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Order a Pillow Fight Via Room Service at the Bermondsey Square

Where: Bermondsey Square, Tower Bridge Road, London, United Kingdom, SE1 3UN

While the Ace is struggling with the whole opening on time thing, across the pond, the Bermondsey Square Hotel is about to open its doors right on schedule.

The first boutique bed-down in southeast London's trendy Bermondsey hood, the hotel is causing quite a stir among the media. But not because of the in-room iMacs, wet rooms or the rooftop suites complete with hot tubs peeking out at the Gherkin on the other side of the river. Oh no.

What's getting the Brits hot under the collar is the room service menu. Sex toys? No. Importable guests? Certainly not. No, for a mere £10, you can order a pillow fight via room service. And it's totally genuine: place your order and two members of the staff will come up, dressed in PJ's, bearing pillows. You choose one to fight, and one to referee. Kinky. We think.

Publicity stunt? Of course. But a fun one? Definitely. According to the hotel, several would-be guests have already rung up asking about the service. Let's just hope guests don't start demanding any weird "extras."

Opening rates from £89.

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A New-Style Hotel in the Old Latin Quarter

Where: 6 rue Victor Cousin, Paris, France, 75005

Finding a decent hotel in Paris without shelling out a mint of euros has gotten harder and harder, even in the economic downturn. That’s why it’s so exciting to come across a new entry like the Hotel Sorbonne right in the shadow of the Pantheon in Paris’s fifth arrondisement.

The hotel’s façade is still undergoing a bit of renovation, so rooms in the front can be a little noisy, but this is Paris, what are you doing sitting around in your hotel room anyway? Besides, the cleaning should be done any day now, so go ahead and book it. And if you need a further incentive, um...look at what's on the desk in the hotel rooms. Yeah, we're thinking the same thing. Oooh la la.

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Live It Up Like a Bostonian at The Inn at St. Botolph

Where: 99 St Botolph Street [map], Boston, MA, United States, 02116

Ah, Boston. Home of the Red Sox, delish clam chowder, heavy accents and... not you. Ever wondered what it would feel like to live like a Bostonian? An ultra-pampered Bostonian, even? Check out The Inn at St. Botolph, where you can live like a local, in a kickass brownstone and everything — and you can bake your own Boston Cream Pie in your own suite if that makes you happy.

The "little sister" to the XV Beacon, the Inn has 16 suites with kitchenettes and no major distractions to take your focus away from your semi-authentic temporary run as a Bostonian: no restaurants, no minibar, no traditional front desk, and keyless entry to your room. The Inn calls itself an "edited service" hotel, which means the emphasis here is less on service and more on the spaces and amenities. Translation: don't expect any porters or bellmen at your beck and call.

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Tags: Hotels with iMacs / Geek Hotels / Paris Hotel Scene / Hotel Technology / Philippe Starck / Paris Hotels / → All Tags

Mama Shelter is the Mother of All Geek Hotels

Where: 109 rue de Bagnolet, Paris, France, 75020

Paris' newest Philippe Starck-designed hotel, Mama Shelter, may just be the mother of all geek hotels (get it? Mama? Mother? Har har).

No, but really: the new hotel, located in the Saint Blaise quartier (which is the 20th arrondissement and on the edge of Paris), has 174 "digital" guest rooms that sort of give us of a trippy NYLO-meets-geek-chic vibe — with a techie twist.

French company DirectStreams has outfitted every guest room with an iMac — which, in itself, is nothing particularly groundbreaking given the number of hotels that are throwing iMacs into guestrooms nowadays — but Mama Shelter's actually act as comprehensive multimedia centers: a single terminal that offers every in-room digital service you're gonna need (HDTV, music, radio, CD, films, DVDs, Internet, etc.)

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Tags: Sneak Peek / Inside SLS / Hotel Openings / Hotel Amenities / Hotels with iMacs / Hotel Fitness / Hotel Nightlife / → All Tags

What's Inside The Rest of the SLS Hotel

Where: 465 S. La Cienega Boulevard [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90048

This is part three of a three-part series.

Today we are rounding up everything else left in the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills for you to check-out.

Altitude: Continuing the guests-only service is the rooftop pool area called Altitude on the 6th floor. This was specially created for the hotel as the old Le Meridien pool was located at ground level. The roofdeck area is a seriously serene oasis for guests. There's a reflection pool only about six inches deep as well as a regular-depth, infinity pool. Cabanas surround both pools and the entire roofdeck gives you great views of the city.

Starck-inspired design is here too. Most striking is the giant frames and mirrors that line the edges, thus in effect serving as a stylish fence.

While the area is hotel guests and VVIPs-only, there is a rental cost for the cabanas--about $250 for half a day. Food service from The Bazaar kitchen is available up here and there are plans for a small bar.

Keep Reading for More of What's Inside SLS below.

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Tags: Hotels with iMacs / Hotel Business Centers / JDV Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Geek Hotels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags

The Good Hotel Has iMacs in The Business Center

Where: 112 7tth Street [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94103

Yesterday we told you about the Good Hotel from JDV Hospitality which strives to give back to the local community by allowing guests to volunteer during their stay. The hotel also has a program in place that gives employees time during the day to volunteer for an organization of their choice.

Well, today we have another reason to love the Good Hotel--brand-new iMacs in the business center. Check 'em out. Technically, these "business stations" are part of the lobby but it's still cooler-looking than the business center of the 1990s. And just like internet access in the guestrooms, the use of these bad boys is free.

More on The Good Hotel after the jump.

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Where To Find Hotels with iMacs

We all know there are two types of people in this world: Mac users and PC users. And if you're a big traveler, you'd better hope you're a Mac user -- or get to learnin'.

The Mac Blorge blog reports that Apple's Enterprise Sales Group has been installing thousands of Apple products--like iMacs, Mac minis, Mac Pros, and Xserves--in hotels (and even aboard cruise ships) as hoteliers are increasingly seeking to stand out from their competitors by offering thoroughly modern guest experiences.

So, the big question: where can you find hotels today that are offering up iMacs for guests to use? Keep reading to find out.

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Tags: Hotel Computers / Viva Vegas / Hotel Technology / Hotels With iMacs / Fontainebleau Resorts / → All Tags

Fontainebleau Takes Its Love Affair With iMacs to Vegas

A couple weeks ago we told you about Fontainebleau Miami Beach undergoing major renovations for Fall of 2008. Part of the plan is to go "paperless" in the hotel and include iMacs in every room.

Once we wiped those tiny beads of perspiration from our flush faces and got our hearts to slow down to a resting pace, we told you about how the iMac initiative is part of a larger green push by the hotel to save money, ahhh, we mean the environment.

We also mentioned how Fontainebleau is opening up a 3,889 room grand Vegas property, and guess what?! OMG, more iMacs in all the rooms!!

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Tags: Geek Hotels / Hotel Technology / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotels with iMacs / Hotel Hype / Hotel Openings / → All Tags

Fontainebleau to Put iMacs in Every Guestroom and Save the World

Where: 4441 Collins Ave [map], Miami, fl, United States, 33140

Hey there, insensitive environment-destroying hotel guest: ever stop to consider how many trees have been sacrificed for all those paper hotel room conveniences you take for granted?

You know, things like your room service menu, the phone book and the newspaper that seems to appear outside your door magically every morning even if you wake up at the ungodliest of hours?

Well, Fontainebleau Resort considered it and has announced the introduction of the first 'paperless hotel room.' The details:

Simple and intuitive options for booking and pre-planning will be offered online at Fontainebleau.com, interactive programming will be available throughout the resort, and the highlight of the program - a personal iMac in every guest room assisting guests in customizing their vacation; inspiring them to share memories; encouraging personal expression and creating immediate actionable guest feedback.

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Tags: Hotel Technology / Hotel Computers / City Inn Hotels / Hotels with iMacs / → All Tags

UK's City Inn Hotels Offering iMacs in Every Room

This should appeal to hotel geeks and geeks alike. The City Inn hotel brand in the UK is going to start offering iMacs in all of its guestrooms.

Guests will find a shiny iMac in each room, with full access to the internet, iLife and Office apps. Plus, the hotel will let you use the iMac as a TV, internet radio and media player (DVDs and CDs).

Hmm...is AppleTV included?

Also if you are worried about hackers or later guests accessing any of your information (or those late-night pub crawl pics), the hotel chains says the iMacs will undergo a "Faronics Deep Freeze" every 24 hours, which restores the computer to the factory settings.

City Inns can be found in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Westminster. Planned locations for Amsterdam, Leeds and London are expected to open in 2009 and 2010.