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January 1, 2010 | Gee, that date has a nice ring to it. Happy New Year. I'm going to blog here again. That's one of my New Year's resolutions. Today, a reminder that Tablet Hotels offers a five-night getaway each month for folks who sign up to receive their emails. If you are already enrolled, you can enter by signing up again. They do not abuse the privilege of emailing you, believe me. I've been doing this for months now and emails are few and far between. This month, it's the Hotel Claude Marbella in, where else, Marbella. To enter, click HERE.
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April 28, 2009 | Check out Tablet Hotels' latest feature: Tablet Last Minute runs slashed rates at Tablet hotels for the next 14 days. They've been updating them all day. So far, they include hotels in LA, Miami, NYC, Rome, Venice, DC, Paris, Buenos Aeres. Catch them while you can! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.24.20009 | Notwithstanding today's headlines about a possible swine-flu pandemic, here's a new video from Verana, a lovely little place in Jelapa, south of Puerto Vallarta. To see the video, click HERE.
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3.04.2009 | This hotel in the 20eme arrondissement is to mourir for, even though the name, Mama Shelter, gives pause. It sounds like a mommy blog. But the property redeems itself with a cool factor of three: design (Phillipe Starck), location (already noted) and price (rates start at 79 euro). I dig the chalkboard-painted floors, but wonder, based on personal home decorating experience: Don't they chip? Here a post from the Times' blog, The Moment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.04.2009 | Who but someone with acute OCD needs their hotel sheets and towels washed every single day? Here's someone taking to task what from the start has struck me as one of the purest hotel green initiatives. Click here for the read. Eco-gimmick, my foot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.04.2009 | The situation in Mexico deepens. Recent dispatches (NPR, 60 Minutes) elaborate on the encroaching drug cartel. If you are going to brave the top-to-bottom forces, I recommend Mexico Boutique Hotels. I will provide the link later. New laptop, mouse not functioning. Dios mio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.26.2009 | Some hotel websites have incredibly cloying soundtracks that loop after a few notes. Instead of making you want to look and possibly book, the over-and-over repetition makes you want to click the heck out of there. This morning I found what might be the coolest hotel website soundtrack in the land. Click to the Valley Ho Hotel in Scottsdale and tell me what you think. I found it while researching a sweeps for two nights there. To enter the sweeps, which comes with a bunch of spa treatments, click HERE. NOTE: This sweeps does not include airfare. It ends on Saturday February 28. Oh, and the Hotel Valley Ho is not one of the hotels in Scottsdale that faces foreclosure. They would be the W and the InterContinental. Both are, per press reports, still open for business.
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2.25.2009| Wow.
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2.15.2009 |
Me (frantically packing, blogging and doing last minute research on the Internet):
Do you want to see our hotel?
Isaac (leisurely reading a book and fiddling with his iPod):
No, I want to be surprised.
Surprise! What a concept.
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2.15.2009 | Here’s a CNN piece about how two London hotels, the Umi and Hoxton Urban Lodge, are wooing customers with genuinely lowball specials. The Hoxton Lodge’s 10 specially priced rooms a night, five for $1.50, another 5 for $40, sold out in 13 minutes. Over 60,000 clicksters were trying to get these rates. Wowsie. I’ll drink a highball to that.
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This hotel sends me. I discovered it yesterday on Been-Seen, a travel blog run by the folks at Verana, a resort in Yelapa, Mexico that also sends me. The Seriamis is far from the madding crowd outside Athens, in a suburb called Kifissia. Here's a tease from the Been Seen article.It's the 21st century, and hotelier Dakis Joannou wants to be sure we're all clear on that. Semiramis, his new hotel in Athens, is so far from classical splendor, it's positively futuristic. And bright. An architect and modern art collector, he's commissioned designer Karim Rashid to create a hotel that stands out from the rest.
There's something so whimsical about this hotel's palette. It's listed on the Design Hotels site. The Seriramis is not new-new; it made Conde Nast Traveler's 2005 Hot List. No big whoop. A hotel never has to be new-new to send me.
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I could not have custom-ordered a more perfect trifecta: chocolate, hotel giveaway and art installation. I read about this Godiva-sponsored giveaway on Luxist last evening, the post is from a few days ago. (Speaking of Luxist, it's amazing to me that the thing is still humming along in this collapsing economy.) This stay is for the lucky person who finds a card in his or her Godiva chocolate box in the coming days, for a stay in the Bryant Park Hotel's Decadence Suite. This is how Luxist describes the sweet suite:The room was created by Los Angeles designer Larry Abel and features interior design by Jonathan Adler. Hanging in the "living room" was a painting built of multicolored chocolate pieces inspired by Gustav Klimt's painting The Kiss. Above the dining table was a "canvas" dripping with brown and white chocolate -- a takeoff on Jackson Pollock's signature "drip" paintings. Books opened to a mound of chocolates. A glass-covered table features a design under the glass made up of chocolate pieces. Visitors can feel free to sit on the sofa, which is chocolate-covered only on its sides, but don't touch the chocolate walls, or light the fireplace (with its chocolate logs and mantle) or chocolate candles, or try to snuggle up in the chocolate easy chairs.
Obviously the tie-in is Valentine's Day, but the prize if for two nights in in May. The Bryant Park takes the prize for the most self-consciously hip hotel website ever. Which of course by definition means it's not hip. But truth be told, once you're in a hotel, who cares what the website looks like? In my experience, the hotel website has not one thing to do with the hotel experience. I would love to stay in this hotel, on Godiva's dime or my own.
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Whatever your status this coming Valentine's Day weekend, you might enjoy clicking around the hotel website Room for Romance. It's a collection of intimate hotels, almost all in Europe with a few from Australia and Morocco thrown in for good measure. These are small properties, each one more charming than the next. I like the funky looks of Miller's Residence in Notting Hill. Each room is named after a romantic poet, Byron, Blake, Browning -- and that's just the B's. I think I'd chose Shelley for me and the boy, since that's the name of his Russian tortoise.
Caveat emptor: I can't vouch for the website. There's not much "who, what or where" under the "about" link. I'd do a bit of research before booking through the website and consider booking directly with the property if I didn't learn more about its bona fides. It can help enormously to work with a site like this, provided it's reputable, especially considering the European differential when it comes to hotel reservations. Case in point: I booked a hotel in Rome last summer through Small Luxury Hotels. At check-in, the front desk wanted to charge me for a missed night -- which was due to a national train strike. (Those Italians.) When I said I'd take up the matter with SLH, the front desk obliged.
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I've never been to the Greenbrier but hear tell it's a wonderful mountain resort if you like that sort of thing. And I do. I happen to be partial to the Homestead, but I certainly hope the Greenbrier makes it. The place has been operating since 1778. The Greenbrier is hemorrhaging cash, to the tune of a $35 million loss in 2008, Goldman Sachs has been brought in to evaluate the situation, a possible tourniquet could be gambling.
For details, here's an article from Golf World via Wallet Pop.
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This does not come as a surprise. The Savoy's reopening has been pushed back to late autumn. The hotel, closed since December 2007, is undergoing a 100 million pound refurbishment. (It's the same language most of the time, but in hotel speak, a renovation is a refurbishment.) At present, some rooms are slated to open this summer. All this is per the Standard. I hope this is true, some rooms opening during summer season. I plan to be in London this summer, and had hoped to check it out.
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I’m starting to feel like a sucker. I’ve been entering travel sweeps for nearly three years and I have yet to win a thing. (Stomp, stomp.) That’s not going to stop me. Here’s one for five nights at the Royalton in NYC. Yes, the Royalton.
To enter, click HERE and sign up for Tablet Hotel's newsletter. If you’re already getting it, sign up again and you’re entered in the sweeps.
Speaking of Tablet Hotels, which happens to be my favorite hotel site, a hotel I stayed at this summer, and subsequently reviewed for Dream of Italy, is on one of the site’s Top 10 lists: For the past 12 months, guest reviews have put the Inn at the Roman Forum in the Tablet Hotels' Top 10 Hotels in Europe.
My review is available online to DOI newsletter subscribers. Check out Dream of Italy's site. It's great!
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Judging from the posts in the FlyerTalk Hotel Deals Forum, people are losing sleep and possibly their minds over the chance to book a hotel at LastMinuteTravel.com's next-to-nothing rate.
I'm not even bothering. I signed up for email clues, and LMT only sent two, and there was nothing resembling a clue in either correspondence. There's enough crazy-making in the world than to get caught up in this frenzy. People, get a life!
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Here are two slide shows from the Telegraph: Part 1 and Part 2. Whatever floats your boat! Actually, this one in Mexico captures my imagination.
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From the one-screen website for the Watergate Hotel:We are currently undergoing a dramatic renovation and will not be accepting guests again until late 2009. While we are creating the most luxurious hotel in Washington, we ask for your patience.
Patience indeed. Things are not going as planned: The email listed on the hotel’s website is not even working. When I emailed last week, requesting a status report on the hotel’s renovation, my email bounced back as undeliverable.
That sent me a-Googling, and I found an article from mid-November in the Washington Business Journal that explains the story. The developer, Monumental Realty, got caught up in Lehmann Bros.’ failure, and can’t do a thing unless it’s approved by the bankruptcy court. In the meantime, one tenant at the complex has sued Monumental Realty for letting the garage go into disrepair.
This is most unfortunate. I love the Watergate for its history, its location, its views. I used to love it for its tile-lined indoor pool, too, but I don’t think that’s going to survive the renovation.
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Today's the last day to enter the Andaz trip to London sweeps. If you're game, click HERE.
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I just got an email from Last Minute Travel stating that there's going to be another $1-a-night window today. Apparently there was already one this morning, per posts on FlyerTalk and Slick Deals. Reminder: For the latest on the promotion, go to the LAST post and work your way back.
Here's a snapshot of the first four days, from the promotion's blog:Since the beginning of The World for $1 sale, 928 reservations have been made for less than the cost of a movie ticket! And 48% of these reservations were for high-end, luxury hotels! The 2,197 people going on these vacations are headed to 224 different destinations with Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, Cancun and Honolulu topping the list!
This promotion is making some people crazy. I'm chill.
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I missed the window again. There was one at the crack of dawn this morning, followed by speculation that there would be another window later in the day. I haven't checked the threads on FlyerTalk or Slick Deals to see whether one materialized, but I suggest you do for the latest. I will as well, when I get home later this evening.
Remember to click to LAST for the most recent posts and work backwards for the latest and greatest. Here's to Last Minute Travel for concocting a provocative promotion!
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I predict the D.C. Marriott-Schrager Edition hotel will move forward despite some neighborhood opposition. I live two blocks away from the site, and almost daily walk or drive past the church that is going to be transformed into a ballroom and restaurant. Interestingly, the church has not been designated a landmark so the D.C. bodies that govern preservation decisions technically do not have jurisdiction over the project. Though their opinion holds sway. Here are details from an article in TheInTowner, a neighborhood weekly that covers development projects in great detail.Ironically, an earlier proposal for restoration and redevelopment of the church site that called for simply extending the rear of the building into and over the church’s adjacent surface parking lot and recasting the resultant structure as a condominium with townhouse residences facing Champlain Street was rejected by the historic preservation process because — it is asserted by the developer — the expansion structure looked too much like the old church building and DC building code required punching windows on the two rear sides of the church. The height of the expansion structure would have followed that of the existing church building — which would have been proposed for inclusion in the Reed Cooke Zoning Overlay.
Even more startling to note, neither HPRB [Historic Preservation Review Board] nor HPO [Historic Preservation Office] has any legal jurisdiction over this site — no part of which is in an historic district. Moreover, the church building itself has yet to be designated or declared an historic landmark. Thus, federal tax credits and façade tax easements, as well as property tax relief, remain hypothetical benefits to the project. More importantly still is the fact that the hotel project requires approval by the DC Zoning Commission of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) that would serve to override the restrictive Reed-Cooke Zoning Overlay and the site’s underlying zoning regulations.
Unfortunately the hotel is not slated to open until 2012. I hate to wish away the years, but this is something I'm really looking forward to seeing happen, espcially since it's practically in my front yard.
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Apparently the window has come and gone. But maybe not. According to trusty posters on FlyerTalk and Slick Deals, Last Minute Travel can sneak in a second window. Caveat emptor: There are also posts from successful bidders (note that I did not call them winners) that LMT is sending out 1099 for the value of the rooms, as though this were a sweepstakes. That is absolutely bogus. If you snag this rate through this promotion, do not fall for that! NOTE: When you click on the links to these to threads, go to the last post page and work backwards. These threads are moving targets.
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Some disgruntled posters at FlyerTalk and Slick Deals are up in arms about the way Last Minute Travel’s promotion is playing out. At least one person is threatening to contact their state’s Attorney General's office for assorted transgressions, including lack of availability and assertions that the Terms and Conditions keep changing.
I do not know if a stitch of this is true. I did not attempt to enter this promotion today. Apparently the 15-minute window came and went this morning EST. If you’re interested in trying to snag this $1 rate, keep on trucking. I’ll post updates if I see/hear anything interesting. UPDATE: This poster on SlickDeals cadged four nights at a Las Vegas hotel. His tips:1. Sign up and create an account on LMT before you start refreshing the browser (even the 15 seconds you will save by doing this in advance may make the difference between getting the deal and being angry because you ran out of time)
2. Log into LMT with your newly created account
3. Load Check4Change or whatever add on you desire
4. Set C4C to refresh the main LMT page
5. Open another tab for the hotel page
6. Research your hotels in advance - and open another tab with whatever hotel(s) you desire. I had one tab for the LMT main page, one for my first hotel choice and one for my second hotel choice
7. Listen carefully for the clock to start ticking. My Firefox browser with C4C plug in did not play the song as some others mentioned. I was made aware of the deal by the clock ticking and the flashing tab on the main page being monitored by C4C
8. When the ticking begins, navigate to the first choice hotel tab, refresh, and you'll only have to see the movie once (based upon my experience)
9. Book the hotel dates, room type, etc as quickly as possible
10. Fill out your personal info ASAP
11. Answer the two question survey and confirm your reservation
12. Enjoy the fact that you just got a marvelous deal for FREE!
I might give this a whirl tomorrow.
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I’m such a Girl Scout. Yesterday I clicked through all the recommendations on The Daily Beast’s BUZZ BOARD to see if anyone besides Sophie Dahl had recommended a hotel. It turned out that people have been recommending hotels, restaurants and, get this, entire countries (New Zealand and Nicaragua) since the site's inception.
In November, comedian and all-around wit Mo Rocca suggested The Stonebridge Inn & Spa in Batesville, Indianapolis. (I bet he was in the area for a wedding.) Last month, pollster Douglas Schoen raved about the new Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach.
More recently, Radha Arora, regional V.P. and General Manager of Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel recommended the Four Seasons Hotel George V. Okay, the Hotel George is part of his company, so there’s self-interest in getting the name of another hotel in the Four Seasons chain out there, but at least the connection’s obvious. Four Seasons is in the title of his current hotel post.
Not so clear is a recent recommendation from Shane Krige, General Manager of the Plaza Hotel, for Fairmont Mayakoba. Nowhere in his entry or bio do he or The Daily Beast mention that the Plaza also is a Fairmont-managed property. Not owned, but managed. I know this because of my hotel proclivities. For most people to realize there was any connection, they’d have to click on the Plaza link, which goes to the Fairmont website. So, we’re not talking cover-up. But the disclosure, if you could call it that, is embedded, to say the least.
I can’t help but wonder if Krige was slightly conflicted over this; he hardly pulls out all the stops. He writes, “The combination of impeccable service and luxurious accommodations gave my wife and me an incredible sense of well being. It was the perfect place to recharge from the fast pace of New York City.” Now, as General Manager of one of the world’s great hotels, he’d probably get impeccable service at any hotel, Fairmont or not, the moment the staff detected his status. (Have you ever gone out to dinner with a chef? Wild!) At a hotel in the same chain, the staff’s jobs depend on his approval! Plus, besides being anything but anonymous, I’m sure the Kliges got an employee discount. Even if they paid full price, plugs like this are free advertising – which in my book are only acceptable if the reader knows about the connection.
This is one of my biggest bugaboos about the blogosphere, New Media’s repudiation of basic journalistic standards about disclosure. This just undercuts its credibility. Maybe it’s not Watergate. But still.
Tsk tsk to the Daily Beast.
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Today's the first day of LastMinuteTravel.com's $1 a night hotel promotion. HotelChatter reports in this post that today's 15-minute window was between 10:39 to 10:54 A.M., EST.
I missed it by a mile, okay, by several hours. Oh, and if it was even 15 minutes. Some of the folks posting at Slick Deals say not. Though apparently people who were successful are being charged $0 a night! I do not for the life of me have a clue which clues in the promotional video pointed anywhere in the vicinity of this time frame.
Some observations from the folks at Hotelchatter:
1): After entering your details to find your hotel, the website subjects you to an agonizing 2-3 minute video about the features of their new website. Since we thought the page was malfunctioning by taking us to that, we kept refreshing and missing out on booking.
2): Prior research does very little good as not all properties are available during the time limit. For instance, we'd searched for a hotel in the Central district of Hong Kong. Outside of the 15 minutes, LMT shows four available properties. Inside of the 15 minutes, we were only shown two.
3): Before completing your booking, more time is wasted with a survey you must fill out regarding your online travel purchasing habits.
I'm going to keep plugging away for this, I have my heart set on Paris, but I'm keeping my expectations low. This sounds like a real crap shoot.
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Forbes released its list of top hotels today, 400 in toto. Topping the list as America’s Best Hotel is San Ysidro Ranch, which is owned by Ty Warner, who, when he isn’t busy owning Four Seasons Hotel New York, Las Ventanas al Paraiso and Four Seasons Biltmore and Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club, both in Santa Barbara – ownership can be exceedingly time-consuming – runs Ty Inc., the company that released those controversial First Daughter Dolls (Marvelous Malia and Sweet Sasha) over the weekend and then lied about there being any connection to the Obama girls.
How intellectually dishonest can we get here?
The ranch has quite a history, more fortunate than today’s inconvenient coincidence. From the PR Newswire release:
San Ysidro Ranch - A Brief History: The story of San Ysidro Ranch, named after San Ysidro the patron saint of Madrid, is intertwined with the history of Old California. Originally part of land titled in 1769 by the King of Spain, the Ranch served as a way station for Franciscan monks in the late 1700s, a working citrus ranch in the 1800s, and hosted its first guests in 1893. In the 1930s, Hollywood discovered the Ranch, transforming it into a hospitality haven for celebrities. Famous guests over the years range from Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby and Groucho Marx to Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham and Sinclair Lewis. Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were married at the Ranch, John and Jacqueline Kennedy honeymooned there and John Huston completed the script for African Queen during a three-month stay.
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The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s website, runs a celebrity-dominated feature called BUZZ BOARD: Smart People Recommend. Most of the recommendations are books. This morning was the first time I noticed a recommendation for a hotel, from Sophie Dahl, who is described as a former model, book author and contributing editor to Men’s Vogue. (I had to stop and ask myself if Men’s Vogue was even still around. Apparently yes, but not as a stand-alone and only twice a year and it’s been folded into Vogue.)
She conveniently (though correctly) leaves out that she was Mick Jagger’s paramour for a stretch. That’s how many of us came to know her name.
In any event, her pick is Hacienda de San Antonio hotel in Colima, Mexico. Here’s what she has to say about it.It doesn't feel like a hotel, it feels like you borrowed the house of an unspeakably grand and stylish friend who disappeared in the night, leaving a warm seamless staff, acres of wild mountain beauty, and ambrosial food. Add to this mix a Saint and a dormant volcano, horses to ride through fields of wildflowers, an on-site organic farm producing the food on your table, heavenly sheets, and a brilliant giggling mariachi band and that explains about half of it. It would be selfish not to tell others about this hotel. It's THAT lovely.
After clicking around the hotel's website, I have to agree. The hotel is listed on Mexico Boutique Hotels, a great resource if you're looking for lodging in Mexico.
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Here are some photos taken by Huffington Post's Annie Groer from the Mayflower Hotel on Inauguration night. Check out the voluptuous woman from Baltimore. She looks like she's on the precipice of a wardrobe malfunction. She evokes the French expression, "Il y a du monde au balcon." (When an ample rack meets a low neckline, the effect is that of a crowded balcony.) Mae West would approve. If the Mayflower rings a bell, here's why: It's where Eliot Spitzer had his fateful rendez-vous with that Jersey Call Girl.
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Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City is sponsoring a video contest and the entries are surprisingly funny. Folks submit a video about why they deserve a post-holiday spa getaway. The prize is two nights in a Red Door Suite, a full day of spa treatments at the Red Door Spa.
Yes, this is the same Red Door affiliated with Elizabeth Arden’s day spa, which evokes a little spa cognitive dissonance there, but hey this a new era and I am trying my best not to be narrow about anything anymore.
To watch the videos and/or to enter the contest, click HERE.
I haven’t made up my mind about whether I’m going to enter this one or not. I shy away from contests in general; travel sweepstakes are my thing. Plus, I’m decidedly not videogenic, so that’s giving me pause. On the other hand, I’ve been pining to visit Atlantic City and I could always use a spa getaway. Maybe I’ll consult my Magic 8 Ball.
The deadline to enter is January 30.
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The folks at LastMinuteTravel.com are hosting a nifty promotion that could net you a $1 a night hotel stay at a top hotel. Emphasis on could. This is not a sweepstakes or a contest. It’s an online temporal scavenger hunt. Starting Monday January 26, LastMinuteTravel.com will offer its entire 15,000 hotel inventory for $1 a night, with a maximum stay of seven nights, to the first 500 clicksters that nab a reservation. The catch, besides the usual room availability, is that fantastic-hotel-deal aspirants will only get this steal of a rate during a 15-minute window, and the window will change every day.
Folks can sign up HERE for emails that promise to give clues as to which time which day for these 10 days: January 26, 27, 28, 28, 30, February 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, i.e., Monday through Friday for the two-week period starting January 26.
The promotion seems to be a tie-in to LastMinuteTravel.com’s taking its hotel component "undercover." Details on that to come. UPDATE: So, yes, this $1 a night promotion is linked to LastMinuteTravel.com's hotel component going "undercover," sometimes known as "opaque." You get plenty of details about the hotel itself, amenities, approximate location (i.e., you won't think you're booking in midtown Manhattan and end up in the Bronx). I used to know more about this. I think Priceline started this way, then added a transparent component as well? Help me out here! As for LastMinuteTravel.com, for $50, you can join its club, and book hotels transparently and get up to 65%. For details, click HERE.
I’m game. For rules, click HERE.
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Hilton Hotels is moving its headquarters to Washington D.C. later this year. From today's Washington Post:After Hilton's move, three of the six top hotel companies in the world by number of rooms would be based in the region, controlling more than 1.5 million rooms, according to Hotels magazine. The figures are based on rankings at the end of 2007.
"Washington is becoming the hotel capital of the world," said Frederick V. Malek, chairman of the Annapolis-based Thayer Lodging Group and former president of Marriott Hotels.
Interesting development. The full article is HERE.
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This is the hallway off the lobby of the Willard four days before the Inauguration. This is a most storied hotel. The word "lobbyist" was popularized because of schmoozing in this very hotel's lobby. And from Wikipedia I share these oh so relevant facts:
From February 4 to February 27, 1861, the Peace Congress, featuring delegates from 21 of the 34 states, met at the Willard in a last-ditch attempt to avert the Civil War. A plaque from the Virginia Civil War Commission, located on the Pennsylvania Ave. side of the hotel, commemorates this courageous effort. Later that year, upon hearing a Union regiment singing "John Brown's Body" as they marched beneath her window, Julia Ward Howe wrote the patriotic "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the same tune.
On February 23, 1861, amid several assassination threats, detective Allan Pinkerton smuggled Abraham Lincoln into the Willard during the weeks before his inauguration; there Lincoln lived until his inauguration on March 4, holding meetings in the lobby and carrying on business from his room.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in his hotel room at the Willard in 1963 in the days before his March on Washington.
This would be my first choice of hotel for this weekend. Of course it sold out licketysplit.
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Coming soon.
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Celebrity hotel reports for the inauguration are starting to trickle in. Dionne Warwick is staying at the Marriott Wardman Park per TMZ.com. She’s also hosting the American Music Inaugural Ball there. This hotel is ballroom city.
As ever, TMZ is long on snark, short on details. It claims she's staying in one of the best rooms, then leaves it at that. Okay ... Here's the item.
Ms. Warwick better pay attention to where she’s staying. With over 1,300 rooms in several interestingly configured buildings, it is really easy to get lost in this hotel. I know.
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Hotel packages can be over the top in their desperation to lure guests to the fold. This one breaks new ground: A shoe lover’s package at Trump International Hotel for six. That’s right, six. It’s for one night; it comes with a late 4 o’clock checkout, so you might squeak in a full 24 hours. It includes shopping at Bergdoff, an after-hours party at the store and a pedicure. The cost: $6,325. This include $250 gift cards for each person from Bergdoff.
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Maddening. There's no date for this interview with General Manager Kiaran MacDonald on the Canadian website Gremolata. It seems recent, given the reference to the Savoy closing a year ago. It's supposed to reopen in May.
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I'm going to follow this one over at FlyerTalk: How did you start your habit of staying in luxury hotels?
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Poor Alexandra Penney. First she loses nearly everything by investing with Bernie Madoff. Then she finds an outlet, Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, to write about her post-Madoff existence. Boy does she get slammed for not playing the redemptive victim. Truth be told, she deserves some of the negative feedback. She got off on the wrong foot in her first post by kvetching about having to give up her maid who, among other tasks, ironed her 40 white shirts. And she's not teetering on the precipice of destitution. She's got a house, jewelry, art. Penney doesn’t seem to grasp that yes, despite everything -- her bestselling author status (she penned How To Make Love To a Man), her magazine editor credentials (EIC of SELF), and, of late, her success as an artist -- she is one of us. Some comments are overly harsh, even blaming Penney (aren’t the names in this saga RICH?) for putting all her eggs in one basket.
In her third installment, Penney spends a night in a Hampton Inn as she drives to Florida to sell what she calls her "shack." She doesn’t provide coordinates except to note that she’s 400 miles from her destination, the Palm Beach area. So, that’s probably Georgia. Her dispatch is a hoot.
I can’t believe the Hampton Inn. It’s my new Ritz-Carlton! The room is warm and comfy and inviting, with fluffy white duvet covers. There’s even a board with a pen handily tucked into a slot and you can rest a book or laptop on it.
The sink is real granite (!) and the towels are extra-heavy. The place is immaculate and breakfast is absolutely free! A sweet scent wafts down the hall and someone knocks on the door and offers freshly baked chocolate cookies. Can I be dreaming?
Her delight at the Hampton Inn’s standards reminds me that hotels are like wine. There are a lot of decent inexpensive ones out there. When Penney was flush, she was no hotel spendthrift. She was shocked by the $2,100 a night rates at the Ararat Park Hotel in Moscow when she was there for a work project several months ago. She’s got good check-in instincts: She negotiated down the Hampton Inn’s $89 a night rate by $10.
As for the nasty comments, I hope she isn't taking them to heart. She might be getting the last laugh. Her posts are the Most Read for days after they’re originally published. For her, like for so many of us, blogging well might be the best revenge.
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President-Elect Barack Obama is our first narrative president. That keeps him attuned to narrative politics and their resonance. To wit, when John McCain made Sarah Palin his vice-presidential running mate, Obama commented on her amazing personal narrative. As if it were a commodity. So Obama's recent grousings about having to stay in a hotel before the Blair House, the official White House guest quarters, becomes available come off as whiney. The word "petulant," which I used in another post just the other day, comes to mind. Many people have to live in a hotel when they relocate for a new job.
Here's what he told reporters last evening, per an article in today's New York Times:
After arriving at Andrews Air Force Base about 7 p.m. Sunday, Mr. Obama entered a presidential limousine and was driven to the Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House, which will be the family’s home for the next two weeks.
For all of the luxury of the Obamas’ temporary home -- Hay-Adams suites cost as much as several thousand dollars a night -- Mr. Obama clearly was not looking forward to the short residency there after nearly two years on the campaign trail. "Well, living in a hotel for two weeks, I kind of did that for two years," he said.
On one level, I empathize. I'd be mighty tired of hotels after two years, too. And I do appreciate his openness. On another level, I wish he'd censor himself, especially when he emits evidence that suggests he is not the perfect stranger we take him to be. I mean, the economy, two wars, the Middle East. The Hay-Adams is hardly a hardship post.
The blocks around the Hay-Adams have been closed off by cement barriers. That's not stopping locals and tourists from gathering there, to try and get a glimpse of the new First Family. It's very exciting to be in Washington these days.
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I did not intend to make the focus here so sweeps-oriented. But I also didn't expect to discover so many new hotel-specific sweeps. So for now, as I develop other story ideas, I will post choice hotel-specific sweeps here and cross-reference them accordingly on Travel Sweeps. Pourquoi pas?
Here's Tablet Hotels' January offering: Five nights at the Hotel Pont Royal, in Paris, in the Septieme, and dinner at the hotel restaurant, which just happens to be Joel Robuchon's Michelin-starred L'Atelier. To enter, sign up for Tablet Hotel's newsletter HERE.
The location looks splendid. For a satellite view, click HERE. Bonne chance!
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1.03.2009 | I can't help myself. The occasional poster on this forum can get so petulant, with such an off-the-charts sense of entitlement and disconnect, that some days I can't bear to read more than a few lines. But I keep returning. Because most of the posters seem rather nice, and many posts are informative, with tidbits about deals, renovations, concierge movement, restaurant and spa developments (including, in the case of the former, rumored closings. Some of these folks really know their stuff, and will start a thread with an incisive question. For instance, several days ago, someone asked, Does it matter who the gm [General Manager] is? The consensus seems to be that yes, it did. Though one poster disagreed, noting:
They are like officials in a sporting event...all things being equal they should be invisible.
Which suggests this poster is not a soccer fan. So I refer this FlyerTalk Luxury Hotels Forum with a grain of salt. Oh, and that would of course be artisanal sea salt from, let's see, let's make that Ile de Re.
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1.03.2009 | I have a loud neighbor. He talks loud, he walks loud, he slams his door loud, he plays his music loud. It's the music, with its endlessly thudding bass, that pushes me over the edge. We share two walls, between our kitchens and between my entry, which is where I've set up my home office, and his living room. I've written him two letters, I've pounded on his door, I even called the police once. (And they came. It was six in the morning.) This time, I called the front desk. Carolyn, my friend and neighbor, said she'd call and ask him to lower the music, if he had a proper phone line. But he's only got a cell phone, and he didn't give the number to the front desk. Get this: He claims he can't turn down the bass, that there's no button for that. What? This guy should be charming. He looks like Sean Penn. And he works on the Iraq desk at the State Department. (Part of me wonders how he passed the Foreign Service exam.) But he is loud. And unresponsive. Anyway, right now, I wish I were in a hotel, say, the Ritz-Carleton Georgetown. I bet it's lovely. And not loud.
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1.03.2009 | Duh. I didn’t make the connection between the guy I’ve read about in places like USAToday and HotelChatter, the one who reads aloud to you in your hotel room, and the sweeps I’ve been entering for weeks until last night when, lo and behold, there he was on Nightline. The Bedtime Reader! And he’s at the Andaz on Liverpool. (The Andaz is Hyatt’s latest line.) Yes, the Bedtime Reader! And I had no idea. And I’ve been entering a daily sweeps for a four-night stay at the Andaz on Liverpool, with airfare, since before, like, Thanksgiving. The fellow’s name is Damian Barr, he’s a journalist, and he got the idea when he was on a business trip to some place like Stockholm. He seems nice enough. But, as I learned on the Nightline segment, he’s a bit like the maid who doesn’t do windows. He doesn’t do voices. Party pooper!
To enter, click HERE. This is a daily entry that runs through January 30.
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1.02.2009 | Wouldn’t this be cute? When the Obamas check into the Hay-Adams this weekend, one of the girls asks one of their parents, "What’s a concierge?" And they’re so busy multitasking in the lobby that they brush off their inquisitive daughter and tell her that they’ll explain the concept later. And when they’re up in their room, after they’ve marveled at the view and fluffed their pillows, they Google the word "concierge." Remember, this is a family that practices thorough research. And there on How Stuff Works is none other than Jack Nargil, the concierge at the Hay-Adams! Here, he explains all about being "part Merlin, part Houdini," which is how Les Cles d’Or describes the full service concept. (This is where we cue "Ain’t No River Wide Enough.") And Nargil is quoted thus:
No matter how strange the request, concierges rarely turn down a client or guest. "We always say that if we can't get you a white elephant, perhaps we can get you a pink elephant," says Nargil. "The word 'no' really doesn't exist. It's a word concierges rebel against."
I’ve been trying to come up with a clever line about a pink donkey, get it, the Republicans are the elephants, the Democrats are the donkeys, but I’m drawing a blank. Anyway, Nargil’s a registered Democrat, so this experience should be one of the highlights of his career.
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1.02.2009 | Here's a clip. Here's an article.
Noteworthy:Local legend holds that Henry Adams' wife, Clover, committed suicide in 1885 and now haunts the hotel. The story goes that she appears most frequently in December on the hotel's fourth floor.
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1.01.2009 | Here's a Washington Post article about the Hay-Adams.
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12.31.2008 | Sign up for Tablet Hotels' weekly newsletter, and get a chance to win five nights in one of their hotels. The hotel changes every month. This month, which, uh, if you haven't noticed, ends today, it's the Hotel Brandenburger Hof Berlin. Tomorrow?
Once you sign up, you are still eligible to enter the monthly sweeps. All you have to do is resubmit your information.
For the uninitiated--and if you’re not, you should be--Tablet Hotels is a curated selection of some of the world's most compelling hotels. The site contains clever parsing of the hotel universe, including top 10 lists (top 10 rated, top 10 emailed) and, great fun this, favorite hotels of the stars. (Sir Ben Kingsley and Christian Liaigre both like the Chateau Marmont.)
My one quibble with Tablet Hotels is that, unless I missed something, their listings don’t link to the hotel’s website. I suppose this has something to do with retaining the transaction fee, but even Luxury Link links to a property's website. Nonetheless, TabletHotels' listings are thorough, and include photographs and reviews. Here’s the one for the Hotel Brandenburger Hof Berlin. All told, Tablet Hotels is one of my absolute favorite hotel websites.
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12.31.2008 | News broke this evening that the Obamas will be moving into a Washington hotel later this week. They're coming to town so the girls can start their new school after holiday break. They'll stay in the hotel, in a suite per news reports, through January 15, when they move into the Blair House, the official While House guest house.
Aides would not reveal which hotel. I give the secret 24 hours. I'm tempted to start guessing which hotel it might be. The Hay-Adams makes sense. It's right across the park from the White House.
UPDATE: 11 AM EST Wednesday, December 31, 2008
AOL's Political Machine is playing the guessing game, too: Dylan and Ethan Ris bet it's either the Watergate and the Mayflower. Sorry, fellows, but the Watergate is currently closed for renovations. And the Howard Johnson on Florida Avenue surely doesn't have suites that would meet the President Elect's standards - if it has suites at all.
It's anyone's guess where the Obamas will check in. We hear very nice things about the Watergate Hotel, and we think their might be some sort of historic thing that happened there. Oh, there's also the Mayflower hotel - that one's really popular with elected officials from out of town, like Governor Eliot Spitzer. Sometimes they even hold very special meetings there!
But clearly times are tight, and the Obamas might not be able to spring for a luxury hotel. Well, there's always the HoJo over on Florida Avenue!
On a philosophical note, I appreciate the Obama's needs for privacy, especially considering his daughters, but it is just plain unrealistic for him and his staff to expect this one to remain secret for long. And I'm guessing his aides have told reporters, who are keeping it mum for now.
UPDATE: 12:30 EST Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Bingo, on two counts. It's the Hay-Adams, per multiple mainstream news sources (MSNBC, The Washington Post). And the secret didn't last more than 24 hours. The family could not have picked a more ideal location for their segue into the White House. Many rooms have views of the White House. For the Obama girls, this is pretty magical, being able to look across Lafayette Park at their soon-to-be home.
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12.30.2008 | Isaac is spending three days and two nights at Colonial Williamsburg with his father. They're staying in the Richard Crump House, one of the Colonial Houses in the historic village. They're in the second floor room, which has twin beds and a bathroom.
Isaac reports that the beds are comfortable and that there's a TV. I didn't ask if it was high definition; me thinks not. He notes that the ceiling is slanted, because the roof's not flat. He adds he was scared going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, because the guides have been telling guests ghosts stories. This was after he told me last evening that he did not believe in spirits. Boo! He also said the economy was affecting Colonial Williamsburg, and that they were closing down some of the shops. He mentioned the cooper. Could this be so?
Here's more from my exclusive interview.
BB: Is the room comfortable?
IG: It’s pretty comfortable. I learned some new words. 'Punky' means hot and sunny. It's a punky day. They called shoes 'pits.' I like your pits.
BB: Would you stay there again?
IG: Yes. I would rather stay at the Williamsburg Inn but it’s so fancy. We ate dinner there. I overheard a woman ordering caviar.
You can tell from the above exchange that the experience is meeting my educational expectations. Reviews on TripAdvisor are mixed, in part because of elevated expectations. The Colonial Williamsburg website doesn't have photos of each house. The accompanying photo is The Moody Kitchen Bedroom. You can download an online brochure, a PDF file, HERE.
Isaac's father and I stayed at The Williamsburg Inn once upon a time. I'd been covering a conference of CEO's. Two amusing moments: 1.) Overhearing Jack Welch, then head of GE, complaining that the limousines he'd taken from the airport looked like "pimp mobiles." 2.) Meeting the ambassador from Malta, who was there with his paramour. Years later, this gentleman moved into my building. We are still neighbors. At our Christmas party this year, he told Isaac, who's studying Latin, what they used to say about studying Latin in college: "Latin is a language as dead as dead can be; first it killed the Romans, now it's killing me."
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12.30.2008 | Hotels sure look mighty attractive at dusk. That's the Beverly Wilshire to the right. Vogue Magazine is sponsoring a sweeps package with a three-night stay there. The prize includes airfare, spa treatments and a serious makeover (think Jimmy Choo [shoes], Serge Normant [salon], Irene Neuwrith [jewelry]). To enter, click HERE. This is a one-time-entry affair. It closes January 19. (Note: Third night free offers are all the rage at luxury hotels. The Beverly Wilshire is currently offering one.)
On the other side of the pond, I've been entering this daily sweeps since I discovered it last month. It's a trip to London that includes a four-night stay at The Andaz on Liverpool. Andaz is Hyatt's new line, with properties planned for New York and L.A. and beyond. To enter, click HERE. This sweeps, a daily entry as noted above, closes January 30.
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12.29.2008 | Many of the online travel sweeps I enter do not specify the hotel. It's a kind of gamble on top of a gamble. Here's one that does; it ends at midnight this evening. Make that 11:59 P.M. E.S.T. The prize: a trip for two to a Fairmont property in one of the following locations: Scottsdale; Cairo; Monte Carlo; Vancouver or Beijing. The prize includes round-trip airfare, spa treatments, and $3,500 USD in American Express® Travelers Cheques.
To enter, click HERE. For more sweeps, visit TRAVEL SWEEPS.
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12.29.2008 | Several weeks ago I booked New Year's Eve and the following night at The Chelsea in Atlantic City. I'd bought tickets to see Craig Ferguson, who's appearing at The Borgata on New Year's Eve, but The Borgata was booked, so I thought The Chelsea, Atlantic City's first non-casino hotel since Atlantic City went casino, was the next obvious choice. The woman who took my reservation explained there was a 48-hour cancellation policy. She sent an email confirming my room (Luxe King), rates ($391.20 for New Year's Eve, $175.20 for the next evening, plus $81.30 in taxes, for a total of $674.70).
The email also detailed the hotel's policies as follows:
Hotel Policies
- Our check-in time is 4pm and check-out is 12pm.
- The Chelsea is a smoke free environment. A penalty will be applied to the guest's folio if this policy is violated.
- We gladly accommodate service animals, however we do not allow pets.
- Valet Parking fees: $15.00 Friday & Saturday, $10.00 Sunday through Thursday.
Cancellation Policy
We understand that plans change and you may need to cancel or modify your reservation, so please review the following policies.
All deposits are fully refundable and transferable 48 hours prior to arrival.
I called the hotel at about 2:45 P.M. to cancel. I thought I was within the 48-hour cancellation policy with a 4 o'clock check-in. It took me 29 minutes and 3 seconds to get the hotel to see things my way, even with my confirmation email. And thank goodness for my confirmation email. As it turned out, the reservationist should have applied a seven-day cancellation policy to my reservation, and a group with a seven-day cancellation policy was trying to cancel, and they thought I was part of that group. I'm happy with the outcome but think this should have been resolved without the folderol.
This is my cancellation number: 9008845. I note it here just in case. In any event, I'll get to Atlantic City one of these days. And I might just stay at The Chelsea.
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