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DSK / Hotel Videos / Sofitel / Hotel Woes / → All Tags

Now You Can See The Sofitel's Security Camera Footage For Yourself

Where: 45 W 44th St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10036

A French news network has been the first to broadcast security camera footage from that fateful day at Sofitel New York. We admit, we pretty much stopped caring about this saga once we learned about the DSK hotel porno. But now, with hard video evidence, we feel compelled to look.

Not that the footage shows what actually happened in the room itself. Instead, what we get is a clip of Diallo sitting in a corridor (in the background, you can hear someone reporting a sexual assault over the phone), DSK checking out of the hotel, and perhaps most importantly, the controversial "celebratory dance" between two of the hotel's staffers. And yes, it still looks weird.

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Hotel Videos / Manhattan Hotels / Killer View / → All Tags

A Time Lapse Video Highlights the Killer Views at 11 NYC Hotels

We're finding it a little difficult to switch back into action mode after the long Memorial Day weekend, so it was with perfect timing that @SocialShiz tipped us off to this awesome time lapse video. Captured buy photographer Josh Owens over a period of about six weeks earlier this spring, the video is made up of views from different hotels scattered around the New York Midtown area.

If you didn't already have a burning love for the Big Apple before, this beautifully orchestrated video will help you on your way to developing it.

The backstory to this project is that Owens managed to convince 11 hotels to sponsor him—aka donate the rooms for the night. The lucky near-dozen:

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Hotel Contests / Hotel Videos / Chicago Hotels / Doubletree Hotels / → All Tags

theWit Chicago Needs an On-Air Reporter for Its Web Show

Where: 201 N.State St. [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60601

If your dazzling persona makes Ryan Seacrest look like an American Idol reject that even JLo wouldn't feel sympathy for, theWit wants to hire you. The Chicago hotel is hunting for someone who can jump in front of the camera for its "Witisodes" Web series.

As the hotel's correspondent, you'd get to head out into the field to cover Chicago's 'hoods and various events going on around town. theWit is looking for someone with a sparkling personality and wit for the second season of its monthly series.

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Hotel Videos / Hotel Websites / Hotel Nightlife / Morgans Hotel Group / → All Tags

Morgans Hotels Launch A New Web Series, Spanky's Night Out

Where: United States

In case you haven't noticed, Morgans Hotel Group have been busy giving cool kids what they want: from Tumblr to custom playlists and a team of sexy cocktail gurus at the Royalton. Now they're adding a web series to that list.

The Spanky's Night Out webisode series stars "nightlife enthusiast" Spanky Van Dyke and will follow him behind the scenes at some of Morgans' hottest hotels. The first video, which is live now on YouTube is an introduction to the Cocktail Collective team at the Royalton, and includes a mini-bar cocktail challenge in one of the hotel rooms, and Spanky sitting in a hot tub with bartender Misty Kalkofen.

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Hotel Videos / Hotel Contests / Chicago Hotels / → All Tags

theWit Chicago Holds a Competition to Find an In-House Film Crew

Where: 201 N. State St. [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60601

We're not sure if the higher-ups at theWit in Chicago got the idea for Wit webisodes from our "Pitch Your Hotel" feature, but the techie hotel is holding a contest to snag an in-house production team to film monthly videos.

To find a video production team, the hotel is dangling a $5,000 prize in front of aspiring filmmakers. In exchange for 10 months of employment, winners will also receive a food and beverage stipend to be used at the hotel and a number of room vouchers.

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Hotel Videos / Hotel Ads / Fairfield Inn / Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Fairfield Inn Scores Cute Soccer Guys to Star in New Video

Where: United States

Marriott's Fairfield Inn & Suites has taken to YouTube to promote their bright, contemporary new look. And what they've come up with is actually pretty fun.

Fairfield enlisted a few pro D.C. United soccer players to star in the video, which features them playing an impromptu game of soccer in the lobby. (That’s right, the new lobby design is so hip, pro soccer players can’t resist playing ball in it!)

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Hawaii Hotel Reviews / Hotel Videos / → All Tags

Concierge.com Keeps it Real With Hawaii Video Tours

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so that must make videos worth millions of words, right? That seems to be the theory behind Concierge.com's Insider Guide to Hawaiian hotels, with a series of seven short videos narrated by Hawaiian-turned-New-Yorker Cathay Che. The idea is that the video should give you a better idea of the real quality of the resorts she checks in to compared to the glossy photos you usually see (sound familiar?)

A handful of hotels that you might consider for a Hawaiian vacation are featured in the video series, including the Ritz Carlton Kapalua and the Four Seasons Resort Lana'i. The web guide gives you a brief overview of each hotel or resort before sending you off to the video.

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Marriott Hotels / Hotel Videos / → All Tags

A Guided Tour of the World, Courtesy of Marriott Staffers

At first glance, this seems a little bit Marriott cult-y, but some folks may actually find the vast collection of videos submitted to the Marriott Film Festival contest wholly useful and appealing.

Here's the deal: Marriott commissioned all its employees to get together with their colleagues to create a video "highlighting the Local Area Knowledge Expertise (LAKE) of Marriott Associates around the globe" as part of a company-wide contest across all Marriott brands. Some of the submissions are, er, very special — but some might prove to be pretty helpful on your next trip, if you don't mind taking a video tour of an area guided by a few Marriott employees sporting their nametags. Hey, at least this way you can skip out on stopping by the concierge desk during your hotel stay.

Our faves of the bunch are the JW Marriott Hong Kong's vid and the submission from London Marriott County Hall — mostly cause the first stop on their city tour is to grab a beer at a pub. Check out all the vids here.

Hotel Videos / Macau Hotels / Casino Hotels / Wynn Hotels / → All Tags

Making a Pilgrimage to the Macau Clone of Vegas' Wynn Hotel

Where: Rua Cidade de Sintra, Nape, Macau

We are totally still in Hong Kong, and if there's one huge benefit to staying longer than a week in a new city, it's the opportunity for side trips. Tempted by the possibility of more passport stamps and a ride on a jet catamaran ferry, we hightailed it out to Macau, a former Portuguese property which now turns out both gambling addicts and heavenly egg tarts.

After about $15 USD and a comfortable 40-minute ride out in the South China sea from Hong Kong's downtown port, we headed ashore to what has become the Las Vegas of the East; The Sands Casino towers is a behemoth sitting right off the main drag, and further down the main street you'll find the newcomers MGM Grand and the Wynn along with the old Hotel Lisboa. At one moment you'll be strolling down a cobblestone alley and licking gelato, and the next you're throwing dice a few hundred feet away from a Chanel boutique.

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Standard Hotels / Hotel Videos / YouTube / → All Tags

The Standard Shows Off Its Staff Via YouTube

Where: 550 S Flower St [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90071

To compliment the release of Standard Hotels' 2009 Staff Calendar, a YouTube video introducing its contents has been released. Full of pretty young things pumping iron and playing cheerleader, the video is about displaying their hip, young employees frolicking within the retro Standard environs.

In fact, most of the scenes seem to be shot on the rooftop and in the public area of the Standard Downtown LA. If funky designer furniture isn't enough to fetishize the Standard brand, then a staff full of eye-candy should do the trick. Keeping with the high school yearbook theme of the calendar, you'll be introduced to the Heartthrob, the Stoner, the Prom Queen, and our personal favorite, the Teacher's Lounge.

Keep watching even after the credits for this curious little addition: "Balazs Productions." That's right, there will be more to come! This video is technically entitled "Part 1: The Standard Hotels' Bright Young Things," so are we to expect a Part 2 featuring some of their dull, older things? Oops--we probably just spoiled the theme of next year's calendar.

Hotel Videos / London Hotels / YouTube / → All Tags

The May Fair's Youtube Channel is Actually Watchable

Where: Stratton Street, London, United Kingdom, W1J 8LT

In their everlasting, always admirable and at times embarrassing quests to reach out to the "Facebook Generation," hotels often venture onto the interwebs to create blogs and Twitters and what have you. On occasion, we rip on them when they're done poorly -- who wants to read a blog full of lame plugs for a hotel or watch a YouTube channel full of commercials? -- but sometimes they do it up right and warm our hearts.

The latter is the case with the May Fair Hotel's YouTube Channel (hooray! We're saying nice things!) You'll find all kinds of vids that a potential guest of the hotel might want to watch: an awesome foray into the penthouse suite, a one-on-one sesh with the hotel's personal trainer, and even an exclusive interview with the mindnumbingly boring Paris Hilton (fun to watch if you want to get a taste of the friendliness of the staff; exceptionally lovely even when faced with a Hilton sister).

We especially dug the video footage of the rooms -- like the Bamboo Suite, above.

Hotel Videos / Hotel Giveaways / Hotel News / Starwood Hotels / Intercontinental Hotels / → All Tags

Make a Video of Your Hotel Experience and Get a Free Stay...Maybe

Guess what? Next time you shoot a quick video of your hotel room and then send it into the vast expanses of the interwebs, you might score a free stay at that hotel! Also, next time you buy a lottery ticket you might win the lottery. But we digress.

According to USA Today, the video = free stay thing can happen:

Aaron Schwartz, an executive recruiter in Fairfax, Va., wanted a nice memento of his vacation in Aruba. Using his video camera, he filmed his stay at the Marriott Renaissance Ocean Suites last June -- shots of the beautiful beach, flamingos along the water. He uploaded the video to his MySpace page and YouTube.

He then received a call from the resort's general manager, who liked the video so much that he offered Schwartz a free seven-day stay."

So, turns out, hotels are watching your videos in an effort to monitor their online images (smart!) and even going as far as to reward amateur media-makers for helping their brands look pretty.

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