32819 Travel Guide
Tags: Hotels Doing Good / Pink Hotels / Hard Rock Hotels / Hotel Concerts / Pinktober / The Bangles / → All Tags
The Bangles Burn 'An Eternal Flame' for Pinktober at The Hard Rock
Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling. Do you feel my heart beating, do you understand?
It's always good to see The Bangles are still out there performing their greatest hits from our pre-adolescence. It's even better to see The Bangles performing for such a good cause like Pinktober at the Hard Rock Hotel Orlando.
Pinktober is the Hard Rock's month-long breast cancer awareness program where guests can book special guestrooms that are outfitted with pink sheets (embroidered with little guitars) and pink bathrobes. Twenty-five percent of the room rate will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Orlando Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton Confuses Us by Opening a New Hilton Orlando that's Not Bonnet Creek
While we wait for Hilton’s mammoth Bonnet Creek development to welcome its first guests Oct. 1, another new Hilton Orlando opened shop last week, which we had forgotten all about. Confusing! (Seriously, who opens two hotels with pretty much the same name, during a recession?)
This Hilton Orlando is the more “serious” property, with a covered open-air walkway to the Orange County Convention Center and a host of supersize features: 1,400 guest rooms (counting 53 suites), 175,000 square feet of meeting space, seven dining options, and rec amenities designed to help weary biz professionals wind down, including a resort pool, quiet pool, whirlpools, cabanas, lazy river, 15,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, jogging track, and basketball/tennis/volleyball/bocce ball courts.
Introductory rates for the Hilton Orlando Convention Center start at just $129, a significant difference from Bonnet Creek’s $179 intro rates. Maybe we can keep the two straight after all.
Tags: Hilton Hotels / Hotel Openings / Orlando Hotels / → All Tags
A Massive Hilton Is On Its Way to Orlando
The Hilton gang are obviously quite determined to push forward and open new hotels at the moment (let's not mention the D word that rhymes with, uh, Zenizen), and here comes another one: the Hilton Orlando is set for a grand opening on September 12.
This'll be a 1400-room Hilton targeting both vacationers and business travelers, with attractions like Sea World and Disney World nearby, and the Orange County Convention Center right next door. In fact, Hilton's particularly proud that theirs will be the "very first hotel" with a covered walkway leading to the convention center.
If you're there for fun, you'll probably want to make use of the two pools, "lazy river", and six restaurants on site. Business people can look out for the 24-hour business center, and WiFi and wired internet throughout the whole hotel complex.
Grand opening might be set for September 12, but they're taking bookings starting from September 1. Rooms are still available for that very first night, starting at $99 for a double ($119 if you add breakfast). If you want to upgrade to an executive floor, you'll need to add $40 to those rates.
Tags: Family-Friendly Hotels / Orlando Hotels / Themed Hotel Rooms / Loews Hotels / → All Tags
Loews Portofino Hotel Will Serve You Green Eggs and Ham
Didn't get a chance to celebrate what would have been Dr. Seuss' 105th Birthday last week? There's still a way to pay tribute to your favorite children's book author at the Loews Portofino Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
The hotel unveiled its Dr. Seuss Suites over the summer which come with a king bedroom for Mom and Pop and a kids' room with two twin beds and plenty of Dr. Seuss decor. And recently, the hotel used the suites to host a Read Across America event with children from a local elementary school (pictured above.)
Now the hotel has created a Dr. Seuss package which includes a three-night stay, a breakfast of green eggs and ham in Trattoria del Porto for two daily, a special children's welcome amenity, a set of four Dr. Seuss books, and a set of four mini Dr. Seuss themed plush characters plus a souvenir Cat in the Hat photo frame.
Tags: Thanksgiving Hotels / Orlando Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags
Thanksgiving in Your Hotel Room is Not as Depressing as it Sounds
The image of someone eating Thanksgiving dinner alone in a hotel room sounds like something straight out of a movie montage before the resolution, or maybe something off of a site like Sad Guys on Trading Floors. But! Not so depressing when someone is eating Thanksgiving not alone in a hotel room — and not slaving over a hot stove because someone else cooked the food is not so depressing at all, either.
Sometimes you (and your fam) just can't get home for the holidays. Accordingly, the brand new Westin Imagine Orlando is offering an in-room Thanksgiving dinner package for you and your people.
Tags: Sweet Suites / Orlando Hotels / Family-Friendly Hotels / Kid-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags
Sweet Suite: The Dr. Seuss Suites at Loews Portofino in Orlando
It's hard to believe that Orlando-area hotels have gotten even more kid-friendly, but it's true.
The Loews Portofino in Orlando has just unveiled its Dr. Seuss kids' suites. The two-bedroom suites have a king bedroom for Mom and Pop and a kids' room with two twin beds and Dr. Seuss decor.
Upon entering the suite, colors and patterns are everywhere, from the vibran blue carpet that is sprinkled with a pattern of lighter blue dots to the beds, which appear to be a part of "Who-ville" with Seussian forms inspired from Horton Hears a Who Book. Buildings teeter, trees drop and machines work in impossible way.
Fortunately for parents, their bedroom is normal and free of any Dr. Seuss interior design scheme. The Loews group in Orlando has several other kids suites available. There are Jurassic Park-themed suites at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort and musical kids' suites will debut later this year at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Starting rates for kids' suites at the Loews Portofino is around $500 a night.
Tags: Hotel News / Hard Rock Hotels / Orlando Hotels / Hotel Animals / → All Tags
The Pool at the Hard Rock Orlando is 'Just Right' For One Black Bear
Man, it must be hot in Orlando. According to police reports a black bear was spotted taking a swim in the pool of the Hard Rock Hotel early this morning.
The hotel was not evacuated and no one is in danger as this breed is particularly shy but the search for the bear is on at nearby Universal Studios.
Still can you blame the bear for wanting to take a dip? The Hard Rock has a 12,000-sq.ft. sand beach pool area with an underwater stereo system, a 260-foot water slide, and themed cabanas like "The Yellow Submarine" or Stevie Wonder's "Musiquarium" which have ceiling fans, plasma TVs, wireless internet, and dedicated server to bring you drinks.
Or perhaps the bear was just trying to reserve some chairs for the family. We know how heated these pool chair wars can get.
[Photo of Hard Rock pool: Daryl Fritz]
Tags: Hotel Hell / WiFi Hell / Honeymoon Hotels / Orlando Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
HoJo Honeymoon Hotel Hell
Imagine starting the rest of your life together with your new spouse in a puke-riddled HoJo? Not quite what you had in mind, eh? But it did happen to these newlyweds:
Ever heard of the "Terror Hotel" at Disney World Epcot? Well, Amy and I enjoyed that attraction, but we didn't expect to be shacked-up in the freaking thing for four nights.
We stayed at Howard Johnson also known as HoJo's". Note to self, don't ever put your comfort in the hands of a place that goes by the name of HoJo. The Hotel was nothing more than one tragedy after another, in a vicious cycle of hellish disturbances.
The annoying onslaught began with a sweet newly-wed couple misplaced in the wrong room. Yeah, us newly weds wanted a single bed (kingsize) to spend our four days. Instead, we're given two beds - thanks Hojo. Not only that, but Amy picked up on a nasty scent that has been living in our room for the last few nights - somebody's sweet-nasty stomach-bubbles...in other words, somebody threw up in this room and left the odor of their lunch for my wife and I to enjoy.
...I thought I'd check out the wireless internet that Hojo.com promised us. Crap...no "little or no connectivity", which functionally means "Sorry dude, you ain't got NO internet!"
This hotel hell experience continued to include a broken phone, the breaking of a next door window, and the discovery of a brown colored streak on the wall. While we are appalled that this hotel room had such horrible conditions, it's a HoJo in Orlando. That's not quite the honeymoon hotel fave, the Four Seasons Maui.
Related Stories:
· HoJo Hosts Hotel Hell [The Blog of Jonathan Sampson]
· Howard Johnson Orlando Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotel Deals / → All Tags
The Engagements for Dummies Package
If you aren't engaged yet, and are feeling the pressure to be by February 15th, this is the time to start really worrying.
Luckily for you, Orlando's Peabody Hotel has a package in mind for the "slow when it comes to affairs of the heart guys". Their "Will You Be Forever Mine Package" includes:
a round-trip limo from Orlando airport to the hotel, overnight stay in a two-bedroom suite, wine and cheese, dinner for two at the Dux restaurant that includes two bottles of wine and a five-course meal, a candlelit poolside cabana with flowers, a violinist and a bottle of Cristal and a diamond ring set in a presentation box of white chocolate with marzipan rose petals and spun sugar.
Yes, they will throw in either a $5,000, $15,000 or $30,000 ring. Total package cost, not including ring damage? $7,950.
The look on your fiancee's face when you tell her that its all over at midnight and that in the morning you go back to being friends? Priceless.
Related Stories:
·Peabody Hotel Valentine's Engagement Package [Luxist]
·Peabody Orlando Reviews [TripAdvisor]
·Orlando's Other Ticket [HotelChatter]
Tags: Tips / → All Tags
Orlando's Other Ticket
[Editor's Note: Hotel Maven Glenn Kaufmann submitted a feel good story about a hotel in Orlando that had nothing to do with theme parks. You know us, we aren't much for feel good stories, but we figured, what the hell, not everyone goes to Central Florida for the plush mouse.]
With their signature team of ducks performing in the lobby fountains, the Peabody Hotels have a long history in the performing arts. But it is the Orlando Peabody Hotel that has taken the chain's commitment to excellence and extended it to support for the local arts community.
Tags: Hotel Heaven / → All Tags
Hard Rock Orlando: Rock Star Hotel
The Orlando hotel scene is known for one thing, family fun, however, once in a while young couples, or couples that want to leave their kids with a baby sitter for a bit, find themselves in Orlando trying to find somewhere to go that isn't all about character breakfasts and family fun. We found a spot in Orlando where young adults can enjoy themselves, which seemed cool to us. The Hard Rock Orlando is a slick hotel, attached to Universal Studios Orlando, that caters to both the in crowd, and the in law crowd--somehow the property pulls it off. Furthermore, you can get yourself a fast pass at the hotel, so you won't have to wait in long ride lines...that is if you are a theme park kinda crew.
Not into the theme park game? That's ok, the Hard Rock pool scene comes complete with cabanas, beautiful people, and outdoor ping pong, and the hotel interior sticks to its rock and roll roots, by combining fine dining with hard drinking. You should have plenty to keep you busy, even if you never set foot inside Universal Studios.
The Palms restaurant, a world class steak house, inhabits the Hard Rock, as does Velvet Bar, and to top it off the Hard Rock is spitting distance from Universal City Walk, which has taken over Disney's Pleasure Island as the place to be after dark in Orlando. Out of all the Hard Rock's we have ventured inside, this one is the the most like its big brother in Vegas.
Photos And More Hard Rock After The Jump...
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