The hotel looks amazing. Our favorite shots are of the pool and the wild lobby. Oh yeah, and the suite is pretty sexy too.
Now is great time to stay at the Tides because room rates (and demand) have dropped to a reasonable off-season price. Which means for $395 a night you can get a studio suite facing the Atlantic and Ocean Drive. Holla'! We're going to Miami!
Mother's Day is next Sunday, May 11 and if you were thinking of picking up all the usual gifts for mom on her big day like flowers, chocolates, that latest New York Times bestseller, we say get a little more creative. Afterall, moms like to have fun too. (Or at least we think they do.)
So our suggested way of thanking Mom for all her years of love and hard work is with a pedicure, a facial, and lunch by the pool at the decadent Estrella Spa at Viceroy Palm Springs.
The "Mom and Me" Special involves a full-day spa package that offers mom-and-daughter pedis, full-hour facials, wash-and-blowouts, and a makeup application so you two can look your best.
Keep reading for more details and booking suggestions
We've had our suspicions for quite sometime that the Viceroy Hotel brand would be coming to New York City and today we have official word:
Kor Hotel Group, a growing presence in world-class hospitality, is proud to announce its first hotel planned for Manhattan.
Viceroy's first New York City project will offer 168 exquisitely appointed accommodations set within the top 12 newly constructed floors of an office, retail and hotel complex being developed on a full city block at 330 Hudson Street between Charlton and Vandam Streets in New York's Hudson Square neighborhood.
The Hudson Square area is adjacent to both Tribeca and SoHo but the Viceroy's location is actually just steps away from the Holland Tunnel. Yet with MTV Networks relocating across the street from the planned Viceroy site, we're sure the hotel will have no problem getting folks to come down there.
If that doesn't work then the rooftop terrace with an outdoor pool and cabanas will do the trick.
The architecture firm Brennan Beer Gorman and interior designers Yabu Pushelberg will create the Viceroy New York. BBG was the group behind the andarin Oriental Hotels in New York and Washington D.C.; W Union Square; Gramercy Park Hotel and the Peninsula, Bangkok. Toronto-based Yabu Pushelberg has worked for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts as well as Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Peninsula Hotels.
Right now, the opening date is set as sometime in 2010.
If a relaxing weekend in Manhattan Beach is not what you had in mind for a jaunt to Los Angeles, then maybe you should check out the Chamberlain Hotel's Wicked Package.
The WeHo hotel is now the official partner hotel of the Broadway musical, Wicked, about the previously unknown past of the witches of Oz, which has an open-ended engagement at the Pantages Theater. (Pop Culture Note: Ugly Better went to Wicked this year and it was filmed at the Pantages, not at the NYC location.)
The Chamberlain is offering guests two nights of accommodations in either the studio, grand or one-bedroom suites, along with a Wicked welcome gift bag, filled with official merchandise from the Broadway production and two tickets in the orchestra section.
The total cost is $899 and apparently represents a 15 percent savings. We checked the package for the weekend of April 11-13 and found a rate of $809 for a grand king room, even cheaper. With tax, the total cost was $926.21. A studio room was going for $372 a night. As always fiddle around with the dates for price comparison.
You can probably book it cheaper a la carte but the hotel does offer suite accommodations and a Wicked welcome gift bag. Just remember, you must book two weeks before arrival in order to get your tickets.
The Tides South Beach still hasn't opened their pool area and won't do so until March 15th which is sad because high season is flying by!
A tipster sent in these renovation shots of the back of the hotel which we admit is never a flattering angle. Still the hotel's website does its best to be honest:
We recently debuted our first and most significant phase of a $14 million restoration effort. The pool will not be available until March 15, 2008 and you might experience varying levels of construction noise. We sincerely apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
Note: This pool was expected to be done in January.
Fortunately it seems prices have come down. We found rooms for Feb. 25-28th at $399 a night for an oceanfront studio suite. Granted those are weeknights and the following weekend those rooms and those rates weren't available.
So far it doesn't look like the reviews have suffered on TripAdvisor but a few of them seem highly suspicious to us. The only recent one we trusted was the one which mentioned that the hotel has partnered with neighboring Hotel Victor for their pool.
Thus, we wanna know: Has anyone stayed at the Tides in 2008? If so, tell us how it went.
This is a shot of the Presidential suite at The Tides Zihuatanejo which has a 435-sq.ft. terrace with its own private infinity pool that overlooks the ocean thus offering up 180-degree views of Zihuatanejo Bay. Overall the suite encompasses 1,465-sq.ft. and has two bedrooms and two baths. More on the suite from the Tides website:
An expansive open-air living area is intricately tiled with marble and inset with natural pebbles and features an over-sized wicker daybed, two comfortable seating areas, a complete wet-bar and a gorgeous private infinity pool with panoramic views of the bay.
Of course, a private infinity pool comes at Forbes 500 prices. The Presidential suite costs $1,150 in the low season to around $1,700 in the high season.
But don't give up hope yet. All suites at the Tides come with their own private infinity pools. The lagoon suite is the smallest of the bunch ranging from 700 to 800-sq.ft. High season prices start at $875 a night and include a private terrace with outdoor infinity pool (a teeny one), a separate sitting area and lagoon views. When we hit it big, we're coming here...in the low season of course.
Vancouver-based Vacant Ready has the scoop on the latest hotel from Kor Hotels saying that the Loden Vancouver is nearing completion but obviously didn't make their expected Fall 2007 opening date.
Vacant Ready says the hotel is expected for March 2008 and has already hired some key personnel--GMs, sales directors, etc. The hotel is also ramping up its Voya restaurant helmed by executive chef Marc-Andre.
While the place isn't open, the website has listed some packages and special rates that will be available such as the 21-day advance rate (book three weeks out and get a special rate) and a special web-only rate. We checked out some rates in April and found a Loden King Deluxe room for $399 CAD a night.
The room is on the smallish side at 350 square feet plus but with floor to ceiling operable windows, a 42-inch LCD TV and heated floors in the bathroom. We just hope Kor Hotels can heed our Hotel WiFi advice in this new hotel.
Got enough friends to fill 43 rooms and feel like celebrating the holiday season in real style in LA? Then you might want to check the deal being offered by the Maison 140 near Rodeo Drive.
Until December 31, Maison 140 is offering you the possibility of booking out the entire hotel just for you and your family, friends, colleagues or whoever else you want to invite. The before-tax cost for the 43 rooms and private access to Bar Noir is $15,000 for a night.
We've checked out the Vin et Fromage evening at the Maison 140 before and love the idea of having the whole place to ourselves. It's a refurbished boarding house (actresses used to stay here in the 1940s) and it's been renovated in grand style, with each room having its own special flavor. That'd be the real bonus of booking out the entire hotel--there wouldn't be any strangers in the rooms nearby and you could take a peek in all of them.
Outside of this special, regular room rates for the Maison 140 start at $239 including breakfast, a pretty reasonable rate considering the location. But we recommend splashing out the $15,000 instead--it is the holiday season, after all.
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by juliana
We've had our suspicions for quite sometime that the 
