Guests can still book the "Ultimate Thanksgiving" package at the club, and will be pampered with a delicious Thanksgiving dinner (with wine service) for up to 15 people.
The meal will be catered by Primehouse, the in-hotel restaurant by famed chef David Burke. Keeping with tradition, football games will be shown on the three high-def plasma screen TVs while guests enjoy a variety of beverages and appetizers.
The cost is $4,000 with a $1,000 going to Common Threads charity. Also a $500 gift card to Bloomies is thrown in. · More Thanksgiving Hotels here
It's almost Thanksgiving, the day when relatives who avoid each other all year pack into a grandmother or an aunt's house to feed around a crowded table. Why go through all the trouble of basting and baking when you can pay someone to do it for you. And with a hotel restaurant, you can avoid as much movement as possible, crawl upstairs to watch football and let the tryptophan take hold.
· Millenium Knickerbocker in Chicago will be serving Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 9 p.m. Cost: adults, $48 and children, $18
· Owyhee Plaza Hotel in Boise hosts its low-price feast that is famous for its high quality throughout Idaho. But there's only a brief window to gorge, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Cost: adults, $17.95 and children, $9.95.
· At the Soho Grand in Manhattan, guests can wash down turkey and pie with steaming hot apple cider. From noon to 8 p.m. Cost: adults, $65.
· Guests of the Hyatt Regency Princeton in New Jersey dine at the Crystal Garden. It's the type of gaudy Jersey opulence where Tony Soprano would dine, complete with Koi fish ponds and waterfalls. A la carte thanksgiving meals range from $31 to $50.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same region and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on November 6, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
If you're going to historic Plymouth, MA over Thanksgiving, do you really want to sleep in a below-average chain hotel room with lousy breakfasts?
On the official site the Comfort Inn Plymouth motel is listed as "conveniently located just minutes from historic waterfront attractions," which here translates to "next to a non-descript highway and nothing is within walking distance."
· "Your view is either of Samoset St., a long street of chain malls that used to be Route 44 before they built a bypass recently, or of low-income housing on the back."
·
"The pool was so cloudy you couldn't see your feet."
· "The woman in charge of the breakfast area clearly disliked her job and they did not replace many food items that had run out. The coffee was worse than mud."
You get the idea. The lowest rate we could find anywhere over Thanksgiving weekend was $119 at the hotel's own website. On the other booking sites we didn't see anything under $149 unless we were a member of AAA or AARP.
So book direct if a ho-hum motel by a highway is your idea of the best bet in historic Plymouth. Otherwise check into one of the Bed and Breakfasts with character, good chow, and a location good for strolling--this week's Good Rate.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same region and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on November 6, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
To get to the roots of Thanksgiving, there's no better spot than where it all began, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. See the Plymouth Rock! See the Mayflower! See a replica of the original settlement! And hey, it's right on the water, with a nice beach panorama.
Staying in a cookie-cutter chain hotel just doesn't seem right in a place like this, so it's best to book at one of the dozen or so New England bed and breakfasts scattered around town. Rates run anywhere from $80 to $250, but most fall in the middle of that range.
The top two spots with TripAdvisor reviewers are A Beach House Oceanfront Plymouth (named by a search engine optimization specialist apparently)and By the Sea Bed & Breakfast - pictured here. In both cases you'll have a nice location, a quality breakfast, and attentive service for somewhere between $140 and $170 a night.
We couldn't automatically check availability over Thanksgiving weekend, so you'll have to nose around. Most Plymouth bed and breakfasts are not listed in the big corporate booking sites such as Expedia or Travelocity. You'll need to look in a specialized directory or book direct through the B&B's website.
A few years back we did a list of Hotels on the Macys Parade Route for those of you considering a visit to the Big Apple to see the action live and in person.
While not much has changed, there are some new hotels we think are worth a look. Like the newly opened Six Columbus. Or the Mandarin Oriental (if you can afford it). How about Vikram Chatwal's funky Dream Hotel?
For more mainstream options if you want to use your rewards points we say try the W Hotel Times Square or the Doubletree Guest Suites in Times Square. Really, anything along Broadway in Times Square should offer you a view. Even if you can't book a room with a parade view, you can watch from other floors.
If you want to study the parade route, the NYCvisit.com has their own list of hotels with parade views. One last piece of advice? When booking make it absolutely clear to the reservations agent that you want a room with a view of the parade. Not just a view but of the parade.
It's that time of the year again when we all remember to be really thankful and also to spoil ourselves with a nice package at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. In honor of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Mandarin Oriental is offering the I Love A Parade package which really is tailor-made for all parade-lovers out there. And for those with lots of money as room rates start at $809 a night.
Included in the package are, of course, great views over the parade if you're there on parade day, entry to the huge ballroom with other special parade-lovers, buffet breakfast, free upgrade to a Hudson River view room and (here comes the best bit): when you arrive, you'll get a treat of caramel apples and cider.
For some, Thanksgiving is a time to see everyone you are related to, and for others it's all about football. But everyone loves the damn parade--so where is all the hotel action for next months Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Here is a list of some hotels on the parade route:
· Sheraton New York Hotel & Tower
This hotel is just finishing renovations, according to October guests, which means nice new rooms for your parade watching comfort.
· Hotel Walcott
A NYC bargain choice that offers typically small rooms, slow elevators, and cold showers, according to some recent visitors.
· Ameritania Hotel, beware of the small rooms. However, you can find some great rates at this property from time to time, and we here they recently added free WiFi .