St. Regis launches ‘E-Butler’ application for guests

by Melanie Nayer on

Need a last-minute wake-up call or tickets to a sold-out Broadway show? No problem, if you’re staying at the St. Regis New York. The luxury hotel recently launched the St. Regis New York “E-Butler,” a PDA application that allows guests to interact with the hotel’s butlers and concierge via their iPhone or iPad.

This application will offer guests the ability to “chat” directly with The St. Regis E-Butler in real-time via their iPhone or iPad, before and during their stay. The hotel also included the help of New York personalities including André Leon Talley, Jason Wu, Alexis Bittar, Alain Ducasse, Doug Blonsky, President of the Central Park Conservancy, Danny Meyer, David Rockwell, Dale DeGroff, Harold Koda, Michel Musto, Peter Som and Preston Bailey to share their favorite shops, restaurants and city landmarks.

Once guests have made their reservation at The St. Regis New York, they will receive an email confirmation, including a link to download the St. Regis New York E-Butler application directly to their iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Andriod or other smartphone. Guests will also be able to download The St. Regis E-Butler application via iTunes. The St. Regis New York E-Butler will allow guests to speak directly with their butler prior to and during their stay.

The best part? The E-Butler is a complimentary service offered to all guests in residence at The St. Regis New York. The St. Regis does have plans to launch a version of this E-Butler to the general public, which will include a number of features such as the Insider’s Guide to New York and the seasonal calendar of events.

East coast flight delays continue, tensions rise

by Grant Martin on

Snowgasm™ 2010 continues in earnest today, as hundreds of flights across the eastern seaboard are canceled, rerouted and shuffled together, resulting in thousands of passengers stranded at airports and howling with rage.

It’s a lose-lose situation for the passengers and airlines, as underpowered air carriers try to manage a massive influx of rebooked fares and confusion reigns. Here at Gadling Labs we’ve been rebooking fellow travelers left and right, and the exasperation that we hear on the phone and among passengers is extraordinary. Just last night a colleague needed to be rebooked from Birmingham, AL to NYC and had to accept a flight three days later due to oversold and canceled flights.

Several community blogs including travelsmartblog have published tips and solace for stranded passengers, but as in all weather disasters, rebooking and organization take time. Our advice? Settle in, find a wall outlet, get some snacks and call the airline for rebooking: it’s going to be a long few days. Here are the numbers you need for rebooking.

American Airlines: 800-433-7300
Delta Airlines: 800-221-1212
Continental Airlines: 800-300-1547
Southwest: 800-I-FLY-SWA
United: 800-864-8331
Virgin America: 877-359-8474

[image via Wikipedia Commons]

Photo of the Day (12.26.10)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Hats off to Flickr user MikeGL for this unique capture of New York’s world-famous Brooklyn Bridge. One of the great joys of visiting this unassuming New York borough is walking across the Bridge from Manhattan. Along the way, you’ll get a great view of the Bridge’s unique arches, soaring above you here in dramatic fashion. Make sure to give it a try next time you find yourself in the Big Apple.

Have any great photos from your recent travels? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

The 10 snowiest cities in America … bundle up!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I spend all summer fantasizing about winter. From the end of May to the beginning of October, I wind up drenched in sweat, wishing I could peel off my own skin and running from one air conditioned environment to another. It’s miserable. When the biting cold of the winter season hits, I embrace it, finally able to be somewhat comfortable when I’m outside. Add a bit of snow to the equation, and the result is positively heavenly.

So, when I saw The Weather Channel’s list of snowiest cities in the United States, my mind immediately wandered to chilly places where I could hop on a sled (which I prefer to skis or snowboards), pour a big, steaming mug of hot chocolate and hurl snowballs at random passers by.

Are you into that sort of thing? Well, you’ll probably want to dash off to one of the 10 snowiest cities in the country! In case you’re wondering, here they are:

%Gallery-108139%1. Valdez, Alaska: The Weather Channel reports that this city gets 297.7 inches of snow a year, with 180 of them coming in only one month. If you go to the second snowiest city in the country, the annual average is six feet lower than it is in Valdez. Slackers.

2. Boonville, New York: Boonville just sounds like a snowy place. With 220.5 inches a year, this town in the foothills of the Adirondacks calls itself the “Snow Capital of the East” and has the powder to back up that claim.

3. Hancock, Michigan: In December, 56 inches of snow are dumped on Hancock, with another 68 inches following in January. The city averages 218 inches a year and once boasted of two feet of wet snow on June 2. This is my kind of place!

4. Crested Butte, Colorado: From November through March, you can expect at least 30 inches of snow to fall every month, with an annual average of 217.7 inches. If you like snow to shroud your Labor Day barbecue, this is the place to be – you can also find snow falling as late as the end of June.

5. Truckee, California: In the late 1800s, one storm pummeled Truckee with 10 feet of snow over two days. Since then, the elements have been merciful, if you call an annual average snowfall of 198.3 inches merciful. Do the math on this one.

6. Lead, South Dakota: Storms dropping more than 10 inches of snow hit at least three times a year in this city, which averages 187 inches of snow a year.

7. Steamboat Springs, Colorado: For 97 days a year, you can expect this mile-high city to have at least 10 inches of snow on the ground. The annual average snowfall of 175.5 inches is nothing to sneeze at.

8. Red Lodge, Montana: There have been years where snow didn’t fall in only two months – that’s what it takes to score an annual average of 173.9 inches. And, the snow lingers: there’s at least an inch on the ground 127 days a year.

9. Tahoe City, California: The snow doesn’t start to fall until November, but when it does, it comes plentifully. Tahoe City averages 170.8 inches a year.

10. Ironwood, Michigan: This city has a slightly pornographic name and a hell of a lot of snow. Ironwood averages 164.6 inches of snow a year and is a hot spot for winter sports, according to The Weather Channel.

[photo by bsabarnowl via Flickr]

Controversy over new Turkish Airlines spokesman Kobe Bryant

by Meg Nesterov on

In order to promote the upcoming new Los Angeles–Istanbul flights, the new Turkish Airlines spokesman Kobe Bryant has prompted some protest in the Armenian American community. Turkey (as well as the United States) does not recognize the death of 1.5 million Armenians at the end of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire as genocide. 700,000 Armenian Americans in California are hoping Bryant will use his stature to raise awareness and put pressure on the United States to recognize the deaths, threatening to boycott the basketball star and the L.A. Lakers if he doesn’t back out of the deal.

Should he continue with the deal, Bryant will make his own inaugural trip in 2011. “I’ve never been to Turkey,” Bryant told CNBC. “But all the guys on the team in the league who have been keep saying it’s one of the hottest places to go to.” The LAX-IST flights will begin in March, four times a week. Turkish Airlines also has direct flights from New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

Turkish Airlines’ current brand embassador is actor Kevin Costner, though no protests are known against his films or for the work of Benicio del Toro, whose image can be seen all over Turkey in advertisements for Magnum ice cream.



[Photo via Flickr by Keith Allison]