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Hotel Chelsea Hits The Big Screen. Again.

Where: 222 W 23rd St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

Sid. Nancy. Janis. Ethan. We all know the vaunted history of the Hotel Chelsea by now, right? Well, in case you somehow managed to get through the past few decades without hearing all about the boozy, bloody past of this landmark on 23rd Street, along comes yet another movie set at the hotel to enlighten you. Unlike Ethan Hawke’s Chelsea Walls, Abel Ferrara’s Chelsea on the Rocks is a documentary—kind of.

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Tags: Fashion Week Hotels / Celeb Scoop / Hotel Parties / Hotel News / Lady Gaga / Marc Jacobs / → All Tags

Lady Gaga Peforms at Marc Jacobs After-Party at Maritime's Hiro Ballroom

Fashion Week is in full force in NYC and while our Top Three Hotels for Fashion Week are seeing some consistent action, the Maritime Hotel was the scene of FW's most coveted affair, the Marc Jacobs show's after-party which took place inside the Hiro Ballroom. Hosted by V Magazine and sponsored by Belvedere Vodka, the party featured a performance from Lady Gaga who was fresh off her Best New Artist VMA and continuing the "blood look" with a blood red lace outfit.

Celebs in attendance ran the gamut from serious fashion designers like Alexander Wang to respected photographers like Mario Testino, new and old divas like Estelle, Ciara, Toni Braxton and Janet Jackson to total flame-outs like Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love.

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Tags: GEM Hotels / Hotel Services / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags

GEM Hotels Want Guests To Get To Know Their Neighborhood

Where: 300 W. 22nd St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

The GEM Hotel Chelsea

Though they only opened less than a year ago, the three boutique GEM Hotels in Manhattan have been busy with promotions. So far, the brand has three properties in Manhattan: Chelsea, Soho, and Midtown West, with a fourth property to open off Union Square in 2011.

Back in June, we hit up the hotel's GEM Hotel Chelsea which we liked very much. What the hotel room lacked up in size, it definitely made up for in amenities and free perks. Haven't checked out a GEM Hotel yet? Amuse yourself with the chain’s very…musical…web site.

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Tags: Hotel Reading / Hotel Bookshelves / Eric Goode / Jean-Michael Basquiat / → All Tags

Basquiat Lives On at the Maritime Hotel

Where: 363 West 16th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

If you’ve stayed at the Maritime Hotel in New York, you probably noticed the blocks of yellow spines on the suite’s bookshelves—full sets of National Geographic magazines. But they’re not just there to look pretty, or because hotelier Eric Goode snagged them on the cheap from some yard sale. Oh no, there’s actually a much more earnest reason behind the reading material.

Goode’s mother was a conservationist and when he was growing up she had every issue of National Geographic ever printed. Goode is also a turtle nut, and has long had a thing for nature. His ’80s nightclub, Area, even had natural history exhibits featuring live bats and sharks.

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Tags: Hotel Promotions / Manhattan Hotels / Shopping Packages / → All Tags

Stay Local, Shop Local With NYC's Washington Square Hotel

Where: 103 Waverly Place [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

It used to be, in the days before this blasted recession, that people would come from far and wide to shop it up in New York City. It was part of the glamor to walk into a lobby, your elbows laden with glossy shopping bags. Thankfully, some of the city's hotels haven't forgotten that the recession doesn't drive away this desire; it just makes it harder to do.

But from July 1st through Labor Day, the Washington Square Hotel in Greenwich Village has you covered with a Village Shopping Pass, also known as your ticket to hotel guest-only discounts at the best of the local boutiques.

The hotel has even considered what guests might want to buy for their stay and not simply themselves; discounts can be had at fine wine and chocolate shops. There are even special deals at a pet accessories boutique and at the original outpost of C.O. Bigelow apothecaries.

To take advantage of the deal, and just plain enjoy summer in the city, the Washington Square's rates begin at $180 a night and include continental breakfast. And since it's super near to the stores and within walking distance of the delights of Manhattan's more interesting neighborhoods, you'll even save on cab fare.

[Photo: Washington Square Hotel]

Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Video Tours / GEM Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Inside The GEM Hotel Chelsea

Where: 300 West 22nd Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

Yesterday we asked you to guess the hotel's funky silhouettes and one of you was able to correctly identify it as the GEM Hotel Chelsea.

For those of you who didn't know, the GEM Hotels in New York (there's one in Soho and two on the West Side) are part of Choice Hotel's Ascend Collection and while the rooms aren't exactly budget prices (the standard queen room can push $199 a night), it's what the hotel doesn't charge for that really made us happy here.

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Tags: Hotel Parties / Katy Perry / Celebrity Scoop / Paper Magazine / → All Tags

Katy Perry Performing at Maritime Hotel's Hiro Ballroom Tonight

Where: 88 Ninth Avenue [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

An excuse to look your prettiest! Tonight is Paper Magazine's Beautiful People Party, and cover girl Katy Perry will be performing along with DJ Cassidy and DJ Jon Jon Battles at the Maritime Hotel's Hiro Ballroom.

Thankfully, this year's party will be free of The Misshapes and Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. The painfully hip Paper Magazine is co-hosting with H&M so cross your fingers that this party will dole out the gift bags -- they have been scarce "in these recessionary times."

Either way, the celebrity attendance at the Maritime and the Bowery must be keeping Sean MacPherson comforted in the midst of unfolding drama at his Jane Hotel.

[Photo: Bauer-Griffin]

Tags: Hotel Packages / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags

Warm Up Your Jazz Hands at NYC's Washington Square Hotel

Where: 103 Waverly Place [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

With the proliferation of new hotels south of 14th Street in New York City (we're looking at you, Standard, Cooper Square and upcoming Crosby Street), it's finally becoming apparent that one need not always sleep around Times Square or Fifth Avenue in order to feel in the middle of the action. Going downtown opens a visitor up to real neighborhoods and the less shopping-driven stretches of New York streets. Perhaps the best example of such an area is Greenwich Village, with its sepia-tinged sidestreets and proximity to NYU keeping it hip.

One of the focuses of Greenwich Village is the large Washington Square Park, by which sits the century-old Washington Square Hotel. Thankfully, this is not a hotel which shirks from the area's boho past, but instead embraces it by evoking cabarets and Paris of the 1930s.

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Tags: Hotel Construction / Manhattan Hotels / Vikram Chatwal / Dream Hotels / Dream Downtown / → All Tags

Dream Downtown NYC Delayed to 2010?

Back in April of 2008, we stood at this very same vantage point in West Chelsea for a look at hotelier Vikram Chatwal's upcoming Downtown Dream Hotel, which abuts the back end of Sean MacPherson's Maritime. Now almost a year later, the Dream construction (on the left) remains shrouded like Chernobyl while the Maritime beams at the thought of having another summer to itself.

Originally slated for "early 2009" and with no official revised date, we'll take the initiative and peg this as early 2010. If we're to understand anything from the construction company's project website for the Dream Downtown, then they're having enough issues with the porthole-like windows, forget the rest of the place. What this means is that The Maritime will enjoy smooth sailing this summer, its (most likely) final one as the only hotel and cabanas on the block. That is, unless you're willing to walk down several blocks to The Standard.

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Tags: Room Rate Drop Watch / Hotel Opening Rates / Manhattan Hotels / Gem Hotels / → All Tags

The Gem Hotel Chelsea For $159 a Night

Where: 300 W. 22nd Street [map], Manhattan, NY, United States, 10011

Hotel rates in NYC are pretty low right now (well, if you're comparing 'em to the holiday seasons of yesteryear, anyway), but if you're looking to score a mega bargain in Manhattan and you also prefer your carpets new and your beds barely slept-in, we'd like to remind you that you've got a new Manhattan option that is offering an excellent opening rate: the GEM Hotel Chelsea.

The GEM, which first opened back in November, is still offering opening rates that start at $159 until February 28th. This is actually down a bit from the initial opening rate of $189 a night.

The lowdown on GEM: it's a Choice Hotels Ascend Collection branded property located on 22nd Street and it boasts a pretty hefty roster of free amenities (for the price), including nightly turndown, iPod docking stations, free Internet and paraban-free Gilchrist & Soames toiletries. It's bright, clean, happy and cheap (although maybe a tad cramped). Check it out here.

Tags: Hotel Opening Rates / Ascend Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Gem Hotel Opens in Chelsea at $189 a night

Where: 300 W. 22nd Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

Mad props to Amy over at NewYorkology for being all up in the grill of the new Gem Hotel in Chelsea and getting the scoop on the opening rates. As you may recall, the Gem is part of Choice Hotel's brand-new Ascend Hotels brand. Amy writes:

So far, 35 of the hotel’s rooms are ready for occupancy. All 81 should be complete early next week. The $189 rate is good through the end of the month, including at Thanksgiving. There is no restaurant on premises, but rooms feature plasma TVs, Gilchrist & Soames bath products, bath robes and free shoe shine service. There’s free high-speed Internet in rooms, and wi-fi in the lobby.

Also, the hotel is completely 100 percent smoke-free. Dayum. This is an amazing deal. Free WiFi, Gilchrist and Soames toiletries and a free shoe shine? We were about to book it but we noticed on the website that the rooms look teeny. So you decide--more room to move about or free WiFi in a room for under $200 in NYC?

Related Stories:
· Choice Hotels Announces Ascend Collection of Hotel [HotelChatter]
· Gem hotel officially open in Chelsea with $189 room [NewYorkology]

Tags: Hotel News / Bedbugs / Hotel Chelsea Takeover / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Perhaps The Chelsea Really Does Let the BedBugs Bite

Where: 222 W 23rd St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10011

Uh-oh. When the last woman wrote into the Living With Legends blog -- that little corner of the Internet that has been chronicling the drama at the Hotel Chelsea for fans of the famed establishment and the residents who have suffered from the management changes -- and said she had bedbugs, we sorta implied that maybe she was a bit of a nutter.

But a little glance into the comment thread beneath that particular post on the LL blog revealed another recent guest at the Chelsea coming forward with a similar problem.

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