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Anna, Martha and J.Lo Have Eaten at Le Caprice in The Pierre. Have You?
The official opening of Le Caprice in the Pierre Hotel was on Monday, but well before then a string of celebrities had already graced the deco-styled restaurant. As an outpost of the London Le Caprice, in the same stable as fellow London hotspots The Ivy and Annabel’s, the celeb contingent makes sense. Stars love nothing more than being first to try something, even if it does involve putting deliciously rich food in their mouths.
Anna Wintour threw a Vogue book party there, while J.Lo, Marc Anthony and Naomi Campbell dined with shoe god Christian Louboutin at the opening celebration. So far only renderings have been available of the black-and-white dining room, lined with David Bailey photographs—however we do note a heavy use of mirrored panels, which the A-list is sure to adore.
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Fireside Butlers at the Taj Boston Are Getting Ready to Light Your Fire
With the days starting to get cooler, the Taj Boston is ready to start its Fireside Season on October 15. We've always been tickled by hotel rooms with fireplaces, even if we never actually need to light the fire. But the Taj has gone above and beyond by employing Fireside Butlers. Yes, butlers whose sole job is to make sure your fire is burning bright.
And not only that, but they've got some fireside specials going, starting next week and going right through to April 1 next year.
The Fireside Tailgate deal is for sports lovers – rather than brave the cold to watch a game in the flesh, the Taj Boston suggests you "tailgate" it next to the fireplace in your hotel room, where you can watch it on the 42-inch flatscreen and enjoy an in-room "picnic" with choices like chicken pot pie, clam chowder or a Kobe beef burger, along with drinks of your choice.
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The Pierre is Open Again, If You've Got a Few Hundred Bucks to Burn
The good news: The Pierre is open again. The bad news: rates are pretty high. The slightly better-than-bad-news: they're not quite as high as we'd originally thought — and the lowest rate we could find, $506, comes with a free shoe shine. Yay, we guess?
Taj's (well, now Taj's) iconic midtown property underwent a $100 million renovation and reopened on June 1st; and the new design, according to designers James Park Associates:
Each [room] is infused with subtle references to the heritage of The Pierre's Indian custodian, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. Soft colour palettes, inspired by the jewels of the Maharajas, are complemented by soft furnishings of rich silks and brocades, whilst traditional patterns are abstracted into decorative motifs, reinforcing the theme in a delicate, understated manner. The high ceilings of these residential-style interiors, and an abundance of natural light, emphasise The Pierre's renowned comfort and opulence.
The photo above is one of the first we've seen of the new rooms, which are going for $506 as a "summer special" rate. They go up (er, significantly) from there — a City View Suite with one king bed, for instance, will run you $1,628.
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London-Luxe BBQ All Summer Long at 51 Buckingham Gate
Summer finally arrived in London this weekend (and we mean actual heat; 27 degrees, or 80F) — which means barbecues are in order (as well as stripping off and hitting the parks).
Those who are too gourmet/lazy to do a bit of grilling themselves, though — and to be fair, it's hard for the gardenless in the city — should mosey down to 51 Buckingham Gate (Taj’s London pad which, as the name suggests, is just around the corner from Buckingham Palace).
They’ve installed a huge BBQ in their courtyard 'round the side, which will, weather permitting, be dishing out BBQ grub every night until September 16th. And it's no scraggy bun-fest either; these meals are being planned by the hotel's Michelin-starred chef Sriram Ayur.
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Inside The Taj Rebak Island Resort, Langkawi
Until last week, if you said “Langkawi" to us, we’d have replied ”Datai”. Admittedly, this is mainly because we once had the pleasure of interviewing his hotness Ewan McGregor, and he said that the Datai was his favourite hotel in the world, and we’ve been indulging in poolside cocktail fantasies ever since. But also, the Datai is pretty synonymous with Langkawi luxury.
Langkawi luxury, Datai-style, comes at a price, though – rooms start at $400 and up. We were looking for luxury on a budget, so when we found rates at $121 at the Taj Rebak Island Resort (formerly known as the Rebak Marina Resort), we decided that Ewan wasn’t really worth an extra $300 a night.
We were a bit hesitant on arrival, because the website wasn’t that inspiring, and TripAdvisor had some very mixed reviews. Speaking to locals, apparently it used to be a little grim before Taj took it over two years ago – but none of them had been out since the revamp.
So we were preparing for the worst. As we were being driven from the airport down a grotty, un-paved path to the hotel jetty (it’s the only resort on Langkawi to be on its own private island, so you have to get a boat to and from the main island of Langkawi), we were having doubts.
But then we reached a pretty little gazebo with snazzy armchairs on the water’s edge, and after a short wait (we timed our flight well) we got onto the boat. It’s about 10-15 minutes to the island, and on our way we spied a pod of dolphins. Things were looking up.
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Le Caprice Crosses Le Atlantic to Join The Pierre
Le Caprice, London
The latest news to come in about the Pierre: the quintessentially upper crust New York hotel is injecting a bit of British class. The restaurant formerly known as the Café Pierre is giving way to an offshoot of London’s swanky plated Le Caprice.
When it’s actually opening seems to be up in the air at the moment. The NYT says it’ll be in September, as the crowning glory to the hotel’s refurbishment. Le Caprice’s website, though, has it down for “late summer 2009.” We’re thinking it would be overly-hopeful to call September late summer – maybe July or August?
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The Pierre NYC To Reopen With Hallucinatingly High Rates
New York's iconic Plaza Hotel may be having serious issues after renovation, but that isn't phasing the equally historic Pierre Hotel at all as it preps for a June 1 grand reopening. Situated on the Upper East Side amongst diamond dealers and ritzy boutiques, The Pierre is out to attract only those who can still afford the best of the best despite the recession. To prove this, they are making no deals with their room rates; expect $816 for a classic room and $1,640 for a suite--and those are the "early bird" specials!
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Vivanta Hotel Bangalore Has WiFi Everywhere
Soft-opening alert: India's Vivanta Hotel in Bangalore has opened its doors for the first tentative time, in the middle of Bangalore's growing International Tech Park (and a quite distant 26 miles from the airport).
Vivanta is claiming to be a bit special for several reasons, and one of them is the outside of the building:
The hotel's unique facade changes colour, texture and tone to express the borderless potential for the guests who will feel at home in any of its 199 rooms and suites.
Thumbs up for something as exciting as "borderless potential" though we're not sure how this sparkly blue-green combo will bring that about. Anyhow, being in a tech park means we expect decent facilities and we're not let down: there's WiFi throughout the hotel and portable printers for hire. Even in the hotel's cars you can get WiFi and a Playstation!
Last-minute rates at the moment range from 8,075 Rupee ($155) while the standard rack rate for a double room is 17,000 Rupee ($325).
We'll leave you with one more unique thought about the Vivanta: they lend musical instruments to their guests on request. Not sure we want to be next to the guy who borrowed the trumpet though.
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Inside Blue Sydney at Woolloomooloo
Ok, we need to make this quick because we just got a call from the front desk saying if we were not checked out of here by high noon they were going to charge us $50 AU for each additional hour. Our location is Blue Sydney, W Hotels former first international W ever.
The wharf is gorgeous inside and out, but it feels a touch like "the ghost of W" in the lobby area. The bar, which was called "souless" by one Aussie we met, is almost always empty day and night. However, the rooms are nice, bright, and have incredible views out over the wharf.
If you're not a walker or a cabber, the location may not be for you. The hotel is located on the far side of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Actually, the 20 minute walk to Circular Key has been kind of nice; then again, not every traveler wants that kind of hike. Cabs are plentiful outside the hotel, but all in all it is isolated.
Room: 412
Type: Standard
Square Footage: ~350 square feet
Best Feature: The bright sunny view and the wharf quiet.
Biggest Surprise: Wolloomooloo is a very small quiet area and you will need to cab it out of here to most places if you are anti-longish walks.
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New York's Tony Pierre Hotel Set To Re-Open June 1st
NewYorkology reminded us that The Pierre, which has sorta gone off our radar since it closed its rooms for renovations and major upgrades, will be reopening this summer. After Taj had taken over, the hotel underwent a two-phase makeover: the newly-spruced up function areas were revealed in '07, and the rooms have been closed for renovations since the beginning of '08.
All the work should wrap up in May and the new rooms should be revealed this summer; we called the hotel, and according to someone in the catering department, rooms are set to start hosting guests on June 1st.
We wish we had mockups and renderings to show you, but all we know about the reno so far is what's on the website:
All 200-guest accommodations, including 41 suites are presently being upgraded and renovated, as well as the corridors, public areas, Café Pierre & bar. Estimated overall cost associated with the renovation is over $100 million.
Don't get too excited, though: the reservations haven't opened up yet, but we'll keep an eye on things and let you know when you can start booking.
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Campton Place's "New Year, New You" Includes a Makeover Too
We know Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but if you're planning to spend New Year's Eve in San Francisco (where the Union Square may be considerably warmer than its East Coast counterpart), you're going to need to start locking in your hotel room now.
And if the winter blah's get you down every year and you think you might need a little-pick-me-up by the time the 31st rolls around (plan ahead for this! You'll be glad!), Campton Place's "New Year, New You" package will deliver said pick-me-ups in solid and liquid forms: a makeover and booze.
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Your Unrefined Offspring Can Learn a Thing or Two From Taj Boston
That seven-year-old child of yours has no business running around, playing with toys, shouting, screaming, touching food with his fingers or even speaking out of turn. Heaven forbid your child actually act like a child — your offspring should be seen and not heard. Right? Maybe?
Well, in the event that you do share these sentiments, you may be inclined to get your personal assistant (or butler or whatever) on the phone to snatch up a spot for your child at a Taj Boston's "Social Style for Children" class and turn your kid into a manners machine.
For $120 per youngin' (including a four-course meal — which we hope consists of kid-friendly foods like macaroni and chicken fingers), Susan Cole of Boston Assemblies has teamed up with the Taj Boston to refine those uncivilized children of yours into impeccably-behaved young ladies and gentlemen.
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