Hey people,
I came across this ongoing list of hotels offering iPads to their guests on Hotel Chatter. These hotels are probably much less expensive than the Berkeley Hotel in London that was first mentioned in the post from May 4 (updated May 8). Check back often to see if iPads are coming to a hotel in a destination you're heading.
.sb06
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
T + L: It List -- Best New Luxury Hotels for 2010
Travel and Leisure (T + L) has released its It List for 2010, which profiles 45 of the best new luxury hotels across the world. This is a great list because it provides awareness about fresh, new, and exciting places versus the well-established places that we hear about all of the time. There are still some familiar names (e.g. W, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Willard, Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-la, Waldorf Astoria), but they have set up shop in new locations. I have highlighted a few of the hotels for you below, based on the images that stood out to me the most from the list or if I have come across the hotel in other searches. This is somewhat arbitrary, but it represents a pretty good mix of the new flavor out there in the world of luxury hotels.
Upper House, Hong Kong - Awesome website!
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Argos in Cappadocia, Uchisar, Turkey
Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, Lithgow, Australia
Andaz Wall Street, New York, NY
Shangri-La Boracay Resort & Spa, Boracay, Philippines
Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, Spain
Las Alcobas, Mexico City, Mexico
Enjoy browsing! I have also added the T+L Carry-On blog, tagged just to hotels, to the Blog List and the featured hotels onto the gallery links page. You may want to check out today's Carry-On article on a new hotel under construction in Singapore.
Upper House, Hong Kong - Awesome website!
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Argos in Cappadocia, Uchisar, Turkey
Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa, Lithgow, Australia
Andaz Wall Street, New York, NY
Shangri-La Boracay Resort & Spa, Boracay, Philippines
Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, Spain
Las Alcobas, Mexico City, Mexico
Enjoy browsing! I have also added the T+L Carry-On blog, tagged just to hotels, to the Blog List and the featured hotels onto the gallery links page. You may want to check out today's Carry-On article on a new hotel under construction in Singapore.
.sb06
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Gallery Links Page Now Operational!
I have now populated the Gallery Links page with links to all of the hotels featured in a post on Hotel Hopper. For those of you who just want to browse the luxury hotels, you can do so on that page, which connects you with a photo gallery of each hotel. I will continue to update the gallery from time to time with hotels that are featured in posts. I will be sure to let you know when I do so. Enjoy browsing!
.sb06
.sb06
Friday, May 7, 2010
New Luxury Hotel Resources!
Hey everyone,
As I continue to find interesting stories and hotels, I come across a lot of sites that are useful in searching for a luxury hotel for your vacation. I don't want to overwhelm you with too many sites, so as Hotel Hopper evolves, I will try to to keep the resources listed at the bottom of the page to an optimal set of sites that you can explore for your personal needs. I may add sites on occasion and take some away on others. Here are the best new resources that I have found and have decided to add to the resource list:
Splendia: This site is my favorite of the new sites and maybe one of the best I have seen so far. Not only does it feature a large selection of 4500 luxury hotels all over the world, but it offers a pretty extensive set of options for exploring the collection. These options include, but are not limited to, searching by location and theme, whether it be general luxury, spa, boutique, or design. In addition, once you have started a search, you can refine the search in many ways, such as by the type of experience you are looking for in your vacation, hotel facilities and amenities, style, and location. One of my favorite features is that Splendia also lists starting rates for rooms at the hotels, so you can have an idea of the price point without putting in arbitrary dates for reservations. You can also view all of the listed hotels in your search on a map so that you can make a more informed decision on the exact location you want to stay at your destination. Splendia also has a members benefit club where returning customers can gain access to special rates and rewards. Overall, a great site with useful tools for finding your hotel destination.
Tablet Hotels: This is also another great site that doesn't feature as large of a selection (which is sometimes a good thing), but it has a lot of content related to luxury hotels and travel. Tablet features over 1800 selected hotels and, much like Splendia, has a lot of ways to hunt down your desired hotel. There are two recently released features on the site, which include member access to exclusive and last minute hotel deals, and a nice integrated Google Maps search interface that allows users to search for hotels by location and theme. The Tablet site also provides reference guides for selected destinations and maintains a travel blog, but the best content-related feature on the site is the Tablet 10. This page features all sorts of Top 10 lists for hotels in different categories. I will probably explore this more in a future post so be on the look out.
Preferred Hotels & Resorts: Preferred Boutique was already listed in the resources, but I wanted to add this site as well. Obviously, they are part of the same group, but focus on different categories of luxury hotels. This site is more formal in that it is basically just a search site to find luxury hotels. There isn't much in terms of content, but you are gaining access to a highly rated selection of hotels. There isn't as much 'guidance' as there is on the site as far as refining your search, but there is a nice interactive map so that you can search by location. There is also the I Prefer member rewards program that provides benefits to customers that use the services of the Preferred Hotel Group and its alliance partners.
Hotique: Hotique is another nice site I found that again provides some pretty good assistance for narrowing your search to a single selection. There are lots of options at the bottom of the home page for searching by category and destination. Once you select one of these options, there are suggestions and featured hotels that serve as a good starting point. Of course, you can always just search if you are looking for something specific. There is also a Travel Center page that offers suggestions on other travel related issues such as destination guides, airlines, and other important details.
Luxique: As far as I can tell, Luxique is not related to Hotique, so I guess making your site sound like boutique is just a popular theme these days. Luxique features a collection of over 2000 hotels that are not limited to just the boutique category. The Destination Guides are a nice feature that provides suggestions for the best luxury hotels by destination and some recommendations on what to do there. There is also an interesting blog that I have refined to hotel articles and added to the Blog List.
As I am beginning to learn and as you are surely seeing by the growing list of resources on Hotel Hopper, there are tons of sites out there for finding a luxury hotel for you travels. For now, I am trying to stick to sites with more of a global capacity, but there are advantages to sites with a more localized focus. It can be overwhelming, but the best sites out there will offer some tools that will help you narrow down that search into something more manageable. Reward programs are also nice once you decide to use one or more of the sites on a consistent basis. Finally, there is something a little more authentic about a visually appealing site. Some of the sites I did not include were certainly lacking in that category, regardless of the other benefits. Try out a few of the sites I have suggested to see what you like. Let me know what you think!
.sb06
As I continue to find interesting stories and hotels, I come across a lot of sites that are useful in searching for a luxury hotel for your vacation. I don't want to overwhelm you with too many sites, so as Hotel Hopper evolves, I will try to to keep the resources listed at the bottom of the page to an optimal set of sites that you can explore for your personal needs. I may add sites on occasion and take some away on others. Here are the best new resources that I have found and have decided to add to the resource list:
Splendia: This site is my favorite of the new sites and maybe one of the best I have seen so far. Not only does it feature a large selection of 4500 luxury hotels all over the world, but it offers a pretty extensive set of options for exploring the collection. These options include, but are not limited to, searching by location and theme, whether it be general luxury, spa, boutique, or design. In addition, once you have started a search, you can refine the search in many ways, such as by the type of experience you are looking for in your vacation, hotel facilities and amenities, style, and location. One of my favorite features is that Splendia also lists starting rates for rooms at the hotels, so you can have an idea of the price point without putting in arbitrary dates for reservations. You can also view all of the listed hotels in your search on a map so that you can make a more informed decision on the exact location you want to stay at your destination. Splendia also has a members benefit club where returning customers can gain access to special rates and rewards. Overall, a great site with useful tools for finding your hotel destination.
Tablet Hotels: This is also another great site that doesn't feature as large of a selection (which is sometimes a good thing), but it has a lot of content related to luxury hotels and travel. Tablet features over 1800 selected hotels and, much like Splendia, has a lot of ways to hunt down your desired hotel. There are two recently released features on the site, which include member access to exclusive and last minute hotel deals, and a nice integrated Google Maps search interface that allows users to search for hotels by location and theme. The Tablet site also provides reference guides for selected destinations and maintains a travel blog, but the best content-related feature on the site is the Tablet 10. This page features all sorts of Top 10 lists for hotels in different categories. I will probably explore this more in a future post so be on the look out.
Preferred Hotels & Resorts: Preferred Boutique was already listed in the resources, but I wanted to add this site as well. Obviously, they are part of the same group, but focus on different categories of luxury hotels. This site is more formal in that it is basically just a search site to find luxury hotels. There isn't much in terms of content, but you are gaining access to a highly rated selection of hotels. There isn't as much 'guidance' as there is on the site as far as refining your search, but there is a nice interactive map so that you can search by location. There is also the I Prefer member rewards program that provides benefits to customers that use the services of the Preferred Hotel Group and its alliance partners.
Hotique: Hotique is another nice site I found that again provides some pretty good assistance for narrowing your search to a single selection. There are lots of options at the bottom of the home page for searching by category and destination. Once you select one of these options, there are suggestions and featured hotels that serve as a good starting point. Of course, you can always just search if you are looking for something specific. There is also a Travel Center page that offers suggestions on other travel related issues such as destination guides, airlines, and other important details.
Luxique: As far as I can tell, Luxique is not related to Hotique, so I guess making your site sound like boutique is just a popular theme these days. Luxique features a collection of over 2000 hotels that are not limited to just the boutique category. The Destination Guides are a nice feature that provides suggestions for the best luxury hotels by destination and some recommendations on what to do there. There is also an interesting blog that I have refined to hotel articles and added to the Blog List.
As I am beginning to learn and as you are surely seeing by the growing list of resources on Hotel Hopper, there are tons of sites out there for finding a luxury hotel for you travels. For now, I am trying to stick to sites with more of a global capacity, but there are advantages to sites with a more localized focus. It can be overwhelming, but the best sites out there will offer some tools that will help you narrow down that search into something more manageable. Reward programs are also nice once you decide to use one or more of the sites on a consistent basis. Finally, there is something a little more authentic about a visually appealing site. Some of the sites I did not include were certainly lacking in that category, regardless of the other benefits. Try out a few of the sites I have suggested to see what you like. Let me know what you think!
.sb06
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Luxury London Hotel Offers iPad for Guests
-- Updated May 8, 2010 --
Just saw this article on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) that shares the story of The Berkeley Hotel in London, which will soon offer the use of an iPad to guests staying in qualifying suites (Berkeley, Conservatory, and Chelsea) priced at an estimated $2000/night and higher. I'm a big fan of the iPad (don't have one yet but I will someday), but I think if I had the money to stay there, I could probably purchase one myself. Either way, it's a pretty cool offer and it comes pre-loaded with plenty of content.
The Berkeley looks to be a pretty amazing hotel, and it should be given the price point of a night's stay. Not only does it offer four basic options for traditional rooms, but there are twelve options for suites! The ultimate selection appears to be the Pavilion Conservatory Suite, which is a 1,582 square foot space with a private 205 square foot conservatory, access to a 646 square foot roof terrace, and a ridiculous list of added luxuries. For the non-millionaires out there, the traditional rooms can be had for rates starting at around $450/night if you want to set up camp in the Knightsbridge part of town.
I'll keep my eye out for other exceptional perks at luxury hotels in the future.
.sb06
Just saw this article on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) that shares the story of The Berkeley Hotel in London, which will soon offer the use of an iPad to guests staying in qualifying suites (Berkeley, Conservatory, and Chelsea) priced at an estimated $2000/night and higher. I'm a big fan of the iPad (don't have one yet but I will someday), but I think if I had the money to stay there, I could probably purchase one myself. Either way, it's a pretty cool offer and it comes pre-loaded with plenty of content.
The Berkeley looks to be a pretty amazing hotel, and it should be given the price point of a night's stay. Not only does it offer four basic options for traditional rooms, but there are twelve options for suites! The ultimate selection appears to be the Pavilion Conservatory Suite, which is a 1,582 square foot space with a private 205 square foot conservatory, access to a 646 square foot roof terrace, and a ridiculous list of added luxuries. For the non-millionaires out there, the traditional rooms can be had for rates starting at around $450/night if you want to set up camp in the Knightsbridge part of town.
I'll keep my eye out for other exceptional perks at luxury hotels in the future.
.sb06
Monday, May 3, 2010
Underwater Hotel Room - Hilton Maldives
I've seen this article re-posted a few times now, so I figured I would share it as well. This link is to the TrendHunter version of the post, which shows the newly converted underwater hotel room available at the Hilton Maldives on Rangali Island (aka the Conrad Rangali Island Maldives Hotel). The room used to be part of the Ithaa Underwater hotel restaurant and was converted over to the luxury suite with a 360 degree view of the sea after the restaurant's 5 year anniversary. This would be a cool, unforgettable stay, but the Deluxe Water Villa sure looks hard to pass up! Oh and by the way, you have to travel to the hotel by seaplane...talk about a remote location!
.sb06
.sb06
Sunday, May 2, 2010
New Poll!
Set up a new poll today. Vote on your favorite style of luxury hotel! Once the poll closes, I will post a feature on a chosen hotel in that category. Here are the choices (as you can see in the poll) with an example of a hotel that fits that description:
Grand: Willard Intercontinental Washington
Boutique: Lorien Hotel & Spa
Spa/Beach Resort: Hotel Hana-Maui and Honua Spa
Business: Shangri-la Far Eastern Plaza Hotel
As for the results of the last poll, the favorite part of a luxury hotel to the most readers was the Beach/Pool area. So I scouted out a great looking beach resort called Moon Dance Cliffs in Jamaica on the JustLuxe travel website. This hotel is located right on the ocean and features a selection of rooms, suites, and villas (yes, villas!) that you can choose for your stay. The pool area looks amazing and there's also a spa that features a full range of services at pretty reasonable prices. The hotel also features an all-inclusive package so you can enjoy your stay without worrying about racking up the bill. Next time you're headed to Jamaica, give the Moon Dance Cliffs some thought.
.sb06
Grand: Willard Intercontinental Washington
Boutique: Lorien Hotel & Spa
Spa/Beach Resort: Hotel Hana-Maui and Honua Spa
Business: Shangri-la Far Eastern Plaza Hotel
As for the results of the last poll, the favorite part of a luxury hotel to the most readers was the Beach/Pool area. So I scouted out a great looking beach resort called Moon Dance Cliffs in Jamaica on the JustLuxe travel website. This hotel is located right on the ocean and features a selection of rooms, suites, and villas (yes, villas!) that you can choose for your stay. The pool area looks amazing and there's also a spa that features a full range of services at pretty reasonable prices. The hotel also features an all-inclusive package so you can enjoy your stay without worrying about racking up the bill. Next time you're headed to Jamaica, give the Moon Dance Cliffs some thought.
.sb06
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