Tag: openthread
View All TagsTripAdvisor / Hotel Booking Sites / Tucson Hotels / OpenThread / Hotel Types / → All Tags
Maybe We Should Start Taking TripAdvisor's 'Style' Recommendations With A Grain Of Salt
Just the other day, we were planning out an upcoming trip through Arizona, and we decided to browse some hotel reviews on TripAdvisor; specifically, places in Tucson. But just as we were about to scroll down through the list of results, we noticed a row of boxes at the top of the screen with labels like "business," "romantic" and "trendy," each of which corresponded to different categories of hotels.
Or, as TA calls them, "styles" of hotels.
We dubiously clicked on the seventh one, which yielded four results. And, while we can't say anything bad about them, by no stretch of our imagination would we hasten to call any of these places "trendy."
OpenThread / Hotel Fitness / Hotel Gyms / Hotel Booking Tips / → All Tags
Do You Book Your Hotel Stay Based on The Hotel's Gym?
Recently, an acquaintance was badgering pumping us about hotel recommendations for Hong Kong. After mentioning a few that we recently checked out, said friend asked us, "But which one has the best gym?"
Uhh....
See, we're not really the fitness-oriented type when it comes to our hotel stays. Indeed our first reaction to the announcement of IHG's new fitness-oriented hotel brand, Even Hotels, was wondering if we would be judged for carrying fast-food take-out back to our room. We'd rather book our room based on the following criteria--newness, cheapness and in some special cases, design.
But considering that this was the second time that we heard of a friend booking a hotel room based on the gym offerings, we started to think that there must be a ton more of you gym freaks out there, studying photos of the hotel fitness centers perhaps more closely than the rooms.
So you tell us, do you book your hotel stay based on the hotel gym offerings? Let us know in comments below!
P.S. To answer our friend's initial question about Hong Kong, we would have to give a shout-out to the Ritz-Carlton (pictured above) where you can Facebook and Google from the treadmills.
OpenThread / Hotel DVD Players / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Technology / → All Tags
Do You Ever Use The In-Room DVD Player During Your Hotel Stay?
A few years back, we used to get excited to see a DVD Player in a hotel room and while they are still a rarity, when we checked into the Signature at MGM Grand in Las Vegas the other day, we hardly flinched when we saw this DVD player right below the flat-screen TV.
Are we just completely jaded now or is the DVD player going the way of the hotel telephone? After all, so much recreational programming (movies, TV shows, music) can be found on your computer, your phone or your tablet.
And with the advent of streaming services like Netflix and even the movie rentals from iTunes, putting in a disc in a DVD player just seems silly. Plus, before we know it, DirecTV and other DVR services will come online in hotel rooms too, further edging out the DVD.
We tried to think of uses for the DVD player and could really only come up with two:
Hotel Woes / Hotels with Revolving Restaurants / Hyatt Hotels / Houston Hotels / Texas Hotels / Killer View / Hotel Restaurants / OpenThread / → All Tags
When Bad Revolving Floors Happen To Good People
Or is it the other way around...?
We didn't think it was possible to have a bad time at a revolving restaurant on top of a hotel, but one family in Katy, TX has found a way. Back In October, reports The Houston Chronicle, while dining at Spindeltop atop the Hyatt Regency Houston with her parents, a four-year-old girl got her foot stuck in the gap between the slowly-rotating floor and the window. A few panic-stricken moments ensued as they struggled to free her, but luckily the girl came away with her foot intact, and only a few lacerations. Scary!
The bad news? The family is now suing Hyatt for the incident, claiming the gap didn't have any warning signs, and that the hotel handled the situation badly.
Well, gee.
OpenThread / Hotel Woes / Hotel News / Lindsay Lohan / POTUS Hotels / Party Hotels / Hotel Drugs / → All Tags
What Is It About Hotels That Makes People Act Naughty?
We love a good hotel party just as much as anyone else, but two major stories in the news this week are making us wonder: how much hotel partying is too much hotel partying? We're referring, of course, to the two major hotel scandals making headlines this week: the Secret Service's bachelor-party-gone-awry in Colombia, and Lindsay Lohan's TMZ-licious scandal at The Standard West Hollywood. Two separate, unrelated incidents, but both perfect examples of why some guests really need chaperoning more than others.
Sometimes, the misbehavior is confined to just the nightclubs, or just the rooftop bars, and that's perfectly OK. But, as we've seen, that's rarely the case.
For the rest of us not so innocent bystanders, the best we can do to avoid getting mixed up in any trouble is to keep the door tightly locked at all times; but that doesn't really address the problem. Whether it's guests getting a little too touchy-feely with housekeepers, or celebs behaving badly, there's just something about hotels that causes people to act a little naughtier than usual.
OpenThread / Hotel Booking Sites / Hotel Websites / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
What Booking Sites Do You Use?
There's been a lot of buzz lately about new kinds of hotel booking sites that claim to give you the most possible control over your reservation, whether that means a last-minute booking or simply a lower price. Fledgling hubs like Tingo and BackBid supposedly help guests get the better deal, but they also create a lot of uncertainty around the booking process. On these newer sites, even after an initial hotel room has been booked, things remain up in the air until guests feel they can't do any better.
So, where do you fall in this spectrum?
Are you more of an old-school, pick-up-the-phone-and-call kind of booker? Or do you try to luck out with a blind booking on Hotwire? Or maybe you like to toy with fate and book your hotel on HotelTonight a few hours before check-in?
Either way, there are tons of choices these days on ways to book a hotel, and we're asking you: what are your tricks, habits and techniques for getting the best possible deal?
OpenThread / Hotel Snapshots / Flickr Pool / HotelChatter Flickr Pool / Instagram / Twitter / Photo Gallery / → All Tags
What Kind Of Hotel Photographer Are You?
Here at HotelChatter we're constantly bombarding you with all sorts of hotel snapshots—from mouth-watering desserts to bodacious toiletries to, yes, tricked-out hotel toilets. What can we say? We love to whet your appetite for full-on hotel frivolity geekery.
But we know we're not the only ones who like to whip out the old Nikon the minute we step into the room. In fact, our popular Flickr Pool has shown you all to be perfectly capable hotel chroniclers too.
So we want to know: when you show up at a new hotel, what is the first thing you like to take pictures of? Is it the lobby? The view from your window? The elevator doors?
Hotel Booking Sites / BackBid / Hotel Deals / Hotel News / OpenThread / Mobile Booking / → All Tags
Soon, All The Hotels Will Be Fighting Over Your Reservation
A new booking website has launched with a rather interesting (and some—though not necessarily us—might call scandalous) platform: make hotels do all the hard work and bid for your reservation. Kinda has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
We haven't tried the service ourselves, but recently stumbled upon an in-depth review of BackBid on this blog, and got all excited thinking about ways we can turn the tides in our favor on future reservations. Basically: BackBid combines the lowest-price-around benefits of blind booking sites like Priceline and Hotwire with the transparency of mobile booking app HotelTonight.
And while we remain staunch supporters of HT (after all, we relish any opportunity for some spontaneous last-minute hotel booking), this new kid on the block has us a little curious. If the ring opens up to allow hotels to fight over our reservations, things could get ugly fast.
But is that necessarily a bad thing?
OpenThread / Healthy Hotels / Hotel Fitness / Hotel Food / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Spas / Wisconsin Hotels / → All Tags
Would You Take Part In A Raw Food Program At Your Hotel?
It seems like the US is slowly coming around to the idea that unhealthy foods make unhealthy people. Hence programs like Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign, and NYC's crusade against sugary sodas. But now, hotels are starting to catch on too (hello Even Hotels!), which is why we thought it would be a good idea to highlight some fitness-loving hotels this week.
Like Wisconsin's Sundara Inn & Spa, one of the first hotels to join a new program that aims to educate hotel guests about healthy raw foods and even help them implement diet changes during their stay.
Now, we're generally against hotels barging in on our vacation and telling us what we should and shouldn't eat—there's just too many delicious treats everywhere. But in the name of moderation, we're willing to go along with this. Just as long as we can enjoy our raw foods with a pancake or two on the side.
Hotel Fitness / Sheraton Hotels / Hotel Gyms / OpenThread / → All Tags
The Walls At Sheraton's Gyms Know How To Get You Pumped
If these walls could talk...
How's this for some light motivation? We spotted this maxim-filled wall at the second-floor gym at Sheraton New York, which true to its word, has been amping up its Core Performance fitness program over the past year.
Back then, we learned about new on-demand fitness TV shows in rooms, workouts-in-a-bag, and online training programs. But for the more traditional fitness types, there's still plenty enjoyment to be had from working out in a regular old gym. With inspirational mottos like "fuel for it" and "everyday is a challenge" written on the wall across from the treadmills, you might have an easier time getting into 'the zone' than if you were just alone in your room with a bottle of water and a yoga mat.
OpenThread / Hotel Sex / Viva Vegas / Hotel Stories / → All Tags
Vegas Hotel Guests Are Pretty Much The Worst
So we get that hotel managers have tough jobs sometimes. Guests get angry, they want free stuff, they make a mess, they don't want to pay for damages, yada yada yada. And most of the time, their tales from the crypt just make us laugh.
But rather than laughing, we were kinda grossed out after reading an interview Gadling conducted with an anonymous Las Vegas hotel supervisor, who has by now gotten pretty nonchalant about all the weird stuff that goes on over there. But of all the messes people leave behind in Vegas hotels (and which they just get charged for afterward), can you guess the most common offense? You might feel grossed out (like we did), and you might vow to never visit a Vegas hotel again (yeah, right), but just think of the poor housekeepers that have to clean up!
OpenThread / Bathroom Tuesdays / Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Saunas / Hotel Spas / Crowne Plaza Hotels / → All Tags
How Much Would You Pay For A Private Sauna In Your Room?
You may never have given it much thought, but for the seriously wealthy, requesting a hotel room that comes with its own private sauna can be as commonplace as checking to see whether the hotel offers free WiFi. And just like with the whole WiFi issue, certain hotels do a better job of it than others.
Like, for instance, the Crowne Plaza Orlando Downtown (we're talking about saunas now, not WiFi). A local news channel ran a piece on which Orlando hotel suites are favored by the area's richest clients, and why. Not exactly the type of article that makes you feel good about your own finances, but fun to read nonetheless. Lo and behold, on the hotel's fourteenth floor, inside the Presidential Suite, is an en-suite sauna (above), included along with a steam shower, wet bar, and spare bedroom.
Now, how much would you pay for the luxury of a sauna two steps from your bed?
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