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Tags: Hotel Openings / Kempinski Hotels / Croatia Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Kempinski To Drop Some Bling On Croatia

Where: Alberi 300 A, Savudrija, Croatia, 52475

For a good few years, now, everyone’s been banging on about Croatia being the hot new Med destination. And now it’s got the Kempinksi seal of approval too – they’ve just opened the Kempinksi Hotel Adriatic on the Istrian peninsula in the north of the country as their latest pin on the board of world domination.

We approve of the choice of location – Istria (the closest bit to Italy) isn’t the most obviously touristy bit of Croatia, so presumably that will make for a nice feeling of isolation in your luxury. We also approve of the price – rooms start at €200 ($293 or £175), which isn’t bad compared to some of their properties – especially considering it’s a seaside resort.

The “seaside” bit sounds pretty fly, too – on a clear day, they reckon you can see Venice (only minus the hordes and the smell) across the water. Plus, you’ve got your free wifi, Bang & Olufsen TVs and three restaurants to choose from.

There you go – Croatia’s all blinged up. Definitely no excuse for not going now.

Tags: Hotel Swag / Hotel Shopping / Kempinski Hotels / Berlin Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin's Gift Shop Overflows With Pricey Products

Where: Unter den Linden 77, Berlin, Germany, 10117

It may be the Berlin hotel of choice for visiting dignitaries, like Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama, and it may occupy a sweet spot next to the Brandenburg Gate, but the Hotel Adlon Kempinski suffers from a serious case of inflated ego.

Perhaps they'd remember that it was out of their windows that Michael Jackson dangled his baby? Or maybe they'd take a second look at their less than 5-star website? But no, the Hotel Adlon sure loves itself and knows that when you pay some 1,900 Euro for one night, you too are head over heels for their snooty exclusivity.

For the reason that the Adlon simply can't imagine that their guests would stay with them and be able to continue living without a hotel-monogrammed cheeseboard, you will find the hotel's very own store around the corner on Wilhelmstrasse. If you think the W Hotels' stores are a bit much, then please stay away from the Adlon.

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Tags: Hotel Openings / Kempinski Hotels / Leela Resorts / → All Tags

Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Lets You See What's Cooking

Where: National Highway - 8, Gurgaon , Delhi , India, 122 002

There are a few Leela resorts around India but the very first in northern India has just soft-opened: the Leela Kempinski Gurgaon near Delhi, close to the Indira Ghandi International Airport. But hotel delays even happen to the best of the best in India. The hotel's website is currently boasting a planned opening date of January 15, so it's a couple of months late and not everything's up and going yet.

However this hotel's unique selling point is that it's the only hotel or resort in the region that's got a full range of accommodation choices, from rooms and suites through to three-bedroom residences.

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Tags: Hotel WiFi / Snapshot / London Hotels / Kempinski Hotels / → All Tags

WiFi Failure Hurts More When You're Sitting on a Purple Pumpkin

Where: 1921 Great Marlborough Street, London, United Kingdom, GRB104

When you stroll into your hotel room, plop down at the desk and open up your laptop to discover that the hotel WiFi doesn't work, it can be an overwhelming, emotional moment: you feel isolated, alone, betrayed, stranded. And we imagine all those feelings are greatly amplified when that WiFi failure moment occurs when you're perched atop...this. A purple pumpkin-ish velour ottoman/desk chair.

Mandydale had such an experience at London's Courthouse Kempinski:

When I was in London last, I stayed at the Courthouse Kempinski [...] I got transferred to this room because my other room's bathroom was broken. Apparently this is an upgrade? It was kinda hard to work on my computer sitting on that chair (which apparently didn't matter too much, as their wifi service was down).

Bummer. This chair, though whimsical and cool and funky-looking, has got to add insult to WiFi-related injury.

[Photo: Mandydale]

Tags: Kempinski Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Kempinski Hotels Add Syria, Kazakhstan and Indonesia to Hot List

HotelChatter's AmandaK gives us the latest on Kempinski Hotels.

Last week we mentioned that the Kempinski Hotel group seem to be on some kind of path to world domination with new hotels planned for more than a couple of corners of the globe.

We’re pretty intrigued by some of the exotic destinations that Kempinski has picked out for its coming-soon hotels. And we’re not sure if the chosen spots are an indication of future hot-spots for tourists and business travelers or whether Kempinski are just randomly throwing darts at a world map and then opening up hotels where they land.

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Tags: Hotel Openings / Prague Hotels / Kempinski Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags

Kempinski Ramps Up World Domination Plan Starting in Prague

Where: Hybernská 12, Prague, Czech Republic, 11000

The German Kempinski chain looks like they're starting up a plan of world domination.

This month they opened the Kempinski Hybernská Prague, but there are so many more on the way.

First things first: the new Prague Kempinski has normal nightly hotel rates going but also have a lot of one and two-bedroom suites that you can rent for longer stays, so the business market is obviously top of the list here.

But tourists won't mind being close to Prague's coolest way to cross the river, Charles Bridge, either. The tech side is good too with free WiFi and a "media panel" where you can hook up your iPod.

They've got opening rate specials around a hundred euros cheaper than normal rack rates; a superior room, for example, is going for €238 (US$320) now but €304 (US$410) later.

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Tags: Hotel Upgrades / Sweet Suites / Kempinski Hotels / Airport Hotels / → All Tags

Could Wearing a Nice Suit and Asking for a Non-Smoking Room Get You An Upgrade? Maybe.

That seems to be the case with what happened to Flickr member Ramones Karaoke (a nickname of course) who has a great collection of business hotel shots. Or as he calls them "Faceless Business Hotels of the World."

Ramones spent a night near the Munich airport and here's what went down:

They ran out of no smoking rooms on a day I was wearing a nice suit and looking hassled, so I got upgraded at the Munich Airport Kempinski into a 'Junior Suite' - what on earth a 'Senior Suite' must be like I cannot guess - the Junior has more toilets than my house, a walk-in wardrobe, 2 TVs, great toiletries in the bathroom.

Flippin' heck.

Granted it was at an airport hotel but whatever! This kind of upgrade should make the layover feel a little more comfortable. The only thing that bummed Ramones was the lack of WiFi, meaning he had to stay glued to the desk instead of lounging on the bed. Still that's way better than the desk/bed combo at TuneHotels.

Click here for the full glory of the suite shot as well as peruse Ramones snaps from other "Faceless Business Hotels of the World."