VIP Perks At Your Favorite Hotels: Want Me Get Me Promises Just That

by McLean Robbins on

Let’s just say we like the good life, and new members-only hotel booking site Want Me Get Me, is promising something that seems right up our alley. Launching today, the website promises “perks and amenities usually reserved for celebrities, rock stars, and platinum rewards status priority guests at the world’s best hotels.”

It’s not like a flash sale model – members pay standard “best available” rates – but, in turn, are added on the hotel GM’s VIP List, a room upgrade when available, and complimentary Wi-Fi.

Usually, a VIP list is reserved for high-profile guests, but the program with Want Me Get Me ensures that members will enjoy these gratis add-ons. The amenities offered are entirely left to the discretion of each hotel but can include anything from the splurge (champagne upon arrival and cocktails for two) to the more practical (free valet parking and late check-out).

“Want Me Get Me provides a way for these brands to engage an important demographic using social media and technology that is a real first for hotels and encourages loyalty and drives bookings,” said Melanie Brandman, chief curator officer, in a release.

It’s an exciting concept, and the site’s interface is fairly simple to use. Just pick your city (currently New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco are supported), your dates of check-in, and choose up to three “guaranteed perks” to narrow down the room list. On a hypothetical weekend in New York with guaranteed room upgrade, we ended up at The Chatwal, one of our favorite luxury properties.

Want Me Get Me has secured agreements with more than 200 boutique and luxury hotels including properties from Ace Hotel, Baglioni Hotels, Denihan Hospitality Group, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Firmdale Hotels, Gansevoort Hotel Group, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, Kempinski Hotels, L’Ermitage, Luxe Worldwide Hotels, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Morgans Hotel Group, The NoMad Hotel, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Orient-Express Hotels, The Peninsula Hotels, Raffles Hotels and Resorts, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, The Standard, Thompson Hotels, and Trump Hotel Collection.

Want Me Get Me plans to add extra amenities, double the number of hotels on the platform and be available in all major U.S. cities by year’s end.

The bottom line? If our favorite luxury property isn’t available on Jetsetter or Sniqueaway, we’re sure to use this site on an upcoming vacation or business trip.

Staying Fit On The Road: GoRecess

by McLean Robbins on

No, I’m not advocating you head outside and join a pickup kickball game, although that’s not really a bad idea. Hotel gyms have undergone major improvements in recent years, with many adding upgraded equipment, locations, and even in-house yoga studios or fitness experts.

But, for frequent travelers, this is no substitute for your standard fitness routine. Enter GoRecess, which bills itself as an OpenTable-like software for fitness activities. Sort by studio name or class type and choose from standard options like bootcamps or weight-training or more popular trend classes, like barre and pole fitness or even pre-and post-natal workouts.

You could even sort by time, so that you can find classes that are starting soon in an area near you. It sure beats sorting Yelp for gyms that offer one-day or week-long trials, and we love that you can use this as a way to test-drive a new workout or studio in your hometown or keep up with your standard fitness routine while on the road.

One quick hint, however. Before you book through the site, go to the studio or gym’s website and check for yourself. Often, you can find a “first class free” or a small “trial pack” that will get you discounted access beyond what you’ll find listed.

What do you think? Will GoRecess help you stay fit on the road?

Free Internet For Travelers In Japan

by Chris Owen on

Japan can be an expensive country in which to travel. Food, lodging, along with other goods and services that travelers might commonly buy are often high-priced, compared to American standards. Comparing Internet Wi-Fi hotspots to American standards, Japan is even tougher on visitors, offering few places for service and even less that support multiple languages. But recently, two companies operating in Japan started offering free Wi-Fi to foreign visitors.

Rail operator JR East Japan now has free public wireless LAN services intended for visiting travelers starting today at JR EAST Japan Travel Service Center and 13 stations located on Tokyo’s most famous circle rail route, the Yamanote Line, including some of the busiest stations.

Registration by email can be done in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese for access via PC or smartphone at a variety of locations including Tokyo Station, Narita Airport Station and Haneda Airport International Terminal Station. Users can log on to a connection that is valid up to three hours.Visa Worldwide has partnered with Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd. to launch free one-day Wi-Fi access for all Visa cardholders visiting Japan. Happening right now, the offer runs through August 29, 2014.

This free one-day Wi-Fi connection also has multi-language support for visiting tourists, followed by a 20 percent discount for three-day and seven-day Wi-Fi service. Wi-Fi networks are available throughout Japan, including major airports and leading merchants such as Starbucks and Lawson convenience stores.

Visa cardholders should register before departure from their home countries. Alternatively, after they arriving in Japan, visiting cardholders simply find either “Wi2” or “Wi2premium” access points to access the website for registration.

Looking for other public places with free Internet access? Try WiFiFreeSpot.com or Airport WiFi Guide for more listings.



[Flickr photo by Dennis Wong]

Explore The Great Barrier Reef From Your Desk With Google Street View

by Jessica Festa on

While Google Street View usually sticks to helping you explore land, users can now navigate Australia‘s Great Barrier Reef, right from their desks. Just launched, Google makes use of an innovative underwater camera that can record 360-degree images of the marine park.

The project is part of the Catlin Seaview Survey, which was launched today at Monterey, California. For the next three years, scientists will collect visual information on the world’s reefs to be shared on Google Maps, allowing people all over the world to dive without leaving home.

In a story at news.com.au, project founder and director Richard Vevers explains, “99.95 per cent of people can’t scuba dive, it allows so many people to access the oceans for the very first time.”

While at the moment only three sections have been mapped, by December it is expected there will be 20. Additionally, diving robots will be used to examine never before seen areas 328 feet below the surface. Along with broadening scopes of the world, scientists hope to discover new species and track changes in the reef related to climate change.

Next year, the project will expand to map reefs in Hawaii and the Philippines.

Tagwhat Geotag App Like A Personal Tour Guide

by Chris Owen on

Geotag apps are coming out of development at a frenzied pace these days as developers rush to use new technology in one way or another. Not long ago, we tested HipGeo, which takes tagged photos, as well as pin drops we make on the road, to block in a storyline of our adventures. Now Tagwhat, the app that hopes to be the mobile tour guide for the world, has upped its game, automatically dragging in digital content from the web.

Simply engaging the app at any given location pulls relevant wiki information about attractions and features of the area where users happen to be. The idea sounds relatively simple but the technology used to make it happen is rather complex. Testing the Tagwhat app, I brought up historic locations that I had never heard of before, along with in-depth information within a few miles of my home in Orlando. First thought: this is a great app for a quick weekend road trip.

But looking deeper into the Tagwhat application, developers have created two tools that enable their advanced geotagging functionality. Like a Pinterest button for location, the “Tag it” button is a Web browser “bookmarklet” that allows users to quickly select content on any Web page in a single click and direct it to any spot on a map.

The Tagwhat Publishing Dashboard lets users upload their own digital content to real-world places and manage what they have created. Content uploaded with the new publishing tools is added to Tagwhat’s database of more than 800,000 tags, or multimedia stories, globally.

“The web has billions of pages of Web content. But the problem was that there was no way to deliver the content to real-world settings, where the information would be most meaningful,” Dave Elchoness, founder and CEO of Tagwhat told Gadling. “Rather than typing in a search and hoping for the best, location-aware mobile devices now give us new way to search for and discover web content based on a user’s location and their interests.”

Indeed, the app has different “channels” to select, bringing a customized array of information, based on the users location. Users can choose from Wikipedia, Movies, Sports, Nature, Science and Tech, Offbeat, Events, Art, Heritage, Architecture, Food, Music and/or Books. Right now, I have all channels turned on but get only Wiki info. Later, as more users join and tag their information, Tagwhat promises to bring me deeper content, like being on a tour with a local who knows all the great spots. For example, say someone from Gadling tagged all the posts here. Gadling bloggers travel around the world to bring content about a variety of places, people and events. If I were in London with the Tagwhat app engaged, the content presented would include Gadling blogger Sean McLachlin’s post “Roman Cavalry Helmet To Be Star Attraction At Royal Academy Exhibition” and Jessica Festa’s “10 Stunning And Iconic Shots Of London” if I had selected the channels in Tagwhat where those posts appeared.

Say I did not care anything about those topics; with only “Sports” selected, I would see “Facts By The Numbers For The 2012 Olympic Games In London” and any sports related posts that had something to do with the London area.

On the move, the content changes to correspond with the user’s location too. I checked the content within a few miles of my home in Orlando then went for a drive. Arriving at the first location that I found interesting, a historic monument from the civil war, I checked again and a new list of attractions appeared, geared for where I was at that time.

Without sourcing any other content from the web other than wiki information, this app is a must-have for traveling to an unfamiliar destination. Tagwhat also adds value to a short trip in your own backyard.

This latest release of Tagwhat also has a push notifications feature that proactively notifies users about interesting stories nearby, even when the app is not open on their smartphone.


Tagwhat is available for iOS and Android.

Image courtesy Tagwhat