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Tags: Deal Or No Deal / Best Western Hotels / Hotel Deals / Rome Hotels / Italy Hotels / Europe Hotels / → All Tags
Best Western's European Deal is Good But Not Great
Winter citybreaks in Europe are our absolute favourite type of shopping-and-culture trips. Hotels are cheap, flights are half empty, the monuments are queue-free and the shops are full of Christmas cheer. Plus, eating loads is obligatory to stave off the demon cold.
So Best Western’s Two Day Promotion really tickled our fancy. The deal is this: 400 BW hotels in Europe and Egypt are offering rates starting at a peasly (for Europe) €49 (£43/$72) up to €79 (£70/$118) over December, January and February (most have backout days around Christmas and New Year, but other than that you have pretty much a free run at it – check the website for individual hotel details). To secure the rates, you need to book on 20 or 21 November on this link.
But then we checked out just how good a deal it was by scoping out the cost of a few days in Rome this December. And we were sorely disappointed.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Rome Hotels / Armando Manni / Luxury Hotels / Intimate Hotels / → All Tags
There Will Be No Shortage of Extra Virgin Olive Oil at Casa MANNI
This very well may be Rachel Ray's idea of hotel heaven.
We’ve been hooked on MANNI White Truffle Extra Virgin Olive Oil since we sat in on a demo at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen a few years ago. Then, Chef Ryan Hardy of Montagna at The Little Nell gave us two bottles to take home – one Per Mia Figlia (for my child) and one Per Me (for me) and it’s like liquid gold crack for foodies.
Now, the EVOO expert Armando Manni has extended his presence in the luxury lifestyle market with the opening of Casa MANNI Roma, an exclusive penthouse for two in a 17th-century palazzo in Via di Pietra, the heart of old Rome. And yes, MANNI is all caps.
Tags: Hotel Packages / Rome Hotels / → All Tags
Get Your 'Angels and Demons' Experience at Westin Excelsior Rome
Ah, we knew it: in all the hype surrounding Twilight (and, somewhat alarmingly, still surrounding Twilight), you totes forgot that the Angels and Demons movie was coming out, didn't you? Yeah, 'member that whole thing? That little book called Da Vinci Code that swept the naysh between the Harry Potter and Twilight crazes? Yes, well, Angels and Demons is the sequel — and now the movie's coming out on May 15th.
Westin has been named the official hotel partner for the movie, and Dan Brown fanboys and girls can get all sorts of into it with a whole Angels and Demons immersion experience in Rome at the Westin Excelsior. If you book the package, you get a night in a double room, an official Angels & Demons private or group tour, 20% off at the hotel's restaurant and bars and a 20% discount on the Angels & Demons "theme menu" at the Doney restaurant.
What is this "official tour" we speak of, you ask? 'Tis this: if you book the Group Tour, you get a 4 hour Rome excursion with other people (24 max), which includes a Castel Sant'Angelo Entrance Ticket, a map of the Illuminati, a coffee break, and transporation in air-conditioned bus (yeah, Rome in the summer? Not so cool). Opting for the private tour will get you an upgrade to a GrandLuxe room if it's available, and a 4-hour private excursion including a pickup and drop-off at the hotel in an air-conditioned car.
The private tour starts at €433 (around $592) and the group tour will run you €326 ($446) per night. Book here.
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Rome Hotels / Leading Hotels of the World / → All Tags
When In Rome, Go All Out With Italian Sweets
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K visits Rome...in her mind. Enjoy.
There are two reasons I want to stay in the Hotel Lord Byron in Rome, and they're both from the one paragraph of a recent Age review:
Life in the hotel centres around the library and lounge, a beautifully furnished space full of interesting, well-thumbed hardcover books, flowers, bowls of Italian sweets and fabulous framed family photos.
I'm sold by the time I know about the piles of books and the Italian sweets, but apparently there is plenty more in this grand hotel to tempt me. It's elegant, but not too stuffy; glamorous, but not arrogant. It's a five-star place that belongs to the Leading Small Hotels of the World collection, and I like the fact that it's small and tucked into a quiet (but still central) corner of Rome.
I could settle on a Junior Suite at €560 ($730) a night (the full version of the Suite is €735 ($960) a night) and I'd definitely need a booking in the Sapori del Lord Byron restaurant – apparently it's got a French chef but the food is definitely Italian-style and delicious. And I'd need to finish my evening at the hotel's Il Salotto wine bar because they say the pianist there can play anything you request. But hey, I was already satisfied just with the books and the sweets.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Rome Hotels / Waldorf-Astoria Collection / → All Tags
The Rome Cavalieri Hotel Just Wants Your Euros
This is the penthouse bedroom at the Rome Cavalieri hotel.
We've had a mild fascination over here with the Rome Cavalieri hotel--once a Hilton, now part of the chain's Waldorf-Astoria Collection--largely in part due to its crazy extravagant services. Gladiator training anyone? Fancy a jog with the hotel's general manager? Or perhaps you would like to bring your dog with you and let him dine out of Gucci dog bowls? The hotel can accommodate all that.
Yet we've never known anyone who has spent a night in the hotel. Until now. The NY Times featured the hotel in its weekly "Check-In, Check-Out" feature in the Sunday Travel section. And while the hotel is full of fancy things, the staff seems to have dropped the ball. From reviewer Oliver Schwaner-Albright:
But for all the amenities, the hotel didn’t so much welcome as tolerate us: the desk staff was curt, the car valet was rude and the concierge couldn’t be bothered to halt his personal conversation to help us make dinner reservations.
Tags: Lisbon Hotels / Rome Hotels / Tokyo Hotels / → All Tags
Green in the City :: The Independent Rounds Up "Best Urban Garden Hotels"
A city stay usually means you're not getting too much in the way of trees and flowers, and we often think that's a shame. Which is why the UK Independent list of urban garden hotels got us especially interested.
We like the sound of the Hotel de Russie in Rome: eat dinner on the terrace and you're surrounded by trees: palm, pine, cypress, magnolia, lemon and orange, apparently.
A place we're surprised to hear about greenery is Tokyo, but the Hotel New Otani Tokyo is actually situated in 10 acres of gardens that belonged to some feudal lord 400 years back, and naturally the obligatory ponds full of bright orange carp are there.
And finally, in Portuguese capital Lisbon, the Pestana Palace appeals to us mainly because the guy who built it in the early 1900s was a cocoa king; but also because the gardens are grand enough to have been declared a national monument. Can't get much greener than that.
[Photo of Pestana Palace: Tones100]
Tags: Rome Hotels / New Years Eve Hotels / New-Years-Eve-Hotels / → All Tags
New Years Eve Hotels: The Hilton Cavalieri in Rome
This week, we're looking at some of the best places around the world to spend New Year's Eve. Got a suggestion for ringing in 2008, let us know.
Last summer we were hyped about the Hilton Rome Cavalieri because they were offering gladiator training, which has gotta be one of the coolest hotel add-ons ever. So we were interested to learn about what the Hilton Cavalieri could be offering for a New Year's Eve celebration.
Unfortunately it seems like there are no gladiators involved, but apart from that it sounds like a pretty extravagant way to bring in 2008. The Rome Cavalieri Hilton is offering a 3-night New Year's package for US$2,284 per person, including accommodation in an executive floor room (great views of Rome) plus a 10-course dinner (yes, TEN!) cooked by a 3-star Michelin chef, served in the rooftop La Pergola restaurant. What a great way to spend your last day before the inevitable New Year's diet begins. Finally, when the NYE fireworks go off, you'll have a great view from one of the highest parts of Rome.
The deal also includes a deluxe afternoon tea, apparently made all the more delicious because while you sip your tea, you'll be able to look at three Tiepolo paintings the hotel has just bought; you also get a concert and brunch in the gardens of the hotel on New Year's Day. Perhaps if you ask nicely they'll add an hour or two of gladiator training while you're out in the gardens.
Related Stories:
· Learn Gladiator Moves as the Rome Hilton Cavalieri [HotelChatter]
· Hotels in Rome [HotelChatter]
Tags: Hotels-Near-Eurail-Stops / Rome Hotels / → All Tags
Eurail Hotel Stop: Best Western Near Rome's Termini
Heaps of long-distance trains into Rome terminate at the appropriately named Termini station. We recommend staying at the less appropriately named Best Western Hotel Canada. Yes, it is in Rome (we have no idea why Canada rates a mention), and better still, it is just a short walk from the Termini station down a quiet side street.
The location is perfect for train travelers, and it's quiet enough too so you can relax a bit after a hard day's Roman sightseeing. Although it's not exactly in the middle of things, it is a short bus or taxi ride to most of the main attractions. The hotel also offers some special packages like the Honeymoon Trip or Shopping in Rome deals.
The Hotel Canada is small for a Rome hotel, with just 70 rooms, and has been recently renovated and refurbished. Wifi is available and there's also a small library and reading lounge with a fireplace for winter nights. Rates start at €144 ($200) for a double in low season, increasing to €225 ($315) in the height of summer; triple and quadruple rooms are also available if you're traveling with a group, and these work out much cheaper.
[Photo: Family_Travelers_7]
Related Stories:
· Hotels Near Eurail Stops [HotelChatter]
· Hotel Stories in Rome [HotelChatter]
· Travel Stories in Rome [Jaunted]
Tags: Rome Hotels / → All Tags
Madonna Fans Surrounding the Hotel
Even though we already wrote about Madonna today, we wanted you to see first-hand what exactly the fans were doing outside Madonna's St. Regis Grand hotel in Rome. Here's a nearly 3-minute-long video. Things start to get good after the 50-second mark, when someone yells "she's not there!" but turns out to be completely wrong.
Next time Lindsay Lohan, you want to complain about paparazzi just think of what Madonna puts up with.
Related Stories:
· Madonna in Rome [YouTube]
· Madonna Fans Flip the Bird at the St. Regis Grand in Rome
[HotelChatter]
· Madonna Drops in on Hotel Wedding [HotelChatter]
Tags: Celeb Scoop / Rome Hotels / → All Tags
Madonna Fans Flip the Bird at the St. Regis Grand in Rome
Madonna has taken her "Confessions Tour" abroad and this time she's landed in Rome at the St. Regis Grand.
A news reporter apparently on vacation at the hotel ended up filing this story on all the commotion going on at the hotel, thanks to Madonna's controversial mock crucifixion, just one of her many outrageous concert acts.
The pop superstar Madonna is here in the Italian capital and she's staying in our hotel, the St. Regis. Gathered each day outside our building are the paparazzi and hundreds of her fans--shouting, screaming, begging for just a glimpse of the Material Girl....
Security, as you might imagine, is tight. You need your hotel key just to get past the police lines into and out of the building.
On Saturday, so many of them packed the street in front of the hotel (a main thoroughfare near the Piazza de la Republica) that traffic was forced to a crawl. The horns and shouted obscenities from drivers were met with equally loud screams and extended middle digits from the crowd.
Now, Madonna seems to be stirring controversy off the stage as well. Reports say she requests a new toilet to be installed in her dressing room before each gig. No word on if that applies to her hotel rooms too.
The next stop on Madonna's tour? Her adopted hometown of London, where we presume she'll be able to use her own loo.
Related Stories:
· Madonna in Rome [WFAA.com]
· Madonna's toilet seat demand [Life Style Extra]
· Madonna Settles in at the Setai [HotelChatter]
· St. Regis Grand reviews [TripAdvisor]
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