In is The Couch Hotel

Whether you're headed to the Kentucky Derby tomorrow to actually watch the races or just to don a silly hat and stalk Paris Hilton, you'll be happy to know that there are hotel rooms open. But they will cost you a pretty penny.

For instance the Embassy Suites is charging $450 a night. Granted, it's a suite and you can fit four friends in there easily but still, are people really going to shell out that much for the Derby? Similarly, the Hilton Garden Inn is now charging $579 a night. And The Brown Hotel is asking for $1,333 a night. Um. Ok. If you say so.

Your best bet for affordable Derby hotels continues to be budget brands outside the city center. Louisville doesn't have that much of a boutique hotel scene to begin with and the existing rooms have been sold-out for a long time.

If you're not celebrating the Derby in New York, then we say just wear a crazy hat from the flea market, make your own mint julep and plop yourself down on the couch to watch the races instead.

[Photo: Flickerized]

Kentucky Derby Hotels / Hotel Rates / → All Tags

Only Rich Folk Will Be Attending the Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby will be held this year on Saturday, May 2 and it's sure to be less glitzy than other years thanks to the economy and well, the loss of Anna Nicole Smith. Her absence is still felt two years later. Oh well, there's always Heidi Montag or Lindsay Lohan to step in.

But despite these tragedies, hotel room rates are not coming down. Even though, hotels are moaning about the loss of business and empty rooms for Derby weekend, you will be hard-pressed to find any mildly respectable hotel brand that is not going for less than $200. In fact, most room rates are averaging about $350.

We checked rates on our own Hotel Rates Search Engine and found the Hyatt Place Louisville for $449 a night. The Hilton Garden Inn was $579 a night and the Hyatt Regency Louisville was $1,130 a night. The uber-cool 21C Museum Hotel was sold-out.

These rates turn us off entirely and we can only imagine that rich folk are spending that much money for a Derby hotel room. Perhaps as the weekend gets closer and hotels realize they aren't selling out will the rates come down. But we won't bet (har, har) on it.

[Photo: Flickerized]

Mardi Gras Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel Rates / → All Tags

Last-Minute Revelry: You Can Still Make it to NoLa For Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is about spontaneity, so we bet a few of you out there haven’t even bothered to check whether there are still hotel rooms available for you to sleep it off after all the festivities down in NoLa. It's lucky you have us to do that for you, and we’ve been looking for rooms on a budget since chances are you won’t be spending any time there anyway. Here’s what we found.

We did a quick search on our hotel rates search engine, and came up with a few options that aren’t exactly budget, but are still pretty good.

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Hotel Rates / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags

Hopefully Not Sleepless in Seattle

We're heading to Seattle next month for our very first trip to the grunge mecca. What? It's not 1993 anymore? Darn. Either way, we're pretty stoked to visit Seattle but we have no idea where we want to stay.

Since our budget is tight we are trying to keep the stay under $150 a night. We'd really like to do it for $100. Our best hope for that is to leave our hotel fate up to the Priceline or Hotwire blind booking gods. But we're not that desperate yet.

A cursory search on our hotel rates search engine gave us the Westin Seattle for $135 a night. This is $14 less than the Sheraton which makes us wonder about the quality of the hotel. Aren't Westins superior to Sheratons?

We've also had some good luck recently with the Marriott Renaissance brand and their Seattle location is available for $143 a night. The boutique Sorrento Hotel is going for a good rate of $135 a night. The W Seattle is $154 and the Fairmont is $209 which is very good for a luxury hotel.

Still, it's times like these when we wish Thompson Hotels or Ace Hotels were opening a hotel here for around $100 a night. Anyone with Seattle suggestion, let us know.

Searching for hotels around the world? Start here on HotelChatter.

[Photo: Denise ~*~]

Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Rates / Industry News / → All Tags

Average Hotel Room in New York Costs $350

Yikes. No wonder New York is the self-professed city that never sleeps: At an average of $350 a night in a hotel room, who can afford any shut-eye?

That figure spiked $50 in May from a year ago, according to figures released this week by the official marketing and tourism organization for the Big Apple. And even though 90 percent of all those spendy rooms were filled (that's some 2.05 million rooms), we're still betting the $99 rooms at the Jane Hotel couldn't come any quicker for travelers en route to New York.

Speaking of which: for a visual dose of depressing hotel rates, search for Manhattan on Hotel Map Search, a handy guide to hotel locations and average rates.