“Hotels dispensing with bathroom clutter” plus 3 more |
- Hotels dispensing with bathroom clutter
- It List: 45 best new hotels of 2010
- Encouraging lodging numbers expected for Grand Strand
- Texas Hotel & Lodging Association Endorses Heartland Payment Systems® for Payments Processing Solutions
| Hotels dispensing with bathroom clutter Posted: 08 Jul 2010 09:02 AM PDT You check in at the luxury hotel. You let yourself in the room. You realize something is missing. Bathrobe? Check. Minibar? Check. High thread count bed sheets? Check. Those amenities are all there. You walk to the bathroom, you pull back the shower curtain, and what the ...? Some upscale hotels are doing away with tiny shampoo bottles and miniature bars of bath soap and installing push-button dispensers instead. Standard in many budget hotel chains across the U.S. and Europe, amenities dispensers in luxe hotels strike some frequent travelers as tacky and unsanitary. "Seems cheap to me," says software trainer Melissa Odom, who spends about 200 nights a year in hotels. "I'd think, 'Ick, whose hands have been on this?' " Other travelers notice, but don't seem to mind. "I don't particularly like them," says travel planner Sheri Doyle, "but I appreciate the environmental reasons for doing it." Dispensing with the landfill
Maher says properties currently testing or installing bathroom amenities dispensers include the Kimpton, Ritz Carlton and Choice Hotels as well as Starwood's extended-stay Element Hotels. But the historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Wash. — the first hotel to have air conditioning and a central vacuum system — has had amenities dispensers in all guest bathrooms since the hotel's $38 million makeover in 2002. "The hotel owners were a little ahead of the curve on that," says the Davenport's Matt Jensen. "It's very efficient, it makes sense financially and it fits in with the hotel's historically green approach. We fill the dispensers with very high quality bath products, and the only people who seem disappointed are the ones who like taking home those little bottles of shampoo." S.O.S. — Save Our Soap
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| It List: 45 best new hotels of 2010 Posted: 08 Jul 2010 09:01 AM PDT We rode on horseback across 6,600 acres at the Ranch at Rock Creek in Montana. We slept in a former monastery set within historic caves at Argos in Cappadocia. We inhaled views of Germany's Upper Rhine Valley at Heidelberg Suites. And we did it to find — for the fifth year running — the absolute best new hotels to open around the world this year. Our goal wasn't to unearth the most luxurious properties or the hippest hangouts. Instead, it was to discover how the best new hotels — from the Amangiri resort in Utah to the PuLi Hotel & Spa in Shanghai — are reshaping their destinations. And each of this year's 45 handpicked It List hotels delivers an authentic sense of place. Thanks to prerecession plans, hundreds of hotels opened their doors in 2010. But no matter how splashy the opening, not every hotel makes a true impact in the eyes of a travel expert. Click for slideshow: 45 best new hotels of 2010 The properties that stand apart connect us to their destinations, says Shane Mitchell, T+L's special correspondent and hotel expert. "A hotel that offers a sensual experience and introduces guests to a place is exciting now," she says. "At Philippe Starck's Palazzina Grassi in Italy, guests can ride on a vintage mahogany Celli water taxi through Venice's back canals into the lagoon at sunset." Now that travel is finally recovering — according to Smith Travel Research, hotel occupancy is already up 9.1 percent over last year — hoteliers are looking for unique ways to stand apart. At the new Crosby Street Hotel, in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, all 86 rooms have moved away from the now-ubiquitous minimalism in exchange for color, texture, and original artworks. To further differentiate itself from the competition, the property, which was created by London-based Firmdale Hotels, also offers weekly film nights in its 100-seat movie theater for $25 per person, including cocktails and a bar plate. Travelers will also find great value at some of the new hotels. If you're heading to London, Dean Street Townhouse offers rooms from $244 a night — a great deal for stylish accommodations in a Neo-Georgian building in the city's West End. For affordable options closer to home, Grupo Habita's newest property in Mexico, Hotel Boca Chica in Acapulco, has oceanfront rooms for only $95 a night. Not surprisingly, the hotel expansion in Asia continues unabated. In Hong Kong, the Upper House (from Swire Hotels, the group behind Opposite House in Beijing) is a 117-room property that's gaining buzz for its notable contemporary design. For a truly regional — and rustic — experience, Amanfayun, in Hangzhou, takes travelers to an ancient tea-growing village, where designer Jaya Ibrahim transformed traditional courtyard dwellings into 42 memorable villa suites. "We never try to clone a property but instead create it to respond to each unique surrounding," says Adrian Zecha, founder of Amanresorts. Whether it's the sandy oasis of Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara in Abu Dhabi or a stylish rooftop lounge overlooking Barcelona's Passeig de Gràcia at Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, you're bound to find that perfect escape among our favorite hotels in 2010.
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| Encouraging lodging numbers expected for Grand Strand Posted: 07 Jul 2010 08:16 PM PDT MYRTLE BEACH-New lodging numbers for the Grand Strand are expected to come out Thursday. According to some tourism experts at Coastal Carolina University those numbers look encouraging. Wednesday, the common theme among some of the hotels and restaurants in Myrtle Beach was that things are starting to look up. The parking lot near the Hampton Inn Hotel at Broadway at the Beach was packed with cars while crowds could be seen enjoying the weather at Second Avenue Pier restaurant on N Ocean Boulevard. "Three weeks out of June we were sold out and July 4th weekend we turned away more people than we could count it was huge out here," said hotel manager, Scott Martin. Martin said he thinks the new boardwalk, warm weather and the disaster in the Gulf Coast contributed to the busy start of the summer. "It'll be sold out," said Martin about the outlook for the upcoming weekend, "I'm almost sold out right now and we still have three more days before the weekend and we'll sell out no problem." Some repeat Myrtle Beach visitors like Collette Lavenhouse said this year she had a hard time a finding a place to stay. "I know the hotels are all booked up this weekend so I don't know if there is something going or the weather is beautiful and everybody is here," Lavenhouse said, "We tried to book online and we could not get our usual spots so we had to come on down to the Hampton Inn." Johnnie Garner the manager of Second Avenue Pier restaurant said though the two story pier building is fairly new, visitors and locals are beginning to fill it up. "We just opened Saturday for the season," Gardner said, "And the foot traffic is up tremendously, there are just people in this area where there weren't before—- they are back down in downtown Myrtle Beach where they belong." The upcoming weekend's hotel lodging is expected to be at about 98 percent, said Taylor Damonte, director of Coastal Carolina University's Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism, which is slightly higher than last year at the same time. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Posted: 08 Jul 2010 05:05 AM PDT PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Texas Hotel & Lodging Association (TH&LA) has selected Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation's largest payments processors, as its exclusive endorsed provider of card processing, gift marketing, payroll services, tip management and check management services. The TH&LA is a non-profit trade organization that represents all aspects of the lodging and tourism industry in the state of Texas. With more than 1,800 members, the TH&LA is the second largest hotel association in the country. "The savings and value that Heartland offers hotels has resulted in Heartland becoming the official endorsed vendor for the members of the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association," said Scott Joslove, president/CEO of the TH&LA. "We are joining forces with Heartland because it offers a comprehensive suite of business products and services — including the first-ever unified payments processing platform in the lodging industry. Our membership will benefit greatly from the expertise and service Heartland provides." The TH&LA is the 38th state hotel and lodging association that endorses Heartland. Heartland is the official preferred provider of card processing, gift marketing, payroll services, tip management and check management for the American Hotel & Lodging Association. "Heartland's payments and related business solutions provide hotel owners and operators with the ability to improve their bottom lines and their businesses," said Dennis Carpenter, Heartland's director of association alliances. "We look forward to serving properties throughout Texas — from the largest hotel and conference center to the most charming bed and breakfast." To learn more about Heartland's lodging solutions, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com/Lodging. About Heartland Payment Systems Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, gift marketing and loyalty programs, payroll, check management and business solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.org, CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com. About the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association Based in Austin, the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association serves over 2,300 member bed and breakfasts, guest ranches, inns, hotels, motels, resorts, and hospitality-related businesses across the state by providing governmental affairs representation, operational, marketing, educational, and communications services. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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