Get your hot dogs, sunscreen and beer guts ready: Independence Day is just over two weeks away! If you're headed to a big city for some fireworks fun, we'll be taking a look at hotels with prime fireworks views. Have a favorite hotel for gawking at bombs bursting in air? Send it our way.
Got kids, a love of old-school boy bands and/or a knack for history? Our hotel pick for families this Fourth of July is Loews Philadelphia, recently named Loews' Hotel of the Year.
Philly features the impressive Sunoco Welcome America! festival and the hotel offers a sweet deal for the whole family to go along with it (with cameos by historic characters every day!)
Looks like that $9 million renovation last year paid off at the Loews Philadelphia. The hotel was just awarded Hotel of the Year by Loews CEO Jonathan Tisch at the company's annual national meeting in Orlando in Orlando earlier this week. Hotel-Online reports:
Loews Philadelphia Hotel received the company's top honor, "Hotel of the Year." The hotel was recognized for its overall commitment to guest and employee satisfaction, compliance with brand initiatives and standards, year-over-year profits in both average room rate and food and beverage outlets, and implementation of the "Good Neighbor Policy," to list a few criteria for the award.
The hotel's director of sales and marketing, Anthony Del Gaudio, also won "Marketer of the Year" for all the partnerships he has forged between the hotel and the community.
Now if only they would make that WiFi free.
See what we had to say when we stayed at the Loews Philadelphia back in February 08.
Where the airlines have failed travelers--American Airlines is now charging $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second--hotels have come to the rescue. At least the Loews Hotels brand has.
Arriving guests need only present any airline bag fee receipt at the front desk to receive the rebate, which will be issued in the form of a credit to their bill at check-out.
The Baggage Buy Back rebate is available at Loews' 18 properties in the U.S. and Canada, beginning June 15 through Labor Day, September 1, 2008.
Loews Hotels will offer credit for up to two bags for a maximum of $30 per occupied room per stay.
This is not the only time hotels have picked up after the airlines. Some hotels like Omni Hotels, were quick to offer guests toiletries back in 2006 when liquids were suddenly restricted on airlines.
Now let's hope more and more hotels follow Loews footsteps.
On the East Coast, where public mass transit is a way of life, subways, buses, and trains make travel practically painless compared to filling up the tank at the pump. But vacation getaways without a car in California? Let's just pray you enjoy your backyard.
With West Coast gas reaching 4 bucks a gallon (ouch!) we hear you might be conserving the mileage along with the paper, plastic and glass.
So here's some good news for all you freeway folk. While political hype talks about giving us a break with a gas tax free summer, Loews Hotels is doing something about it. Their new "Money for Miles" special guarantees you up to a $50 gas rebate with a stay at the beachfront Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego.
Overnight accommodations in a deluxe room, access to the hotel's three pools, three tennis courts, fitness center, nearby Silver Strand Beach -- and a list of the cheapest gas in the area to get you home. All you gotta do is show the front desk your gas receipt(s) from the day prior to check-in, or fill ups sometime during your stay, and the gas rebate off your bill is yours. Who says you never get a free ride?
The "Money for Miles" offer is available May 1-September 1, 2008, at Loews Coronado Bay Resort only. Rooms range from $289-429 per night, based on availability.
In light of the recent Miley Cyrus/semi-topless Vanity Fair photo controversy, maybe Loews Hotels should have held off on this press release.
At participating Loews Hotels from Santa Monica to Lake Las Vegas, tweens and teens can now add 'spa' on their list of vacation to-dos through a customized collection of playful packages that include colorful manis, fruity pedis, princess-like up-dos, cleansing facials, aromatic massages, make-up lessons and more.
For the record, we have nothing wrong with little girls wanting their nails done or their hair blown-out. Seriously, if we had some of these options when we were young, we would have saved our mother so much grief from the inevitable spilling of nail polish remover, accidentally painting the rug/table/desk with Revlon nail polish and the DIY job we did on our bangs not once, not twice but three times.
Still, there's something a little off about these offerings.
Just in time for Earth Day and HotelChatter's unofficial Green Hotels Week, the The Loews Hotels at Universal Orlando Resort have become certified members of the Florida Green Lodging program.
Aside from having green ogres and monsters on hand, the Loews Hotels (Loews Portofino Bay, the Hard Rock Hotel and the Loews Royal Pacific Resort) have formed "green teams" at their hotels. These teams are staffed by employees and help implement green practices that encourages both the guests and the hotel employees to be more "environmentally responsible."
Guests in all 2,400 on-site hotel rooms now have the opportunity to recycle plastic bottles, newspapers, aluminum cans and office paper.
In addition, a hotel campus-wide energy management system, programmable thermostats and high efficiency lighting help to conserve energy in all guest rooms and in more than 130,000 square feet of meeting space.
The hotels’ Energy Star-rated appliances, low flow plumbing fixtures and a linen and terry re-use program help to conserve water and waste is reduced by recycling and purchasing items in bulk.
Earlier this week we popped into an Atlanta Bread Company outlet for a quick lunch in Nashville, TN. The staff greeting was warm, the food was tasty, and signs prominently pointed out a nice feature: free WiFi.
Three people were pecking away on their laptops and the one sitting closest to us was staying at the nearby Loews Vanderbilt Plaza. "Here I buy a $7 lunch and check e-mail for free," the chatty business traveler noted. "If I log in at my hotel, where I'm already paying $230 a night to rent a room, they want me to cough up another $10 plus tax. It's insane."
Which brings us to this pair of screenshots we grabbed while staying at the Danubius Hotel Astoria in Budapest, Hungary. Here they actually rub it in your face that you have to pay more for the exact same service when you are at a fancier hotel.
It's about $23 for 24 hours if you're in one of their 3- or 4-star hotels--already a princely sum--but a jaw-dropping $45 if you staying in a 5-star hotel instead. For the exact same connection through the exact same 3rd-party service. That's a lot of goulash!
Last summer, we went down to New Orleans for a cocktail convention. (Tough life, right?) And while we did have lunch at the Loews New Orleans Hotel, we missed out on the latest innovation the hotel is hyping.
Groups of four can book a "Bar Chef Table" at Cafe Adelaide, for ringside seats to a hand-crafted dinner from chef Danny Trace and bartender Lu Brow. The duo have put together a Creole-inspired menu that pairs up with Brow's fancy cocktails. Each course is presented by chef Trace, making you feel like you're on a tipsy version of Iron Chef.
Meals at the chef's table are a totally reasonable $100 to $125 per person depending on what you order. Not bad for a long night of partying with restaurant industry insiders.
From the Terrible Timing Department....
