With a plan to introduce 200 hotels in 10 years, the folks at easyHotel thought, "Hey, maybe we should upgrade our web site?" And so they did, adding new navigations and a three-step booking process.
All in all, pretty standard stuff, plus a few bells and whistles like more images and Google maps.
Although we are happy to see that easyHotel maintained its smart marketing lingo. How cute is that "Don't hang about..." do not disturb sign? Now that we know how aggressive maids are starting to be, we may have to print that one out and tape it on our hotel door.
Omni Hotels are often pretty innovative--they have one of the biggest ranges of online and mobile services we've come across in a hotel chain. And now they're upping their web presence by starting up The Local Scoop site, which is aiming to create a bit of a social online presence where people share stories, tips, pictures and videos about cities where Omni Hotels exist.
It looks like the site's been active and live for a month or so and they've managed to recruit a few locals at least (some look like hotel staff) to post pictures and tips about shops and sights around each of their hotels. There is also the possibility to rate the tips and give comments, but that part of the site hasn't seen much action yet.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Since it's totally different from another killer view we liked from Pueblo Bonito a couple of years back, we're super-impressed with this resort. What we especially like about this view is the way you get the pool, the beach and the sea all in one, but there are enough palm fronds to give you a bit of privacy too--you don't want everyone at the pool seeing what you're up to on your balcony.
The only big thumbs down we give is to the Pueblo Bonito's website: all we wanted to do was check some prices but we got bombarded with truly atrocious music and we were too dumb to find the off button for a while. We did manage to find out that a room next week would cost us about $160 a night.
If you find yourself in New York City this summer with a need to stay near Times Square and without any desire to bask in the glow of the city lights (or you're just a hip and trendy jet-setting vampire), take a look at Vikram Chatwal's Night Hotel.
Situated on 45th Street in the heart of jean-shorted, fanny-packed tourist central, Night offers guests refuge from the technicolor visual craziness of the Times Square area--and they're serious about it. The place, intending to evoke "Modern Gothic Gotham", is decorated almost exclusively with blacks and whites.
The Hilton Caribbean website has just a complete renovation to make it more attractive, user friendly and more popular with search engines, too. We can't remember now what the old version was like, but the new site is useful and not overcomplicated--it's easy to get information on each of the different hotels and finding prices is simple.
We're also quite taken with the interactive map which shows you the locations of each of Hilton's nine hotels across the Caribbean, and looks like an old pirate's map. Speaking of other visuals, we weren't so impressed by their videos but the rest of the site does look reasonably attractive.
Hilton Caribbean's big goal is to get 2 million visitors to the website by the end of the year--and that's a lofty goal. We're nearly half way through 2008 already and they've notched up 500,000 visitors, so we're not really convinced that the new website will get them to their target. It's nice enough, but it's not going to blow anyone away.
We've been waiting for an update on the famous Savoy in London, which now belongs to the Fairmont Group who are sinking loads of cash into the place. They closed up back in December and auctioned off most of the furniture, ready to make way for the new look.
Until now we haven't heard much about the new look, but the bosses have just released some more info about what they're doing to the Savoy. They've launched a Savoy 2009 website which includes all the latest news on progress as well as providing a really interesting look back on the Savoy's life so far.
The new Savoy, they say, will be a combination of 1930s art deco and a classic late 1800s look. It will include a £2.5 million Royal Suite (that's a huge amount of money for one suite--we can't imagine what they'll be doing in there) and they will also be reintroducing the historical glass roof over the Thames foyer. It sounds like they're still on track for a spring 2009 reopening, but it'll be a while before there's a more accurate guess of opening day.
[UPDATE: Rooms are sold out for this weekend and next. Sorry!]
The Surf Lodge has gotten their website up and running just days before the opening weekend. The newest hotel in the Hamptons is attempting to set a laid-back vibe for its visitors. Found on the website:
The location is key and the environment is truly "Montauk";flip-flops, vintage Land Rovers, surfboards on the roof, a lakeside bonfire, all set to a soundtrack of Bob Marley to the Rolling Stones, but with an international taste level and an underlying energy.
Omg. Can't you just see Nate Archibald hanging out there right now?
There's still quite a bit of content that needs to be added to the website like a photo gallery of the rooms and the public spaces--remember this hotel will have a restaurant from Top Chef contestant Sam Talbot as well as a hair salon, a retail store and a performance venue.
While rooms are estimated to cost about $300 a night, reservations are only taken by email for now. You can also call 631.238.5190 to book.
This week our roving correspondent Monica Guy is writing about an oft-overlooked aspect of hotels and travel: disabled access. Monica knows a lot about this subject as she works and travels frequently with Stephen Hawking. However, feel free to chime in with your thoughts and experiences too. Got a question? Let us know and we'll get it answered for you.
For disabled travellers outside of the US, perhaps a better option than designated specially-designed accessible hotels is to go for ordinary hotel chains who take access seriously.
Three cheers in this department go to the Swedish-owned Scandic Hotel chain. They recently won two prestigious awards for their efforts in the field of disabled access. Unlike most chains, they employ a full-time disability coordinator, Magnus Bergland, to advise on access issues and train staff in how to deal with guests with disabilities.
In fact, he not only advises, he makes all new staff get into a wheelchair and follow the 'guest's route' round the hotel, from parking and the reception desk to the room, bathroom and breakfast area. It's only by doing this, he claims, that people gain any sort of understanding as to the difficulties faced by disabled guests.
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by jennm
