Get 178 Mandarin Oriental Tokyo rooms, keep the neighbors away

by Tom Johansmeyer on

There’s nothing worse than being in a hotel room that’s filled with the sounds of your neighbors. It has to get pretty bad outside your door for some out-of-control moron to be loud on your side of it, but let’s face the reality: some hotel neighbors are awful. You can solve this problem easily, as long as you have close to three quarters of a million dollars on hand per single night of bliss.

The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo has a great deal for guests who just want to sleep well at night. Pony up a whopping $679,500, and the only other people in the hotel will be the staff – and the few lucky people you invite to join you. Spa rooms, all nine restaurants … you can turn the hotel into your personal playground

According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

The luxury hotel in central Tokyo began selling the plan a week ago as “something splashy” to commemorate its opening five years ago, said hotel spokeswoman Chie Hayakawa. It intends to apply for recognition from Guinness World Records once a reservation is finalised.

“When the hotel opened we had an exclusive party like this — black tie, cocktail dresses. There was music and drinks and food from the restaurants, and it was all quite grand,” said Hayakawa, who took part.

The rather hefty price tag doesn’t even get you a full 24 hours; it only runs from 3 PM until noon the next day. But, you can host a cocktail reception for up to 500 people.

There has been some interest in the package, mostly from businesses. Of course, eccentric individuals are also open to book a stay of this caliber. There is a catch:

“The only thing is, you have to pick a date where there are no reservations already,” she added. “It’s not as if you could just request it for later this week.”

[photo by TheTruthAbout via Flickr]

Daily Pampering: Thai detoxifying ritual at Canyon Ranch

by Melanie Nayer on

There’s a massage that leaves you relaxed and rejuvenated, and then there’s a massage that transports you into another universe. Enter: the traditional Thai detoxifying ritual from Canyon Ranch Miami.

The 100-minute session is a celebration of Thai healing therapies based on the royal healing traditions of Thailand. It begins with an application of aromatic Thai herbal pouches, combined with warm-oil massage to increase energy flow, relax muscles, soothe soreness and increase flexibility. The masseause stretches you while applying pressure to muscles, allowing better circulation before you step into a personal steam treatment, meant to uplift and detoxify. Called the “time machine” by those at the spa, you’ll steam the space-age looking capsule for 20 minutes before enjoying a 50-minute massage. Thanks to Canyon Ranch’s Aquavana, a European-inspired aquathermal oasis that offers everything from igloo capsules to personal rainshowers, you can continue on with your bliss following the treatment.

The price for this pampering: $330

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Travel and social media: five ways to cut through it all

by Tom Johansmeyer on

As I was scanning the headlines this morning, I came across Christopher Elliott’s article, “Are travelers overloaded by social media?” It’s a fair question. Not only are more and more of us plugging in – Twitter, for example, is adding 1.8 million new users a week – but we’re being increasingly being bombarded “communicated to” by hotels and airlines that are eager to get a bigger share of our wallets. So, there’s a whole lot of status updating and tweeting going on, and we need to figure out how to deal with it all.

It’s easy to blame the marketing guys for this. Aren’t they the people responsible, clogging our Facebook news feeds and Twitter timelines with hot deals and other promotional content? Well, yes … but we want some of that. That’s why I follow, for example, people like @Bsimi and @Colonnade, not to mention @JetBlue.

So, we have to balance our desire for promotional content (and let’s be honest – we do desire it) with keeping our social media environments clean and decidedly our own. Here are five ways you can get what you want without giving up too much:1. Make loyalty choices: with all the content floating around, you need to trim down the number of travel businesses you follow in order to truly take advantage of the best deals. Otherwise, you risk not seeing what you really want. Decide which brands mean the most to you, and ditch the others.

2. Make travel brands earn your social media share: for me at least, it takes more than a few hot deals to get me to follow a brand on Twitter or like it on Facebook. I want interesting content and customer service, too. I may test out a social media relationship for a while, but to make it stick, the company is going to have to perform.

3. Watch your friends: if you see a brand retweeted or otherwise interacting with one of your friends, it may be worth following it – or at least asking your friend why. This is why I follow @FSHotelHouston (Four Seasons Hotel Houston), for example, which was based on Twitter action I saw from @welshwonder.

4. “Favorite” and “like” what matters: use these features to bookmark social media content that you may want to use later. It will keep great deals from getting lost in your active social media stream.

5. Use these relationships effectively: By trimming your list down, you are effectively making a statement about customer loyalty – make sure the people managing those accounts know that! Don’t do it just for perks. Instead, develop a real relationship with the person behind the brand.

Loews Hotels help kids eat healthy, build a better lunchbox

by Melanie Nayer on

Loews Hotels is helping kids eat a little healthier (and give parents some piece of mind.) To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Good Neighbor Policy, the hotel group launched the “Build a Better Lunchbox” program to promote healthy eating habits and raise funds to support projects in local schools.

Loews Hotels across the U.S. are hosting fundraising events where children and parents will have the opportunity to learn how to build a healthier lunch together, and at the same time support community schools through DonorsChoose.org, Loews’ newest charity partner, a web-based not-for-profit that supports local school projects for individual sponsorship. As the first national hotel partner for DonorsChoose.org, Loews hopes to raise more than $200,000 in total for DonorsChoose.org in 2010.

At the events, each child will receive a specially created Loews Loves Kids lunch bag, an organic cotton lunch bag filled with a coupon for a nutritious berry smoothie at a Loews Hotels, healthy lunch and snack recipe cards, fruit-shaped silly bands, crayons and a $20 donation card for DonorsChoose.org.

Loews Hotels is also partnering with Driscoll’s, a family owned company that has been growing berries for more than 100 years, to educate and introduce kids to the wonderful world of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries grown by independent farmers.

What’s in the better lunchbox? We asked Loews for a few of their healthy recipes for kids and received some delicious options! Keep reading for more…
Whole Wheat Turkey-Hummus Wrap Ingredients:

1 Large whole wheat tortilla

¼ Cup Hummus (see Hummus recipe)

¼ Cup crumbled Feta cheese

½ heart of Romaine lettuce

1 4 ounce package of sliced turkey

Method:

1. Cut half inch strips of lettuce using all lettuce.
2. Warm tortilla slightly to make easy to roll.
3. Spread hummus over half of the tortilla.
4. Sprinkle feta on top of hummus.
5. Distribute cut lettuce evenly over hummus and feta.
6. Place sliced turkey over lettuce.
7. Roll the tortilla from the edge closest to you half way through, then fold up both ends and roll the rest of the way.

Hummus

Ingredients:

1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans

1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas

3-5 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp tahini

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Chopped parsley

Method:

Drain chickpeas saving the liquid from the can aside. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until smooth. Place in a serving bowl; create a shallow well in the center of the hummus. Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Keep refrigerated.

Very Berry Smoothie

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup Driscoll’s strawberries and blueberries

¾ cup full-fat organic vanilla yogurt

½ cup freshly-squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 tablespoon agave nectar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure
1. Place all ingredients into a blender.
2. Whirl until smooth.
Garnish with a strawberry and serve with a curly straw

Eat-‘Em-Up Fruit Kabobs

Makes 8 Kabobs

Ingredients

1 soft, unsalted pretzel cut into eight (8) cubes

8 cubes smoked Gouda (or a child’s specified favorite!)

8 Driscoll’s strawberries

8 cubes ham (optional)

8 Driscoll’s blackberries

8, 12-inch bamboo skewers

Procedure

1. On each skewer, thread one cube of pretzel, cheese, strawberry, ham and blackberry.
2. Repeat with remaining skewers.
3. Can be served with various dips, if desired.

Cross-dressing employee gets Hyatt sued

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Daynara Fernandez got back to her hotel room at a Hyatt and found, to her obvious surprise, a male employee clad in her skirt, underwear and … of course … high heels. So, is it all that shocking that she’s suing the hotel chain?

When she got back to her room, after having attended a wedding, her door was blocked by a cleaning cart. Getting past it, she saw, according to Gawker, that “her luggage had been opened and her belongings strewn about.” There was only one way the situation could have been made worse, I suspect, by one thing: finding a man wearing some of her clothes.

And, yep, that’s what she saw. Oscar Garcia-Franco, an employee of the Deerfield, Illinois Hyatt, denied t at first, claiming he was cleaning the room … yeah, that old line (get the blow-by-blow in the police report). Interestingly, despite wearing Fernandez’s skirt and shoes, kept his Hyatt shirt on! Now that’s company loyalty!

When he got busted by the guest, Garcia-Franco shouted at her, “Don’t tell, don’t tell,” a sure way to make sure your name and mug shot winds up on The Smoking Gun and Gawker.

[Via Gawker, photo by Markusram via Flickr]