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Dennis Rodman Sued by Hard Rock Las Vegas Employee

| April 28, 2009 at 9:36 AM | 0 Comments


Rodman being escorted out of London WeHo after getting too handsy. Again.

Guh. Dennis Rodman. Get it together, dude.

After a couple of unfortunate incidents in hotels lately — one of those incidents being his most unfortunate appearance on 'Celebrity Apprentice' in which he attempted to help the other contestants run a hotel but instead got drunkers and got fired — Dennis Rodman is suffering the consequences for actin' a fool in a hotel.

Apparently, a former beverage manager at the Hard Rock Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against the ex-basketball star that accused Rodman of "[creating] a scene that included him grabbing her, forcing her to dance with him and slapping her bottom" while she was working in early 2006. According to the Las Vegas Sun, she had reported the incident to the management and "was told Rodman would not be allowed back at the establishment" — but then he was somehow there again and pulled the same shenanigans, about which she complained to the management again. And then she was fired.

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The Reader In Residence is Back at Andaz London

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Liverpool Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2M 7QA

| March 27, 2009 at 10:27 AM | 0 Comments

He’s back! We’ve written before about how much we loved Damian Barr and his Reader in Residence service at Andaz London, where he lived in the hotel for two weeks and simply read to guests in their rooms. We were very sad when his term of office finished last year, and he left Andaz to reside and read around the rest of the world.

So we had a little squeal of delight when an email popped up from the Andaz saying that Damian was back from April 17th (though sadly for one week only) to coincide with London Book Fair. We don’t know much about the London Book Fair, but we do know that we’ll be hanging round the Andaz in the hope of a read-in.

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New York Palace Hotel's Manager Fired For Religious Remarks

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 455 Madison Ave [map], New York, NY, United States, 10022

| March 25, 2009 at 12:09 PM | 4 Comments

Yikes. There's been some major drama at the New York Palace Hotel — and this time, it has nothing to do with Gossip Girl.

According to the New York Daily News, managing director Niklaus Leuenberger has been released from his position at the Palace after not-so-nicely ordering a Catholic employee to clean the ash off his forehead on Ash Wednesday.

NYDN reports:

"Wipe that f-----g s--t off your face," managing director Niklaus Leuenberger told a bell captain at the New York Palace Hotel on Feb. 25, sources said. [...] "As of Monday, March 23, Leuenberger is no longer employed by the New York Palace," hotel spokeswoman Teresa Delaney told the Daily News Tuesday. The incident was deemed so severe, Christopher Cowdray, head of the London-based Dorchester Collection, which owns the Palace, flew here to hand Leuenberger the pink slip.

Oh, and one more thing: the NYDN says the Palace actually leases its land from the Catholic church. Goodness gracious.

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Sean Paul Tells Us His Own Hotel Room Confessions

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 151 West 54th Street [map], New York, New York, United States, 10019

| March 5, 2009 at 9:11 AM | 0 Comments

HotelChatter contributor Shira Levine got the chance to interview Jamaican singing sensation Sean Paul while on assignment for HEEB magazine. But when Sean Paul revealed he had a past in hotel employment, she knew it was too good to pass up for HotelChatter. Here's what she learned.

Last week, Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Sean Paul flew into New York for a few live shows in Manhattan and Queens. Come this summer, his fourth album will hit the streets, so we took the opportunity to chat up the "Gimme the Light" and "Like Glue" singer in his suite at The London NYC.

Sean Paul chooses typically to roll up in that spot because he digs the suite life. “It’s all suites in here," he said of the hotel's accommodations.

Speaking of sweet, random details, it turns out that long before he was a multi-award winning superstar, Sean Paul was on the academic track to a career working in hotel management. That's right, Sean Paul could have been a hot hotelier! Below, he dishes on what that was like.

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After 40 Years, the Plaza's Longest-Serving Doorman Retires

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 768 Fifth Avenue [map], New York, NY, United States, 10019

| February 26, 2009 at 9:26 AM | 0 Comments

If you've been a guest or resident at the iconic Plaza Hotel any time since 1963, you've surely encountered Ed Trinka, the gentleman who's spent the last 4 decades as the Plaza's Fifth Avenue doorman. Today, we bid farewell to him: today is his last day of work (on his 65th birthday) and, unlike any other hotel worker ever, he says, "I never had a bad day in all the years."

Per CNN:

He spent 40 years at the fabled lodging's Fifth Avenue entrance, relocating to its doorway facing Central Park South during the property's renovation and partial conversion to condominiums.

Years ago, the hotel gave him a nametag that mistakenly read Edward, even though his full name is Edwin. He came to embrace the errant nametag, neglecting to correct people when they called him Edward and even naming his own son Edward.

Aw; we know, right? The hotel will say a proper goodbye to Trinka this afternoon: a champagne send-off in the Oak Room, where he'll be presented with a free stay at the hotel he's worked as since he was a teenager.

[Photo: Jason Kessler/CNN]

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Don't Talk Hair With Crazy Hotel Workers

| January 22, 2009 at 1:25 PM | 0 Comments

Don't ask a hotel staffer to blow-out your hair for you.

Our favorite inside line to what hotel staff are really thinking we check in, the Crazy Hotel Workers blog, still has hotel staff doing what they do best: whining about bizarre guests, trying to stay awake on night shifts and wondering if they should get out of the hotel industry. But there's extra-weird stuff going on this month, and it's all about hair.

The hair theme started calmly enough, when one Crazy Hotel Worker had a call from a one-armed guest to come up to her room to help her put her hair in a ponytail. Not an everyday request, but we can live with it.

Things got worse for another hotel worker when a hairdresser customer started criticizing his hair. The result?

She ended up giving me her number to get my hair done properly...

Guests are always right, right? The final hair problem at Crazy Hotel Workers this month came from hair in a different place (no, not there):

Dear fat hairy man that just walked through my lobby twice, PLEASE PUT A SHIRT ON! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT!

We second that and are glad we're usually on this side of the desk at a hotel.

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Greenbrier Saves Some Green by Shedding Employees

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 300 W. Main Street [map], White Sulphur Springs, WV, United States, 24986

| January 13, 2009 at 1:50 PM | 0 Comments

What do the Borgata, the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and West Virginia's Greenbrier hotel all have in common?

Massive layoffs!

The Greenbrier hotel, on the list of historic hotels in America, is the latest hotel to lay off employees—and by far the largest amount so far: 650 of 1,350 people, or slightly less than half of its staff. (Atlantis cut about 10 percent of its staff, or 800 employees; while the Borgata let go 400 of its roughly 7,000 staffers.)

Reuters explains:

Greenbrier said in the statement that historically, business improves in the late spring and summer, and that it anticipated that some of the furloughed employees could return at that time. The resort said the furloughs announced on Friday [January 9] were significantly greater than those associated with seasonal declines. Greenbrier Hotel has existed since 1778.

It just so happens that during the Cold War, the U.S. government built a 112,000-square-foot bunker beneath a wing of the hotel, meant for as many as 2,500 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and their families to hide out in the event of a nuclear attack.

Sounds to us like those folks may need to hunker down there if different reasons if they don't get this economic mess sorted out soon.

[Photo: Vicky TGAW]

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Standard Hotels Releases 2009 Staff Calendar

| January 12, 2009 at 2:42 PM | 2 Comments

And we thought the Standard Hotel NYC's new advert was risque. The boutique brand from Andre Balazs has come out with the 2009 Standard Hotel Staff calendar featuring the theme "high school." Although, kids in our high school on the student council definitely never posed with their shirts off or with their tatas nearly exposed.

Designed as a desktop or bookshelf calendar, it measures 7.5” tall by 3” wide when folded, and about 6” wide when assembled.

The calendar was shot on location in LA and features several real Standard hotel staffers. Originally sent to loyal Standard guests as a New Year's gift, about 500 leftovers are now for sale for $20 at the Standard online shop. It's a great gift for family members of staff, guests who found Standard staffers kinda cute and of course, for the Standard staff themselves.

[Photo: NotCot]

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Even Movies About Hotel Handymen Don't Do Too Well

| December 26, 2008 at 11:25 AM | 2 Comments

Long-time readers of HotelChatter know that silly reality shows and TV sitcoms about hotels and their employees never seem to do well. A few examples? Welcome to the Parker and Do Not Disturb.. Oh and there's more.

Things don't seem to fare too well on the big-screen either. In Adam Sandler's latest movie, Bedtime Stories, he plays Skeeter, a hotel handyman in a hotel owned by the Nottingham family (which mildly resembles the Hilton family.) The film centers around the bedtime stories that Skeeter tells his niece and nephew and the discovery that whatever the kids suggest for the storylines ends up happening in real life the next day. Film.com explains:

It rains gumballs in his story, it rains gumballs in his life. The catch is that it only applies to the story elements suggested by the kids; his own wishes remain unfulfilled.

This sounds an awful lot like Click for kids.

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A Holiday Hotel Story to Warm Your Heart

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 21500 Pacific Coast Highway [map], Huntington Beach, CA, United States, 92648

| December 23, 2008 at 10:50 AM | 0 Comments

When our friend told us this story, we just knew we had to share, because it's stuff like this that takes the chill out of a cold, cold day.

One night, while on business in Huntington Beach, CA, our friend* proceeded to get absolutely wasted, lose her wallet and arrive at her hotel a sobbing, disoriented mess.

It was in this state that the front desk of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa came to her rescue, calling every bar she had been to that night in search of her wallet, even calling the airline to see how she could board the plane for her flight home sans ID. (The wallet eventually showed up, fully intact, courtesy of that night's cab driver—more warm and fuzzy feelings!)

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AC's Borgata Lays Off 400 Workers

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1 Borgata Way [map], Atlantic City, NJ, United States, 08401

| November 7, 2008 at 11:32 AM | 3 Comments

Some shocking news today from Atlantic City--The Borgata Hotel and Casino has laid off 400 workers due to the rough economy.

Rob Stillwell, a spokesman for Boyd Gaming, the co-owner of the Borgata, said the layoffs were the first in the casino's five-year history. "We did everything we possibly could to avoid this," he said. "But the economy is just too bad right now."

400 employees is a lot, although some 7,000 still remain. Borgata is not the only one conducting layoffs. The chain of Harrah's hotels in Atlantic City has also laid off several hundred employees in recent months.

Meanwhile, the future of AC is not looking so bright. Revenues in September were down 15.1 percent and the casinos have put off enacting a smoking ban so as to not hurt further business.

And here we thought that maybe more and more East Coasters would head to AC because Vegas was too pricey and involved pricey airfare. Now, there's less Borgata babes to wait on us.

Would you pick AC over Vegas as a way to save money or are you not gambling at all, no matter where? Let us know what you think.

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Loews Philadelphia Honors Housekeeping Staff

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 1200 Market St [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19107

| September 24, 2008 at 5:16 PM | 2 Comments

You know how they say you can know a how guy will treat his girl if you look at how he treats his mom? Well, the same can be said about the Loews Philadelphia. You know they'll take care of you, just by knowing how they treat their staff.

Last week was International Housekeeping Week and they jumped feet-first into the action with daily activities to honor the housekeeping staff. We so wish we had been there.

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