Tag: Leading Hotels of the World View All Tags
Leading Hotels of the World
Some Leading Hotels More Leading Than Others
November 26, 2008 at 1:40 PM | 0 Comments
We've got a special place in our hearts for any hotel that takes up a whole island, which gives the San Clemente Palace Hotel & Resort in Venice an unfair advantage when we talk about it. It's a ten-minute motorboat ride from Piazza San Marco and apparently it's not only the sexy hotel-on-an-island thing that's making guests happy.
In fact, San Clemente has also just won the Leading Hotels of the World "Guest Recognition Award of Excellence" for 2008, as well as being voted the best hotel in Europe from the group (out of a total of 250 hotels) and the second best hotel in the world.
Since they've got a New Year's Eve package going that sounds like a good time to try it out--the two-night New Year's Eve deal includes dinner and dancing, casino entry and breakfast for €1,276 ($1,600) for the two nights. Not cheap, but you get your own island, remember? No sharing with thousands of gondola-hunting tourists--we think it could be worth it.
Leading Hotels of the World
Not Everyone Got a $19.28 Hotel Room from the LHW Promotion
October 30, 2008 at 1:18 PM | 3 Comments
The Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 promotion finally worked for realz last week and we had several readers send in their successful bids for $19.28 rooms. Which was awesome.
But sadly, not everyone got their requests fulfilled. LHW only had a limited amount of rooms available for the promotion. A reader sent in the rejection letter that she received yesterday:
Thank you for participating in The Leading Hotels of the World's 80th anniversary USD 19.28 Sale. We are sorry to inform you that we were unable to fulfill your travel request.
We appreciate your support and interest in our brand, and hope to bring you more celebratory offers in the future. As previously promised, all personal information obtained from you with regard to this promotion will be removed from our database. Should you wish to receive updates and news from The Leading Hotels of the World, please feel free to sign up for our e-newsletter at www.lhw.com.
Our reader had selected three hotels--The Wheatleigh, The Hay-Adams and The Chateau Bonne Entente. Sad. Another HC commenter also got rejected and had these last words for LHW: "Just got my rejection email from Leading Hotels of the World. Let us never speak of this promotion again."
Hotel Hype
Jamaica's Solís The Palmyra Will Open in March
Where: Montego Bay , JamaicaOctober 29, 2008 at 9:31 AM | 0 Comments
For Spring Breakers and exhausted 9 to 5-ers looking for a chill beach vacay this coming winter, 16 acres of Caribbean waterfront will sound pretty darn good. And the humungous Solis The Palmyra in Jamaica, poised to open in March, looks like it might be able to deliver.
Perched on the shores of Montego Bay, the hotel has three towers, courtyards, and ocean views out of every room; a ballroom, event lawn, and gazebo for weddings; two pools, beachside cabanas, and tons of adventure gear for the using. There's also a 30,000 square foot spa, designed by award-winning spa designer Susan Harmsworth.
Guests will get preferential treatment at the nearby award-winning golf courses. And be sure to wear your bathing suit under your clothes on your flight into Montego Bay: the hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport.
Leading Hotels of the World
Leading Hotels of the World May Have Finally Pulled Off the $19.28 Promo
October 27, 2008 at 11:30 AM | 4 Comments
Alright, it's looking like Leading Hotels of the World has actually pulled it off, folks. Our hearts have been warmed on this chilly autumn day by three -- count 'em, three -- success stories from last week's do-over of the Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 promotion.
In case you missed our breathless coverage of the original ordeal, Leading Hotels of the World attempted to have an anniversary sale on October 1st that didn't work out so well. They released a limited amount of rooms online (for 80 minutes only) for a rate of $19.28, their overloaded servers collapsed and everyone was pissed they had to wake up so early to have their dreams of cheap-o hotel rooms crushed -- including many of you.
After apologizing and going back to the drawing board, LHW did the whole thing over again -- this time at an hour that was reasonable enough for us to liveblog it -- and, dare we say, it looks like they've pulled it off.
Leading Hotels of the World
Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 Promotion is a Success for One Lucky Person
October 24, 2008 at 10:03 AM | 1 Comment
Thanks to the very awesome Abigail, we were able to live blog the do-over of the Leading Hotels of the World's $19.28 Promotion. The event went off without a hitch. Abigail put in her request and is now awaiting word from LHW whether or not her request was accepted.
However, one lucky person already got confirmation that their room at the Alex Hotel in New York was accepted. From our reader:
I clicked through on my request form at 10:01 NY time today, and just got an email confirming one night at the Alex Hotel in November. Grand total: $25.35!
That's awesome, congrats! We only hope that Abigail gets her request too.
Did you play in the LHW promo do-over? Let us know how it went.
Leading Hotels of the World
Liveblogging the LHW Promotion Do-over
October 23, 2008 at 11:05 AM | 3 Comments
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Abigail M. Schilling woke up at the crack of dawn in Los Angeles to liveblog the LHW promotion do-over. Here's her take on how it all went down.
Reporting from Los Angeles, I am devoted to getting my $19.28 room in the Leading Hotels of the World 1928 Promotion again.
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6:58 am Ready. Have already had coffee. So going to win this thing!
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6:59 am Start reloading the page over and over again. This is the kind of thing that crashed the last contest.
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7:00 am It loads a submit form! Fast! No delays at all!
Leading Hotels of the World
Reminder :: Take Two of Leading Hotels of the World's $19.28 Sale Today
October 23, 2008 at 8:45 AM | 1 Comment
Today is the day, people: Leading Hotels of the World is finally, finally taking another stab at their failed $19.28 sale from that fateful morning of October 1st. The sale goes live at 7 am in LA, 10 am in New York, 3 pm in London and 11 pm in Tokyo. Lucky for you, HotelChatter will be liveblogging the whole thing.
To recap: LHW tried this sale once before; the server crashed. Everyone was pissed. Today, the promo will be a slightly-adjusted repeat with $19.28 hotel rooms on sale for 80 minutes -- and hopefully things will go a little more smoothly this time.
At 2:00 pm GMT, you'll hit up the now infamous lhw.com/1928 and submit a form with your top three hotel preferences (select from the list of destinations that has already gone live):
Forms will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Your requests will be fulfilled based on availability. Please remember that rooms and available dates vary among participating hotels. Within seven days, you will be notified via email whether or not your reservation request was fulfilled.
Alright? We ready to do this? Good luck, folks (and godspeed, LHW). See you on the other side.
Leading Hotels of the World
Leading Hotels of the World Sale :: Don't Forget to Click!
October 22, 2008 at 4:17 PM | 1 Comment
Our coverage wouldn't be complete without a final reminder that tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 23, is the Leading Hotels of the World 1928 Promotion do-over. It begins at 2:00 pm GMT. Which means...
Los Angeles: 7 am
New York: 10 am
London: 3 pm
Tokyo: 11 pm
Set your alarms and timers, because a) the sale will only last for 80 minutes, and b) there are only 6,000 rooms available. The first contest had 150,000 registered which meant 1 in 25 people would get rooms and we can only imagine this number has grown since then.
We keep reminding ourselves to not get our hopes up because this is more like a radio concert. But you can bet we'll be competing at 2:00 GMT. See you there.
Leading Hotels of the World
Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 Promotion Going Off Again This Thursday
October 20, 2008 at 12:12 PM | 2 Comments
Leading Hotels of the World finally posted the fool-proof (maybe) details of their clever and since copied 80th birthday sale.
In case you've been living under a rock for the last month (or not religiously reading HotelChatter--how dare you?!), the sale went thusly: rooms for $19.28 on sale for 80 minutes with no strings attached, server crashed because the whole world wanted in on the deal, everyone got super pissed, CEO promised to renew faith in the brand, LHW posted a top-secret site announcing a new sale, and DUN DUN DUNNNN on Friday they spilled the beans.
Keep reading for all the details of the new contest.
Seoul Hotels
Duty Free for You and Me at The Shilla Seoul
October 17, 2008 at 12:56 PM | 0 Comments
Since 1986, one hotel has dominated both the luxury sleeping and shopping scene in Seoul: The Shilla. Although the hotel has been around for a little longer than that, 1986 was the year that it birthed an independent duty free shop, making the upper echelons of luxury goods available at a price that was almost a deal. The Shilla now operates more shops on the Korean holiday island of Jeju and in Incheon airport, but its original two-floor boutique remains a cult shopping destination.
For anyone who feels the salacious temptation of a duty free catalog in the seat-back pocket, a stop in at The Shilla may be deadly (to your bank account). Being surrounded by smiling, impeccably-coiffed salesgirls and shiny products proves a drug for those who achieve VIP status at The Shilla shops.
Leading Hotels of the World
Let's Try This Again, Shall We? :: Leading Hotels of the World Gears Up for Promo Do-Over
October 13, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 1 Comment
Those of us who were signed up for Leading Hotels of the World's failed 1928 promotion received another update email over the weekend from CEO Ted Tang.
They promise they've got the technical difficulties worked out and will be offering the promotion again, this time with the help of Akamai Technologies--the same people who help power Travelocity. Details are still to come:
We have decided to post all future updates and details on a dedicated website at www.lhw.com/1928status. This will allow all registrants, throughout the various parts of the globe, simultaneous and equal access to the USD 19.28 updates around the clock. All updates will indicate the date and time of posting. Please know that we have intentionally communicated this website address only to registrants in order not to dilute your chances of securing a reservation at the promotional rate.
Since the old contest site redirects and since everyone and their mom can't shut up about the contest, we know we're not the first to divulge this "secret" website. We think there might be other ways to keep the contest to the original few and proud 150,000, but whatever. We still might get hotel rooms for twenty dollars! Woo!
Hotel News
How Should Leading Hotels of the World Apologize for the 1928 Fiasco?
October 6, 2008 at 5:50 PM | 4 Comments
Poor Leading Hotels of the World.
As we covered breathlessly last week, they tried to do something nice for their birthday by attempting to release a limited number of hotel rooms for $19.28 apiece on Wednesday morning (in honor of their birth year, 1928) -- but instead they had some major technical meltdown due to the insane traffic on their website on the morning of the contest, everyone got very upset, and then they were going to hold a do-over but now they are kinda like, "er, um, TBD."
CEO Ted Teng has posted a personal letter apologizing to the promo participants and the cheap-room hopefuls. But to some particularly fired-up bloggers that's simply not good enough.
