When hotel hunting for our next vaca, we often forget to troll Craigslist--for vacation rentals that is, not missed connections. Perhaps the reason we don't often think of it is because it's such a crapshoot. For instance, we have friends who scored an awesome place in Chelsea for a weekend in New York off the site, but our own attempts to find a vacation rental in Spain netted nothing but scams.
Similarly, The New York Times' Budget Traveler Matt Gross, tasked with finding cheap lodging in Miami for a weekend, took to Craigslist, netting similar mixed results. The listing, which touted "HoT SOBE condo for rent inside a NICE hotel!!" showed a bright studio and sundeck with a Jacuzzi in the Royal Hotel. Gross bargained with the owner to "nix the cleaning fee, throw in a parking permit and let the place go for a tax-free $125 a night." Amazing for Miami Beach in-season. However:
"When we arrived on a late Friday afternoon....I wished I'd bargained harder. The Royal was three stories of fading Deco wrapped in scaffolding, and the lobby smelled like street-vendor incense. The studio was better, sunny and decorated with paintings in vibrant blues and oranges, but had its own quirks: the floor lamps could only be turned off by unplugging them, and the hot water in the shower was, well, not."
Given the mixed results of Gross' and our own experiences, we have to wonder if The List of Craig is even worth logging onto for anything else other than the comic missed connections. So tell us hotel mavens: Have you ever had luck with a finding a great vacation rental off the site? Put your stories in comments below.
NYT columnist Matt Gross's latest expedition has been a skiing holiday in, of all places, Bulgaria. In particular, he set out to figure out whether the ski resort area of Bansko, the biggest in the country, was about to make skiing in Bulgaria famous.
The answer: possibly not. Amidst tales of queue jumpers in the lines for the ski lifts, and resort staff who groom away all the good powdered snow, Gross did manage to get in some good snowboarding, but it didn't sound all that great. What did look cute was the hotel he stayed in, the Villa Roka, all modern and trendy-looking and with a spa center including solarium, sauna and steam bath.
The best part is that Bulgaria is still cheap. Rooms during peak season (either summer or winter) at Villa Roka start from 42 Euros ($61) for a double, or 27 Euros ($40) per person in a larger maisonette room, all prices including breakfast. The NY Times also quotes a rate of 72 Euros ($105) per double, including dinner as well, presumably for the extra nice rooms.
Apparently there's a lot more development and hotel building going on in Bansko, as it tries to become the ski resort capital of eastern Europe, so stay tuned for other accommodation alternatives; we'll try to find out, too, if they work out a better system for the ski lifts.
The newest luxury hotel in Budapest has a strange history. The building which now houses the New York Palace Budapest started life in 1894 as an arts center with "the most beautiful cafe in the world", became an insurance company, lost much of its beauty during the communist era and now, finally, is enjoying a new life as a small luxury hotel.
This week's NY Times write-up from Matt Gross gives a pretty balanced view on the New York Palace, which is trying to compete with other Budapest luxury spot Gresham Palace. The building itself--especially inside the lobby--is jaw-droppingly impressive, but appearance isn't everything. Matt found a few small flaws during his stay:
But the Wi-Fi was on the fritz, the climate controls failed to make the room less stuffy ... The room-service menu listed three breakfasts, but when I phoned for the Little Italy, the person who took my call seemed mystified.
So it ain't perfect, but it still looks good. For $230 a night it's a reasonable way to stay in luxury in Hungary.
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven PBB heads for Uruguay. Enjoy.
Depending on whoyouask, Punta del Este is either totally hot or totally going to be over in six months. I don't really care--it's not snowing there right now. And if I won't be able to see flurries out my hotel window, I'll be happy.
La Posta del Cangrejo was Frugal Traveler Matt Gross's pick when he stayed on Uruguay's hottest peninsula, and it looks like a great spot for me too. The rates, for an ocean view room, are starting at $100 right now: Much less than you'd expect to pay at some Caribbean budget-killer. Despite the price, sounds like you don't get low-budget flaws.
The location is outstanding, those staying at Mantra were quite jealous indeed. Had an oceanview room which I thought was relatively small for American standards (compared to like a resort in Miami) but in line w/ what you consider a nice size room in Europe. Bathroom can use some updates, again reminded me of Europe a lot. The pool is lovely and has a great view, we used to lounge there for a few hours after breakfast.
Oooo... I'm already envisioning the flurries vanishing.
There is nothing better than a good old fashioned hotel rep mixing it up with us. And while we would much rather be hearing from a hotels General Manager, or at least someone in-house, hearing from some sort of hotel mouthpiece makes us smile, and is easily post-worthy.
After the jump, Maria Vu from Syndicate responds to our One Night At Tribeca Grand stay. In our humble opinion, PR folks can learn a lot from how Maria enters the conversation. As always, we welcome guests, hotel employees, and tipsters to enter the hotel conversation any way they wish--just remember to tell us who you are, cause we will find out anyway.
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by jennm
