HotelChatter’s Best WiFi Hotels for 2007

by Justin Glow on

HotelChatter has released the 2007 findings in their annual search for the best wifi hotels. They boldly claim that the “hotel WiFi landscape has reached an impasse.” No longer is the list made up of hotels that simply offer free wireless, but instead hotel chains like Omni make the cut because they have fewer restrictions. “For instance, you can get free WiFi in the lobby, but in-rooms it’s ethernet and it starts at $9.95. Or you can get free WiFi in your rooms but you need to belong to a hotel’s loyalty program or be assigned a code with a special password.”

Topping the list is Marriot, whose Residence Inns, SpringHill Suites, and Courtyard “all have strong, free, fast, working wireless in the rooms and the lobbies.” The only thing keeping them from a perfect score is a lack of property-wide access — some Marriots are good, some are bad.

For the full report, head over to HotelChatter.

[via boingboing]

How Many of The World’s 500 Greatest Hotels Have You Visited?

by Willy Volk on

I’m not really into spending money on fancy hotels; I’d much rather spend my money on meals and entertainment. However, if you’re planning your Trip Of A Lifetime, and you’ve got some dollars to discard, you should check out Travel & Leisure’s list of the 500 greatest hotels. Sorted by region, the list is a veritable who’s who of the hotel-igentsia.

In addition to providing fast facts on each hotel, the list tips you off on which rooms are best and and which activities you’ve just got to add to your To-Do list. Moreover, the folks at T&L took the time to place all the hotels on Google Earth, meaning you can see exactly where your hotel is in relation to, say, Ngorgoro Crater or the Taj Mahal.

Though I haven’t slept at even one of the hotels on the list, I’ve eaten dinner at one of them; enjoyed high tea at another; walked the grounds of a third; and swam past a fourth. [Very, very important update: I’ve eaten dinner inside the Bellagio, too.] That means I’ve enjoyed exactly 0.08% 0.1% of the world’s finest hotels. Top that!

Jails, Homeless Shelters, & Soup Kitchens Turned Hotels

by Adrienne Wilson on

Call it coincidence, but in this month’s edition of concierge.com they’ve listed 10 hotels across the globe with a spooky past. (Coughs, can we say perfect timing for Halloween, hmm?) After going through each one, I noticed the history of some were creepier than others depending on what you tend to get spooked by. Shack up in a past crime den, nun’s cell, jail or my personal favorite an old soup kitchen. From the photos featured one might not ever know that these places have a tale to tell, but don’t let the looks deceive you. When you’re at rest in bed the howling you hear isn’t coming from the outside. It’s the cry of the mentally unhinged resident that stayed there before you. (Insert: horror laughter.) I’m only kidding – sort of.

Check out the Poor House: Hopper Hotel Et Cetera in Cologne, Germany which now sits as a cheap-chic boutique hotel, but was once a homeless shelter and soup kitchen. Heading to Puerto Rico? Stay at the old Carmelite convent, now one of San Juans’ most luxurious hotels was once home to 11 nuns that moved out in 1903. If you’re in need of prison time look at their picks out of Turkey and the U.K., just don’t say I didn’t try to warn you of their bone-chilling ambience.

Hotel Rant & Rambles

by Adrienne Wilson on

Before this whole big trip I never stayed in so many hotels back-to-back and now I can only imagine now what the life of a real rock star must be like. The only difference is they’re probably staying ONLY at 4 or 5 star digs while I happily bounce between Comfort Inns and Best Westerns across the country. With this new short term living arrangement comes some likes and dislikes as well as some rather strange fears. For starters I have this weird feeling while I’m sleeping some Mafia type hit men are going to kick down the door of my hotel room and start spraying several rounds of bullets until they’ve murdered everyone in sight (which only happens to be me – an innocent victim). They will have realized they had the wrong room and without trying to hide the evidence, will move on until they find the right man to finish off. Where this bizarre fear comes from is beyond me. Perhaps too many Hollywood big screen type movies with hotel scenes?

Anyhow, with each room in each state I inspect the comforter for bedbugs (not really, but it seems like something a travel blogger might do) and I read the state hotel safety instructions placed on the back of the door just in case the Mafia does decide to bust in one night. At least I would have known what the state of Maryland or Pennsylvania suggested to prevent them from doing such. When all is said and done with my first two duties I might flip on the TV, but here is where my rant comes into play. HBO and Showtime are cool channels to have, but what on ever happened to channels as basic as UPN? At first at thought this was only the issue for one unnamed hotel, but I’m discovering UPN can be hard to come by. The question is why? And it’s not that I watch a ton of UPN programming, but every now and again I like to tuck myself in to a nice reality TV episode of ANTP (America’s Next Top Model). It’s probably something I shouldn’t be complaining about, but when there is little night life to discover in some of these small towns UPN becomes my next best friend.

In short, I’ll be making sure to inspect the TV situation at each and every hotel I stay at just to make sure even if nothing I want to watch is on because it’s just something to do. If I’m bored I’ll report the findings, but if not maybe I’ll have another set of rants and rambles to share.

(Photo taken from a hotel room in Philly near the airport.)