Tag: HotelChatter Video Tours

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Inside and All Around the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Peninsula Papagayo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
November 22, 2011 at 5:50 PM | by | Comment (1)

Less than an hour's drive from the little Liberia Airport near Costa Rica's west coast sits the exotic oasis of the Peninsula Papagayo. It is an exclusive area, mostly dedicated to upscale resorts, vacation condos and the pristine beaches they face. Alas, there's also an Arnold Palmer golf course in the middle of the action, owned and operated by the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica.

What this means is the area is extraordinarily lush; just a drive down the hill to the entrance of the resort yielded us surprise spottings of white-faced monkeys, howler monkeys, a family of Coatis (omg baby Coatis!), and an iguana here and there. Once you've entered the lobby and checked in, however, the Four Seasons is a definite playground for more than just its natural environment.

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Inside the Renovated Premier Rooms at The Warwick

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 65 West 54th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10019
November 7, 2011 at 1:04 PM | by | Comments (0)

Once upon a time, The Warwick Hotel was home to Cary Grant--who lived at the Midtown hotel for 12 years. More recently, it became the temporary home of Iranian president Ahmadinejad.

But whomever is bunking down at the historic property built by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s should be happy to hear the Warwick is halfway through a major room renovation project.

The new look features tech touches like one-touch lighting, iPod docks and flatscreens, but is inspired by the Hollywood glamour of the hotel's past, with lots of champagne shades, satiny fabrics and dramatically draped curtains.

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Paper Lamps and a Secret Art Gallery at the Radisson Blu Chicago

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 221 North Columbus Drive [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60601
November 3, 2011 at 5:59 PM | by | Comments (3)

Welcome to our newest new feature, Design Thursdays! Thursdays are now our day to focus on hotel design through photo tours, video walkthroughs and interviews with hotel designers. Got a cool hotel design story we should know about? Let us know.

Now that the United States finally has its first Radisson Blu hotel—the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago—what kind of awesome modern design details can you expect to find when checking in?

To check out all the nooks and crannies of the room, see our previous story, photo gallery and video here, but if you're more interested in the lobby, bar, restaurant and art gallery, you're in the right place. Yes—we said art gallery!

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Inside the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, the First Radisson Blu in the United States

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 221 North Columbus Drive [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60601
November 2, 2011 at 4:58 PM | by | Comments (0)

Guess what? The United States finally has a Radisson Blu hotel, and it's in Chicago in an architecturally striking building named the Aqua Tower. This very first Radisson Blu on US soil only opened to paying guests last night—November 1—and since we just happened to be in Chicago enjoying the fall foliage, we also spent the night to enjoy some of that "new hotel smell."

Booking directly on the hotel website we paid $287 total for the lowest category room, a "City View" with a king bed. So what did we think of room 720?

For photos and video of the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, keep reading!

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Inside the Newly Reopened Hyatt Regency New Orleans

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 601 Loyola Avenue [map], New Orleans , LA, United States, 70113
October 25, 2011 at 12:30 PM | by | Comments (2)

We love a new hotel opening. But what's even more exciting is a hotel reopening—especially when it's one as symbolic as this. On October 19, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans finally threw open its doors again, after a four-year top-to-toe refurbishment.

The hotel was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina—and a highly visible sign of the storm, situated right behind the Superdome. Its return has locals beaming with pride and it couldn't come at a better time, with tourists back in force in Nola, and a slew of big events on the way, including the BCS National Championship in 2012 and the Super Bowl in 2013.

We checked in over the weekend, when the hotel was abuzz with Saints fans who filled up a large percentage of the 1,193 guest rooms. Here's our first peek at the hotel and an Executive Suite room. We'll have more on the hotel and its public spaces later this week...

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Inside the Affordable Boutique Hotel That is The Luxx Bangkok

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 6/11 Decho Road, Bangkok, Thailand, 10500
October 7, 2011 at 4:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

Thirteen rooms tucked away on a regular street in the busy center of Bangkok, and yet they're affordable and design-conscious with free breakfast and free WiFi. Can it be?! Yes, it's the Luxx Hotel, a tiny wonder we discovered while simply browsing the Mr. and Mrs. Smith Collection offerings in Bangkok and a tiny wonder at which we'd happily stay again.

The Luxx is what the the Smith Hotels site calls a "budget boutique" and we agree; we booked like normal online and only paid 2500 THB ($80) per night for the Studio-level room, one step down from a suite, but we were upgraded to a suite at check-in because of availability. Score!

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Inside a Metropolitan Room at The Metropolitan Bangkok

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: South Sathorn Road, Bangkok, Thailand, 10120
October 4, 2011 at 7:04 PM | by | Comments (0)

So everyone who's everyone knows The Metropolitan London and its modern interiors, members-only Met Bar and prime location, but do you know it's got a sister site in The Metropolitan Bangkok? It's true; there's a sleek white hotel sitting a little off bustling Sathorn Road that also lights the logo of The Metropolitan, and it's just as cool, just as comfortable with two huge differences.

Big difference number one: this Metropolitan is a world away from London in Bangkok, and you'll know it through Thai elements in the rooms and an award-winning Thai restaurant, called nahm, which serves things like durian ice cream.

Big difference number two: the room rates are very affordable, but of course this is because we're talking Bangkok versus London here. We stayed for two nights via the Tablet Hotels private sale for $91 per night.

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Inside the Anantara Bangkok Sathorn

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 36 Narathiwat-Ratchanakarin Road, Bangkok, Thailand, 10120
October 3, 2011 at 4:25 PM | by | Comments (0)

If there is one easy way to get someone—ah hem, a hotel geek, ideally—to think about a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, it's by listing some of the room rates for the city's four- and five-star hotels. They are low three digits, or, in some nice cases, even two digits, like at the Anantara Bangkok Sathorn where a deluxe regularly goes for $98 per night, and you have a small apartment with two balconies overlooking the city.

This is not your typical Anantara; it's business-focused, and situated just off the pulsating vein (and sometimes clogged artery, if it's rush hour) that is Sathorn Road. We were only at this hotel for a sleep-and-dash, so although we can't say anything about the pool (which it has) and restaurants (which it has), we can say that the deluxe room layout is generous, with separate living, dining and sleeping areas plus a commodious restroom.

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Inside Wales' Ye Olde Bull's Head Inn, Which Practically Has Will and Kate for Neighbors

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: Castle Street, Beaumaris, Isle of Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom
July 29, 2011 at 4:39 PM | by | Comments (0)

Where can you go to find a hotel with gorgeous rooms from 95 GBP and the even more stunning and unique suites only at 150 GBP, breakfast and WiFi included? Ah—way out in Wales, more specifically the town of Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesey, to Ye Olde Bull's Head Inn and The Townhouse. There's no train station in this town; Beaumaris, though well-castled—is a roadtrip-in village of Welsh beauty that fills with bustrip tourists during the day and empties into quiet at night. Which is why we highly recommend staying overnight.

Whether you realize it or not, you're already familiar with Anglesey. The newly married royal couple William and Kate live around here, and it's no more than 30 minutes to drive from one end of the island to the other (though it's closely connected to mainland Wales by a regular bridge). For our exploring North Wales, Ye Olde Bull's Head Inn's more moden annex The Townhouse was our base to the affordable tune of 100 GBP per night.

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Inside the Paul McCartney Suite at Liverpool's Hard Day's Night Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 41-44 North John Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom, L2 6RR
July 18, 2011 at 4:52 PM | by | Comments (0)

It's a music fan's dream to make The Beatles pilgrimage to the English town of Liverpool, and experience not only the famous Cavern Club (where the Fab Four played some 292 times!), but The Beatles Story exhibit and maybe...just maybe...the entire Beatles-themed Hard Day's Night Hotel.

The Hard Day's Night, or HDN as we'll call it for short, is an extremely new hotel for the area—opened in 2008—situated in a striking historical building with a serious presence in the Cavern district. Every bit of the hotel is named for something Beatles-related; there's Blake's Restaurant (for Sir Peter Blake, illustrator of the Sergeant Pepper album cover), Bar Four (for the Fab Four themselves), and the Paul McCartney Suite. This weekend, we stepped into the latter for a look around and emerged with an old fashioned case of Beatlesmania.

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Inside the Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 2 Portola Plaza [map], Monterey, CA, United States, 93940
July 13, 2011 at 11:36 AM | by | Comments (0)

Yesterday, we showed you what has to be the cutest key card, and today we'll show you what it opens. We recently stayed the night in Monterey and shacked up at the Portola Hotel & Spa.

We took a chance and booked the hotel through Hotwire and scored a night for $151 ($177.58 with taxes and fees). Rooms typically start at $229 a night. Was the hotel as cute as its sea otter keycard mascot? Find out after the jump.

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Inside the Surfer-Chic Shorebreak Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 500 Pacific Coast Hwy. [map], Huntington Beach, CA, United States, 92648
July 12, 2011 at 11:23 AM | by | Comments (0)

We told you yesterday about the yummy Red Velvet Cupcake cocktails at the Shorebreak Hotel. If you have one too many of them and decide to stay at the Huntington Beach hotel, we have the lowdown on the rooms.

We shelled out $219 for a room in the sleepy beach community, which is nicknamed Surf City for the many surfers who crowd the waters looking for the perfect wave. During our visit, there was even a surf competition going on. The Shorebreak takes its cues from the surfer community. Check out more about the hotel after the jump.

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