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Sneak Peek at The Palihotel Melrose, Opening Tomorrow

Where: 7950 Melrose Avenue [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90046

The sneak peeks continue as HotelChatter contributing editor Eric Rosen got a look inside Palihotel Melrose in Los Angeles, which officially opens tomorrow.

The hotel is a sort of spin-off to hotelier Avi Brosh's Palihouse Holloway in West Hollywood except it's gone a bit of a different direction. There's only 32 rooms but the hotel makes the most of each space with Dean & DeLuca treats in the minibar, ladders with hangers on them double as the "closet", footstools work as nightstands and in the bath are fun prints on the shower curtains and Palihotel-branded toiletries.

The hotel also features a six-bedroom Thai massage place (massages start at $35 fr 30 minutes), a two-seat blow-dry salon and the Palikitchen restaurant which serves coffee, toasted sandwiches, and sundry food and beauty products (The restaurant will actually be opening next month.)

Interested in booking a room? Rates for tomorrow night are at a limited time special of $149 a night. After that, they bump up to $250 a night. We also hear that the balcony rooms on the second floor have great views of Melrose or the hills or of Hayworth. Additionally, the plants on each balcony are in individual, customized arrangements from Rolling Greens Nursery.

For more on what to expect inside the Palihotel, peruse the photo gallery below!

[Photos: Eric Rosen for HotelChatter]

Sneak Peek / Hotel Openings / JDV Hotels / Chicago Hotels / Photo Gallery / Hotel News / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags

Sneak Peek at The Hotel Lincoln in Chicago, Opening on March 9

Where: 1816 N Clark Street [map], Chicago , IL, United States, 60614

With his hard hat on and patent leather sneakers, our Chicago man about town, Jared Hatch, headed over to forthcoming Hotel Lincoln last week to see what Joie de Vivre has in store for their second boutique property outside of California.

The Hotel Lincoln, situated toward the south end of Lincoln Park, is still pretty raw for an overnighter but Joie de Vivre has assured us it'll be ready and pretty (all 184 rooms) for a March 9th opening. This includes three family suites with bunk beds, lobby with details like a community events cork board and one hell-of-a tricked out rooftop.

It's been inching on completion since last summer when Joie de Vivre decided to take over the previous tenant's construction efforts which just weren't grand enough. Since this happened all the furniture has been altered or upcycled, they've bought original artwork from Marwen, and added an express elevator up to the rooftop.

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The Belgraves: Less Than a Week From Opening

Where: 20 Chesham Place, London, United Kingdom, SW1X 8HQ

With just six days to go till Thompson crosses the pond and Belgraves opens (finally), we popped round this morning to see how things looked. Would they be on track?

Well, from the face of it, yes. The entrance, lobby and restaurant looked finished, down to artwork on the walls and tables laid for dinner. The hotel sign was affixed to the wall. The imposing doorway was in place. It all looked pretty much ready to go on the ground floor.

Then we looked up and saw what looked like unfinished rooms through the windows – some appeared to have curtains, some not. Will they open with all their rooms on Wednesday? We hope so, but it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker if they didn’t.

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The St. Regis Bal Harbour Will Have Pretty Views Inside and Out

Where: 9703 Collins Ave [map], Bal Harbour, FL, United States, 33154

At $809 a night, you expect beauty from a hotel. Good thing then, that the The St. Regis Bal Harbour is pretty inside and out.

The hotel, opening on January 19, is still under construction, but allowed us a walk through recently, to see how things were coming along. As you can see from the shot above, even on a windy day, the pool deck is the place to be for postcard killer views.

The good news is that these views are on tap throughout the hotel. The exterior shot below demonstrates how the hotel rooms--in the center building (the other two are residences)--are angled so that every single one has ocean views. Seriously, even the entry-level room here has a patio with these views--one measuring 210 square feet.

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A Sneak Peek at the New InterContinental Moscow Hotel

Where: Tverskaya Ulitsa 22, Moscow, Russian Federation, 125009

It's almost like Christmas came very early for us at HotelChatter because a very generous tipster sent us these sneak peeks of the InterContinental Moscow which will officially open on December 5, although it has been accepting guests for the past month.

Our tipster did let us know he was "invited" to spend some nights in the hotel but we think his "review" is still pretty objective. He writes:

Hotel has very central location (main shopping street, 10 min from Red Square). Design is very modern with classic Russian elements. Standard rooms are not very spacious but comfortable with fantastic bed and mirror TV in bathroom. Restaurant food are quality prepared but not outstanding (may be they will improve it later). From my point a view (I live in Moscow) Intercontinental is the best place to stay in Russian capital now...maybe situation will change after Hyatt renovation completion in summer 2012.

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Holiday Inn Social Hubs / Sneak Peek / Hotel News / Photogallery / InterContinental Hotel Group / → All Tags

A Sneak Peek at Holiday Inn's New HUB Lobby Concept

Last October, Holiday Inn announced their new Social Hub concept for all their lobbies which they followed up on in April with some renderings of the spaces as well as a food taste test. (See all the yummy goodness contributor JetsetCD got to taste right here.)

Currently, the Social Hub can only be found at The Holiday Inn Gwinnett City in Atlanta but yesterday at the InterContinental Hotel Group's Annual Investors and Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, we got to see what the HUB (capitalized like that) will look like in person.

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We've Been So Busy in Public, We Nearly Forgot About The Radisson Blu Aqua

Where: 221 N. Columbus Drive [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60601

While we've been dying over the just opened Public Chicago, we can't forget that another amazing new hotel brand will grace the Windy City very soon--The Radisson Blu Aqua, the very first Radisson Blu hotel for the U.S.

A rep for the hotel sent us some renderings of the hotel's public spaces as well as guestroom shot. Rooms are available on opening night--October 31, Halloween for $211 and that includes free WiFi. We'll have more on the Radisson razzmazztazz later this week but for now, sit back and enjoy the pics!

Sneak Peek / Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Skateboards / Photo Gallery / → All Tags

Guests Will Cruise Around Nolita On Their Nolitan-Branded Skateboards

Where: 30 Kenmare St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10012

It's finally finished. Almost. The Nolitan opens next Monday to guests—though as of Thursday, many of its rooms were still wrapped in plastic, pending the installation of some straggler glass shower stall doors. Boy, these guys really like to cut it close.

First things first: yes, that newspaper we showed you on Friday is the hotel's classy new brochure. And though we find the whole thing a little contrived (headlines read: free wifi! cheap minibars! yoga mats!), we have to admit, there is also something badass about a hotel touting its own fabulousness in the pages of a self-published newspaper.

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Sneak Peek / Photo Gallery / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Paris Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

We'd Like to Do Midnight In The Mandarin Oriental Paris

Where: 251 rue Saint-Honore, Paris, France, 75008

Woody Allen's newest movie "Midnight in Paris" has got us thinking about where we'd spend midnight, night after night, in the City of Light and we think we know where.

True to its word the Mandarin Oriental Paris opened on June 28 and now we've got some room shots that you can't find on their website.

Here are some snaps from different numbered rooms in the hotel--320, 406, 510 and 706. We did some cross-referencing with the hotel's room descriptions and we are pretty positive that room 320 is actually a deluxe room which has a small balcony while room 406 is a superior room overlooking Rue St. Honore.

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Another Sneak Peek at Times Square's Sanctuary Hotel

Where: 132 W 47th St [map], New York , NY, United States, 10036

We’ve been following the prolonged transformation of Times Square's grimy, budget Portland Square Hotel. Finally rid of the scaffolding, the (nearly) complete, 115-room Sanctuary Hotel is a pricier, but still within-wallet’s reach option. Here’s what HotelChatter sussed out during our stay:

Jump on It: The grand opening isn’t until September, so the hotel isn’t complete, restaurant and bar wise. The previous pics we’ve shown are what the owners are hoping for, but it’s still a construction zone and the second tower and roof top bar aren't completed yet. But the current $179 rate is going faster than the free WiFi speed and gets you a modern, clean room, free workout privileges at either Equinox or Sports/Club LA (your choice) and all the lemon water in the lobby you can drink. Hard to beat for its location and New York’s notorious summer high season rates.

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We Have Movement at The Nolitan Hotel

Where: 30 Kenmare Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10012

Just when we thought we were totally finished with the broken promises of the still-unopened Nolitan Hotel in New York, we've got word that there is some action going on at this hotel.

A tipster sent us these snapshots taken over the weekend of the lobby, restaurant (to be called Ellabess) and cool-looking sign. This is very encouraging indeed.

However, the hotel isn't going to make that July 1 opening date. Rooms are now available on July 25 for $305 a night. But we wouldn't book 'em until you hear from us that the hotel is actually accepting guests. Stay tuned....More pics of The Nolitan after the jump.

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Hotel Hype / Sneak Peek / Grupo Habita / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags

Inside Pix of Hotel Americano Leave Us Wanting More

When we last checked Hotel Americano in NYC, the hotel was opening to guests on September 1 (at least that's what their website reservations system said) but now according to PX This, the place could be opening in July.

PX This attended a private preview event the hotel hosted recently for nearly 260 people (it's ok, we don't expect to get invited to these things when we complain about a hotel's opening delays) and got to look around some of hotel's public spaces including the restaurant, lobby and courtyard. Sadly, no room shots are to be found. But since parts of the public spaces are still under construction, we're guessing the rooms aren't quite camera-ready yet.

While the hotel is hosting private events for the next few weeks, PX This says it will open to the general public in July. The website, however, still says September 1.

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