Tag: provenance hotels
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Google Now Lets Us Virtually Stalk Hotels Without Ever Actually Visiting Them
You know that "Street View" button on Googlemaps that lets you walk around a street and see what buildings are there? And once in a while you just find pictures of people doing funny things to pose for the Street View car camera?
Well, Google has now introduced a feature that allows you to walk right into a hotel and poke around inside. Yup! Provenance Hotels in Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma are some of the first to test out the service (that works out well for them, since their hotels are so often chock-full of cool art and other knick knacks).
Of course, this could easily work against other hotels that don't have flashy lobbies or well-lit hallways. But then again, why would we want to be staying in those places anyway?
Hotel Photography / Hotel Cameras / Hotel Packages / Hotel Art / Hotel Sex / Literary Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Provenance Hotels / → All Tags
Bookworms And Photographers, Get Your Kicks At Hotel Max This Summer
We already know that Hotel Max in downtown Seattle likes to express itself. Artistically, that is. The 350 original paintings and photographs scattered around the hotel ought to tell you so—least of all the funky guest room doors, which each showcase one of 39 different designs by local artists.
Now, with two new promotions—"Shoot From The Hip" and "Fifty Shades of Seattle"—guests at the hotel will be able to be part of that creative process, though in two very different ways.
But whether you end up enjoying Seattle from behind the lens of a tricked-out analog camera, or gazing at it from above during a 30-minute "helitour," we don't think you'll be struggling for any inspiration.
Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Provenance Hotels / Portland Hotels / Historic Hotels / → All Tags
Provenance Snatches Up A Third Hotel In Portland, The Governor
Yesterday, we told San Franciscans about 3 Portland hotels worth checking out on their next SFO-->PDX jaunt. But another hotel popped up in the scene earlier this month, and it's part of the small but fun Northwestern group known as Provenance Hotels.
Provenance's other hotels are pretty much all uniformly modern, somewhat arty, and all distinguished by subtle themes. There's Seattle's local artist-supporting The Max, Portland's Hollywood-adoring Hotel deLuxe, Tacoma's glassed-out Hotel Murano.
And now, Portland gets its third Provenance with the historic Governor Hotel, originally built in 1909 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Room Service / Hotel Dessert / Hotel Food / Portland Hotels / Provenance Hotels / Hotel Charities / → All Tags
Hotel deLuxe In Portland Is Having A Bake Sale
And, just because we can't include an item about fitness without balancing it out with some yummy hotel dessert porn, here's a new promotion being launched by Provenance Hotels, which owns Hotel Lucia and Hotel deLuxe in Portland, Hotel Murano in Tacoma, and Hotel Preston in Nashville.
For every slice of chocolate cake sold through room service, fifty percent of the profits will go straight to Share Our Strength, a group that fights childhood hunger in the US. A pretty worthy cause, say we.
Though the whole combat-hunger-by-stuffing-your-face-with-chocolate-cake concept is a little questionable, we get what they're doing—and with a cake as appetizing as the one above (which will be served by The deLuxe starting today), we'd have a hard time saying no to "charity."
Portland Hotels / Provenance Hotels / Hotel Employees / → All Tags
The Hotel Lucia's Way of Wearing a Shirt That Says 'Number 1 Dad'
How often do you see a hotel flagrantly bragging about their employees? Almost never, because the job of a hotel is to focus on the guests and brag about them, right? Wrong, if you're Portland, Oregon's Hotel Lucia, because they have it written right on their exterior:
Through these doors walk the most outstanding Employees anyone could ask for
Hotel Lucia
We were just walking by this side, employee-entrance door when the bright green words attracted our attention. You don't even need to be a guest at the Lucia to smile about their employees, because this cute little gesture from the management says it all. We wonder if the workers even look at it anymore, or if employees of other hotels walk past and get a little sour. Regardless, this is something we've never seen before at a hotel, and good on them for showing a little public appreciation for their staff.
[Photo: HotelChatter]
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Pad Thai and Body Pillows at the Hotel Lucia and Hotel deLuxe
If you've never heard of them before, Provenance Hotels is a small boutique chain based out of Portland, Ore., with just five hotels in Oregon, Washington, and Tennessee (not to mention a new location in San Francisco at the Hotel Frank).
Last week, we got the opportunity to check out two of their Portland hotels, the Hotel Lucia and the Hotel deLuxe.
Located blocks from each other in Portland's steadily growing downtown area, both hotels are housed in converted buildings from the 1900s, and both offer clean, artsy rooms with incredible service. In fact, if it weren't for the added glitziness and brighter colors of the deLuxe, we might have had a hard time telling them apart.
Read below to get the full scoop, and find out what tipped the scales!
Hotel Strikes / San Francisco Hotels / Provenance Hotels / Hotel Woes / Hotel Employees / → All Tags
Trouble is Brewing at the Hotel Frank
About a month ago, we stopped into two of the former Personality Hotels in San Francisco, which had been taken over by Provenance Hotels in mid-May.
As far as we could see, things seemed to be A-OK. Free WiFi was still in place and Provenance was working hard to get the renovations back on track at both the Hotel Vertigo and the Hotel Frank. Yet things were not as copacetic as we thought.
Provenance has been tussling with employees of the three hotels (including Hotel Metropolis) over increased workloads and slashed employee benefits. A longtime hotel bellman at Hotel Frank, who's also Unite-Here Local 2 union activist, was fired last week after a "boisterous picket line" convened in front of the hotel to protest these changes.
Hotel Rebranding / Provenance Hotels / Personality Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Design Hotels / → All Tags
Do The Provenance Hotels In San Fran Still Have Personality?
The new-look Hotel Vertigo.
It’s been a few months since San Francisco's Personality Hotels got a brand new identity. So while we were up in the Bay Area last week, we decided to swing by Hotel Vertigo and Hotel Frank to see how they were faring under the Oregon-based Provenance Hotels boutique chain. (Which is also now managing the Hotel Metropolis.)
Our most pressing question, of course, was had the hotels retained any of their personality? Har har har.
Hotel Rebranding / Provenance Hotels / Personality Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags
Provenance Hotels Picks Up Some Personality (Hotels)
Hotel Vertigo.
Last month, we bemoaned the loss of three hotels from the Personality Hotels collection in San Francisco due to debt woes.
When we checked in with Personality in late May, hotelier Yvonne Lembi-Detert told us that there was no new manager/operator for The Hotel Metropolis, Hotel Vertigo and Hotel Frank. But a month later, we have learned that Provenance Hotels, an Oregon-based company with four hotels in the Northwest and one in Nashville, have assumed management of the former Personality Hotels.
We love Provenance Hotels because they understand that a boutique hotel stay can be affordable and fun--a philosophy that's very similar to Personality Hotels. Remember the contest we did with Provenance's Hotel Preston? We also love Provenance for their Foursquare savvy.
All in all, this is good news for the orphaned Personality Hotels. We just hope that Provenance keeps the free WiFi (they said they would.)
[Photo: Kalleboo]
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Hotel Murano Rewards Twitter Followers With Discounts and Free WiFi
Any hotel that links directly to TripAdvisor from their homepage has a lot of gall. Guest ratings can sometimes make or break a hotel's reputation, but if service is up to snuff and they know it, then no harm done.
Not only does Tacoma's Hotel Murano include said link on their website (with predictably positive ratings, save for a couple service stumbles), but they've gone the Twitter route (@hotel_murano) to stay connected with potential customers. While you won't find gossipy tweets about what goes on behind the concierge desk, you will find need-to-know information about insider deals, like this recent post advertising $79 rates (marked down from $99) plus free Wi-Fi for bookings from October 15-18. You'll have to make your reservation by the 15th to get the discount, so commence rapid fire clicking now.
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HotelChatter Contest: Win A Free Trip To Nashville, Y'all
UPDATE 7.23.09: The contest is now closed. The winner has been announced on Monday July 27th here at HotelChatter.
Hotels have become quite clever these days with their in-room amenities. Like The Wit Hotel in Chicago with its cute wake-up calls or the complimentary laptops at The Lanesborough Hotel in London. We're also partial to the "donut soap" at The James and hotels that have Sony Readers or Kindles. And of course, sexy in-room amenities continue to be popular with hotel guests.
At The Hotel Preston in Nashville, amenities are a big part of the guest experience. A Spiritual Menu is offered to guests so they can choose how they want to say their nightly prayers. And just by pressing the hotel's "You want it, you got it" button on the room phone, a lava lamp, a gold fish, a good book, an art kit, a rubber duckie and even milk and cookies can be delivered to your room.
Now the hotel is seeking to add to their amenity list and they want YOU to come up with their next big amenity offering. What is your ultimate fantasy when it comes to hotel room amenities? For the first time ever, you can actually tell us what that fantasy is and by doing so, you'll be entered to win two free round trip tickets on Southwest to Nashville, plus two nights at The Hotel Preston!
Keep reading for more on how to enter HotelChatter's Win Two Nights in Nashville Contest.
Sleeping in Seattle / HotelChatter Reviews / Seattle Hotels / Provenance Hotels / → All Tags
Sleeping in Seattle: The Hotel Max For a Hip, Budget-ish Stay
Over the weekend we spent a few days in Seattle checking out the city's coffee shops, fish markets and, of course, the hotel scene. This week we'll be putting forth our reviews and observations on Seattle's hotels, of which there are plenty. Got any questions or suggestions? Let us know.
Now that you've seen the video and the anti-view, here's our full take on the The Hotel Max.
As we said before, the Hotel Max is right in the center of downtown, close to the shops and the monorail but still within walking distance to everything. And it's right across the street from a bus stop. We rode the bus all the way down to the Seattle Mariners ballpark for a game and then back at night for a little over six bucks for two people. Excellent.
The hotel is in an older building, so the rooms are small (as are the lobby and elevators). But the Max perks everything up with its hip attitude (hello, pink logo!) and amenities for the modern traveler. We also thought the service at the hotel, from the front desk to the bellmen, was great. Helpful and friendly but not overbearing.
