Tag: hotel hell
View All TagsHotel Hell / Hotel Construction / Santa Monica Hotels / Viceroy Hotels / → All Tags
How Mad is The Viceroy Santa Monica Right Now?
This is the scene these days on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica and as you can see, The Viceroy Santa Monica is right in the thick of the construction zone (without having any work done to its own building.)
The construction, which has made this stretch of Ocean Avenue from Pico to Colorado a pain to get through, is all for the Ocean Avenue South, a luxury apartment project from Related Companies, with 318 residences as well as retail, restaurants and walkable plazas. The sales launch for the units should launch this summer with construction going for at least a year beyond that.
Which means that the entire north side of the Viceroy looks out onto a building site and much of its entrance is slowed down by the traffic caused by this annoying scene. While the Le Merigot Hotel and The Loews Hotel also have to put up with ugly construction views, at least their properties are across the street from the actual jackhammering.
Fortunately for the Viceroy, the noise doesn't seem to be bothering too many guests. All of their recent TripAdvisor reviews are really positive except this one which said the construction made it hard to enjoy being outside by the pool. The hotel's director of rooms wrote that work is "expected to lessen."
We sincerely hope so.
Rates this weekend start at around $300.
[Photo: HotelChatter]
HotelChatter 2012 Awards / Hotel Hell / Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Crime / → All Tags
Worst Hotel Hell of 2012: Hidden Camera In Omni Hotel Bathroom
It's that time of year again: the 2012 HotelChatter Awards! Today and Monday, we'll be showcasing the best (and worst) of hotels over the past year. But we couldn't do it without you! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or shoot us an email. And the Award goes to...
As if we didn’t have enough paranoia to occupy our everyday living, we learned that an employee at the Omni San Diego was caught planting a hidden camera inside one of the hotel's public bathrooms. Spies like us? We don’t think so!
The creep in question was the hotel’s Chief of Engineering, who'd been with them for five years and no doubt had studied the ins and outs the property before deciding that the free-for-all lav was the place to catch people off-guard and with their pants down. Literally.
Tribeca Hotels / Hotel Hell / Manhattan Hotels / Hostels / → All Tags
Tribeca Blu Might Be an 'Upmarket Hostel' But It's Still Too Much Money
Just the other week, we called out Tribeca Blu in Chinatown uh, Tribeca as an affordable option in downtown at a time when NYC hotels are regularly asking, and receiving, $300 a night for an average-looking room.
We did forewarn any interested guests by saying that the spot is more like an "upmarket hostel" with no restaurant, no bar, no business center, no refrigerators and no fitness center. However, WiFi is included. And the recent reviews on TripAdvisor were pretty decent.
But a FOH (Friend of HotelChatter) who checked into the Tribeca Blu promptly checked out after getting up to his room. (And it wasn't just because of the cramped space. That photo above is pretty much the entire hotel room, minus the bathroom.) The bad experience actually started from the moment he walked into the hotel.
Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Pools / Gansevoort Hotels / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Gansevoort Park's Pool Party Scene is Too Much for the Neighbors
When the Gansevoort Park Avenue hotel first opened back in 2010, we were pumped about their rooftop pool scene, Plunge, which is spread out over three levels and includes a 40-ft heated indoor-outdoor glass-enclosed, swimming pool.
Yet some neighbors who live near the Gansevoort are less than thrilled about the hotel's Sunday pool parties which only run from 3:30 to 8:30pm, but thanks to loud music and drunk partygoers, effectively kill any plans for a quiet, relaxing, Sunday at home. One neighbor told the NY Post:
"I try to not be home on Sundays. The last thing you want are a bunch of crazy people with loud techno music until 8 or 9 p.m.,” said frustrated local Greg Housset, 24, looking down from his apartment Sunday at the mob of hard-partying revelers packed like sardines on the hotel’s pool deck as turntable star DJ Chuckie spun booming dance tunes.
“Even when the windows are closed, you feel like there’s a sub-woofer in your apartment."
Eeee. We can't even imagine what that noise must be like if you're trying to rest up in your hotel room at the Gansevoort.
Hotel Pools / Tennessee Hotels / Hotel History / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Be Happy This Isn't Your Hotel's Pool
Most travelers who've been to Gatlinburg, TN would agree that it's not exactly a hot spot for luxury hotels...or for much at all now that the 1960s and '70s have passed. And isn't that a good thing? Judging from the sort of average roadside motels that used to host Smoky Mountain tourists in the area's heyday, it sure is.
We recently came across an old postcard from the era, of the Watson's Motel. Watson's was (or maybe still is) a one-story motel with 54 rooms, 21 with kitchenettes and fireplaces, and "some with Color TV."
Curious to see inside a room? Here ya go:
Bulgari Hotels / Hotel News / London Hotels / Hotel Fees / Luxury Hotels / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Ouch! The Bulgari Hotel Gets Nicknamed The 'Vulgari Hotel'
But, but, but it looks so pretty!
While we were thrilled to get a sneak peek at the just-opened Bulgari Hotel in London from a spy who said the place was "oozing quality", it looks like a reporter the travel editor from Daily Mail who spent the night couldn't get out of the place fast enough.
Dubbing the spot "The Vulgari Hotel (ouch), Mark Palmer found Britain's most expensive hotel to be just another "crass monument to bling" populated with fawning Bulgari flunkeys. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed by the hotel's style featuring black granite floors in the lobby, polished mahogany, glass cabinets displaying Bulgari jewelry and security guards.
Nor was he taken with the overservice of the hotel's employees, saying there is "the almost obligatory dispensing of £5 notes to grovelling staff as they press the lift buttons on your behalf and generally buzz about like pesky wasps."
The harshest criticisms were reserved for the hotel's bar and restaurant which aside from extremely high prices, the joint according to Palmer is staffed by "waiters are so greasy you can practically smell the Brylcreem." Also, "the lighting is harsh, the acoustics appalling." And ordering is nothing short of a visit to a hospital. Palmer writes:
In addition to the main menu, there’s a list of ‘bites to share to start your meal’ and a pencil. You’re meant to tick the boxes opposite the dishes you want, rather like patients in hospital: seven little mouthfuls come in at £28.
Egads!
HotelChatter Tips / Hotel Germs / Tips / Hotel Hell / Hotel Housekeeping / Hotel Health / → All Tags
Your Worst Fears Confirmed: There's Poop All Over Your Hotel Room
We've long known that hotel rooms, even the most expensive ones, can't always be completely germ, stain or hole-free but a new report from ABC News's "Medical Unit" has us thisclose to buying our own personal germ zapping blacklight wand.
Researchers from the University of Houston swabbed 19 hotel room hideouts, from door handles to headboards, and found the fecal bacterium E. coli hiding on 81 percent of the surfaces, including the remote control, the telephone and the bedside lamp.
We've long avoided touching the remote control by either placing a shower cap over it or wiping it down (and thanks to the Lodgenet iPhone app we can avoid the remote entirely) but we never thought about the telephone, where we make our room service calls, or the bedside lamp. Gag.
As it turns out, the folks responsible for flinging the poo are not just the guests who stayed in the room before you but also the housekeepers. Apparently, bacteria was found on the mops and sponges they use to clean the hotel rooms. Oh dear lord.
So what's a traveler to do? Well, you could avoid hotels completely but that's no fun. Here are HotelChatter's Tips for a Cleaner Hotel Stay:
HotelChatter 2011 Awards / Hotel Hell / Hotel Bathrooms / → All Tags
Worst Hotel Hell of 2011: Poop in the Sink in Palm Springs
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2011 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
We've seen a lot of nasty stuff in our years of covering hotel stays but the sewage explosion that happened in a guest bathroom of the Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs was by far one of the worst accounts we've heard, this year at least.
What was supposed to be a relaxing getaway turned into a shitty weekend, literally. Our afflicted hotel maven writes:
Saturday morn we ventured to downtown, which was the next street over. After a mere two hours of window shopping, we headed back to our room to get ready for the pool. However, as we entered our room, it smelled like a fart - you know the kind like rotten eggs that lingers? I though maybe my boyfriend forgot to flush and he was blaming me!
I took a peek in our bathroom and HOLY SHIT - LITERALLY. Our sink had diarrhea--a sewage explosion. It went off in our sink and showered our bathroom with, well, shit and other foulness.
Celebrity Scoop / Rihanna / London Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Rihanna Floods The Savoy London (Rockstar), Apologizes (Not So Rockstar)
No, you wouldn't want it dripping here
So we already know that The Savoy London does an unexpected line in ironing boards, but we hope they also have plenty of umbrella-ella-ellas - because its latest celeb guest has apparently been setting the place awash.
No, not Matt Goss, 80s boyband English superstar-turned Vegas crooner who brought his Sin City show to the Savoy last month; no, we're talking Rihanna, who apparently left the taps running in her £2000-a-night suite after she performed on X Factor last Sunday.
Bed Bugs / Hotel Hell / Celebrity Scoop / X Factor Hotels / SImon Cowell / → All Tags
The Grafton On Sunset Has The X Factor, If By X Factor You Mean Bed Bugs
Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite. Ohh...
Bed bugs are never something we like to think about. Bed bugs at a posh hotel? Even less so. The NYC bed bug invasion crossing to the West Coast? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
So the news that the The Grafton On Sunset in LA might have infected the contestants of the X Factor with bed bugs is making us a little queasy.
According to that ever-reliable (cough) source the Mail Online, “at least four” contestants were bitten while they stayed at the hotel. They saw a doctor, were diagnosed with bedbugs and swiftly switched hotels:
A few of them were covered in bites, itching on their necks and legs. We didn't know what it was at first but we soon worked it out, it was pretty shocking.
Now we've all moved hotels and everyone's clothes have been cleaned.
Hotel Hell / Singapore Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Expedia / Hotel Showers / → All Tags
Don't Bother With The Club Hotel Singapore If You Like Hot Water
Maybe we don't want to be part of this Club anymore
You know the feeling. You get off a long flight to a far-off country, reach your hotel, feel the relief flooding over you as the place seems nice, and you’re checked into a nice room, and then hit the shower in an attempt to slough off the jet lag.
Hopefully, though, you won’t know the feeling that came next for a friend of ours last night when he checked into the Club Hotel in Singapore: the water was lukewarm. And stayed lukewarm while he ran it in the hope that it would heat up. It didn’t – and it still wasn’t hot enough to shower in.
At about 7pm, he called down to reception to let them know the water wasn’t hot. For two hours, they tried to fix it, to no avail. At 9pm, they offered to move him to another room – which had the same problem. They tried another – ditto. The staff told him there was a problem with the water heating throughout the hotel. No sh*t Sherlock.
Hotel Hell / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Balconies / Hotel Takeovers / → All Tags
The Gansevoort Miami Beach is Neglecting Some of Its Hotel Rooms
The Gansevoort Miami Beach underwent some managerial woes nearly two years ago and it looks like the scuffle has started to affect the hotel rooms.
A HotelChatter reader sent us this note along with the following photos about the sad state of the rooms, particularly room 536. They write:
I just got back from the Gansevoort in Miami Beach. After some research, I found your article which may explain why our rooms were in such sad shape. While the public areas of the hotel are beautiful, the room seemed to be one of the forgotten ones. The balcony was pretty shoddy looking (see photos), a handle to the shower controls was constantly falling off. One of the electrical sockets didn't work. The phone was broken, and the coffee maker didn't work. There's more, but no need to go any further.
