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WiF Week Continues: Hotel Execs Sound Off On Offering Complimentary WiFi

May 9, 2008 at 1:51 PM | by juliana | 3 Comments

In continuing our Hotel WiFi Week here at HotelChatter we decided to ask some of the hotel groups that made our Best Hotel WiFi list just why they have decided to offer complimentary internet for their guests.

Thus we spoke with the chief operating officers at the Gansevoort Hotel Group, Thompson Hotels and Kimpton Hotels as well as with the hotelier behind Personality Hotels.

Keep on reading to see what they have to say about the WiFi offerings in their hotels.

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Hot Hoteliers To Learn More About

October 24, 2007 at 5:28 PM | by juliana | 1 Comment

Here at HotelChatter we like to follow the lives--both professional and personal--of some of the world's most well-known hoteliers. So we just decided to list some of the hoteliers that we cover the most for your edification. In doing so, we realized there needs to be some more female hoteliers! If you know of a hotelier that's not on our list, send his (or hopefully her) name our way.

· Bill Marriott
· Ian Schrager
· Andre Balazs
· Steve Wynn
· Barry Sternlicht
· Jason Pomeranc
· Chip Conley
· Vikram Chatwal
· Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode
· Gregory Peck

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Starwood Founder Bringing Sexy Hotels Back

October 1, 2007 at 3:15 PM | by pbb | 3 Comments

After making a mint at Starwood Hotels--including creating the W brand--Barry Sternlicht could've happily rode off into the hotel developer sunset, free from the prying eyes of people like us. But somehow, he decided to get back into the hotel game: He's got three hotel brands in the works.

The biggest deal in our mind is the "1" brand, scheduled to debut in Seattle in 2009. The aim is to make the hotel LEED certified as a green building, as is the plan with other "1" hotels in the future. Other properties are in the works for New York and DC.

The NYC project, the New York Times reports:

[Will] be called the "1" Hotel and Residences at Bryant Park, it will have dedicated hotel rooms through the 18th floor and residential units on the 19th through 31st floors. It is expected to open in the first half of 2010, and is being designed by Morris Adjmi.

But the brand won't focus on residential/hotel hybrids:

Mr. Sternlicht's third "1" hotel, in Washington at 22nd and M Streets, N.W., is in partnership with the local Perseus Realty Group. The hotel, which will have 180 rooms and no residential component, is expected to break ground in mid-2008 and open in 2010. More will follow in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Mammoth Lakes, Calif; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The first international "1" hotel will be in Paris.

Beyond all the hype around this brand, we'll also have to keep an eye on Sternlicht's other hotels: He's also at work on Baccarat Hotels and Resorts and Crillon, both of which could open soon.

Related Stories:
· Starwood Founder Makes a New Splash [NYT]
· 1 Hotels coverage [HotelChatter]

[Photo: Sienna Architecture Company]

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Movie Set Hotel: For Love or Money

June 12, 2007 at 4:26 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

For Love or Money is perhaps the ultimate Movie Set Hotel of all-time.

Michael J. Fox stars as Doug Ireland, a concierge at a snooty luxury Manhattan hotel. Having no wealth of his own, he aspires to one day open his very own hotel. He even has an old and abandoned hotel picked out on Roosevelt Island.

The only problem is he needs to find an investor willing to put up the $3 million needed for the renovations.

Luckily or not so luckily, he finds an interested listener in financier Christian Hanover. And since this movie is about 14 years old, we don't really care if you've never seen it or not so we are going to spoil the plot for you.

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Celebrity Hideaway in Costa Rica Unveiled

May 29, 2007 at 12:36 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

A tipster named Charlie from the U.K. let us know that a TV actress named Bobbi Phillips is supposedly the woman responsible for bringing celebs to her hidden hotel in Mal Pais, Costa Rica.

Her hotel, Casa Chameleon (named after her most successful TV series) was recognized by Conde Nast in 2006 as one of the Best Hotels in the World.

There are TripAdvisor reviews on the place which are all glowing reviews--some suspiciously so like this one, "Let me just say as soon as I walked in our villa tears of joy just filled my eyes."

But Charlie is having no luck booking one of the four bungalows. He couldn't even find it on one of his recent trips to the area. But he did get some scoop on how celebs get brought in there.

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I Can Has Hotel Cheezburger?

May 25, 2007 at 2:06 PM | by juliana | 1 Comment

[Ed. Note: It's Friday.]

Thanks to Hotel Chatter and Jaunted contributing editor PBB, we've been enlightened to this weird site I can has cheezburger.

At first, it looks extremely unfunny. It's basically pictures of weird cats (and other animals) playing with objects with misspelled -on-purpose captions on the pictures.

But at PBB's insistence we kept checking it out and now, it's one of those strange things where we can't NOT laugh at these so-called Lolcatz.

Now imagine if there was such a website called Lolhotelee-ayze....

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Gregory Peck Still Out at Cooper Square

Where: 27 Cooper Square [map], New York, ny, United States, 10003
May 2, 2007 at 9:05 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Yesterday a curious tipster asked us if it was really true that Manhattan hotelier Gregory Peck was kicked off the Cooper Square hotel project, saying there was a rumor going around that Peck would handle "money and PR stuff."

Today, we learn our tipster answered their own question. They write in:

Peck is totally out of the Cooper Square Hotel project. [Mark] Moss might have worded it like Peck isn't with us anymore. I don't know if he used the word "fired" but definitely said Peck is gone.

Ok, now that that's squared away anybody interested in buying Peckmoss.com?

Related Stories:
· Is Gregory Peck Still Onboard at the Cooper Square Hotel Project? [HotelChatter]

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Is Gregory Peck Still Onboard at the Cooper Square Hotel Project?

Where: 27 Cooper Square [map], New York, ny, United States, 1003
May 1, 2007 at 4:14 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

The last time we checked in on the Cooper Square Hotel project, Gawker reported that Gregory Peck (yes, the hotelier, not the actor) had been removed from the venture.

But a tipster who lives next door to the site has heard differently:

I live right next door to the site. Myself and my neighbors were extremely happy to hear this since we see first hand how much Peck and Moss are stepping all over their neighbors and neighborhood with this project. (We have a protest movement going so to speak with our own newsgroup about it, clandestine flyers, public meetings, etc). Anyway someone at my building got word that that wasn't true. That Peck has only been assigned to handle money matters and Peck will do all the PR stuff. (This was heard by someone in the community board 3).

Anyways, I was just wondering if you are sure what you have heard is still true.

Well, we can tell you one thing--the PeckMoss website is still pretty dead. Other than that, we're a little unsure of what could be happening here. Peck Moss was fired from designing the hotel but will handle money and PR? That just sounds odd.

Anyways, we'll be looking into this but send us your tips or comment below.

Related Stories:
· Gregory Peck Booted from Cooper Square Hotel Project [HotelChatter]

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Personality Hotels CEO Gives Her Own Video Tour

April 17, 2007 at 9:39 AM | by pbb | 0 Comments

Why do they call them Personality Hotels? 'Cause President and CEO Yvonne Lembi-Detert has it in spades. That's how she comes up with stuff like this:

The Hotel Diva is the perfect place to find your inner Diva. So many Divas have come to San Francisco and left their mark...It's not your average suite: It's Diva style...Our staff is here to tend to all your Diva needs.

You don't say. Admittedly, the video is more of a marketing tool than than personal interview, but it's always fun to see video tours and hoteliers in front of the camera.

Related Stories:
· Personality Hotels video [Official Site]
· Hotel Video Tours [HotelChatter]
· Yvonne Lembi-Detert and Her Multiple Personalities [HotelChatter]

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Gregory Peck, The Hotelier Not the Award Winning Actor, Confirms Crescent Hotel WiFi is Working

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 403 Crescent Drive [map], Beverly Hills, CA, United States, 90210
February 5, 2007 at 10:43 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Towards the end of January, HotelChatter took a little trip to the West Coast and stayed in the Crescent Hotel in Beverly Hills which we generally liked with the exception that the hotel's WiFi system went haywire on us. Here's what we said back then:

The good news? Free WiFi! Network SSID goes by crescent--it is all click and go. Refreshing. The bad news? During our stay the network would consistently drop us, then let us back on. Frustrating. Also, we couldn't use our IM client, which meant too many cell phone conversations in order to get some work done. Grr.

This morning we found a response in our inbox from Crescent Hotel hotelier himself Gregory Peck about the WiFi situation.

I wanted to let you know that the hotel's WiFi is now fully operational. We regret that you or your writers had difficulty staying on the network. We have inspected the system and are confident that the issues are resolved. Otherwise, please feel free to contact me directly if you ever have any questions about the Crescent or our company, Peck Moss Hotel Group.

Well played Mr. Peck, well played. Of course, we will check back and test the network soon.

Related Stories:
· Crescent Beverly Hills Hotel: Semi-Stream of Consciousness Ho'Tell-All [HotelChatter]
· Interview: HotelChatter sits down with Gregory Peck [HotelChatter]

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Oh, What a Tangled Web Hoteliers, Developers and Beanie Babies Weave

January 23, 2007 at 11:00 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Ty Warner the man who made gazillions of dollars from manufacturing and selling Beanie Babies has let the Miramar Hotel in Montecito, Calif. go to shit.

Well actually, Warner bought the hotel from none other than Ian Schrager in 2005 after Schrager himself stalled on the property for six years due to lack of funds. Schrager had wanted to make it a funky 213-room hotel (was this Gramercy Park Hotel before the Gramercy Park Hotel was the Gramercy Park Hotel?) When Warner bought it for $43 mil he wanted to make the Miramar one of America's premiere resorts. That plan never went through as he felt "extreme bias" from two influential community groups.

Now the hotel is looking to be acquired by Rick Caruso, the developer behind the hugely successful Grove shopping center in LA where you can always spot at least two celebrities--has-beens or current--while shopping at the Gap and catching a movie. And already it looks like Caruso has gotten further than the hotel's previous owners since the community likes his ideas of turning the resort into a more family-friendly place. Yes, a Schrager-inspired scary gothic sex castle is not the right place to take kids. But couldn't Ty Warner and his Beanie Babies have put a family-friendly spin on the hotel?

Related Stories:
· Developer Caruso said to be buying Miramar Hotel [LA Times]
· Ty selling Miramar to Caruso [Santa Barbara Independent]

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Anouska Hempel's Warapuru Already a Top Destination

Where: Itacare, Brazil
January 11, 2007 at 9:50 AM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Concierge.com has recently put forth its top "It" Destinations for 2007 and guess who's hotel they recommend in Itacaré, Brazil?

Warapuru, Anouska Hempel's new property, set to open this spring, is going to be a destination in itself: 40 pavilions in the rainforest facing the ocean, big spa and cutting edge design. The favorite destination of Gisele and Sean Penn.

But don't get to booking your trip so soon. A Times UK report from September mentioned the hotel still had not been built, and room rates were still up in the air. Even the amount of hotel rooms had not been totally decided back in September although Anouska guesstimated about 150 hotel rooms along side the 40 pavilions. And Anouska was coy about whether the place had doors or not. We'll see how this plays out as October 2007 draws near.

Also on Concierge's list is West Africa, Turkey, Slovenia and Macau, thanks to all the Vegas hotels--MGM, Wynn, Venetian--opening up their spin-offs there.

Related Stories:
· The 2007 "It" List [Concierge]
· The Anouska Hempel Story: Revenge of a Dominatrix Hotelier [HotelChatter]
· Rumble in the Jungle [Times UK]