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HotelChatter 2011 Awards / OpenThread / Open Thread / Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Toiletries / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

Most Provocative OpenThread of 2011: Toiletry Dispensers—Eco-Friendly Or Unsanitary?

It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2011 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in the comments below.

In August, we decided to resurrect an ever-popular topic of discussion—Toiletry Dispensers—and boy, were you guys full of ideas. This thread easily proved to be the most fruitful of the entire year, and why wouldn't it? What's a hotel bathroom without all its free soaps, gels, shampoos and creams?

But what we (and the hotels themselves) still haven't quite figured out is how to strike a balance between the eco-friendliness of dispensers and the luxury of individually packaged toiletries.

Many, many hotels—especially, smaller, more independent brands or sister brands—have gone over to the dark environmental side, installing dispensers in each and every shower (Aloft, Ace, Element, Viceroy and James, to name a few). As we see it, the conversation boils down to a question of sustainability: are hotels places to go and simply indulge, heedless of whatever environmental impact your stay might have? Or should we all be contributing to the evolution of greener, waste-efficient—and, of course, beautiful—hotels?

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OpenThread / Hotel Habits / Jennifer Aniston / → All Tags

Are You a Repeat Hotel Guest Like Jennifer Aniston?

There is no getting through that thick but enviably coiffed head of Jennifer Aniston's. Even though we pleaded with her as far back as 2008 to find a new hotel in Los Angeles to hang out, the girl insists on doing all her business at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Just recently, gossip reports have her dining with her beau Justin Theroux at the hotel's Tower Bar.

The pair, both casually dressed, looked cozy as they dined at the Sunset Tower Hotel’s Tower Bar. A witness in the restaurant said, “They sat in a corner table overlooking the city, deep in conversation and holding hands under the table. It was very sweet: They looked the image of happiness.”

Snoooooooooooze.

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OpenThread / Cute Hotel Animals / → All Tags

Have You Ever Had an Unexpected Animal Encounter During a Hotel Stay?

Cute Hotel Animals! And not the official pet kind like Kimpton's Goldfish or Directors of Pet Relations or the Canine Ambassadors at Fairmont Hotels. We're talking animals in the wild. If by 'wild' you mean the grounds of a luxury hotel...

It dawned us recently that we've spotted a few furry and feathered creatures on recent hotel stays -- pictured above are the baby deer outside our casita at Enchantment Resort in Sedona, the coati we saw rooting around for snacks at Grand Velas Riviera Maya, and one of the many birds who call the lagoon of Rosewood Mayakoba home. (A Cormorant, if we remember correctly...)

Not pictured: the crocodile our next-door neighbor at Rosewood Mayakoba spotted lurking under her over-water lagoon villa. Gulp.

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OpenThread / Hotel WiFi / iPads / Hotel Technology / Joe Sharkey / Joe Germanotta / iBAHN / Hotel Bandwidth / → All Tags

Would You Pay for More WiFi Bandwidth in Your Hotel Room?

Welcome to our OpenThreads, a free-for-all forum on a hotel-related topic. This is where you can tell us how you, the hotel guest, operates inside a hotel, not the other way around. So jump right in and comment away!

Perhaps the next time we spy iPads in the guestrooms, we shouldn't geek out so much as these tablet devices might be the reason why a hotel's WiFi network is so slow.

NYT biz travel reporter Joe Sharkey says that hotels blame the rapid rise of the iPad and other tablet devices for putting a strain on their network's bandwidth capability. That's because people are checking in and logging on not just with their iPad but their laptop and cellphones (Um, yes. Guilty.)

Sharkey quotes David W. Garrison, the chief executive of iBAHN, (you may know iBahn as the company that's always charging you for internet in your Marriott Hotel room) as saying the iPad is "the final nail in the coffin" for the idea that hotel WiFi should be free. Well, so says someone who's business is to charge for WiFi.

However, the bandwidth problem is a big problem. We talked about it during our 2011 Hotel WiFi Report in April and here's what Joe Germanotta of GuestWiFi about the heavy issue:

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OpenThread / Twitter / Facebook / Hotel Social Media / → All Tags

How Do You Use Twitter or Facebook During Your Hotel Stay?

Welcome to our OpenThreads, a free-for-all forum on a hotel-related topic. This is where you can tell us how you the hotel guest operates inside a hotel, not the other way around. So jump right in and comment away!

We already know what motivates people to write a hotel review (whether it be on TripAdvisor or now, directly on Starwood Hotels' sites) and that's usually either a really good experience like unexpected upgrades at check-in and truly outstanding service or a really baaaaad experience like a dirty room, broken unmentionable stains and terrible service. Or worse, the hotel cancelled your reservation without telling you. Yikes!

Now obviously, these same conditions apply when it comes to using social media during your hotel stay but Twitter and Facebook also allow you to give real-time updates on your hotel stay. We've certainly given the play-by-play during our hotel stay before from check-in, to the view, to room service and the WiFi charges whether they were good, bad or just a'ight. But then again, that's kind of our job.

So...how do you use Twitter and Facebook during your hotel stay?

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OpenThread / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Snacks / → All Tags

What's Your Favorite Hotel Snack?

Hmm! Hotel snacks...

It's no secret that we love the freebie snacks and soft drinks at Andaz Hotels. But those North Fork Potato Chips and Jacques Torres dark chocolate have recently been topped by some other amazing hotel snack finds.

Our favorites? The FunkyChunky Popcorn available at Spice, the market at The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos (an emporium of gourmet eats) and Nom Nom's--if just for the name alone--at Grand Velas Riviera Maya--dangerous because it's an all-inclusive and your minibar is replenished daily.

Of course, these sweet and savory delights are not as healthy as a Hotel Welcome Fruit Bowl, but they're usually a lot more fun, especially when you stumble across foreign yummies or noms you've never seen before.

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OpenThread / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Fees / Toiletry Dispensers / Smart Check-In / Hotel Bathtubs / Hotel Lobbies / → All Tags

Social Hubs? Disappearing Tubs? Which Trend Do You Love (Or Hate) The Most?

Nothing gets the HotelChatter debate going faster than a mention of the uber-controvertial—and increasingly common—toiletry dispensers popping up these days. But according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), that's just one of the trends guests are now seeing.

The article starts by tackling the beast that is hotel fees—something we know a little about. And with our ear firmly on the carpeted hotel ground, we can safely bet this is a "trend" hated by everyone. But disappearing bathtubs? Colorful lobby couches? Locally-sourced food and drink options? These can't all be bad, can they? Click below to see the full list, and weigh in with your own "love it" or "hate it" of hotel trends.

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OpenThread / Peninsula Hotels / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Welcome Gifts / → All Tags

Hotel Welcome Fruit Bowls: Love Them or Ate Them?

The exotic fruit welcome at The Peninsula Bangkok

Nothing says "welcome to your temporary home away from home" better than a smile at reception, a comfy bed, a stunning view and...free stuff! You know you love it—walking into a hotel room to find a few little chocolates, a bottle of wine or cookies can really turn a travel-weary frown upside-down. Still, the most basic of welcomes is the classic fruit bowl, and what we'd like to know is, are you a fruit bowl devourer, nibbler or ignorer?

Find out where you fit below:

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OpenThread / Hotel Bathrooms / Gross Hotels / Hotel Hell / → All Tags

Hotel Bathrooms: To Vent, Or Not To Vent?

When you're sleeping, living, snacking, and going to the bathroom in the same 300-400 sq ft area, it suddenly becomes important to find ways to make it seem like you've got all the space in the world.

Well, one surefire way to kill the illusion of space is that lingering bathroom smell. How do you avoid it? Should you just use the public bathrooms in the lobby? Pack a can of Air Freshener? If you and your partner(s) have to restrict bathroom use, the room might feel like a waste of money. You're a hard-working American, and you deserve full use of that bathroom! If only you could flick a switch to solve the problem....

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OpenThread / Toiletry Dispensers / Hotel Toiletries / → All Tags

Toiletry Dispensers: Eco-Friendly Or Unsanitary?

Last year we took notice of how toiletry bottles were out to eliminate our precious free bottles of hotel shampoo and conditioner. This made us sad but yet we know it's for a good cause--the environment (or so we keep telling ourselves that.)

However, in revisiting the comments on this story, a few people expressed some dismay over how unsanitary these dispensers may be. Our own Juliab wrote:

two thoughts i'm all for green hotels, but dispensers always make me feel a little icky like i'm in a public toilet. i doubt they wash the dispenser bit every day, and i just find it a bit gross.

Another reader agreed with her but also went a step further talking about the potential expiration date of the products:

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Concierges / OpenThread / Hotel Pet Peeves / → All Tags

Should Concierges Know Whether a Place is Open or Closed?

The other week while staying at the Trump Soho, we found ourselves in need of contact lens solution. Since (shockingly) there was no Duane Reade directly in sight, we hit up the Concierge desk to see if they or housekeeping had any travel-sized bottles on hand.

Just our luck, they had run out. So we asked for directions to the nearest drugstore. The concierge gave us the easy-to-follow direction to the Hudson Square pharmacy about four blocks away and off we went, dry eyes stinging and all.

But when we got there, the drugstore was closed. Turns out the store doesn't open until 10am on Sundays and we were there at 9am.

So we walked back to the hotel nearly flinging our stingy contacts on the pavement, wondering why the concierge would direct us to a place that was closed?

This has actually happened to us twice before when asking a hotel's concierge for a lunch spot suggestion. And the same thing happened--we walked to the place, only to find it was closed.

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Vacation Rentals / OpenThread / Santa Ynez Hotels / → All Tags

What Would You Rather: A House or a Hotel Room?

Over the weekend we headed to Santa Ynez, Calif. in Santa Barbara County where instead of booking a hotel room, we actually rented a house with two other couples (along with four children and one spoiled French bulldog.) Yet despite the idyllic location across from a small vineyard and the spaciousness of the house, we actually found ourselves missing a few of our beloved hotel creature comforts.

This surprised us since we were looking forward to pretending we were wealthy enough to own a giant piece of land and a picturesque home for the weekend. But while a house gave us the space we craved, not all the little amenities we are accustomed to at hotels are included.

Here's our Pros/Cons breakdown of renting a house versus booking a hotel room.

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