Senior Editor:
Juliana Shallcross
Full Masthead
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Gotta love a hotel chain whose priority is cocktails. Big, big thumbs up to Omni Hotels for bringing out their Summer Swizzles, a special menu of four new cocktails being featured over the summer season.
Sadly, we've totally missed the Pomegranate Margarita which featured through most of the month of June. But there are three more to try.
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by amandak
Omni Hotels are often pretty innovative--they have one of the biggest ranges of online and mobile services we've come across in a hotel chain. And now they're upping their web presence by starting up The Local Scoop site, which is aiming to create a bit of a social online presence where people share stories, tips, pictures and videos about cities where Omni Hotels exist.
It looks like the site's been active and live for a month or so and they've managed to recruit a few locals at least (some look like hotel staff) to post pictures and tips about shops and sights around each of their hotels. There is also the possibility to rate the tips and give comments, but that part of the site hasn't seen much action yet.
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We've paid attention to Boston's Omni Parker House Hotel in the past because of its free WiFi and abundance of pillows, but there's actually a lot more to get excited about here, and it's been getting better.
Omni Parker House has just finished a $30 million restoration which includes a cherry-wood refit of the guest room furnishings, a new gym and new meeting room décor too. But they say they've still tried to keep the old spirit of this historical hotel there--did you know that JFK, Babe Ruth and Winston Churchill have all stayed there? And while we can't imagine Winston Churchill having admired a new gym, it sounds like the rest of the renovation is historically suitable enough to be to their liking.
But if your trip to Boston is for another reason than following history (read: seeing the Red Sox) then we quite like the Boston Baseball Package they've got. You can get center field bleachers tickets, a double room and breakfast starting from just under $400, depending on the game. New reno, neat history, chance to see the ball game: sounds like a hotel with something for everyone.
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A tornado roared through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, damaging the city's convention center, the Georgia Dome (which was hosting the SEC basketball tournament) and Centennial Olympic Park. The storms left two people dead and caused about $150 million in damage to city buildings.
On the hotel front, when such a large convention center is damaged, adjacent hotels dependent on the center's business suffer as well.
One such hotel was the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel which had about 100 windows blown out.
Walls said that guests were relocated in the hotel or to another hotel after the storm, but that there were no injuries. The hotel's glass elevator, located on the outside of the building, was also damaged.
Yet another hotel got hit much worse. The Omni Hotel at CNN Center had about 467 of its 1,067 rooms damaged by the tornado (above). The hotel has downsized to 50 percent of its normal capacity while the Westin remains fully functional.
[Photo: Manunderstress]
Finally, Hotels.com has upgraded their logo. Gone is the silly bellman carrying bags. Instead, we are now presented with a very modern look with the "o" being an important focus.
Trademork speculates the "o" could be "an elevator button and the arrows are up and down arrows" but we think it might have something to do with a search function since Hotels.com is essentially a search engine for cheap hotel prices.
Either way, we'll have to wait a bit before the new logo is in effect. Trademork reports that the application to protect the trademark was filed Jan. 25, 2008.
In other news:
· Lionel Richie apparently consoled the defeated Patriots team at their private Super Bowl loss party at the Westin Kierland resort by saying, ""Come on, there's reason to celebrate. Lionel Richie survived Nicole Richie!" Random and weird. [Page Six]
· Chloe Sevigny will endorse the new steamer trunks from Samsonite's Black Label at the Bryant Park Hotel tomorrow night. [WWD, sub. req'd]
· Omni Hotels unveils its new in-house spa brand, Mokara [Dallas Morning News]
· The newest incarnation of the Flying Hotel is called The Manned Cloud. It won't take off until 2020 but will have 20 bedrooms, a spa, gym, library, bar and a restaurants. It will travel 105 miles an hour using an eco-friendly sort of fuel and can circle the globe in 10 days. Um...yeah right. [Switched]
In Bill Marriott's weekly blog/letter taken by his secretary, he reminisces about his days as a Boy Scout and even includes a snapshot of him as a youngster proudly sporting his uniform and a gelled up 'do.
You know, back then, over sixty years ago, scouting was different from what it is today. I was a city kid and I was working on my merit badges and I had no place to camp out. So, to get camping merit badge, I had to sleep out 50 nights.
Where was I going to do that?
Well, my folks helped me buy a tent and I put it in the backyard and out of my fifty nights, I think forty of them were backyard nights. But I slept out and I was able to qualify for that merit badge.
Now that he's all grown up, Bill has created Camp Marriott in Virginia where Boy Scouts can go to work on earning their merit badges. And while being a Scout won't get you a job, it will probably help.*
In other news:
· Travel + Leisure has put together a list of the most "amazing arrivals" that hotels will create for their guests like para-gliding to check-in.
· The San Alfonso del Mar Resort has the world's largest swimming pool.
· Paris Hilton parties at the GhostBar inside the W Dallas.
· Omni Hotels puts a spin on romance packages for V-day, by allowing couples to recreate their fondest memories.
*[Ed. Note: Yes, we know. One day we will be old too. And instead of running a major world-wide hotel chain we'll probably be tearily reflecting on the krimped-hair stylings of our youth.]
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by juliana
Omni Hotels have been running their online check-in system for a while now, so it was time for them to add something new to the mix. This week they launched a new website which is a brand-wide mobile website, designed so that whatever kind of device you use to look at it, it'll be automatically optimized so you can use all the functions like the online check-in service or maps to help you find the Omni hotel you're after.
In future months, they say, they will be implementing even more functions for those using the Omni website through mobile devices. This will include things like getting detailed information on amenities before you arrive, and making requests of the staff. They're already trialling online room service at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving, Texas where guests can order room service, valet service or housekeeping from their own mobile device, wherever they are. Presumably the next step is that hotel staff will just be able to read our minds, which would make things much easier.
[Photo: Daniel Greene]
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When the weather outside is frightful...hit up an Omni Hotel for some hot chocolate. But they aren't serving Swiss Miss packets here.
The hotel chain has announced its "premium artisanal hot chocolate program" that uses Chuao Chocolatier Venezuelan-style hot chocolate, in Abuela (traditional) or Spicy Mayan flavors and is served with a choice of either fresh whipped cream, chocolate shavings, graham cracker crumbs or flavored Plush Puffs homemade gourmet marshmallows.
And in the words of "Fun Bobby" from Friends, adult guests can also make their hot chocolate "Irish" with a shot of liquor.
The hot chocolate program will be in place throughout the winter at all Omni Hotels restaurants, bars, lounges and in-room dining.
Related Stories:
· Chuao Chocolatier [Official Site]
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