Hotel News We Noted: August 31, 2012

by McLean Robbins on

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone! We hope you’re off to enjoy one last summer fling – did you like our roundups of hotel deals (some are still going on) and great hotel pools for one last dip?

Kids are back in school and it seems like the hotel world has woken from its summer slumber too – we’ve got lots on tap for you, below.

As always, if you have news or notes, please send us an email.

Still Haven’t Booked For Labor Day? Last Minute Hotel Apps
If you still haven’t booked your hotel for a weekend getaway, check out our last-minute hotel specials and these great road trip tips. You could also try an app like Hotel Tonight or Booking.com.

Sweet Treat: A Beer Float at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
We’ve heard of floats and we’ve heard of craft beer, but what about a craft beer float? That’s exactly what you’ll get at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, which is pairing craft beers with seasonal ice cream and sorbet combos. Sample New Belgium 1554 Black Ale 13 with Rocky Mountain Road Ice Cream and Raspberry-Champagne Sorbet, or Sam Adams American Kriek 24 with Black Cherry-Nutella Swirl, Dark Chocolate, and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Yum.

Hotel Opening: The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna
The Ritz-Carlton opened its first hotel in Austria to much fanfare earlier this week (seen in the image, at right). The 80th hotel in the brand’s portfolio is composed of four 19th century palaces in the city’s downtown. You’ll find a rooftop bar, a restaurant serving authentic Austrian cuisine and a soon-to-open boutique spa by luxury skincare brand Guerlain.

Celebrity Not Welcome: Chateau Marmont
We’re not sure if Lindsay Lohan or Chateau Marmont looks worse in this situation. Word broke this week that LiLo is no longer welcome at the posh L.A. area hotel after refusing to pay a $46,000 bill that she claims should have been taken care of by producers of her upcoming “Liz and Dick” film. It’s not really a shock to us that Lohan is a bit of a train wreck – we’ve seen this for some time now. But it also appears a mark against the hotel itself – hotels of a certain caliber are supposed to have some level of discretion, particularly those that cater to the celeb set. What do you think? Who comes out looking worse here? Hotel staff or LiLo?

Hotel Opening: Refugia Lodge, Chile
It’s a week of far-flung hotel openings. This week, remote Chiloé Island in southern Chile, gets a touch of the luxe in a region known for its rusticity. The 12-room Refugia Lodge sits perched atop a rolling hill with beautiful views of the Reloncaví Sound and the snow capped peaks of the Andes in the distance, just 20 minutes from the capital city Castro. The all-inclusive lodge would be a great place to visit – a place the New York Times named one of the “45 Places to Go in 2012.” The Chiloé Archipelago is culturally and ethnically distinct from mainland Chile due to hundreds of years of relative isolation. Sounds like a real treat from $530 USD per night.

Gastronomy And Great Spas: Four Hotel And Resort Spas With Luxurious Culinary Tie-Ins

by McLean Robbins on

Spas have long been mixing natural and food-quality ingredients into their treatment offerings, but spa cuisine menus have often been relegated to the true destination spa resorts – the Miravals and Canyon Ranches of the travel world. While these spots are lovely, travelers often don’t have time to get away for a week of relaxation. Today, however, more and more hotels are offering healthy cuisine options to tie in with their spa menus, allowing travelers seeking relaxation for an hour or an afternoon to enjoy high-quality yet healthy options. Here are a few of our favorite easy escapes, below:

The Cornelia Spa at The Surrey
The Cornelia Spa, the newest addition to The Surrey in NYC is now offering guests small bites at The Botanical Bar, an experience integrated into the spa’s “Relaxation Library” to create a destination within the spa for lingering, lounging and experiencing tasty bites and beautiful books. Guests are served a sweet and savory refreshment that are flavorful, healthful and inspired by the botanical ingredients in the Cornelia products including herbs, flowers, fruits and spices. Post treatment, enjoy a sweet treat – The Surrey’s Signature Botanical Cookie with a lavender drizzle. The savory tasting will rotate to include amuse bouche delicacies such as orange-spiced salted almonds and a selection of orange-minted olives.

The Spa at The Mandarin Oriental, Boston Located just off prime shopping on Newbury Street, The Mandarin Oriental Boston is a top pick for leisure and business travelers alike. Those looking to escape from the hustle and bustle of city living can enjoy pampering treatments at the 16,000-square-foot spa, and head to the spa cafe for post treatment lunches or snacks.
Lake Austin Spa at Lake Austin Spa Resort
This well-known spa offers a number of culinary inspired treatments, including a number of body treatments that use local and food-based ingredients. Test the “Best of the Southwest” scrub using local mesquite, jojoba oil and pure sugar, plus a ginger tea tree mango butter foot cream or a pear and fig body polish with turmeric root. Don’t worry if you’re hungry post treatment – the resort is also well known for their superb spa cuisine, much of which is made using Texas-based ingredients or sourced from the resort’s own gardens onsite.

Fairmont’s Willow Stream Spa Brand
The energizing Willow Stream Spas, the signature spa brand of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, offer spa goers a range of signature and local spa treatments but also places a strong emphasis on food. All spa destinations offer Spa Bento Box spa cuisine as part of Fairmont’s Lifestyle Cuisine, prepared with non-processed food, as healthy, locally grown and organic as possible. They also offer Lifestyle Cuisine Plus, a new menu available upon request catering to spa guests with specific diet-dependent conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and gluten free needs, as well as unique dietary preferences including macrobiotic, raw and vegan diets.

Seattle Is The Country’s Most Expensive Labor Day Destination

by McLean Robbins on

Want to save money on this long weekend? Don’t head to Seattle. The Emerald City is the country’s most expensive destination for this upcoming Labor Day weekend, based on the cost of its lodging, according to a new survey by CheapHotels. The survey compared hotel rates for 20 popular U.S. destinations for the Labor Day weekend period spanning August 31 to September 3 (Labor Day).

The cheapest available three-star hotel is a hefty $312 per night, perhaps due to a large event, the annual Bumbershoot Festival, taking place that weekend. This music and arts festival typically drives around 100,000 visitors to the city each year. As a result of its popularity, hotel rates are around 65% higher than normal, according to the survey.

Budget travelers can find much more affordable rates at other national destinations, though. In Washington, D.C., or Miami Beach, for example, they can score a three-star hotel room for around $100 per night. And the usually in-demand Orlando is a bargain hunter’s dream. In fact, it’s the country’s cheapest Labor Day weekend destination according to the survey, with an overnight rate of only $63.

If you’re looking to save costs, we’d also suggest avoiding Virginia Beach ($309), Atlantic City ($286) and Philadelphia ($269).

Planning A Last Minute Labor Day Getaway? Great Hotel Specials Await

by McLean Robbins on

Your long weekend is just a few days away. If you’re ready to get away from it all or just plan one last summer escape, we’ve rounded up some great hotel deals for your booking pleasure.

Beach Shack, Cape May
The Clam Digger Labor Day Experience honors the first Annual Clam-A-Rama. To celebrate, the Beach Shack is offering special overnight accommodations starting at $370 and includes four beers in Beach Shack Pail with shovel and an order of Steamer clams at the Rusty Nail, one Beach Shack clam pitching kit, two Clam-A-Rama T-shirts and a one-day day beach cabana rental. This package is available August 29 through September 5, guests must call (877) 742-2507 and mention the code “CLAMDIG” to receive special offer.

Sheraton Delfina, California
For those looking for something new and fun to do yet still local to southern California, head over to the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica to enjoy the Labor Day Weekend Package for only $250 per night. Features include welcome drinks, 24-hour Cabana Club Room and Lounge Access with complimentary breakfast and evening appetizers, complimentary valet parking and complimentary bicycle rentals to explore the famous streets and beaches of Santa Monica!

Viceroy Palm Springs, California
At the Viceroy Palm Springs, a Twilight Romance retreat for two will include a couple’s 30-minute spa service under the stars in a private al fresco spa cabana between 9 p.m. and midnight. Soak up the evening with a complimentary bottle of Moet Ice followed by breakfast for two, Citron poolside. Rates start at $250 per night.
Avalon Beverly Hills, California
The Avalon Beverly Hills is offering a Breathe Easier Package, which invites guests to enjoy 25% off their entire stay including room, meals and beverages, valet parking and internet access. Rates start at $180 per night.

Affinia Hotels, Manhattan
Invites guests to beat the end of summer blues with Keep it Cool at Affinia Hotels featuring the necessities for savoring the sunshine and enjoying NYC’s parks and outdoor spaces. This offer starts from $269 for travel over Labor Day Weekend, including overnight accommodations, a Walking Tour Kit featuring an iPod Shuffle or Nano loaded with a walking tour and playlists, City Walks deck of cards, city guidebook featuring popular walking tours, StreetWise city map, pedometer and towel, a BYOB Kit including a neoprene wine carrier with wine key, BYOB guidebook, Little Black Book of Wine and picnic blanket, sunscreen and two bottles of water. For more information and to book visit www.affinia.com/summer or call 866-246-2203 and mention promotional code SUMMER.

Wolcott Hotel, New York City
With Labor Day Weekend rates starting at $230 per night, travelers will enjoy home-like accommodations in the newly landmarked hotel, just blocks from the Empire State Building and a short distance to many of New York’s top summer attractions including the South Street Seaport, Highline, Governor’s Island and of course, Central Park. Hotel amenities include complimentary muffins and coffee every morning, concierge services for tickets to local attractions, fitness room, laundry facility, and an on-site gift shop. To book, visit www.wolcott.com or call 212-268-2900.

The Liaison Capitol Hill, Washington DC
This Washington, DC hotel invites guests of all ages to relax and enjoy its rooftop lounge with a “Sun Yourself” kit. When the sun gets too strong, dive in or chill out with a refreshing cocktail (or, cold non-alcoholic beverage for those under 21) and a bite from the poolside menu. Rates start at $149 for Friday, Aug. 31 through Monday, Sept. 3 and include access to the pool, breakfast for two at Art and Soul, the hotel’s restaurant run by two-time James Beard award winner and Oprah’s former chef, Art Smith, daily yoga on the roof, a “Sun Yourself” kit with sunscreen, lip balm and bottled water and overnight accommodations. For additional information and to book, please visit the website www.affinia.com/dive and include promo code SUMPKG.

The Maplewood Inn, Finger Lakes, New York
The ideal way for foodies to eat their way through the Labor Day weekend is at the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse. The Maplewood Inn offers up a “Fair” package with rates starting at $149 nightly. The package includes two fair tickets, two breakfast vouchers, transportation to and from the fairgrounds (from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and double occupancy accommodations. Please note that this package is based on availability. To book this package, visit www.themaplewoodinn.com or call (315)451-1511.

W Scottsdale, Arizona
The hotel is offering three unique promotions for Labor Day Weekend, allowing guests to design their ideal end-of-summer retreat at Arizona’s hottest destination. These offers are part of a “Pick Your Package” promotion and each include complimentary access to the hotel’s highly-anticipated Labor Day pool party, hosted on the W Scottsdale rooftop pool deck, WET, on Sunday, September 2. The Road Trip package is geared towards drive-in customers and offers a gas card, valet parking, and overnight accommodations. The Vitamin W, includes a W Scottsdale beach tote, Aloe Vera cooling spray, lip balm, a poolside pitcher of margaritas, and accommodations in a Wonderful room.
The Feel the Music package includes a $30 iTunes gift card, W Scottsdale ear phones, W Hotels music CD, two cool cocktails, and accommodations in a Wonderful room. Rates start at $199. For more information or to book “Pick Your Package,” guests can call (480) 970-2109.

Mystic Hotel, San Francisco
Still searching for a Labor Day escape? Book now at the Mystic Hotel Union Square
San Francisco – famed restaurateur Charlie Palmer’s new boutique hotel located in the heart of the city’s most popular neighborhoods – and receive 20% off your holiday stay. To book this rate, use code MHLD on the hotel’s website.

Reconnecting In Maine

by Elizabeth Seward on

She was my childhood best friend and, at my persuasion, she moved in with me in New York from Pittsburgh. For nearly a year, we conquered even the most harrowing parts of city life together. She was a painter. We shared a studio space. We collaborated to create events that combined both music and art. When my band went on tour for the entire summer, she came with us and helped with driving and selling merchandise. But all of that concentrated time together backfired and by the end of that year, we had a falling out. She moved out of my apartment; she moved out of New York. She started a new life in Boston. She got a puppy. I sent her emails every now and then, hoping to maintain a thread of contact despite our mutual need for general distance. She always wrote back, even if it took a week or two. She came back to New York once for a night to visit her friends, including mutual friends. I saw her for a second, but the climate between the two of us was still tense and unforgiving. Twenty months of embarrassingly little communication passed and then I asked her to go to Maine with me.

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Maine was the only continental U.S. state I hadn’t seen at the time. I read about an oceanside, dog-friendly resort just north of the Maine border and brainstormed a plan and presented it to her. After making sure she could get the time off from work, she agreed.

The cheap Chinatown buses that run nearly every hour from NYC to Boston and other major East Coast cities were means of regular travel for me. I arrived to the dumpy sidewalk corner where everyone waits for the bus thirty minutes early, luckily lugging only a backpack. I boarded a subtly bad-smelling bus and did what I always do on buses: alternated between staring out the window while listening to music and focusing intently on my laptop screen writing. She picked me up in downtown Boston. I was happy to see her – relieved even.

We went back to her house in Newton where I met her nearly 2-year-old Boxer and walked bemusedly into and through her strange home. She’d been living in a house that belonged to her godfather and she didn’t have to pay rent, but there was a catch: her godfather’s family stored anything they wanted in the house and on the property. A few rusted cars, all of which were out of commission, lined the driveway. I twisted through the maze between a handful of couches in the dark living room, passing an adjacent room that was so thick with the brush of dusty excess that it served no purpose other than storage. There were a few bedrooms upstairs and old mattresses were scattered throughout them. My eyes scanned each scene with rapidity, immediately finding items to remark on as if I were perusing the merchandise in a house-sized garage sale. The only section of the house she’d organized was the basement, which she had turned into an art studio. I asked her if she’d thought of ways to create more functional living spaces in the rest of the house, but she seemed to think that if she worked hard and made it look nice, that someone in her godfather’s family would suddenly notice the improvement and decide rent was owed. So she left it all the way it was.

We used her car to get to the resort in Maine, a place called The Cliff House Resort & Spa. Barring just a few wrong turns, it didn’t take us long to reach our destination. We pulled in late afternoon and were shown to our room. Our room belonged to the comparatively dingier side of the resort that contained the older building wherein dogs were permitted. No one else was staying in that wing of the hotel at the time and our balcony overlooked steep rock cliffs that dropped off into the Atlantic. It was perfect. We woke up at sunrise to walk the dog and stared out at the orange and pink beams of light over the ocean with gratitude. We stuffed ourselves with delicious seafood, blueberry pie and wine for three days. I had mussels, foie gras and raw oysters for the first time. When we weren’t eating, we were in the hot tub or the pool. When we weren’t soaking, we were getting massages or body wraps. We even had a masseuse come to our room and give the dog a massage, as if to prove to ourselves that such a service really did exist. He didn’t seem to like the massage at the time, but he fell asleep drooling as soon as the masseuse left – comatose. And when we weren’t doing any of those things, we talked. I had a crush on my now-husband at the time, but I wasn’t quick to admit it.

“I don’t know, E. Sounds to me like you like this guy,” she told me.

“Maybe,” I confessed.

Instead of taking the highway back to Boston, we decided to drive down the coast (I wrote about the drive for the Iconic Road Trips series earlier this summer). It took us roughly five extra hours to take this route, but it was worth it. We stopped for coffee (Seacoast Coffee Company) and photo-taking and got back to Boston with enough time left over to join her colleagues for a dinner at the restaurant where she worked before I boarded the 10 p.m. bus back to NYC. I hobbled onto the bus drunk, having taken too many generously poured, gratis glasses of wine from her manager. The bus smelled strongly of urine, as most Chinatown buses by nightfall do in my experience. I smiled, despite my gagging, at the small vacation I now had under my belt. I’d seen a new state, tried a handful of new things and made good with one of my oldest and closest friends. I woke up in Manhattan and took a taxi back home to Astoria.