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Celebrity Scoop / Florence Welch / Bad Celebrity Behavior / Manhattan Hotels / Kanye West / → All Tags

Florence Welch Set Fire to Her Room at The Bowery Hotel After Drinking with Kanye West

That might be one of the oddest headlines we've ever written but it's all true. Flame-haired (heh) singer Florence Welch, the frontleader of Florence and the Machine known for her powerhouse voice and questionably retro bathing suits, nearly burned down the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan.

The rocker recently told Britain' Q Magazine that she accidentally left a cinnamon tea light burning:

“I came back to the hotel, passed out in my ripped dress – no phone, chipped tooth – came round and there was black stuff all over the wall, my book had melted on the bedside table and there was a bucket of water on the floor. Actually the last scene you want to wake up to with a hangover. Half the room was singed.”

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HotelChatter 2011 Awards / Celebrity Scoop / Celebrity Hotels / Ashton Kutcher / Demi Moore / Prince Harry / Hard Rock Hotels / San Diego Hotels / Kanye West / Steven Tyler / Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Sex / → All Tags

Best Celeb Performance of 2011: Ashton Kutcher Wrecks His Marriage at the Hard Rock

Where: 207 5th Ave [map], San Diego, CA, United States, 92101-6908

It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2011 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in the comments below.

In a way, it was over before it even began. Celebrity power couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were suddenly thrown into the center of a media whirlwind when it was discovered that Ashton had shacked up with a girl at the Hard Rock San Diego—and what's worse, her "friend" was actually wiling to corroborate the entire story. Ruh roh.

After the story was leaked by this gossip blog, all sorts of details were swirling around—the confiscated cellphones, the "gaggle" of girls, the pre-sex "waiting room" (we picture them all lined up like Gaga fans at a CD signing)—but this email set the record straight. And then we found out exactly how long 'hard rock'-ing lasted. Because we were all dying to know...

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Celebrity Scoop / Kanye West / Andre Balazs Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Employee / → All Tags

Kanye West Treats The Staff at the Mercer Hotel with Tickets to His Concert

Back in June, we learned that rapper Kanye West had moved into one of our fave NYC hotels, The Mercer Hotel in Soho while his apartment was getting renovated.

The Mercer already holds a special place in Kanye's heart because last February, he rented a floor at the hotel and turned it into a recording studio where him and Jay-Z recorded their new album, Watch The Throne.

But lest you think that Kanye West is an a-hole, celebrity guest, partying all night and demanding free rooms for himself and his entourage, a staffer from the hotel emailed HotelChatter detailing Kanye's recent random act of hotel kindness:

I work at the Mercer Hotel in Soho. On Sunday evening, Kanye West chartered a party bus to take our entire staff to the Izod Center in New Jersey for his concert with Jay-Z. We were all provided with complimentary tickets and Kanye personally thanked each team member for attending. The seats were amazing and he was such a gentleman.

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Celebrity Scoop / Kanye West / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Kanye Moves into New York's Mercer Hotel

Where: 147 Mercer St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10012

Everyone is gossiping about Kanye West sucking face with Mary-Kate Olsen during his birthday party at the Mercer Hotel's SubMercer club. We agree the ego-filled hip-hop star and one-half of Michelle Tanner is a bizarre pairing, but we're more interested in the fact that West has moved into the hotel.

According to the New York Post, West is staying at the Mercer while his Soho apartment is getting a renovation.

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Hotel Lust / Luxury Hotels / France Hotels / Fashion Hotels / Kanye West / → All Tags

Did You Know? Kanye West Designed the Bronzed Teddy Bears at Cheval Blanc

Where: Le Jardin Alpine, Courchevel 1850, France, 73121

Bernard Arnault may have lost a whopping $9 billion in earnings last year, but the LVMH chairman and France's richest man remains firmly footed on his luxury mountaintop. You don't control brands like Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior without knowing a thing or two about excess, from gaudily-labeled handbags to fine spirits and certainly high end hotels.

Arnault is the force behind Cheval Blanc (named for the pricey wine and also, a white horse), a ski resort located in France's Courchevel 1850. This is also where otorious luxury lover Kanye West (who once shaved the Fendi logo into the side of his head) has lent his passion for flashin' by designing bronze teddy bears for its decor.

And just like Kanye's swagger, modesty, and tastefulness, are tossed to the wayside at the hotel. In an interview with Business Week, hotel director Philippe Gourgaud was quoted as saying, "Luxury's a natural experience for us...We don't feel recession in our rooms." We'd like whatever brand of economic novacaine they're using.

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Hotel Music Videos / Miami Hotel Mambo / Celebrity Scoop / Kanye West / John Legend / → All Tags

Kanye, John Legend and Consequence Do 'Whatever You Want' at The Fontainebleau

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

A tipster sent us this video saying, "Pretty good song but really bad video shot at Fontainebleau." I'ma let you finish, but normally we'd say any video with John Legend in it, has to be good. But this music video for Consequence's song, "Whatever You Want," featuring Kanye and John Legend makes Pit Bull's video for "Hotel Room Service" (filmed at the EPIC Hotel) look like an Emmy-winner.

The boys don't even make good use of the Fontainebleau property. There are some pool scenes and some LIV nightclub shots but really it's just girls in trying-to-be-sexy one-piece bathing suits and extra long ponytails gyrating around. No suites, no room service, no mini-bar sex kits.

The John Legend bit on the beach, however, doesn't disappoint. And at least the video is way better than Lionel Richie's.

Hotel Art / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Kanye West / → All Tags

The W San Diego Puts Kanye West On Display

Where: 421 W. B St. [map], San Diego, CA, United States, 92101

The W San Diego may be on its way to foreclosure, but the hotel must figure if it's going to go down, it's gonna do it in style. The W is hosting a cool photo exhibit by Chris Milk—best known as a music video director to big-name musicians such as Kanye West, U2, Green Day and Gnarls Barkley—through September.

Among the oversized photos, which hang throughout the public spaces in the W, some of the best star frequent collaborator Kanye West. Milk, who directed videos for "Jesus Walks," "All Falls Down" and "Touch the Sky," used 3-D scanning and CGI to create the black-white-and-gray images for the works "Kanye West (Wall)" (shown above), where the rapper emerges from a wall of 3-D geometric shapes, and "Kanye West (Reflection)," where we see West's mug looking into a shiny silver sphere.

Originally, Milk created the images for a Complex magazine cover shoot for West. The pair worked with the studio that did the crazy CGI work on de-aging Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

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Hotel Demolition Parties / Paris Hotels / Philippe Starck / Kanye West / Hotel News / → All Tags

Kanye West Hits Up Demolition Party at Le Royal Monceau Hotel

Where: 37 Avenue Hoche, Paris, France, 75008

The demolition party that went down at the The Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris wasn't just any old party. This is Paris after all and the hotel managed to make their demolition artistic by inviting 25 contemporary artists and celebs to "artistically ruin" the hotel rooms on the third floor.

On hand for the crazy/beautiful destruction were Kanye West, Jude Law, and 18-year-old internet celebrity Cory Kennedy.

WWD reports:

"I'm gonna smash everything," yelled Cory Kennedy, rushing into Andre and Olympia Scarry's all-black room, fitted out with battered couches and a giant disco ball. Kanye West, who roamed the corridors with a bemused-looking Yves Carcelle, said that trashing hotel rooms was old hat. "Yeah, you know, the usual throwing the telly out of the window type of thing," he said.

The AFP has a more detailed report of the party, including the fun fact that Madonna's "Justify My Love" video was shot here in the hotel.

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