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Starwood Offers Up to 50% Off Regular Rates—But You Have to Book Soon
Put this on your weekend “to do” list: think about where you might like to spend the holidays or a winter getaway. If your answer is a Starwood property, and you’re ready to charge what will be a non-refundable rate now, you could save yourself some serious holiday cocktail cash. Until November 10—next Tuesday—you can score up to 50% off the regular rates at a slew of Starwood properties. And while there are blackout dates, there are still some hotels with availability for the holidays. Even better, when you use one of the Starwood property’s online booking pages for this promotion, it will tell you which holidays are still available under the deal at most hotels, as well as which dates are already sold out.
At the new W Boston, for example, the sale rate of $189 a night is still available for Thanksgiving (Nov 22-29), and between December 18–30. (New Year’s Eve is sold out). At Aloft Lexington, the rate is as cheap as $79 a night, and again, there’s availability for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Sam Nazarian / SLS Hotels / SBE Entertainment / Starwood Hotels / → All Tags
So Long Sahara? SLS Hotels Encounter Some Turbulence
It seems like only yesterday that a nightclub operator and hotelier practically meant the same thing but thanks to the rough economy, it's become very clear to Sam Nazarian that a hotelier has far bigger troubles than a nightclub owner.
The Wall Street Journal took a look behind the scenes at Nazarian's SBE Entertainment company which counts several nightclubs frequented by the brainless cast members of "The Hills," restaurants prominently featured in the background of paparazzi shots, and of course, the SLS Hotels which include The SLS Los Angeles, The Sahara in Las Vegas and the old Ritz Plaza in Miami Beach.
While the SLS Hotel in LA has been generally well-received, especially thanks to its Bazaar restaurant manned by superstar chef Jose Andres, the other two properties are languishing in debt and construction nightmare. And SBE is suffering for it:
In the past 18 months, Mr. Nazarian has cut much of his development team, including architects and designers, and outsourced legal counsel and other services—downsizing his corporate staff nearly in half to around 55 people.
Tags: Hotel Packages / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Hotel Parties / → All Tags
Party with Beyonce Courtesy of the W Times Square
If you want to party like a rock star, the W New York-Times Square offers a VIP package that'll get you into Esquire's seventh annual Signature Space Cocktail Party to get your hands up with the single-ladies queen Beyonce herself and other stars. But this last-minute deal is for one night only, November 5.
You'll party with celebs like Jamie Foxx, Chris Webber, Gavin DeGraw, Ne-Yo, Johnny Rzeznik, Natasha Bedingfield, The Fray, Tamia, 3 Doors Down, Venus Williams, who are all hosting the bash. OneRepublic will perform some acoustic tunes. The Rock Star Package includes two tickets to the partay, two cocktails in The Living Room bar to kick off the night and a "Fantastic Suite" for the after-party. The one-bedroom suite will offer views of hopping Times Square or Broadway, a voyeuristic shower and a floating bed.
Tags: Hotel News Briefs / Starwood Hotels / Hotel Toiletries / Bliss Spas / → All Tags
Don't Worry Your Bliss Toiletries Are Still Safe
Yes, we know that most of you who shack up at W Hotels do it for the Bliss Toiletries that are placed in the bathrooms. Just admit it! But although Starwood announced today its plans to sell its Bliss unit, you can rest assured that the toiletries will remain in the W Hotel bathrooms. Also, Bliss spas and Remede spas in the St. Regis Hotels will still be open and functioning. It's just a business transaction, it won't harm your complexion.
We haven't done this for a while but here are some other news worth checking out today:
· Why Martha Stewart Got Married to Sandals Resorts [Hotel Check-In]
· Luxe Hotels Expands to Downtown LA [Press Release]
· Space Hotel Totally Opening in 2012. Far out! [Reuters]
· What To Look For In a Good Hotel Room [Philly Inquirer]
Tags: iPhone Hotel Apps / iPhone Hotels / Hotel Technology / Hotel News / Four Seasons Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Omni Hotels / Choice Hotels / Travelodge Hotels / → All Tags
For Better or Worse, These Hotels Have Realized 'There's An App For That'
We've been variously hot and cold about hotel chain iPhone apps. As a rule we embrace anything that can help us travel easier while already on the road, and we certainly embrace it if it lives in the App Store. But hotel apps fall into that dicey category where we're not sure that the bother that goes into them is worth whatever comes out.
Hotel iPhone applications generally help you find a nearby chain hotel and check in through your rewards account. Sometimes they may automatically dial customer service. All of which is great except people rarely book within just one chain. Price is usually the most important factor, which means using a search engine, and rarely is someone in so much of a pinch that exact GPS-pinpointed location matters.
As for checking in, well, we're not talking about flights. The hotel will still be there waiting when you arrive, and you'll still have to wait in line to get it. Checking in doesn't have to happen from the road.
Nonetheless, hotels aren't going to stop producing apps. It's just what companies do these days. So here's our roundup of the industry's current offerings. Feel free to sound off in the comments: would you make space on your beloved iPhone for something like this?
Tags: Hotel Lawsuits / Industry News / Starwood Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Denizen Hotels / Ross Klein / → All Tags
Hilton's Denizen Employees Could Face Criminal Charges
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Hilton Hotels and its executives accused of stealing proprietary W Hotel information to create their now dead-in-the-water hotel brand Denizen Hotels, could face criminal charges.
The grand jury is part of a six-month-old Justice Department probe into allegations that Hilton, which is owned by private-equity firm Blackstone Group, used trade secrets taken by former Starwood executives, who defected to Hilton last year, to develop its own luxury brand to compete with Starwood's successful W chain.
About 30 Hilton employees and executives have either been fired or placed on leave. Ross Klein, the former president of Starwood Hotels who defected to Hilton and was in charge of the Denizen development, was initially place on paid leave with Hilton. However, he was recently replaced by John Vanderslice as Hotels magazine reported last month.
But there is a chance that even if Hilton as a corporation is not criminally charged, the individual employees could be prosecuted themselves.
Tags: Pitch Your Hotel / Sheraton Hotels / Hotel Rebranding / Hoyt Harper / Starwood Hotels / → All Tags
Sheraton's Hoyt Harper Wants You to Check Out The New Sheraton
In a rare second helping of Pitch Your Hotel this week, we introduce Hoyt Harper, Senior VP of brand management for Sheraton Hotels, who met with us at the Sheraton New York to fill us in on the new changes happening with his hotels.
The brand has poured $4 billion into their North American hotels in an attempt to transform Sheraton's image from that of a dowdy, outdated hotel collection (with so-so guest satisfaction reviews) into a vibrant, modern, "social traveler hotel"--a place where folks on business or leisure can get comfortable in the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper beds and stay connected using the Link@Sheraton, a sort of internet cafe in the lobby.
But while some brands have been changing up their logos (i.e. Holiday Inn, Renaissance by Marriott), Harper told us that the Sheraton logo will remain the same. The logo is iconic and recognized worldwide thus "We're keeping it," he said.
Tags: Hotel Openings / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Hotel Hype / Barcelona Hotels / Spain Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags
The W Barcelona is Open Tonight But The Weekend is Booked
Temperature: 77 degrees. Weather: partly cloudy. Time: to check in to the W Barcelona.
Western Europe’s first W, and the snazzily-numbered 33rd in the world, has opened its doors today. The Bliss therapists are unwinding tense muscles right now, the Eclipse staff are girding cocktail glasses with sugar, and the head honchos must be breathing a big sigh of relief that its third predicted opening date has finally come through. And right now, that pool must be looking a little less peaceful.
Tags: Snapshot / Green Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Element Hotels / → All Tags
Get Charged at the Element Lexington
We told you about the electric car-charging station at the Element Lexington when they announced that they were installing one back in July. But now we can bring you photos of the charger in action. And doesn’t it look cute?
Tags: Hotel Art / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Kanye West / → All Tags
The W San Diego Puts Kanye West On Display
The W San Diego may be on its way to foreclosure, but the hotel must figure if it's going to go down, it's gonna do it in style. The W is hosting a cool photo exhibit by Chris Milk—best known as a music video director to big-name musicians such as Kanye West, U2, Green Day and Gnarls Barkley—through September.
Among the oversized photos, which hang throughout the public spaces in the W, some of the best star frequent collaborator Kanye West. Milk, who directed videos for "Jesus Walks," "All Falls Down" and "Touch the Sky," used 3-D scanning and CGI to create the black-white-and-gray images for the works "Kanye West (Wall)" (shown above), where the rapper emerges from a wall of 3-D geometric shapes, and "Kanye West (Reflection)," where we see West's mug looking into a shiny silver sphere.
Originally, Milk created the images for a Complex magazine cover shoot for West. The pair worked with the studio that did the crazy CGI work on de-aging Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Tags: Loyalty Program News / Starwood Hotels / → All Tags
Starwood Now Giving SPG Members Up to 1,000 Points Per Stay
Yes, the W South Beach is one of the participating hotels.
Starwood Hotels keeps rolling out the deals this summer. First there was the 50 percent off deal, now members of the Starwood Preferred Guest program have a shot at earning up to 1,000 Starpoints from now through November 6. From the all-knowing press release:
SPG is awarding its members unlimited opportunity to earn up to 1,000 Starpoints per stay for travel from August 6 through November 30 at more than 500 participating Starwood properties across North America and Latin America. Beginning September 1, members will have even more opportunities to earn when the promotion is expanded to include nearly 250 additional hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
As with all other special SPG promotions you must register first, even if you are an SPG member. You can do that here: www.spg.com/starpointsbonus. The list of participating hotels in the U.S. is pretty extensive with seemingly all Alofts, Four Points by Sheratons, Westins and W Hotels on the list. Also, some of the Luxury Collection hotels like SLS Hotel in LA, The Joule in Dallas (with the cool pool) and The Nines in Portland are participating as well, giving you a 1,000 Starpoints per stay (not per night.)
So tell us...which Starwood hotel have you hit up this summer?
Tags: Luxury Collection Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Hotel Services / → All Tags
Starwood Luxury Collection Teams Up With Choosey Social Network
Um, do you know what A Small World is? It's not just the horrific and nightmare-infiltrating ride at Disneyworld — it's also a private social network that people join by invitation only ("trusted and loyal ASW members who meet certain criteria have the privilege of inviting a limited number of their friends.") Oh, and the people in the network are "culturally influential." Right then.
In an effort to, uh, we suppose attract or appeal to more "culturally influential" people, the Starwood Luxury Collection has actually started collaborating with network, reports Luxist.
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