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Pick Your Picnic At One Of These Two Big Apple Hotels

A look at the Andaz basket: raspberries and a baguette, what else do you need?

Normally, you'd think a simple picnic in the park would be a more economical undertaking than, say, dinner for two at Asiate (Mandarin Oriental's ritzy 35th-floor restaurant). But you'd be wrong. This summer, two of Manhattan's classiest hotels—Mandarin Oriental and Andaz Fifth Avenue—are offering up separate picnic packages to guests. And with classy baskets and classy food, come classy prices (read: expensive). But then again, this is Manhattan.

So if it's a picnic you're dead set on, great. Now ask yourself is it an Asian-inspired feast, or something more continental—like caviar and blinis—that you're craving?

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You'll Be Globetrotting From The Dinner Table At Andaz London This Summer

Where: Liverpool Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2M 7QA

They sure do things different in England. As the country's capital preps for the 2012 Olympics this summer, Andaz Liverpool Street has come up with a cool way to celebrate all—or, at least, some—of the nations that will be calling on the city over the coming months.

Their idea? A World Food Marathon, in which each of Andaz's restaurants will concoct a different "international" dish every day from July 2 to July 27, leading up to the Olympics Opening Ceremony. That's 26 distinct dishes, each inspired by a different staff member's native country.

Interestingly, the total number of nationalities represented by the hotel's staff actually numbered 40, but they had to narrow it down to 26 to represent the number of miles in a marathon. For the dishes that made the final cut, each staff member worked together with the chef to make sure the recipe was accurately recreated.

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3 Places To Stay During Brooklyn's Cherry Blossom Season

Spring has sprung in New York, thank goodness. And if you take a look at the CherryWatch map on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's website, you'll see that quite a few cherry blossom trees have already begun exploding in the area. Meaning—anyone considering a trip to New York to enjoy the city at its most beautiful should act fast.

Here are a few (affordable) places that still have availability during cherry blossom season, which culminates in a Japanese culture festival, Sakura Matsuri, next month (April 28-29)...

Between Portlandia screenings at the w xyz bar, and hosting hip bands for the "video surveillance" live music series, Aloft Brooklyn certainly has settled into the scene nicely since opening last summer. Rates here stick around $240/night, and, considering the hotel is only a few subway stops from Prospect Park, traveling back and forth to the gardens should be a breeze.

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Here's One Way to Upstage a Hotel Restaurant Opening...

Where: 600 F Street [map], San Diego, CA, United States, 92101

Have the son of megastar Tom Cruise at the opening party!

The trendy Katsuya sushi chain opened at Andaz San Diego on Thursday night with some minor celebs in tow but aside from skateboarder pro Tony Hawk, clearly the biggest star there was Connor Cruise.

According to the NY Post, 17-year-old was chatting up his DJing "career" telling friends, "It's something I plan on doing long-term." Since it's already making $10,000 per gig doing it, we guess he must be doing something good. And it doesn't hurt that he's got the right connections. But we still prefer Pauly D for our fave celeb DJ.

Meanwhile, the Katsuya at Andaz took over the hotel's old Quarter Kitchen restaurant and like all other Katsuyas before it, this one features interiors by Philippe Starck and traditional Japanese fare including sushi and robata.

While you can't get Katsuya room service, you can get it to go and bring up to your room. Those start at around $250 a night.

[Photo via Zimbio.com]

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Don't Get Too Cozy While You're Doing Your Taxes At Andaz Wall Street Next Month

Where: 75 Wall Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10005

We like to think of ourselves as pretty self-sufficient hotel guests. If we need a newspaper, we'll just go online; if there's a spill, we'll clean it up. But one thing we can always use some help with? Doing our taxes.

So it's good news that Andaz Wall Street, who somehow always seems to have something planned for the lesser holidays, has decided to install an accountant-in-residence. Any guest who stays there during the week leading up to Tax Day (which falls on April 17 this year) can book a complimentary one-hour session with accountant Marc Albaum, who would probably take this setup over his regular office any day of the week.

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Andaz Hotels Will Open in Napa and Savannah This Summer, Followed by Amsterdam

Major news for Andaz Hotel lovers--there's going to be a few new Andazes to check out pretty soon.

Parent company Hyatt Hotels just announced that the existing AVIA Hotels in Napa and Savannah will be rebranded to Andaz Hotels this summer.

The 141-room Avia Napa in the area's "West End" will get a new look from California architecture and design firm Bishop Pass before it turns into an Andaz. The guestrooms will offer "modern furnishings in an earthy color palette, complementing the surrounding landscape." Bathrooms will feature white marble, walk-in showers and waterfall shower heads.

The lobby will also get a reno to showcase design inspired by the region. The hotel's signature restaurant and bar will offer a "Napa-to-table" menu, sourcing its ingredients directly from the plentiful ranches, orchards, mills and farms in the area.

Rounding out the hotel amenities are a 24-hour fitness center and a rotating art gallery with works made by local artists. And as with all Andazs, the minibar will offer complimentary snacks, non-alcoholic beverages and free WiFi.

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Andaz Fifth Ave Keeps It In the Family With New Executive Chef Muraco

Where: 485 5th Avenue [map], New York, NY, United States, 10017

The Andaz food scene has pretty much always been a source of pleasure for us. Whether we were plotting how to sneak those North Fork potato chips into our bag without anyone noticing, or salivating over cinnamon donuts at the Andaz Wall Street farmer's market—we generally know we're going to get well-fed.

When Andaz 5th Ave told us they were appointing a new Executive Chef, we were curious to learn a little more about the guy. So we asked Chef Vincent Muraco, who started in 1993 as Chef Tournant at Park Hyatt San Francisco, all the relevant questions, starting with:

HC: What is it that you love about cooking in hotels?

Chef Muraco: Hotels are really exciting for me because every day is different. There is so much going on in all the different outlets, it never gets boring or repetitive. I love to travel, and the travel benefits with Hyatt are great!

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These Yummy Soaps and Toiletries Have Hotels in a Lather

As committed hotel toiletries connoisseurs, we are fans of Lather soaps and bathroom goodies. (That includes the littlest hotel fans among us.) So we're happy to see that hotels around the country agree, and Lather is popping up everywhere from West Hollywood to Manhattan.

We asked the Lather peeps for an update on where we can stealuse their products in hotels, and also where to find them after we've checked out....

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5 Hotels To Check Out For Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week officially kicked off yesterday, and for the next week, New York is a sloppy mess of runway events, underpaid models, and too many cocktail parties than we care to count. On the plus side, hotels always get a good piece of the action—here's a look at five hotel events this week worth your while.

Since October, Andaz 5th Avenue has been asking a rotating series of local artists to paint murals that represent their "view" of New York. Starting on Sunday, Claw Money—or Gold, as she is also known—will superimpose her own bright, raw graffiti style onto the doors of the bar downstairs.

So if you see a girl in six-inch heels with a can of spray paint, just play along. Photos from the exhibit are being sold in the bar for $5 apiece, proceeds go to charity.

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Could the Hyatt Union Square Actually Become an Andaz? (Updated)

UPDATE: 1.26.12, 3:58PM EST: We got too excited and read way too much into the tweet below. The Hyatt Union Square will stay a Hyatt but there is an Andaz coming to Amsterdam later in 2012. But hey, Hyatt? Andaz Union Square would still be awesome.

We've been anxiously awaiting more news about the Hyatt Union Square and today, we just might have it.

Just a few weeks ago, we heard about the exciting restaurants and bars that might open up inside the hotel but we've been following The Points Guy on Twitter as he attends the One World Mega Do and he let the news slip:

Upcoming hyatts: Amsterdam andaz, union square NY and French quarter new Orleans

We knew about Amsterdam and we thought we heard something about New Orleans before but UNION SQUARE NEW YORK CITY? That would be awesome. More free WiFi and minibar snacks for us! It would also mean Andaz has the island of Manhattan well-covered, after Andaz Wall Street and Andaz Fifth Avenue.

We've put in a line to Andaz to see if this is really true but we are praying that it is.

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Nothing Says 'I Love You' Like a Kimpton Bathrobe

Unlike other industries, where it's just about guzzling free candy and wearing too many red cardigans, Valentine's Day is a special time of year for hotels. The January slump is suddenly reversed by couples seeking out romantic getaways, anonymous hook-ups, and indulgent spa treatments. Not to mention special food that puts you in that special mood. Here are our three picks for Valentine's Day hotels in NYC.

Remember when we found out Kimpton Hotels devoted an entire month to flaunt their funky leopard-, giraffe-, and zebra-print bathrobes? And remember how, unless you were a guest, it was kinda hard to get one? Well, that part is still the same. But they're making it more worth your while with a month-long "Robe-mance" package ($269, booking code ROBES) that includes a $25 dining and beverage credit and two robes.

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3 Reasons To Snag A Room For Hotel Week

We don't know about you, but the post-holiday void has left us in need of a little diversion, so we're just going to play along with all this Hotel Week business—however much it feels like a bootleg version of New York's more established Restaurant Week. Here to bolster a select batch of NYC hotels through the dreaded January slow season, the nine-day promotion starts today.

And to help you get excited, here are a few tips on ways to get the best bang for your buck.

#1. By saving money on the room, you can relax (read: spend) a little more at the hotel restaurant. For example, Lexington Brass, the glazed brick-lined brasserie on the ground floor of Hyatt 48Lex, has made a point of luring guests with delicious comfort food items like buttermilk fried chicken, deviled eggs with caviar, and, of course, our favorite, the jelly-filled doughnut pancakes.

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