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NYT Reviews Stanford Court, Hotel Best Summed Up as "Meh"
Have you stayed at The Stanford Court lately? Let us know about your experience by commenting below.
If we had to sum up this week's edition of The New York Times' "Check In, Check Out" hotel review, it would be, "Meh." Not the review itself, that is, but the writer's hotel experience. There isn't a more evocative quasi-word out there.
The Times takes us to San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood, where The Stanford Court's newly renovated digs offer nice views of the city skyline (sometimes). Caveat: that means a good amount of hilly hiking if you're planning on walking to popular tourist destinations like Union Square and Chinatown. The overhauled rooms are deemed decent, if derivative. Decor, which includes upgrades like LCD televisions and granite accents are described as "ripped from the Pottery Barn catalog with various elements lifted from the W Hotels chain and middlebrow condominium decorators."
Tags: Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Design / New York Times / → All Tags
Does Anyone Actually Like the Peekaboo Bathroom Trend?
The Sanderson Hotel, London.
Call us old-fashioned, but we're still not at peace with the whole peekaboo-bathroom thing. As the NY Times also mentioned recently, the idea of having a shower, bathtub or even a toilet that's viewable from the rest of your hotel room is just not everybody's idea of a great design trend.
The NYT article mentions the Hotel Le Germain in Toronto as one voyeuristic bathroom culprit. In this case, there are blinds to cover the glass wall of the shower but you can't operate them from inside the stall — so if you're not prepared in advance, your bathing habits will be exposed for your companion (who, in the NYT's case, was a 26-year-old woman's father. Eek).
Apparently designers think they're doing us a big favor by upsizing bathrooms and making them prominent (and visible) parts of the room. There are various justifications, including making it luxurious and experiential as well as helping you to orient yourself in an unfamiliar space (a problem we never knew we had).
We'll just wait another decade or so and hope for a big trend in closed, private bathrooms.
[Photo: Jonathan Player / NYT]
Tags: Industry News / New York Times / Hotel News / Lehman Brothers Hotels / → All Tags
Lehman-Financed Hotels Stopped in Their Tracks
More grim reports about these dark days for the hotel industry, brought to you by the New York Times: construction is being halted on a number of planned major hotel projects due to a shortage of financing. Sad.
One victim: the Ritz-Carlton Molasses Reef in Turks and Caicos. It was going to be a $600+ per-night ultra-luxe resort where guests would arrive via 52-foot yachts, by private plane or by helicopter. But construction has been stopped because Lehman Brothers was financing the project and, well, we know how that whole thing turned out.
Tags: Days Inn Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Amenities / New York Times / → All Tags
Relax in Luxury...at the Days Inn?
You know how other countries always seem to get the cooler McDonalds', with chandeliers in the dining rooms and exotic, non-McD's-ish food items on the menus? Well, according to yesterday's New York Times, we apparently not only get to be jealous of the fast food offerings of faraway lands, but now we can envy their economy hotels, too. Well, in China at least: they have super swanky Days Inns over there! Who knew?
Since the cost of labor isn't too bad in China (construction workers can be paid as little as $100 a month, according to the article), developers can afford to spiff up Days Inn-branded hotels with stuff like marble floors and fancy chandeliers in the lobbies while still charging the same $30 or $40 rates as the American Days Inns — and the rooms (shown here) are considerably sexier, too.
Tags: Hotel News Briefs / Hotel News / Thompson Hotels / New York Times / HHonors / → All Tags
Andy Warhol Surfaces on the Lower East Side
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Andy Warhol is on His Way to the LES: Curbed scored some shots of the Thompson LES pool, which is developing nicely and looks like it just may be finished by the time the weather climbs above 70 in NYC again. [Curbed]
· Detroit Hotel Gets a New look: The 84-year-old Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit just got a huge makeover and restoration to the tune of $200 million. [NY Times]
· Eminem Gives the Greenwich Hotel What it Deserves: In NYC to promote his new book, rapper Eminem stayed at the Greenwich Hotel and was a total diva to the staff -- they were "under no circumstances allowed to make eye contact with him and absolutely not to speak to him at all." Ha. [Freep]
· Hilton Messed with the Wrong Dude: A Hilton HHonors member (and frequent business traveler) was told that, though there were rooms available at a Washington, D.C. Hilton, he couldn't check in at all on the day he wanted to come because the front desk agents would be busy with a big group. He then proceeded to write into the NY Times. Yup. [NY Times]
· Anne Hathaway at the W French Quarter?: We're 99% sure this (sorta unflattering) photo of Anne Hathaway was snapped at the W French Quarter in New Orleans. [Perez Hilton]
[Photo: Curbed]
Tags: Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Jonathan Tisch / Apple Core Hotels / Loews Hotels / New York Times / → All Tags
NYC Hotels Starting to Worry About the Economy
Well, color us surprised: hotels in New York City are starting to hurt. The end of the year is traditionally the strongest for NYC tourism (with parades and outdoor skating rinks and such) -- but booking for hotels over the next few months is falling below last year's levels, while the number of cancellations is starting to climb.
The Sunday New York Times had a rather lengthy story describing the state of the hotel industry in NYC and how it's faring during the economic downturn -- but what does this mean for the guest?
Interviewed in the article (and serving as the primary focus, really) are chain hotel bigwigs: Jonathan Tisch of Loews and Vijay Dandapani of Apple Core Hotels among them, who both report declining occupancy (though the "situation is not yet dire").
Tags: Hotel News / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Bars / New York Times / W Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Chief Beer Officer / Scott Kerkmans / → All Tags
Big Box Hotel Chains Are Stepping Up Their Game With Fancier Cocktail and Mocktail Menus
Well, even though the economy has gone to poo, hotels know that people will still be boozing (if not drinking even more).
Luckily, hotels are offering cocktails and "mock"tails these days. Because if you happen to have a big interview for your new job tomorrow (to, er, replace the one you had), maybe you'll want to go ahead and take it easy on the alcohol and give yourself the illusion of hitting the bottle without running the risk of muddy thoughts and a hangover headache. And when you get the job, you can hit up the hotel bar again that night and order from the extra-fancy alcoholic cocktail menu.
Tags: Hotel Amenities / Hotel News / New York Times / Hotel Technology / → All Tags
Your Hotel Room's Fancy Flatscreen Ain't Nothin' Without HD Service
Ever notice how sometimes your hotel room's fancy flatscreen TV has a bit of a craptastic picture quality? You know the deal: stretched-sideways images, low resolution picture? The dudes of Gossip Girl look significantly wider and less attractive -- albeit ever-so-slightly -- than normal?
That's cause hotels are buying those sleek flatscreen TV's -- and not springing for the HD service to go along with them.
Today's New York Times reports that while many hotels are making the shift to more modern flatscreen televisions (thank you!), budget constraints are keeping a pretty hefty number of properties from offering the HD service to match. As a result, what we get is the standard square-shaped picture from the old tube TV sets...except stretched out and low-resolution. Lame.
Tags: Tablet Hotels / New York Times / Hotel Blog Watch / → All Tags
Tablet Hotels CEO Guest Blogging for New York Times
Over at The New York Times "T" Magazine's The Moment blog (whew), Tablet Hotels' CEO and co-founder Laurent Vernhes has been guest blogging for a couple of days now.
Yesterday, he wrote a wonderful piece about guidebooks - specifically, about a particularly unfortunate series of events in Rio that caused him to let go of his Lonely Planets and travel without lugging around all those heavy, inconvenient tourist bibles.
Today's post was an excellent followup about life after guidebooks, opening up a discussion about the Internet's potential to replace the whole guidebook industry.
Pop on over there to check 'em out - his posts are definitely worth the read. His guest blogging stint lasts all week so be sure to keep up!
Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / New York Times / → All Tags
Brooklyn Hotels Safe from Weekend Power Outages
Things got unpleasantly steamy in four parts of Brooklyn yesterday - Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park and Park Slope - when 4 "big feeders" malfunctioned and knocked out power to 2,000 Brooklyn residents and businesses. And it was hot. Like, really hot.
Con Ed reduced voltage in the area by 8 percent to keep the power failure from spreading, so for those who still had power, "television sets flickered, washing machines halted midcycle and fan blades turned at lower-than-usual speeds all day."
So what about the hotels in the area?
Tags: London West Hollywood / Beverly Hills Hotels / Hotel Openings / New York Times / → All Tags
NYT Declares London WeHo 'Nearly Flawless'
While the official grand opening blowout isn't scheduled to go down until later this month, the NYT had a chance to pop into the London West Hollywood and, surprisingly, christened the hotel with a sparkling review -- a good bit of positive press after the "meh" reviews its much-hyped Gordon Ramsay restaurant has been receiving.
Though the hotel is still partially under construction (the reviewer mentioned the rooftop pool was a no-go zone), yesterday's Times "Check In, Check Out" feature gave props to the hotel's location, acknowledged the "disarmingly helpful" staff and gushed over the rooms:
All rooms have a balcony or terrace, and I woke up to a sweeping view over Beverly Hills. The décor by David Collins Studio is both flamboyant and muted. A wall was covered with parquet veneer and chairs had faux-alligator upholstering, but the colors were washed out, and the open-plan suite felt serene.
Tags: Hotel Reviews / New York Times / Palm Springs Hotels / → All Tags
Colony Palms Fit for Mobsters (or Wannabes)
We're big fans of any hotel review that starts with this:
The Colony Palms Hotel was built in 1936 by the Detroit mobster Al Wertheimer as a front for a brothel and gambling house.
Sadly crime-fueled antics are no longer the norm, after a $16 million renovation completed about 10 months ago. But there are still enough edgy touches to impress your gangsta' id.
In-room, photos of "nearly naked models frolicking on the hotel beds" adorn the walls, and along with a stocked minibar, you'll also find a martini shaker. Coffee is delivered to your room in the morning, eliminating the need to face the world after a long night. And with rates at a relatively cheap $209 a night, you won't need to be a cash-stacked mobster to afford a stay.
Related Stories:
· Check In, Check Out [NYT]
· Hotel Opening: The Colony Palms Hotel [HotelChatter]
[Photo: NYT]
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