Five blocks from Times Square and three blocks from Central Park, the Sheraton New York could not be located in a more perfect place for the New York visitor. Cheap hotels are not easy to find in Manhattan, so seeing the price of the room for one night (approx $330/night in November ‘09) can set you back. But in Manhattan, you get what you pay for. Located at 7th & 52nd, the well-appointed hotel will give you the perfect central location for walking the city or navigating on the subway just across 53rd.
The large lobby is well-designed with a sports bar and bistro restaurant flanking the marble floors of the entry way with room to gather your group. With Wi-fi in the public lobby area, you can sit and enjoy the people-watching while on your computer. (If you’ve ever been to New York, the people-watching should be classified as its own sport.) My biggest complaint about the Sheraton New York is the lack of Wi-fi in the guest rooms, but if you’re staying alone or have only one computer to connect, high-speed internet access is available for a daily fee with their provided ethernet cable.
If location and staying in a comfortable, well-appointed room are your biggest concerns when staying in Manhattan, consider the Sheraton New York.
Contact info:
811 7th Avenue 53rd Street
New York,New York10019United States
Phone: (212) 581-1000Fax: (212) 262-4410
The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach is partnering with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, to help raise funds for the global fight against breast cancer. On January 30, 2010, the 19th Annual Susan G. Komen South Florida Race for the Cure takes place in West Palm Beach, Florida. Throughout the month of January, guests of the oceanfront hotel are invited to book a special pink package, “Sweet Dreams for the Cure,” and help support the cause, as The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach will be contributing 5% of room proceeds from the package to the foundation. The offer includes overnight accommodations, as well as: Read More »
With the World Series tied one game each after 2 games, and the third game between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies all set to be a thriller on Saturday, one hotel in Philadelphia is already gloating over the grief of Yankees fans staying with them.
Hilton Inn at Penn Grief kit for Yankees Fans
The Hilton Inn at Penn is offering We Yankees Grief Kits to Yankees fans who book their World Series Hotel Package for games 3, 4 and 5.
The kit includes a mini pack of tissues (for minor breakdowns), a big Phillies towel (for uncontrollable bawling), a box of band-aids (to help cover the gaping wounds), and a tiny Phillies batting helmet and special edition baseball card plaque as a reminder of the wonderful game.
The World Series special package includes – in addition to the dastardly grief kit – deluxe guestroom for two, round trip transportation to Citizen’s Bank Park on Philadelphia’s SEPTA Trolley & Subway, and $25 credit to be used in the University Club, Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar or room service.
And in case anyone missed the point of the grief kits being handed out by the Inn at Penn, Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, hammered it in loud and clear – “Some would point out the coincidence of the Yankees and the Infectious Diseases Convention coming to town in the same weekend.”
Geez! Talk about sore winners…
Info:3600 Sansom Street Philadelphia PA 19104; (215) 222-0200; www.theinnatpenn.com/
One of the big hassles of travel, IMHO, especially when traveling with kids, is having a hotel experience which ends up draining you, rather than restoring you. Cramped space, inadequate beds, poor lighting, all can take the fun out of a family trip. When we travel, the hotel is our home base and we have high hopes that spending time there will be relaxing and restorative, giving us the energy to continue exploring our visiting city.
What’s the deal between the Hilton New York and the Bloomberg Administration? The Mayor is congratulating the hotel personally for being an “innovator in implementing sound environmental practices.”
Hilton New York
Last week, the Hilton New York was awarded the 2008-2009 Environmental Recognition Program – “Green Street” Award by the Avenue of the Americas Association. Hilton New York received the award in the Energy Efficiency / Sustainability Projects category for “Buildings Over 1M Square Feet” in recognition of its energy fuel cell, which the hotel installed 2 years ago.
Apparently, it takes some time for New York to recognize a breakthrough achievement. Or the patronage of a certain high-ranking NYC elected official. To be fair, the hotel has also recently added some new green initiatives to its toolkit – they’re now dissolving food waste with microorganisms to reduce garbage volume. For real.
But something is surely going on with the Hilton New York and NYC officials. In addition to the awards and kudos over the green stuff, there’s also the Olympic connection. On Nov 4, the U.S. Olympic Committee (with Hilton as it’s sponsor) will be turning New York’s Rockefeller Center into a winter wonderland as a 100-day countdown for the Vancouver 2010 Olymipics – something about the Making of Team USA.
Lisa Baird, USOC’s Chief Marketing Officer, added to the kudos – “I’d like to extend a special thanks to Hilton Worldwide and our associate sponsors for their support in bringing this 100-day countdown event to historic Rockefeller Center.”
If you’re looking for green hotels in New York, look no more. Head straight for Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite green hotel – located on 1335 Avenue of the Americas.
Orlando, Florida is officially home to the world’s largest Doubletree Hotel.
Technically, Orlando does not have a new hotel, but rather an old hotel has a new name and a new face, and Doubletree has another property in the middle of this infamous tourist destination.
Formerly known as the International Plaza Resort and Spa, the hotel on International Drive recently underwent a $35 million renovation and a name change, becoming Doubletree Resort Orlando – International Drive. This property spans 28 acres and houses 1,094 guestroom and 60,000 sqaure feet of event space, making it the largest of all Doubletree hotels.
In honor of Halloween, here is a list of the 10 scariest movie hotels of all time. Crazy managers, haunted rooms, murderous owners — movie hotels are dangerous places!
As an alumni of Bates College, and someone who knows a real man named Norman Bates, and he’s a hotel/motel security expert, it’s hard for me to crack jokes … but I’ll try.
An out of the way location, a “quirky” manager. And a murderous mother, who’s really the quirky manager. Has anyone taken a shower in a hotel with the door unlocked since this movie came out?
If you’re very brave, and live near Glen Mills, PA, during the Halloween Holiday season, you can check out the haunted house –and weather permitting, go on a hayride at the Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride.
A.k.a. the other movie made in 1960 that starts with an attractive blonde, who arrives at a desolte motel and gets murdered. By the creepy manager. Who stabs her to death. Starring Christopher Lee and Venetia Stevenson in the role of Janet Leigh the pretty girl who dies.
The isolated location. The endless hallways. The ghosts. That carpet. Who wouldn’t go crazy and try to kill their family with an axe? Although they used the Timberline Lodge in Oregon for the movie, in the book it’s a resort in Colorado. Thankfully, The Overlook doesn’t exist at all in real life.
It’s a horror-comedy, um, sort of, about a farmer who runs the Motel Hello. The catch? The “O” of “Hello” blinks on and off, giving guests a hint (that they all miss!) that they will be turned into smoked meats if they stay there.
Sort of a different take on “breakfast included.” Thanks, I’ll skip the bacon!
Again based on a Steven King story, 1408 stars John Cusak as another unstable writer, this time in New York City. Room 1408 is a dangerously unlucky room — no one can survive a night. Cusak insists on trying, and horrors ensue. If only he’d taken the free upgrade to a suite!
A redneck owns a hotel, kills a hooker, feeds her to his pet alligator. Realizes people are cheaper than alligator chow, continues to kill his guests. Moral of the story? Don’t stay at a motel with a hungry pet alligator.
Another movie about making a movie at a hotel, this time in Venice, where they eat humans, but the real horror appears to be the incomprehensible plot — something about a hitman, a prostitute, a film crew, a nosy maid … when in Italy, skip the hotel restaurant and stick to pasta!
Some guests don’t like to stay on the 13th floor of a hotel, and this made for TV horror flick explains why: that’s where Satanists bring victims and perform murderous sacrifices!
Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson play a young married couple who take a wrong turn, wind up lost, and pull into a motel somewhere in Northern California. There is no cell phone service. However there are hidden cameras all over the property, which is used to make snuff films … and guess who they use for the “talent”? That’s right, guests like them who show up without reservations.
Everyone gets annoyed by horny American frat boys chasing after the local ladies. But as far as I know, they don’t usually get killed for being jerks — except at this one hostel in Eastern Europe. Guests there are required to either mind their manners, or literally lose their heads!
Unfortunately, the people who post these reviews may be opening themselves up to legal action.
It’s possible to actually get sued for leaving a negative review on a travel review site like TripAdvisor or Yelp.
I first heard about the possibility of getting sued for writing a negative review on the Travel Rants blog. Blogger Darren Cronian referenced an article from an Australian news site that warned reviewers about the potential dangers of leaving criticism on internet review sites. While Darren discussed protective measures that travelers could take (such as having photographic or video evidence to back up any complaints), I wondered if this was a real threat within the American justice system.
Of course it is. No one likes to sue as much as Americans.
Hotel owner, Larry Whitten, has taken a unique approach to resurrecting an old New Mexican hotel. His methods are causing a national outcry and accusations of racism.
Specifically, Whitten is accused of demanding that his employees not speak Spanish around him and requesting that certain employees change their names to sound less Hispanic.
Whitten denies that his actions were motivated by racism or that he was out of line.
Larry Whitten and his business partner purchased the Paragon Inn in Taos, New Mexico for $2 million on July 31st. Whitten has owned and operated 20 other hotels and has a long track record of reviving failing properties. According to Whitten, he was applying the same principles to turn around the Taos property that he’s used successfully in the past.
Whitten explains that he asked employees not to speak Spanish around him because he doesn’t speak the language and he didn’t want employees talking about him if he couldn’t understand them. He insists that he did not try to discourage them from speaking Spanish with one another or with guests of the hotel.
About four years ago, I went to Cabo San Lucas with my best friend Mayda. We had a blast, and we stayed at a lovely, small hotel called Casa Rafael. This charming, quirky hotel is located a very short walk from the beach as well as from the shops along the docks in Cabo. There are only ten rooms, so any problems you experience are quickly taken care of (we only had one, towels were late, but they were brought up to us in about 5 minutes.) There’s a good restaurant on site as well as a piano bar that’s lively on the weekends.
Rooms are comfortable, basic and clean. Tile floors, decent beds, smallish but adequate bathrooms. The best part about this hotel is that you are about a five minute walk from the beach and about ten minutes from the harbor area with some of the more fancy shops – the location was perfect for us.
If you’re a wine lover, you’ll love the wine list at the hotel’s restaurant – there are more than 120 wines and champagnes to choose from!
Pay cash if you can, you’ll get a 10% discount off the already cheap rates. We went during spring, and at the time our room was $85/night, an amazing value! Now it looks like it’s about $100, but believe me, it’s still worth it.
