Tag: Texas Hotels
View All TagsFashion Hotels / Rachel Ashwell / Texas Hotels / Bed and Baths / Shabby Chic Hotels / → All Tags
Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Lodgings Down on The Prairie
Rachel Ashwell, the Queen of Shabby Chic, not only does furniture but she does hotels too. Well, she does at least one hotel, which is actually more a country bed and breakfast--The Prairie down in Round Top, Texas about an hour and a half from Austin.
You can read the story behind The Prairie and how Rachel Ashwell came about owning it here but as expected, the place is full of shabby chic decor like vintage fixtures, faded flowery linens, crystal chandeliers and even floral hats for the deer hanging on the walls.
My vision for the inn was to balance the sweeping, rustic, primitive soul of the architecture of the five houses and 46 acres of beautiful open landscape with a certain "Marie Antoinette" touch.
Comfy Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture sofas and crystal chandeliers are mixed with tattered lampshades, vintage fixtures and original floorboards. The taxidermy that came with the property has been brought into my fold by being crowned with lovely floral vintage hats.
Hotel Openings / Omni Hotels / Dallas Hotels / Texas Hotels / Infinity Pools / Hotel Pools / Sports Hotels / Hotel Rates / Opening Rates / → All Tags
Omni Dallas: It's Definitely Opening, And It's Definitely Got An Infinity Pool
Omni Dallas, which is set to open on 11/11/11, will include an infinity pool
Whoever said 11/11/11 would mark a pivotal world-changing event must have been cc'd on development memos issued from Omni Hotels' corporate office. That is to say, Omni's latest creation, Omni Dallas, a 1,001-room convention hotel on South Lamar St, will be opening on the portentous date—and with $111 rates, no less.
As part of the "Definitely Dallas" package (this name is putting dirty thoughts into our head), guests who book rooms through December 30, 2011 will receive $111 deluxe guest rooms. Inside the rooms, you'll find a 111-inch flat-screen TV; and on top of the beds, you'll rest your head on 111 pillows. And in the bathroom....OK, we're just kidding. In fact, the bathrooms do come with mirror TVs (which we remain undecided over), and the rooms all feature pieces by local artists.
Summer Cocktails / Hotel Cocktails / Texas Hotels / Horseshoe Bay Hotels / → All Tags
It's Beergarita O'Clock At The Horseshoe Bay Resort
Who's thirsty? It's time for another installment of our Summer Cocktails series. All summer long we'll profile fun new summer drinks served at hotels around the world. Got one we should know about? Send us the recipe with a photo of the drink. Otherwise, enjoy and @reply us when you're wasted!
Ah, summer drinking. The only time it isn't totally awesome is in when you can't decide if you want a beer or a cocktail. You could throw back both in quick succession—or you could maximize both time and booze and order a Beergarita at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas.
We're pretty sure there's some rule about not mixing beer and liquor but to hell with it! It's hot! We want a cool refreshing Miller Light but we need that shot of tequila to remind us it's Friday. Let's do this.
Hypo-Allergenic Hotels / Pure Rooms / Atlanta Hotels / Maryland Hotels / Texas Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Sheraton Hotels / → All Tags
Who Wouldn't Stay in a Practically Bacteria-Free Hotel Room?
Sheraton Columbia Town Center
Hotels are trying to cater to sniffly guests by offering PURE rooms, allergy-friendly environments that are free of 98 percent of bacteria or viruses.
The Westin Atlanta Airport in Georgia is introducing 25 PURE rooms; the Hilton Arlington in Arlington, Texas, is making 15 of its rooms PURE; and the Sheraton Columbia Town Center in Columbia, Maryland, has 18 such rooms.
Hotel Video Tours / HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Services / Road Trip Hotels / B&Bs / Texas Hotels / → All Tags
Paper Airplane-Making Lessons With Your Room: Inside The Sparhawk Gallery B&B, Texas
Bored of cutesey B&Bs and faceless motels? We feel your pain. Want to sleep where Elvis once did? Us too. That’s how we ended up making an unscheduled stop in Abilene, Texas last week. Not because we wanted to visit Abilene, but because of a place to stay that sounded pretty special: the Sparhawk Art Gallery B&B.
In its previous incarnation as the 1930s Sunset Lodge Motel, it was Abilene’s premiere motel and the place of choice for the likes of Elvis, Al Jolson, and the magnificent Marlene Dietrich, all of whom stopped by when they were touring Texas. A few years ago, all but the front annex of the motel was demolished. That was set to go as well, but a local artist, Donovan Sparhawk (we hope that’s his real name), fell in love with it, bought it, and opened up an art gallery inside, along with three rooms to rent. So now, although it’s on the main road into Abilene, it feels like you’re staying in a nice secluded cottage surrounded by lots of trees.
Room Reaction
There are only three rooms here and they’re all pretty simple but tastefully done. We took the cheap one on the end—it had a tiled floor, lots of rugs and throws and funky blue furniture and a tiled table and mirrors in the corner of the room—definitely a step up from other motels. The bathroom had the original green tiles and bathtub left over from the motel days, so although the tub was a little stained from the decades, we were very excited to think we could be sharing Elvis’ bath (they don’t know which room he stayed in, but we decided it was definitely ours).
Hurricane Hotels / Texas Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Hurricane Ike Barreling Towards Galveston and Houston
The manager of the Flagship Hotel on the pier in Galveston, Texas, is the last person to leave.
While everyone was up in arms about Gustav the other week, it turns out that Hurricane Ike is going to do some serious damage to the Texan gulf coast today. From Bloomberg News:
Hurricane Ike bore down on Texas, heading for landfall as early as today in Galveston, where forecasters warned residents of ``certain death'' if they ignore a mandatory evacuation order
President Bush has declared Texas a state of emergency, 7,500 National Guard members are on standby, the Houston Texans football game has been postponed until September 15 and the Houston Astros have cancelled two ball games.
As far as what's happening with hotels, Governor Rick Perry has suspended for 14 days the collection of state and local taxes for hotels and motels. And every hotel (as well as everything else) in Galveston has been evacuated.
Damage to buildings is expected and one hotel is particularly in danger. The NY Times reports that there are worries the Flagship Hotel on the pier in Galveston will not survive the storm. The hotel is literally over the water but probably not high enough to sustain the rising tides.
[Photo: NY Times]
element Hotels / Texas Hotels / Hotel Openings / Ft. Worth Hotels / → All Tags
Will Element Irving Have a Case of the Blahs?
While we were busy blogging about Starwood's Aloft, we almost missed the hotel chain's other swiftly replicating twin, element. This time it's their location in Irving, Texas, officially opening on November 1st.
Decidely blah in style next to its clubby sibling (case in point their Lexington, MA location) we'll be watching to see if they administer a bit of color-correcting to what has proven to be some dreary, minimalist decor. Lively up yourself!
Why Irving? It's a smart real estate decision, sandwiched between the sister cities of Dallas and Forth Worth. It's a mecca for sports junkies... and museums. There are three alone dedicated to the history of aviation, go figyuh. It has the The Kimball Art Museum, and The Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art (home to many Remingtons).
And it's home to one of the most amazing sculptures ever created, The Mustangs of Los Colinas.
The website says they're not accepting reservations, but they're taking "inquiries."
Jenny Block / Texas Hotels / → All Tags
Open Marriage Expert Checks Out The Mansion at Judges Hill During Her Book Tour
Once again, open marriage expert Jenny Block returns with another VIP Hotel Review. You may recall her last visit at the Hotel Burnham in Chicago. This time she goes big in Texas at The Mansion at Judges Hill. Enjoy.
From the minute you pull up on the property, The Mansion at Judges' Hill is a charmer. It is a gorgeous old building that dates back to 1900 and has been since added onto - but never has the design been compromised. It remains the same gracious mansion it was when it once served as a private home.
I was in town for a book signing and arrived at the property rather late on a Friday night. My girlfriend and I were greeted cheerily by an engaging employee named Don at the front desk, and we checked in without a hitch. It was definitely a sign of the fabulous service that was to come.
Red Roof Inns / Texas Hotels / Hotel Crime / Hotel Pools / → All Tags
Bad Boys, Bad Boys:: Escaped Convict Nabbed at Red Roof Inn Pool in Texas
It's still hot here in the city and so we're well into dreaming of rooftop pools and cabanas with mimosa pitchers. Thus we totally have to sympathize with the escapee prisoner who was caught taking a dip in the swimming pool of a Houston, Texas Red Roof Inn on Tuesday.
The convict, charged with murder during the robbery of a convenience store in April, had lost weight in recent months and managed to shimmy his way out of jail through an air conditioning duct no more than one foot wide. Missing from his cell since Saturday, he had apparently been enjoying all the comforts of the Red Roof until his arrest Tuesday night.
All that kicking back in the pool must have relaxed him too, as it sounds like all went pretty smoothly according to an arresting officer: "We found him. He walked out to the pool, got in the pool, he was taken into custody while he was in the pool."
Despite the fact that all this went down in a motel off of the Northwest Freeway, it is easily only a cocktail and gold medallion necklace away from being a pretty baller takedown.
Hotel News / Hotel Hurricanes / Texas Hotels / → All Tags
Hurricane Dolly Slams Texas Hotels
A sign at the Radisson South Padre Island gets knocked down by Dolly.
Yikes. Bad news out of Texas this week.
Hurricane Dolly moved onto land in South Texas yesterday afternoon -- the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since September. Luckily, the storm caused a bit less damage than expected in parts of the Rio Grande Valley.
The Monitor reports that the hardest-hit region was to the east -- the eye of the hurricane hit South Padre Island as a category 2 storm around 1:30 pm yesterday, but was downgraded to a level 1 as it moved further onto land.
It still caused some bigtime damage to local hotels, though: so far it has been confirmed that the high winds blew portions of the roof completely off of the Bahia Mar Resort, and more than 95,000 residences and businesses in the region had lost power.
Luckily, Dolly is expected to be downgraded to a tropical depression by 1 p.m. today.
[Photo: David J. Phillip / AP]
Texas Hotels / Horseshoe Bay Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Horseshoe Bay Resort Offers Jet Fuel Rebate for Ballers Rolling in on Private Planes
If you happen to have a private plane (what? we have a whole fleet, you know), Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas' Hill Country will give you a rebate on that barf-inducingly expensive fuel when you fly into the resort's private airport:
The resort is offering a rebate of $1.00 per gallon on jet fuel and $0.75 per gallon on 100 low-lead fuel on all purchases, up to 1,000 gallons, at the Horseshoe Bay Resort Airport and Jet Center through September 1, 2008. The rebate appears as a credit on the guests' folio and can be applied to accommodations, golf, marina rentals, spa treatments, dinner and more.
Uh, yeah. If you're bouncing around in a private jet -- emissions be damned! -- isn't $1000, like, chump change?
Here's a better idea: instead of spending the money on spa treatments, maybe the guest should also be able to apply the rebate to an environmental charity of their choosing. Just sayin'.
Texas Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Hotel Services / Family-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags
Kid-Sized Tennis Courts at the Horseshoe Bay Resort
We here at HotelChatter aren't the biggest fans of kids but some of the people near and dear to our hearts actually have these little things so we think they might actually dig this service at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas.
The resort has installed special kid-sized tennis courts so to make it easier on your kids to hit the ball back and forth.
Scaling down tennis to fit the needs and ability of younger children, The Andy Roddick USTA Kids' Courts were specifically designed for children up to age 10 to perfect their skills with equipment and rules for children, including tennis racquets up to 25 inches and orange low-compression tennis balls. A 36-foot court is used by children ages eight and under and the 60-foot courts are for children ages 10 and under.
Now, this doesn't mean your kids will start playing like Andy Roddick but you can dream.
