Tag: Renaissance Hotels
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Make New Friends At These 7 Gay-Friendly US Hotels
Maybe we got hit with the Valentine's Day bug a little early, but we're feeling extra-romantic this week. So we're channeling that energy into this list (as promised), of some of the country's gay-friendliest hotels and resorts. But don't worry—it's not all rose petals and glasses of champagne. Whether you want a DJ, a mountain view, or vintage patio furniture, we're pretty sure you'll find what you're looking for here.
Hilton Sedona, a 219-room resort located in northern Arizona's Red Rock country, was recently TAG-approved for its commitment to LGBT travelers. What's more, last September, it hosted the Sedona Pride on the Rocks Festival, which drew all sorts of fun-seeking folks from the entire Verde Valley region. And if the 2012 bash is anything like last year's, guests at the hotel can expect a private pool party, a drag show "Gay-La," and of course, the main festival itself, which takes place among the resort's three heated pools, two restaurants and 20,500 square feet of event space.
Rates start at $179
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London's St. Pancras Renaissance Gets Another Cringe-Worthy Review
File this story under "Ouch": London's much vaunted and hyped St. Pancras Renaissance has received a less than stellar review by The Telegraph, whose reviewer describes rooms in the sprawling property as "bland" and "overpriced," with "lacklustre service" to match.
Among writer Fiona Duncan's main gripes: loud street traffic, curiously absent employees to answer questions, non-functioning internet, and no business centre for guests' use.
The first complaint comes as no surprise to those of us on the ground in London; anyone that's emerged above ground from King's Cross International Station, site of the Eurorail link and a major tube station, can attest to the constant swarm of travelers, buses, and horn honking taxi drivers around the area and the headache-inducing cacophony they produce.
Additionally, the noise complaint was brought up just after opening by The Daily Mail who mentioned that the "room shakes gently" when a train pulls out of the station. The non-functioning internet is new, however, and such a shame as it costs £6 an hour or £15 pounds for 24-hour access. Ugh.
Halloween Hotels / Renaissance Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Times Square Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Suites / Celebrity Scoop / Blake Lively / Leonardo DiCaprio / → All Tags
The Renaissance Times Square Was So Scary, Blake Lively's Face Froze
Don't be scared, Blake, it's just make believe!
OK, we'll be honest. When we first saw this photo, and read the caption about a special Halloween suite at the Renaissance Times Square being decorated by Madame Tussauds, we thought they were referring to a wax sculpture of Ms. Lively. Sorry, Blake! Your features just looked so....erm, lively lifeless.
Blake Lively stopped by last week for the debut of the hotel's "Dare To Check-In" Halloween suite. And since she is on the rebound from her short-lived relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio, Renaissance made sure there were plenty of toys to keep her distracted. Like tarot cards. Obviously, when you've just had your heart broken on the national news, a fortune teller is exactly the person you want to speak to.
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Yes, Those Unicorns Are Local
Look at that adorable critter! No, we're not talking about Aimee Teegarden of Friday Night Lights (although she's pretty darn cute, too). We mean the life-sized mama and baby unicorns who live at the new ELLE Spa at the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach.
Now, we have to admit: we spent some time working in this spa for its launch, and no matter what kind of spa-stress was going on (yes, it happens), we were always charmed into a smile when we passed these guys. But beyond that, we had no idea who the unicorns belonged to, and why the hell they were hangin' out. So, we did some investigating and it turns out that, in fact, these unicorns are local.
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When You're Drunk And Hungry, There's Always The Renaissance
It was 4:58am this past Saturday morning—late Friday night, whatever you want to call it—and a Mundelein, IL, local was hungry. So he did what every other red-blooded, stumbling-drunk opportunist would do at five in the morning: break into a nearby Renaissance banquet hall and raid the kitchen.
While we've never done anything like this (well, at least not at a Renaissance—this is New York, after all, so inevitably there's always better grub to chase), we can see how the allure of an empty banquet hall kitchen's refrigerator, on a hot summer night, would be a literal beacon in the night. What is unclear is how the suspect, Michael Young, actually ended up inside the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel And Convention Center, a forty-five minute drive from his hometown.
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What Can You Get for $5 at the Blackstone Chicago? Quite a Lot Actually
Nowadays, it's hard to get a hotel breakfast for under $10, but the Blackstone Renaissance is doing what seems to be the impossible: offering breakfast and lunch for only 5 smackers at its new Bodega N. 5.
Most foodies head to the hotel to dine at Mercat a la Planxa, headed by Iron Chef Jose Garces, but the chef recently unveiled this cheapie spot that's hidden away on the restaurant's lower level. It's perfect for a quick bite before heading out to go sightseeing or a won't-break-the-bank Chicago lunch.
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Still Wanna Have 'Downtown Fun' in Vancouver?
Boy, we knew Canadians liked their hockey but we didn't think that they would riot after losing the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins. Like, full-on rioting too. Not just yelling and kicking tires and throwing the occasional Molson Ice bottle but flipping over vehicles, harassing the police and lighting fires throughout downtown.
Which makes this press release from the Renaissance Vancouver Harborside all the more unfortunate. The release hit the wires before the Canucks lost the final game with the headline, "Stay an Extra Night for Downtown Fun With Hotel Deals in Vancouver". Downtown fun, indeed! Oh we has a sad face for the Renaissance.
That said, clean-up efforts are underway in Vancouver and the area should return to normal pretty soon which means you can totally take advantage of the hotel's offer of a third night free when you stay two consecutive nights. Rates start at $390 CAD a night.
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Live Inside the Pages of Elle Magazine at Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach
Here's a first in the world of hospitality brand experiences: Elle magazine, an undisputed global fashion authority since the 60s, is launching its own branded spa inside the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach. For once, you will actually be able to see all those impossible beauty tips and product mentions come to life.
And while you're putting yourself into the hands of experts for things like the "Elle Spa Signature Facial" or getting your nails done in the spa's salon (which, on this Wednesday morning in noisy, humid Brooklyn, sounds pretty good to us), you'll be right on the Eden Roc's Miami beachfront property.
Now, it's easy for a big name like Elle to throw its weight around—especially after last week's announcement that the Hearst Corporation had acquired almost all of the Elle titles for a whopping $1 billion—so we're going to take a minute and try to figure out if this is a true pamper experience worth your time, or just buzz.
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Batman and the Incredible Hulk Show Up at the Blackstone Renaissance
Chicago's Blackstone Renaissance may be 100 years old, but it's showing that you don't have to be stuffy in your old age. The hotel is keeping itself youthful with a new Pop Art exhibit that features everything from superheroes to cartoon characters.
On display in the hotel's Art Hall, "Risk and Reward" is a colorful 21-piece retrospective from Chicago-born artist Erik DeBat, who examines American pop culture in his work, blending abstract expressionism and Pop Art.
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The Room That Provoked A Renaissance In Our Palm Springs Hotel World View
It's the answer to this week's Guess The Hotel! And yes, as Saeta guessed immediately, it was the lobby of the Renaissance Palm Springs.
Yes, we're back in PS. Is there ever any reason not to be? Not when its hotels keep knocking out such awesome deals. The latest we scored: $195 ($226 inc tax) for three nights at the Renaissance Palm Springs, thanks to Voyage Prive. Seeing as rooms are running at $199 a night at the moment – and it’s one of the few hotels in Palms Springs not to have a resort fee, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.
Check in:
We had a hellish journey getting in – nine hours for what should have been a four-hour drive from Vegas, thanks to a car that broke down three times en route. The final breakdown, as we were waiting for the tow truck, we called the hotel to warn them that we’d be arriving late. The woman on the phone was sympathetic, told us about a nearby carpark where we could leave our dead car for free rather than paying the $10 hotel charge, and wished us well on our journey. That got us in a good mood for the hotel.
In the end, thanks to the tow truck getting lost and it being past midnight, we dumped the car in the hotel carpark instead, and came in to be told by the lady at check in that she was waiving the parking charge since our car was unusable. Then, when we asked for a nice view, she told us that since we’d had a crappy day, she would upgrade us to a room overlooking the pool. Yes, you could call it an upgrade – we went upstairs to room 4339 and realised that she'd given us a “resort suite” – basically a junior suite with a pool view (standard junior suites look over the mountains).
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Miami Hotels Fill Up With Latin Music Stars, But You Can Still Snag A Bed
Spring break may have come and gone, but things are still hot, hot, hot on the Miami hotel scene. Especially with this week's Billboard Latin Music Conference & Awards in town.
All the action is taking place up in the Mid-Beach area, with Billboard's HQ set up at the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach. That's where the pre-conference pool party kicked off last night, and where all the boringscintillating speeches and panels will hold forth over the next few days.
What you really wanna know, though, is that the Awards themselves are taking place on Thursday night and Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull are all scheduled to perform.
London Hotels / W Hotels / Renaissance Hotels / London Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Sounds Like You May Need Ear Plugs At The St Pancras Renaissance
The view from one of the 38 rooms in the St Pancras Renaissance’s original building
We may not have had the best reception, to put it mildly, when we hit up the
This weekend saw two new articles on the hotel pop up in the British press. The first, in the Mail, brought some stunning new photos and awesome new hotel geek factoids: like the fact that the lobby, which is described as being possibly the largest in Europe (might want to check on that, Renaissance folks), used to be a cab rank, or that the main staircase was built wide so that two women could pass in crinolines without brushing into each other.
One not so good thing: as a train pulls out of the station, “the room shakes, gently”. Uh oh.
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