When we first heard the news this year that United Airlines and Westin Hotels were teaming up to send Westin's line of Heavenly Bed products, er, toward the heavens, we thought maybe it was a bit of an invitation to join the mile high club. But that's how we are.
While we knew there was going to be some Westin pillow and blanket action in-flight, we heard Westin was also going to take on airport lounges as well -- but details of that project were kept under wraps.
But now: behold! A photo of one of the brand new Westin Renewal Lounges within United's Red Carpet Clubs currently available in JFK, LAX, and SFO.
Details on the new Westin-designed lounges -- plus specifics of the in-flight Westin goodies -- after the jump.
It's "cleverly designed." The lobby is "a hoot." Rooms are "subdued." We'll give you one guess where The New York Times stayed recently...Aloft!
Specifically, Aloft Montreal Airport. The review is more about the brand than the property itself, and it's spot on about the elements of Aloft that do and do not work. For instance, the hotel earns points for having guest rooms with a "refreshing lack of clutter," but loses out with "corporate chirpiness" like when desk clerks say "Aloha" instead of hello.
(We don't quite get all that aloha business either. We're not in Hawaii, a place of sun and fun. We're in Montreal, or Lexington, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, likely on business. So thanks, Aloft, for reminding us that we're not in Hawaii on vacation.)
In all, the Times sums up Aloft so well, we're a little miffed we didn't think of this analogy ourselves: "If the design-savvy retailer Target opened a hotel, this is what it would look like."
It's early days in the life of the new Sofitel London Heathrow which is the only hotel that directly connects to the airport's Terminal 5. The hotel soft opened in July but should now be fully functioning. And it's not your average airport hotel either.
The concept architect was Stephen Williams (Conrad Hotel in Chelsea Harbour) with the interiors designed by Khuan Chew who worked on the Burj al Arab.
Themes of country and continent resonate throughout the hotel; in the entrance lobby ‘Antarctica’ takes central stage with a dramatic water fountain centrepiece commissioned from RHS Chelsea winner David Harber.
Khuan Chew’s also created one of the most swank suites we've heard about in an airport hotel yet--the hotel's Imperial Suite include the first Swarovski crystal bathrooms in a European.
Usually, the sexiest thing about an airport hotel is the fact that it offers an alternative to joining the mile-high club in some airplane lavatory. It's a place to take the cute stranger who gave you the window seat (please be careful, people), sure...but usually it's where your airline forced you to lay your head when they canceled your flight.
So it came as a bit of a surprise to us that someone would even attempt to "reinvent" the airport hotel to make it "sexy." And it came as even more of a surprise when the Times Online described it as such, calling it "rather impressive. And sexy."
We're not non-believers -- we've seen at least one stunning airport hotel in our time (shout out to the Grand Hyatt DFW Airport) -- so we're willing to sort of accept that the Aviator Farnborough in Hampshire (UK) may, in fact, be as sexy as it claims to be. Especially since it's at one of those private-jet-only airports for rich folk and not a giant commercial madhouse like Heathrow or Gatwick.
But what can possibly make an airport hotel "sexy"?
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Ok, this has to be one of the craziest anti-views we have ever encountered. We have seen frosted windows before, nothing new there. However, the Embassy Suites LAX South took it up a notch by frosting the one big giant feature window in room 247.
Yup, completely frosted. So tell us El Segundo Embassy Suites, what exactly were you hiding behind that frosted glass?
After our story the other day about the intriguing cocktails that were served at the Citizen M hotel in Amsterdam, like a Mobile Martini and a Vespa Martini, we decided we wanted more...more drink descriptions of course.
So we flagged down a hotel rep who sent over this complete list of the drinks. And it turns out the Vespa Martini is actually a Vesper Martini, a James Bond-inspired drink.
Starwood's attempt at world domination continues next Friday, August 8th, with the opening party for Aloft Philadelphia Airport. Just to make sure this debut gets all the attention it can, Starwood has brought out the big guns: an appearance by Philadelphia's own DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Really, how can you miss that? (Well, you will, if you haven't been invited.) Pennsylvania-born model Beth Ostrosky, P.A. Governor Edward Rendell and Philly Mayor Michael Nutter also are expected to attend.
Yotel is going to be opening up at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport soon but probably not soon enough according to the hip capsule hotel chain.
From the latest Yotel newsletter called YoteleGraph:
Yotel at Schiphol...Is nearly there we promise -- the latest news is that we expect to open in September, things have been slightly against us I'm afraid -- too rough across the channel, too windy for the cranes, too much like hard work for the builders -- the list is endless. But judging by the amount of enquiries we've had already the new YOTEL is very much good news for travellers through Amsterdam.
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport is going to be THE place to stay pretty soon, thanks to the recent CitizenM opening and now the upcoming Yotel. Well it will be THE place to stay amongst budget travelers who want hip design and modern technology and who don't mind spending the night in a (well-designed) shoebox.
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by Jenna
