Hotels

Love the layover: elevator ride in Paris

Hotels, ,

If I had a one-day layover in Paris, I’d probably spend a few hours at the Musée du Louvre and then head to the Eiffel Tower for an elevator ride to the top.

Or I might just save my euros and visit the new Radisson Blu Le Dokhan’s Hotel, Paris Trocadéro and spend some time drinking champagne and riding the elevator there.

paris-trunk-small

The boutique hotel is housed in a former private residence in the 16th arrondissement and was the site of Paris’ first champagne bar. They’ve still got a champagne bar on site – and they have an elevator made from a single, vintage Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk believed to have belonged to the Dokhan family, who were the original owners of the private residence.

Tips for travel tightwads: book the “flagpole” room

Free Stuff, Hotels

One summer, when my travel budget was really tight, I took my mother with me on my work-related road trips. Not because she was great company, but because with her in tow I could get a senior discount on motel rooms.

As you can imagine, there were some serious downsides to that scheme, but at the time it seemed to make sense.

I’ve wised up over the years and found other ways to cut travel costs.   And so have the folks who were kind enough to share their “tightwad travel tips” for my Well-Mannered Traveler column this week on MSNBC.com.

One frequent traveler says she picks up magazines other air passengers have left behind.   Another says she gets cheap hotel rooms by asking for the “flagpole room.”

Read the full column – “Money-saving tips for travel tightwads” -complete with this cool illustration- on MSNBC.com and send me your tips so I can put them in a future column.

cheaptraveler

(Column illustration by MSNBC.com’s Duane Hoffman. THANKS!)

Want a quiet hotel room? Try an airport hotel.

Hotels, Lodging

(Image from column courtesy John Brecher / msnbc.com)

What’s the use of battling the crowds at the airport and on the airplane if you end up checking into a hotel where the hallways are noisy and the walls are so thin that it sounds as if the guests next door are having that private conservation in your room?

For some tips on how to get a good night’s sleep on the road, take a look at my Well-Mannered Traveler column: Do not disturb – How to get a quiet hotel room – posted this week on MSNBC.com.

You may be surprised to learn why airport hotels are sometimes your best choice.


Greetings from Portland International Airport

Hotels,

I got a chance to visit Oregon’s Portland International Airport yesterday and ventured just beyond it to be on hand for the opening ceremony at the new aloft Portland Airport at Cascade Station.

aloft is Starwood Hotels’ new uber-hip, high-tech line of hotels. This one has a cool bar complete with weekend DJs, loaner bikes for use on the nearby bike trails, plug and play gadget boxes in the well-insulated rooms and, soon, an in-room feed from the airport control tower so guests can identify the planes taking off and landing out front.

The hotel is part of the “Lifestyle Center” of shops (including an IKEA) and amenities that has popped up right next to the airport.  And while the hotel is brand new, it has a reassuring “old” Portland connection. The local company that built, owns and manages the hotel – Pollin Hotels – also built, owns and manages the Sheraton Hotel at the airport, which was the first hotel built at Portland International Airport, about 35 years ago.

Airport sleepover: 747 plane to become Jumbo Hostel

Hotels, Lodging, ,

Move over Yotel. According to this Wired Autopia report by Dave Demerjian, Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport will soon welcome the Jumbo Hostel – a 25-room hotel located inside a decommissioned 747 and parked just outside airport property.

If it’s true, I’m making my reservation now.

(Courtesy: Jumbo Hostel)

According to the Jumbo Hostel Web site, travelers will be able to choose between “sparkling three-bed rooms with shared shower and toilet in the corridor or the luxury suite in the converted cockpit with its panoramic view of the airport.”

(Graphic: Bjerking Arkitekter Ingenjörer)

Folks who don’t want to stay overnight can stop by for an “excursion” on the walkway out on the left wing of the plane. There, they can “explore the vertiginous feeling of standing on top of a jumbo jet’s wing.”