We're starting to think there is very little that the Nintendo Wii gaming system can't do.
Recently, the Le Parker Meridien in New York introduced the Wii Workout at their gravity fitness and spa. The workout takes place inside the center's racquetball courts where the Wii workout is projected off the 20-foot wall with surround sound and a private instructor takes you through an intense workout centered around the Wii sports.
A round of jabs with the trainer before you perfect your skills on the Wii Boxing! Some sprints to warm you up before you use that forehand on Wii Tennis. The minutes will fly by! The one hour session will consist of a warm-up and exercises based around the game. Intermittently, one will play the 'Wii" game using the skills just learned and with the trainer coaching one through it.
The cost of the training session is $120. But if you aren't keen on doing a Wii workout, you can still play the Wii. The hotel allows up to four players in the racquetball court to play the Wii sports. And it's not limited to hotel guests. NYC residents looking for more space are welcome too. The rental cost is $50 for the court plus the $25 gravity fitness fee if you are not a hotel guest or gym member.
We used to think the Wii at the Gansevoort's penthouse was awesome but this is bigger and better and doesn't cost the price of a penthouse suite.
The gym and the Wii workout is open from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, weekends 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.
Having completed the $1 billion re-do of the 1907 landmark hotel, the folks at Fairmont decided to drop another $400 million to open the new restaurant and bar. While Plaza condo residents including the likes of a Kuwaiti billionaire and Faberge Egg-toting realtor may well afford these menus, Manhatten travelers opting to dine better be packing fat wallets.
Down by the Hipster reports that New York's Hudson Hotel will start hosting a regular Monday night party which is expected to be "very exclusive, very media and arts centric."
But apparently Manhattan is flooded with Monday night parties (Butter, Johnny Utah's, Upstairs and Star Lounge) so who knows how the Hudson's party will fare?
Although we did find this little tidbit from a commenter kinda funny:
there is no way that hudson hotel party is gonna work......place sucks and is no fun.....it's a hotel bar!!!
Hello, hotel bars are like all the rage now. What year are you living in? 2000? As if! (jk).
Another commenter has the Hudson's back, calling it OG for having a bouncer there three years ago with fingerless gloves. Nice. We think the party might survive at least for a few weeks. Remember, the Hudson Hotel does have Ian Schrager DNA.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain is hosting a huge campaign fundraiser tomorrow night at the totally un-affordable and totally unreasonably-priced Plaza Hotel tomorrow night.
However, his supporters may actually be able to cough up the $1,000-a-night room rates.
According to NY Mag, the host committee is a bunch of wealthy and powerful folk---Henry Kissinger, Alfonse D'Amato, Woody Johnson, Georgette Mosbacher, and Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain. And the party will see a rather large showing of billionaires:
From Forbes.com's most recent list, we count five: Henry Kravis (the world's 178th-richest man, worth $5.5 billion), Ray Dalio (worth $4 billion), Louis Bacon (worth $1.7 billion), Marc Rowan (worth $1.5 billion), and Robert Fisher ($1.4 billion). That's a total of over $14 billion in the room with the Republican presidential nominee.
This list has actually left us speechless. $14 billion in one room! Yowza.
Anyways, we take no comfort in the fact that a price for a ticket to this event and thus a campaign contribution to John McCain is the same as one night at the hotel.
Opened to much fan-fare, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill was supposed to bring badass downtown-style eats to the culinary wasteland of NYC's Clinton neighborhood. But TONY's critic Randall Lane says the joint is only doing that half the time:
The dizzying menu--two dozen appetizers, not including 8 soups and 11 types of salad, plus steaks, poultry and tempura--proves disparately hit-or-miss...For every revelation, there were disappointments.
Lane does praise the great sushi, which we also think is terrific. And he's all for the lengthy drinks list. including unpasteurized and hard-to-find sakes. But if it's a culinary revelation you're looking for, Blue Ribbon ain't it.
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
There are a lot of things you can change when you renovate a hotel, but changing the view is probably one of the hardest things to improve. So although Flickr user lairdscott only recently got around to uploading his photos from his 2003 stay in the then Majestic Hotel in Manhattan, the new incarnation of this hotel, Dream New York, presumably has the same faults. But as this optimistic guest said:
It wasn't bad and the service was great, but there was no view from our window as our building was only about 20 feet or so away from the equally tall building opposite! You had a choice of either no view or you were on the other side of the hotel and you would have to sleep through the traffic noise! (We were only around the corner from Times square)!
Noise or a view, your call. If you're vacationing in New York City you might only hit your room during hours of darkness anyway, and then the view won't matter a bit.
What: An "exclusive" fashion week after party hosted by Queen Models management company. (We have no idea what type of models since their website is not quite filled out yet.)
But can't be that exclusive since all you have to do is mention "Queen Models" at the door for admittance. That is, if you are a lady. Guys will pay a reduced admission fee mentioning Queen Models before 12am. Also, the party has this door policy:
Doors open at 10pm Arrive early and no groups of single guys. Doorman reserves the right to be selective.
If you still wanna go, $100 bottle service at tables is available. Email table@queenmodels.com for reservations.
The hotel has appointed an executive chef Didier Virot who will oversee the Palm Court restaurant, in-room dining as well as two new spaces---the Champagne Bar and the Rose Club.
Straight from the press release:
The new Plaza will feature a more intimate lobby setting where the elegant Champagne Bar will offer light bites and incomparable selection of sparkling wines from around the world, while the stylish Rose Club will give midtown New York City a chic contemporary vibe with signature cocktails and small plates offered on the mezzanine overlooking the stunning lobby.
The fully restored Palm Court will continue to offer its timeless afternoon high tea, as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner in one of New York's most legendary settings.
The cuisine from Virot, who was once executive chef at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Jo Jo then at Vongerichten's four-star restaurant Jean Georges, will blend classical and modern French, "classified as French World Cuisine".
This is not Virot's first time in a hotel either. He opened his first solo venture in the Dylan Hotel in 2001. He's also the chef behind Aix on the Upper West Side and FR.OG in SoHo.
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by juliana
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