You can see the hipness from here! Photo: Best Western President Hotel

Last fall I stayed at the Best Western President in Times Square, NYC. It was a rocky stay for a number of reasons, including a totally random housekeeping fail, and the ongoing construction in the lobby. Rather than trash the well-intentioned property, which really did go out of their way to make things better, I held off on the review pending another stay.

Last month my husband (and frequent co-reviewer), Jeff, was headed to New York for a brothers’ trip. It seemed like the perfect time to check back with the Best Western, who offered up a nice discounted media rate for the guys.

Overall, Jeff had a much better time than I did. The biggest change is that there was actually a lobby bar, and a place for the breakfast service, which was missing when I was there. Also, the absence of the loud and mess construction — and construction workers — did a lot to improve the atmosphere of the place.

Here’s Jeff’s review: Read More »

The Eiffel Tower lit up at night, Paris, France

There’s a lot to do and see in Paris France, what with the Eiffel Tower, bicycle tours and the Louvre to enjoy at your leisure.  There are also a lot of hotels to pick from.  I rounded up the top ten I could find, all with top marks from customer reviews around the web.

Read More »

Up until now, there were all kinds of hotels in Istanbul, from 5-star luxury to cheap hotels, and from family-friendly to hip and trendy. But there were no green, eco-friendly hotels. Until, that is, The President Hotel got itself a Green Star Certificate from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The President Hotel, Istanbul

The President, a Best Western hotel, is only the second hotel in all of Turkey to acquire the coveted Green Star status. The first Green Star hotel in Turkey was the Calista Hotel in Belek, Antalya, which got the certification earlier this year.

And what did The President have to do to get the Green Star? Well, for starters, their electricity consumption is down 18%, water usage down 40%, and monthly detergent use has dropped 300kg.

The hotel says it spent $5 million retooling the facilities and equipment to reduce consumption. Or maybe they threw all the washing machines out the window.

By ramping up their recycling, they’re now saving 103 trees/year from being chopped down and 26,000 sq meters of soil from being soiled. A running tally of the hotel’s eco-friendly savings is maintained here – 219 tons of CO2 emissions saved so far.

In addition to a Green Star hotel, BW The President is also a Four Star hotel, overlooking the Marmara Sea with a sweeping view of Istanbul’s skyline and the minarets, not to mention that it is within walking distance of the city’s historic attractions including the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and The Grand Bazaar.

Photo courtesy BW The President Hotel

Info: 25 Tiyatro Caddesi Mimarhayrettin, İstanbul, Turkey; (0212) 516 6980; www.thepresidenthotel.com/

Hotel Front Desk

“Hi. We are looking for a brown ladies swimsuit and a pair of blue boxers with orange – uh, roosters on them. Orange roosters.”

I will continue that story later. We’ve all been next to the person at the hotel check-in counter who is asking for something very odd or out of the ordinary. I was staying at a Best Western in San Francisco once and the guy next to me was trying to insist that his room be cleaned again immediately because he “sensed something present in the room that needed to be banished…not evil, just unclean.” No joke.

What strange hotel requests have you made or heard recently? I’ve pulled a couple of good ones off the Internet from a site called HotelClub:

“My car dimensions are 4850mm x 4810mm x 1875mm and I would like to know the dimensions of the hotel’s car parking spaces to ensure that my car will fit and not get damaged.”

“I would like a fish tank in my room that is sized approximately 30cm and fully stocked before confirming this booking. ”

Fish tank in a hotel - Maybe the guest wanted something like this?

And then comes the story from my fiance, who was in another hotel in San Francisco about seven years ago (what is it about that city?). He was only in the city for 2 nights, so he had ONE pair of pants with him. Well, he had a big Friday night, and the cleaning lady decided to clean around him while he slept. When he woke up, his pants were gone. So, he called the front desk and said “Your cleaning lady came in, cleaned the room and took my pants. I’d like to have them back so I can go outside.” Turns out he was at fault, but I’m sure the poor room service people were flustered.

And lastly…during our stay at the Inn at Key West in Key West, Florida in August, my fiance and I went for a swim. He, of course, did not have swim trunks with him, so he put on a CLEAN pair of boxers and jumped in. We got back, showered and left, but we hadn’t realized that we had accidentally wrapped up his boxers and my swimsuit in a wet towel and left it on the floor. Needless to say, they were picked up by room service and laundered. Imagine calling the front desk and saying: “Hi. We are looking for a brown ladies swimsuit and a pair of blue boxers with orange – uh, roosters on them. Orange roosters.”

All items were returned to us safe and sound…with an amused smile.

Photo Credits: Alan Light, kamikarin