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Helmsley Middletowne Checks Out, Sheraton Midtown to Get New Identity
As the revolving door of new hotels continues to turn in NYC, a few older properties are getting the boot. Or a new identity. The Helmsley Middletowne Hotel will close in May, and over on the west side, the Sheraton Times Square will ditch its Sheraton name tag, and be known as a generic Starwood property—until execs decide what to do with it.
The Helmsley closes after 82 years in its 48th Street location—but if you're a fan of the Queen of Mean's palaces, rest assured the other Helmsley hotels in Manhattan will remain open. For now.
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Starwood Alleges Hilton's Hotel Brands are 'Infected' With Their Secrets
UPDATE: Starwood's Chief Administrative Officer has a statement on the new court filings below.
The drama continues in the Starwood-Hilton lawsuit with Starwood filing new allegations yesterday saying that higher-up execs at Hilton knew full well that its employees were stealing Starwood's trade secrets and that two other Hilton brands--Waldorf-Astoria Collecion and Conrad Hotels--are "infected." And they don't mean with swine flu.
USA Today reports on the new filings which may have been prompted by the discovery of a whistleblower:
According to Starwood's filing, the whistleblower told [Hilton CEO Christopher] Nassetta that "numerous manuals, detailed plans, budgets, marketing systems, building specifications and other proprietary documents from Starwood were brought to Hilton by Mr. [Ross] Klein. Mr. Klein put some of these highly proprietary documents on Hilton's internal computer server, and instructed Hilton personnel to use these proprietary Starwood documents as a detailed plan for them to follow to develop and modify Hilton's luxury and lifestyle brands."
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Help Haiti With Your SPG and Marriott Points
As the aftermath of the massive earthquake in Haiti continues to reveal worse than expected damage, destruction and death tolls, countries and people from around the world are asking what they can do to help.
And help is arriving in some unusual forms. Domestic airlines like JetBlue and American flying medical personnel and doctors to Haiti. (Update: That was a hoax. See comments below.)
For the folks feeling hopeless at home, several text messaging operations have been going around whereby cellphone users text a code to a number and automatically $5 or $10 will be sent to a humanitarian rescue effort. The charges will show up on your bill at the end of the month.
And now we hear that Starwood Hotels' loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest is offering a way to help too.
Guests with SPG points can donate them to the American Red Cross. Here is the breakdown:
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There's Plenty of Hotel Rooms for Fired-Up Jets Fans in San Diego This Weekend
Have you seen LaDanian Tomlinson’s rap video that popped up on You Tube this week? Shot a couple of years ago, it suspiciously only goes viral in the leadup to the Chargers playoff game against the New York Jets this Sunday. Hmm …
Despite this distraction, the Jets are preparing for their biggest game of the season, and the hardest of hardcore fans were booking flights to San Diego before the end of last Saturday’s game. But are there hotel rooms in LT’s town to house Fireman Ed and his friends?
Tags: Hotel News Briefs / Bad Celebrity Guests / Starwood Hotels / Bliss Spas / Quikbook / Film Festival Hotels / → All Tags
Beyonce Sings for The Worst Hotel Guest Ever
Wow, we are only a few days into the new decade and already Bad Boy hotel guest Dennis Rodman has been usurped by the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, whose name is Hannibel. Yet this guy should get credit for nothing other than being a terrible human being, let alone a hotel guest from hell.
Page Six had a little ditty today about how Beyonce snagged a cool $1 million for performing at Hannibel's New Year's Eve party at Nikki Beach club on St. Barts.
But also in the item (shame on you Beyonce) is a laundry list of Hannibel's horrendous behavior at hotels. They are:
1. Attacking his wife at Claridges:
Hannibal, 33 -- also known as Moutassim -- allegedly attacked his wife, Aline Skaf, in his suite at Claridge's in London. Three of his security staff were arrested for obstructing police. Skaf was reportedly hospitalized with a broken nose while Hannibal was whisked away in a diplomatic car.
2. Attacking servants in a Geneva hotel:
In July 2008, he and his then-pregnant wife were arrested on charges of beating their servants in a Geneva hotel. They denied the charges, which were dropped after the servants received compensation.
3. Again, attacking his wife:
Hannibal was also arrested in 2005 in a Paris hotel for allegedly punching Skaf. He then allegedly brandished a 9mm handgun and went on a furniture-smashing rampage in his hotel suite. No charges were brought.
Ugh. Luxury hotels around the world need to man up and ban this man from staying at their hotels. Put him on the hotel blacklists straightaway!
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The Hotel Ivy: Starwood's 'Secret' Luxury Collection Hotel
A guest snapshot of Hotel Ivy
"You're gonnnna make it after all!" So goes the cheery theme song to Mary Tyler Moore, which gets us thinking about visiting Minneapolis just about every time we catch a rerun on television. Finally, we've stumbled across a hotel that "suddenly made [a trip]...seem worthwhile"—at least from the looks of things.
Just two years ago, Starwood opened a very, very debonair luxury hotel—the Hotel Ivy—in "the heart of downtown," as these things go. While some might think Minneapolis is all lakes and industry, the city has a very active theater and arts scene which Ivy's urbane air is aligned with. It also boasts some hefty rock star cred, given that Prince was born and bred there, so we could see being a choice hotel for touring acts.
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Who's Got the Golden Ticket ... Er, Key ... For the Palace Hotel in San Fran?
Located somewhere in the Bay Area? Keep your eyes peeled for flying room keys. A Golden Room Key, to be precise. If this specimen (possibly still tied to a festive bunch of balloons) whacks you in the head or plops onto your car's windscreen, it's your lucky day. You'll get to play Charlie—only instead of a visit to a chocolate factory with a bunch of obnoxious kids you'll get three nights at the fancy Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
The Golden Ticket ... er, Key, is part of the hotel's 100th Birthday Celebrations, and was released into the overcast sky above San Francisco yesterday, inside a helium-filled yellow balloon. Whoever finds the balloon containing the key will win a three-day stay in the hotel's Presidential Suite. History Buffs may remember this as the room where President Warren G. Harding died in 1923. but as long as you're not easily spooked this shouldn't keep you from enjoying the opulence of 2-bedroom, 2-bath suite with its own grand piano.
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Flex Your Fingers and Wrists For Cyber Monday Hotel Days
It looks like Black Friday isn't the only day to score hotel deals. November 30th is Cyber Monday and there are some hotel and travel deals to be had.
The biggest is the Starwood Hotels Cyber Monday offer which went up over the weekend but the booking can only begin on Cyber Monday proper.
The offer promises "unbelievable rates" at properties as well as 1,000 bonus US Airways dividend miles but only if you book before Wednesday, December 2nd. Also, the stays must take place between January 1-April 30, 2010.
Reading the fine print, you must be an SPG member to receive the bonus miles. If you sign up for an SPG membership then you will also earn two Starpoints for every dollar you spend. The bookings are nonrefundable and your credit card will be charged at the time of booking.
Some deals being hyped are the W Fort Lauderdale for $229 and the Westin St. John Resort and Villas for $289. We'll report back on Monday with the types of deals you can score and just how good those "unbelievable rates" are.
More Cyber Monday hotel deals are after the jump.
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The Hotel Pool Scene in Seville is Taking Off
Yesterday we lamented about the lack of decent WiFi at the Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville. Today we’re going to tell you about its pool. Why? Because we noticed this weekend that the pool scene in Seville is really taking off. But as with most hotel trends, the newer and hipper places do it best.
When the Alfonso XIII was built, back in the 19th century, they preferred to stick turrets and stuff on hotel roofs, rather than pools so because of the gorgeous façade of the place, there’s not exactly room to stick a tub up there.
Thus the pool is in the traditional, round-the-back-of-the-hotel position. It's a nice size with a bar nearby and lots of birdies tweeting among the orange groves that surround it. (Tweeting as in the sounds that birds make, not people on Twitter.) As far as a city pool goes, it's a relaxing little haven.
But let’s be honest, pool scenes aren’t about swimming. They’re about swanning around, looking good, and drinking more. And it always looks better on the roof.
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Starwood To Cram in More Westin Hotels Before 2010
More Westin Heavenly Beds for Everyone!
If you're into Westin Hotels and white tea scents then you'll be happy to know that Starwood Hotels plans on opening six Westin Hotels before the year is out. The WSJ reports:
The company, based in White Plains, N.Y., will cut the ribbon on two new Westins--one near the Washington Dulles Airport and the other in Orlando--on Thursday. The rest, built from the ground up, will open in China and India by the end of the year.
Mickey Mouse and Westin? That sounds so dirty. And so good.
But there's already a Westin in Orlando near Disney World called The Westin Imagine Orlando. The newest Orlando hotel is actually the Westin Lake Mary, Orlando North. Yeah, it's a mouthful. The hotel, which opened on November 12, is located in the center of Florida's High Tech Corridor and while corporate offices for companies like Allstate, Mitsubishi, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Scholastic are within a few miles away, Disney World and more fun attractions are about 40 minutes away. (Room rates start at $159 a night.)
So Starwood might be cramming in the rest of their Westins for 2009 but they are kind of ho-hum hotels.
Next year, Westin will plan on opening 12 more hotels in more exotic locations like Mexico, Canada, Greece and Japan. And we fully expect the signature white tea scent to be wafting throughout every one of them.
Tags: Hotel WiFi / WiFi Hell / Starwood Hotels / Seville Hotels / → All Tags
The Alfonso XIII May Be Seville’s Grandest Hotel, But Its Wifi is Less Than Grand
Relaxing weekends never pan out the way you planned them do they? And our trip to Seville this weekend was no exception. Leaving aside the whiplash from the crashy landing on Sunday night (thanks Ryanair) and the fact that we didn’t partake in enough cerveza sessions, we spent much of the two days seething about the dire internet situation at the Hotel Alfonso XII, where we were shacked up.
Switching on the laptop as is our wont on arrival at a hotel, we were sad to see no WiFi networks showing. Yes there was an ethernet cable, but our 'pooter lacks the requisite hole.
We called reception, who told us not to worry, that there was a computer downstairs for us to check our email. So we worried. Is there no wireless, we asked. The answer came back: "Yes, but it’s better to use our computer. " Ugh, we worried even more.
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More Hotel Workers in San Francisco Go On Strike, This Time at The Palace
Do not expect this scene today at The Palace Hotel.
Over the weekend, hotel workers from the union, Unite Here, staged a three day strike in front of The Grand Hyatt San Francisco to protest the contract negotiations that have been ongoing. The workers have been working without a new contract since August and the main sticky point, as ever, is the issue of health care.
Hotel workers have repeatedly gone on strike over contract negotiations in the last few years but rarely does it ever happen back to back at different hotels. Last night, hotel workers at the famed Palace Hotel which is part of Starwood's Luxury Collection, began a three-day strike as well, at a time when the hotel was at 100 percent occupancy, thanks to a few conventions that are going on.
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