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The Soho Grand Joins the Ranks of Hotels with iPhone Apps

Where: 310 West Broadway [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

In addition to checking out the Soho Grand Hotel's newly redone tech suites this week, we also picked up a curious little card in the lobby, alerting us to the fact that their GrandLife iPhone app is up and active. Even better, it's totally free over at iTunes.

To get the app, you can simply go here to download it, or, if you're on site at the hotel, just scan the code supplied on the card with your smartphone.

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Hotel Fun / Odd Hotels / Atami Hotels / Virtual Hotels / Geek Hotels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags

Where Do You Take Your Virtual Girlfriend on a Romantic Getaway?

According to this WSJ article, you head to the Hotel Ohnoya in the resort town of Atami, Japan where men playing the Japanese dating simulation game, LovePlus+, can check in without discrimination or jokes about their girlfriend not being real.

LovePlus+ allows the men who play it to choose from three girls to be their steady girlfriends but just like a real relationship, this dating simulation requires lots of work. Played on the Nintendo DS, the men make sure they walk their girlfriend to school, send her flirtatious text messages and even carry on conversations using the device's microphone.

The boyfriend then earns "boyfriend power" points and if he earns enough, he and his lady can take a virtual trip to the resort town of Atami, once very popular with honeymooners.

Yet, it's this virtual trip that some "boyfriends" have been yearning to recreate in real life. And since Atami has been losing business in recent decades, they decided, "What the heck? Yes, let Japanese men and their virtual girlfriends come to visit us!" And it's working, frighteningly so.

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Playing Hotelier Is Hard Work at Jane's Hotel

Warning to the world-renowned Cornell School of Hotel Administration: You may soon be obsolete. With the just-released Jane's Hotel game from Realore Studios, wannabe hoteliers can learn online the skills to start their own luxurious resort complex. In Jane's Hotel 1.06, the player is the ambitious Jane, a woman bent on making her hotel the best in town.

"Jane's Hotel" challenges you to multi-task by giving new guests the keys to the rooms at the reception desk; delivering coffee and newspapers; getting the maid to clean the rooms and water flowers; change bed, bring the telephone to the customer, etc. If you do all this in a timely manner, you are on the way to winning the game.

To move on to new levels, players must keep the hotel's guests happy, invest in upgrades, and just like in real life -- make money. No word on whether or not you have to memorize RevPar formulas though.

We're not sure what the appeal is in performing the mundane tasks that we avoid in real life, but the popularity of these virtual worlds is surging. Consider the popularity of Sims and Second Life, the latter which launched a virtual version of Aloft Hotels. Well, at least virtual hotels will never suffer from opening delays.

Related Stories:
· PC Gamezone [GameZone Online]
· Aloft Hotels to First Open in Second Life [HotelChatter]