Tag: Melbourne Hotels
View All TagsHotel Art / Melbourne Hotels / Hotel Contests / For The Sake Of Hotel Art / Warhol Hotels / Hotel Games / Hotel News / → All Tags
Art Series Hotels Launch Another Art Series, This Time With A Fake Warhol
In other (not so major) hotel news today, our favorite art-loving Aussie hotel brand, Art Series Hotels, has launched their newest promotion, "Which Warhol." Over the course of the next few months, guests will be presented with multiple Andy Warhol replicas hanging in the hallways, and among the fakes will be an original Warhol, valued at $20,000, which only the keenest of eyes will be able to pick out.
Whoever is actually able to figure out which Warhol is which gets to take it home!
We've always dreamed of hanging an actual Warhol in our bedroom, and never thought that would come about by visiting a hotel in Australia. But now that the possibility is out there...
Tune Hotels / Australia Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / Sydney Hotels / Airport Hotels / Budget Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Tune Hotels Heading to Melbourne and Sydney
Now that they've set up shop in multiple places in the UK, budget chain Tune Hotels is ready to bring their tiny rooms, comfy beds and a la carte hotel amenities Down Under.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the other week that Tune has plans for hotels in both Melbourne and near the Sydney Airport.
Tune's first Australian venture, 235 rooms in Melbourne's Swanston Street, is due to open in August next year....
The Melbourne hotel will be followed by a 250-room property at Sydney Airport and is linked to AirAsiaX's new daily flights from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur.
Hotel Contests / Hotel Art / Melbourne Hotels / Art Series Hotels / → All Tags
And In the Flash of an Eye, A Banksy Got Stolen
Two weeks ago, we found out about a contest going on at Melbourne's Art Series Hotels (The Blackman, The Olsen and The Cullen). Per the contest's rules, anyone who was able to steal a Banksy painting from one of the hotels, and not get caught in the act, could rightfully claim it as their own.
Well, someone's done it.
Last week, @stealbanksy alerted us to a spectacular heist pulled off at The Blackman by Maura Tuohy and an accomplice by the name of Megan Aney. Apparently, quite a few attemps were made at stealing the artwork, including dismantling the hotel's CCTV cameras, wiring the Front Desk with a listening device, and overloading the housekeeping team with menial tasks to keep them distracted. But the winning scheme was much simpler than all that.
Read below to hear how Maura got away with it!
Hotel Art / Art Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / Hotel Contests / Twitter / → All Tags
For Once, A Hotel Is Actively Encouraging Guests To Steal Something
Over in Melbourne, a trio of hotels known as the Art Series Hotels (The Blackman, The Olsen and The Cullen) are running a rather bizarre contest that rewards the burgling abilities of its guests. Which is probably something The Carlyle or The Ritz-Carlton wouldn't consider in a million years.
Hidden somewhere inside one of the buildings is an authentic Banksy painting titled "No Ball Games" (above). The guest who manages to find it, grab it, and of course, not get caught, gets to go home with the $15,000 prize.
The most important part? You gotta be cool. Among the contest's rules: each participant must "be a polite, respectful and sophisticated art crook."
Hotel Bathrooms / Oprah / Melbourne Hotels / Australia Hotels / Crown Hotels / → All Tags
Even Oprah Gets Excited About Hotel Bathrooms
You've heard us rave about fancy Hotel Bathrooms before. But it's not just us, you know. Even with all her millions, Oprah gets excited about hotel loos, too!
We caught the behind the scenes of O's Season 25 on OWN recently, and followed her December trip through Australia. In between pow-wows with her producers in her Crown Towers suite, she led the cameras to her favorite part of her digs ...
Art Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / Design Hotels / Art Series Hotels / Australia Hotels / → All Tags
Melbourne's Third Art Series Hotel, The Blackman, Is Open (And Three More Are On The Way)
We love us some Art Hotels, but we're starting to think Melbourne loves 'em even more. Three Art Series Hotels--cool boutique hotels, each designed around the work of an iconic Australian artist--have opened in the past year, and three more are in the pipeline for 2011.
The latest to join the family is The Blackman, located on St. Kilda Road, not far from the center of Melbourne. So, what's this one all about?
Hotel Technology / Geek Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / → All Tags
The Downside of Fancy In-Room Technology
There is a point at which in-room technology goes from being convenient to confusing in a way that makes you feel like you’ve turned into Woody Allen in the movie, "Sleeper." (I.e. you’ve stumbled into the future, totally unequipped to deal with even the most mundane things like turning on a light or wiping your bottom.) We often experience these moments in Asia and Scandinavia, but had one at the Crown Towers Melbourne recently.
The Cisco-designed "smart room" system used in Crown Towers guest rooms doesn't require an advanced degree to master. In fact, the interfaces are touch-screen, both on the plasma television screen and on the high-tech phones. Really, this is Magic Touch for grownups: Push the right pretty picture, and you can order room service, book a flight, get the news in Chinese, or surf the Web.
Art Hotels / Design Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / → All Tags
Melbourne's Latest Art Hotel, The Olsen, is Now Open
Sure, most hotels have art—and some even make a big show of displaying it gallery-style. But the people behind the Art Series hotels in Melbourne take that concept to the extreme, with their hotels named after renowned Australian artists. First came The Cullen, where the rooms are modern and the art animal-centric. Now we have The Olsen, which recently opened in South Yarra. This time the artist is in his eighties, and the vibe, like his art, is more serene and outdoorsy. Quite pretty, in fact.
John Olsen is known for his landscapes, so the large prints in the hallways and suites are heavy on green, while the large mural in the lobby is of Melbourne's Yarra River, which Olsen likens to the Seine. Talking to ABC Radio, Olsen said he wanted his work for the hotel to be "full of optimism" and that his mural had to have "the wow factor."
Melbourne Hotels / Hotel Openings / Art Hotels / → All Tags
Introducing The Cullen Hotel (R-Patz Not Included With Room Service)
OMG, Twihards! New Moon hysteria has finally culminated in an Edward Cullen hotel! An entire building dedicated to the godliness of R-Patz! OK, this isn’t actually true. (But can you imagine? It would be very dark and sexy, no?) But there is a new hotel called The Cullen—it’s in Melbourne, and has absolutely nothing to do with vampires. The boutique hotel in the funky suburb of Prahran is actually all about art, and is named for Australian artist Adam Cullen.
More than 450 works by Cullen dot the slick-looking property, including two life-sized painted fiberglass cows in the lobby. Cullen is considered Australia’s answer to enfant terrible artists like Damien Hirst, and while his pieces are similarly modern and feature lots of creatures, don't worry, you will not have to sleep in a room with an animal in formaldehyde. Everything is Cullen-themed here–he even decorated the smart cars available for guests to hire.
Hotel Deals / Sydney Hotels / Brisbane Hotels / Melbourne Hotels / → All Tags
Get $99 Rooms Down Under as Summer Approaches
Where: Australia
While northern hemisphere hotels are busy promoting their winter sales, Down Under hotels are advertising summer specials, and there's a particularly good one on offer from the Urban group of hotels, represented in the three major east coast cities.
The three places - Urban St Leonard's in Sydney, Urban St Kilda in Melbourne and the Urban Brisbane - have got together to organize a half-price summer sale. The deal is that if you make your booking this week (before Saturday, October 31), you can get your room for A$99 ($91) a night instead of the usual average of A$199 ($180). The sad thing is that the Aussie dollar is pretty strong right now, so if you're booking in another currency the deal isn't anywhere near as good as it might have been a few months ago.
The summer deal is good for stays between December 18 and January 18, 2010 in Sydney and Melbourne, while in Brisbane, apparently summer lasts a lot longer – the deal is valid for stays between December 18 and February 14 next year. Just look for the "Hotel Urban turns up the heat" prices when you book online – we saw plenty of $99 rooms left.
Anti-View / Melbourne Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
A Building's Exterior and Random Statues Do Not Make For a Pretty View
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Wow. Talk about disappointing. A HotelChatter Flickr member dropped in this shot of the view from their room at the Westin Melbourne saying:
Crappy view of wall. The statues were something to look at at least.
Hmmm...we're having a hard time focusing on the statues because there's just so much wall in this shot.
We actually passed up staying at this hotel a while back because the hotel charged for WiFi in the guestrooms. Guess we'll have to stay away because of the view as well. But they do have a pretty website if that counts for anything!
[Photo: Vissi87/HotelChatter Flickr Pool]
Killer View / Melbourne Hotels / Grand Hyatt Hotels / → All Tags
Sip Your Coffee Up Above Melbourne at the Grand Hyatt
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
There is something about sitting up really high with a drink in our hands — whether it be a cocktail or a coffee — that sort of makes you feel like a king or queen, no? Just us? Okay.
Whether or not you get a royal vibe from chillin' in front of a window with a killer view, you can probably agree that this particular seat (snapped by vissi87 and dropped into the HotelChatter Flickr Pool) from the Grand Club Lounge at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne makes you feel good inside. Unless you're scared of heights. Or scared of Melbourne.
Rates here start at A$232 (around $165 USD) and booking a Club room will grant you access to this lounge (the lowest rate we found for a Club King was A$312, or $222 USD) — which you may think is worth it to be able to sit here and sip your coffee. Also, this hotel was just renovated (to the tune of $30 million USD), so the place has a stylish new lobby, a new restaurant and bar, and totally updated amenities.
[Photo: vissi87]
