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Hotel Sommeliers / Hotel Wine / Napa Valley Hotels / Auberge Resorts / Girl Scout Cookies / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

Auberge Du Soleil Has a Great Idea for All Those Girl Scout Cookies You Had to Buy...

It's the most annoying wonderful time of the year when irresistible little Girl Scouts set up shop everywhere you go selling their delicious Girl Scout cookies. (We confess, we gave into a box of Samoas outside a Bed & Bath last week).)

But now thanks to Kris Margerum, the wine director at Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, you can make chowing down those cookies a little more "adult"-like thanks to his inventive wine pairings. Yes, Girl Scout cookies and wine. Delightful!

Combing the hotel's extensive 17,000-bottle wine cellar, Margerum came up with the following pairings for these Girl Scout cookies:

· Trefoils-Old Fashioned Shortbread: Margerum recommends pairing the cookies with the 2007 Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs Sparkling Wine. Tasting Note: "The creamy richness of the shortbread is balanced by the fresh lively notes of the Sparkling Wine."

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Auberge Resorts / Auberge Adventures / Hotel Fun / Luxury Hotels / Hotel Activities / → All Tags

Auberge Resorts Now Offering Awesome Adventures Like Alligator Tracking

Gator tracks!

If you've been finding your recent hotel stays rather boring--check-in, order room service, sleep, repeat--then perhaps you need to stay at an Auberge Resort on your next vacation.

The luxury resort chain has just begun offering Auberge Adventures at several of their properties. These adventures are inspired by individual resort's local culture, natural environment and culinary traditions. And they are a thousand times better than a jogging map.

Take for instance, the adventure on offer at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff in the lowcountry of South Carolina---Alligator Tracking. For two hours, guests can tag along with researcher Kimberly Andrews as she uses radio telemetry to locate American Alligators. The adventure is actually part of on-going research at Palmetto Bluff, studying the uses of local habitat types and the influences of a changing landscape on alligator movement patterns.

Don't worry, the group will keep a safe distance from the alligators but it is recommended that you bring closed-toed walking shoes.

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Hotel Photo Booths / Hotel Fun / Santa Monica Hotels / Green Hotels / → All Tags

Smile! You're On Camera (If You Want to Be) at The Shore Hotel

Where: 1515 Ocean Ave [map], Santa Monica, CA, United States, 90401

Aside from having stylish and green guestrooms with Pacific Oceans views, an eco-friendly fitness center and an upcoming Blue Plate Taco restaurant, The Shore Hotel in Santa Monica has now added a bit of fun for their guests in the form of a digital photo booth.

Found in the lobby near the check-in desk the photo booth lets guest take either a single image or an old-school photo strip with the Shore Hotel logo (as you can see in the gallery below, the hotel's logo is everywhere!).

And keeping in line with the hotel's emphasis on being green and conserving waste, the photos are only emailable (no paper waste here) and you can share them on Facebook and Twitter as well. Cheeeeese!

Room rates at the hotel start around $220 a night.

Hotel Fun / Hotel Pool Tables / Mr. C Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags

There's a New Glass Pool in Town at Mr. C Beverly Hills (Pool Table, That Is)

Where: 1224 Beverwil Drive [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90035

The rico suave hotel that is Mr. C Hotel in Beverly Hills has just taken delivery of what might be one of the slickest examples of hotel fun ever--a glass billiards table.

The one of a kind G1 glass pool table by Nottage Design sits in the lobby just to the left of the entrance but still very close to the long bar and is available for guests to play at their leisure. There's even a swank way to keep score over the near the cue rack.

But best of all you can order specialty cocktails and appetizers off the Mr. C restaurant menu while playing pool. Although, we'd abstain from balancing a Sweet Maggie cocktail and a plate of prosciutto while getting behind the cue ball. We're pretty sure the pool table won't shatter but you don't want to be the person who accidentally cracked it now, do you?

More pics of the pool table below!

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Hotel Beds / Hotel Contests / Facebook / Brooklyn Hotels / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

Sleep On The Bed You've Named At Hotel BPM

Where: 139 33rd Street [map], Brooklyn, NY, United States, 11232

The hotel contest world is absolutely buzzing this week. First, a beer-'stache tournament going on at Standard Hotels. And now this: a mattress-naming competition that will land the grand prize winner a 1-night stay at Brooklyn's brand new Hotel BPM.

Yep. The DJ-owned, 75-room hotel, which will open in Sunset Park at the start of 2012, is seeking a cool, hip name for their cool, hip custom-designed mattresses. The contest is dubbed, appropriately, "What's That Bed Called?" From what we can tell, everything else in the hotel has already been named, so the brunt of the work is done.

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Art Basel Hotels / Art Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Fun / Hotel Parties / → All Tags

More Hotel Hopping Stops for Your Art Basel Miami Datebook

So, you've got the W South Beach and Warhol at the InterContinental in your Art Basel itinerary. What's next? Right this way, for some more hotel-hopping highlights during Miami's big, bombastic art fair-party...

Lords South Beach: 'Gay central headquarters for all the fabulous Basel boys and girls,' says a rep. We love that this bright spot on the beach never takes itself too seriously. Their Basel fun kicks off next Tuesday with a private party featuring Amanda Lepore in the penthouse. Wednesday is the Gayletter.com party and Thursday there'll be music by Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters for a poolside all-nighter. Sunday? That's Detox (or 'cocktails to retox'), baby.

UPDATE: The Gayletter.com party will happen on Friday, December 2. Check out the Facebook page for more details.

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Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Art / Art Basel Hotels / Art Hotels / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

Miami's Most Wonderful Time of the Year is Almost Here

And we don't mean Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, either. We're talking, of course, about Art Basel Miami Beach.

The bustling art fair and all its satellite events, exhibitions and packed-to-the-rafters parties takes place December 1–4, although the fun begins a few days before that, with the glam gallerist gang getting into town right after Turkey Day weekend.

As always, hotels are a hot-bed of Basel activity. This isn't the definitive guide, as venues are still finalizing their event deets, but here's a sampling of what's happening. We'll have more info on Basel happenings soon--as well as a last-minute room-rate check for the late-to-the-party art fans among you.

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Holiday Hotels / Hotel Fun / W Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Ice Rinks / → All Tags

The W Los Angeles Will Once Again Be CHILL-ing on Friday

Where: 930 Hilgard Avenue [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90024

Like it or not, the holiday season has officially begun. So while you're drawing up your Christmas wish lists or plotting out the best strategy for door-busting on Black Friday, don't forget to plan out your hotel stay. From now through New Year's Eve, we'll be pulling out the holiday hotel news, deals and events we think are the best (or the worst.) Got a question about booking a hotel over the holidays or what to do when staying in a hotel over the holidays? Let us know!

We love this time of the year not just for the Mariah Carey Christmas album, the Ginger Spice lattes from Starbucks or the ugly holiday sweater parties we can attend but it's also when hotels attempt the impossible--ice-skating rinks in warm weather.

For instance this Friday, The W Los Angeles--Westwood will once again open their signature hybrid ice rink which in true W fashion is given the one-word moniker, CHILL.

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Hotel Events / Hotel Fun / Miami Hotel Mambo / South Beach Group / Lords South Beach / → All Tags

Miami Hotels Will Celebrate Sleepless Night This Weekend

Catalina during previous Sleepless Night festivities. This year the windows read 'Up All Night.'

Now that Halloween is here at last, it's time for hotels to look ahead to the next marketing gimmick. In South Beach, there's not long to wait, with the Sleepless Night festival taking place this weekend, November 5–6.

While most travelers choose a hotel for its sleep-worthiness, this is Miami, where such things are frivolous. Being part of the action is a priority, so hotels like Catalina Hotel & Beach Club and Lords South Beach are getting on the Sleepless fun.

The beach is expecting more than 150 local and international artists to perform across Saturday night -- featuring trapeze artists, symphonies, theater and dance groups, music concerts, architectural tours and art exhibitions.

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Halloween Hotels / South Beach Group / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

South Beach Hotels Scare Up Deals, and Free Booze, for Halloween

Whitelaw Hotel

Halloween may be a crisp, fall-weather kinda holiday but that doesn't mean South Beach doesn't get into it big-time. After all, it involves slutty costumes and getting drunk and those are two things the beach knows back to front and back again.

If festive cocktails and mingling with monsters is what you're after, your best bets for spending Halloween in Miami is to head to one of the South Beach Group hotels--these boutique party palaces have decorated their lobbies and are offering Halloween guests a slew of 'treats'...

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Hotel Renovations / Hotel Fun / Hotel Events / Sedona Hotels / Auberge Resorts / → All Tags

Do You Look At This Renovation and Think: Opera?

Where: 301 Little Lane [map], Sedona, AZ, United States, 86336

Two years ago, we told you that the $25 million that L'Auberge de Sedona spent on its major renos was a symbolic expense, on account of the resort's 25th anniversary.

But the hotel doesn't stop there with extravagant ways of marking special occasions. Now that the refurb is complete--and to celebrate L'Auberge Sedona being named one of the Top 100 Hotels in the U.S. by our friends at Conde Nast Traveler--the hotel is putting on an opera.

Say what?

Yep, the hotel has teamed up with the Arizona Opera to host 'L’Opéra at L’Auberge' on November 17. The night will include a cocktail reception, fancy dinner and a performance by lead principals of Arizona Opera's production of Charles Gounod's Faust.

We think this new-look Spa Cottage pictured above is extremely pretty, but staging an opera to celebrate it? That's new to us. Although this does mean that you're close to a warm and cozy bed if you happen to nod off during the opera. (Hey, it happens to the best of us...)

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Hotel Spas / Riviera Maya Hotels / Grand Velas Hotels / Hotel Fun / → All Tags

The Spa Treatment That Relaxes You Before Your Spa Treatment

Where: Carr Cancún-Tulum KM 62, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, 77710

Here's the thing about spa treatments: in cities like NYC, we could get the best massage ever but our zen totally evaporates when we step out onto the streets or hit the subway. In resort locations, we're often so relaxed by the warm breeze and a margarita that hitting up the hotel spa is an afterthought.

But! We have now experienced a spa treatment that has made our skin sparkle and taken away all our worries in the process--and it all took place before we even stepped inside the treatment room for our massage.

It's called the Riviera Maya Water Journey, and you'll find it at the huge, $15-million Spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya. The concept of a water journey is not new, but what struck us about this one was how detailed the multi-process step was and how helpful it was to have a spa attendant guide us through the whole thing. (Often when we see all those pools and showers, we just hop from one to the other, willy nilly, which is fun, but doesn't always lead to the desired state of mush.)

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