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From Knights Inns To The Westin: the Hotel Evolution of Ben Folds Five
As Starwood hotel openings go, we've seen some pretty wild (and occasionally nerdy) parties. But the one at Westin New York Grand Central last Friday seemed extra special.
About a dozen Westin heavenly beds were hauled up to the hotel's third floor ballroom, where select SPG members got cozy and settled in for a private performance by indie trio Ben Folds Five. It's not every day you get to watch a live concert in bed!
But that wasn't the only exciting thing about the grand opening. Earlier in the day, HotelChatter got to sit down for an exclusive interview with the band and quiz them on their early days in the 90s as motel-hopping road warriors. Sure enough, they had plenty of stories to share...
HotelChatter: When you guys were just starting out and traveling to different cities each night, what was it like? Where would you stay?
Ben Folds: The Knight's Inn. Usually, one of us would book the room as if it was just for one person, and the others would hide out in the van and wait. The reason being, if there was more than one of us, the price would go up. So then we'd get into the room; someone would share a bed, I usually blew up a mattress and slept on the floor.
HC:: And how much did you have to pay?
BF: $39.95 usually. We would use whatever cash we'd gotten from the night before.
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Obama Lovingly Shares His Childhood Memories Of Weekends Spent At HoJo
Howard Johnson sure is getting a lot of love these days. First, it got featured on an episode of Mad Men (which, in turn, prompted a nifty promotion whereby you could get a free room if your name was actually Don Draper). Now, it's getting shout-outs from the Prez himself.
During a speech in Cedar Rapids, IA yesterday, Obama mentioned how he used to take childhood visits to HoJos with his mom, grandmother and sister.
The Des Moines Register points out that "the reference was meant to reinforce his middle-class roots, and paint a picture of the modest luxuries that should be available to Americans who work hard."
Fair enough. Though it's also worth mentioning, they're doing wonderful things with Holiday Inns these days too.
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It's Easy To Get A Free Hotel Room These Days, Especially If Your Name Is Don Draper
Howard Johnson must have realized it's not such a good look denying Don Draper...well, anything. And so, after last week's episode which portrayed the Man Men character driving off to a HoJo in Plattsburgh, NY with his new wife Megan, and being denied access to the hotel's pool, the company has decided to make up for their error.
Anybody who was actually born with the name Don Draper will receive a free night at a participating Howard Johnson this summer. It's the hotel's way of saying 'sorry' to all the Don Drapers of the world—even though, in real life, they never did anything wrong. Then again, we're not complaining. If we knew someone who was named Don Draper (and, very sadly, we don't), we'd be all over this like a spoon on orange sherbet.
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Could You Be Paying for Your Next Hotel Stay in Bitcoin?
For a brief moment this year, the Howard Johnson in Fullerton, Calif., near Disneyland, was taking an unusual form of currency--bitcoin.
Bitcoin is an electronic currency that's only accepted in the digital world. It's not recognized by any government, it's entirely unregulated and the only ways to get your hands on bitcoin is to either buy it with real cash or spend days "mining" for it on the internet. For more on how it works, you can (try to) read the bitcoin entry on Wikipedia.
Yet, Jefferson Kim, the owner and manager of both the Howard Johnson and the Red Roof Inn in Buena Park was eager to use bitcoin for hotel reservations saying that he would "personally like to see the BTC succeed." On the hotel's website, he detailed how to pay for a room with bitcoin.
One person who took him up on this? Wired contributing editor, Joshua Davis, who wrote about bitcoin for a piece in the New Yorker (the October 10th issue.) Davis booked a room at the hotel online for 10.305 bitcoins.
