Tag: Hotel Secret Tunnels
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What Happened to the Ambassador East's Secret Tunnel?
A few weeks ago we were chatting with a fellow hotel nerd about the new Public Hotel in Chicago, formerly known as the Ambassador East, when the topic of a secret tunnel came up. Yes, we were instantly hooked. Here's what we found out:
Way back when there was an Ambassador West which is the building across the street from Ambassador East/Public. At the turn of the new millennium, the building was still a hotel, a Wyndham Hotel, but today it's been turned into luxury condos worth well over a million bucks a piece. But back to the secret tunnel.
During the heydey of Ambassador East, the tunnel was use to spirit its rich and famous guests to safety away from the paparazzi. But the secret tunnel was initially created so that guests could go back and forth between the hotels without having to cross the busy street. Which is kind of laughable today because the Gold Coast nabe is very residential.
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Bells Will Be Ringing...at St. Ermin's Hotel in London
A few weeks ago, we told you about the opening of the St. Ermin's Hotelin London that we attended and showed you what our room looked like. Apologies for the lag time, but here's a fun little piece of hotel history.
Approaching St. Ermin's, the first thing you will notice is the impressive courtyard outside the main entrance, flanked on three sides by the hotel. Restoring the courtyard to its original "grandeur" was an important element of the overall renovation.
Then upon walking into the lobby, you step onto mosaic floors, turning left to find reception in the corner. The hotel's public spaces, predominantly the lobby and ballroom, feature extensive white plasterwork, with everything from flowers to a sudden procession of wild animals (up the lobby staircase, to the right in the corner if you want to find them).
