Hotels

Travel Tibits: hotel packages to perk up your summer trip

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Whether it’s a week at the beach or a weekend in a hip urban center, the hotel you choose can be a defining part of the journey.

Fluffy towels, oversized beds, luxury bath amenities and large, flat screen TVs with loads of free movies are nice basics, but a unique or over-the-top package such as the $30,000 Championship Experience package for golfers at The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, CA, can transform a getaway into an epic adventure. Here are a handful of other experiences to consider booking this summer that I put together for a recent CNBC story

In New York: Martinis and Montauk

(Courtesy Montauk Yacht Club Resort & Marina)

Both New York City, with its theaters, museums and nightlife, and Montauk, offering parks and beaches on the iconic East End of Long Island, are popular vacation spots during the summer.  The Martinis & Montauk package gives visitors a chance to experience both.

The “deluxe” version of the package offers guests two nights in a suite in the Loews Regency New York Hotel and two nights in a Water View room at the Montauk Yacht Club Resort & Marina. Included are two round-trip transfers between the two properties via the Hampton Ambassador luxury bus service and vouchers for two Brooklyn Gin martinis at the Regency Bar & Grill. Rates start at $2519.

Be theatrical in New York

 

(Sofitel New York – credit: Getty Images/via hotel)

 The 72nd annual Tony Awards for this season’s Broadway theater productions are just over, but theater fans can extend the award-night vibe with a stay in the show stopping Tony Awards Suite at the Sofitel New York.

The suite has views of Manhattan’s skyline and is filled with theater-themed memorabilia and amenities, including a Tony song book, award-winning scripts, opening number photography, programs, invitations, Playbills from 1960 and beyond, and more. (Rates start at $2,000 a night; available through July 15, 2018.

Bed and baseball in Boston

(Courtesy Hotel Commonwealth, Boston)

Boston’s Hotel Commonwealth (the Official Hotel of the Boston Red Sox) offers several over-the-top “insider” experiences for baseball fans this season.

In addition to the Fenway Park Suite (Rates start at $700/night), which is filled with a bounty of baseball memorabilia and sports an outdoor terrace with view of the iconic ballpark, the hotel is offering two unique fan-experience packages.

The “Can You Believe It?” package includes a night in the Fenway Guest Room with views of the park, two game tickets in the State Street Pavilion Club seating, a pregame meet-and-greet with Boston Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione and the opportunity to call and record a historic play-by-play alongside Castiglione himself. (Package starts at $2995.00; a portion is donated to Red Sox Foundation).

The “Top Dawg Tonight” packages include overnight accommodations in a Fenway Guest Room, breakfast for two, two top-shelf night game tickets, a visit to the announcer booth for autographs and selfies with all-star second baseman, Hall of Famer and announcer Jerry Remy. (Rates start at $1499).

Shop with the chef in Denver

 

Denver’s Kimpton Hotel Born, adjacent to the revitalized Union Station in Downtown Denver, has just launched a package that includes a shopping experience with the chef from the hotel’s restaurant, Citizen Rail, to the Union Station Farmer’s Market next door. In addition to a cooking demonstration, a three-course meal and a Friday night hotel stay, the package includes pre-shopping mimosas and recipes to take home. (Rates start at $349 for double occupancy; available July 7, August 4 and September 8, 2018).

Rock out in the Pearl Jam suite (or the Beatles suite) in Seattle

 Pearl Jam Suite – courtesy Edgewater Hotel, Seattle.)

 The Edgewater, Seattle’s iconic over-the-water hotel where world-famous musicians ranging including The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Stevie Wonder have stayed, has a new suite paying tribute to the legendary Seattle-based band, Pearl Jam. 

Historic Pearl Jam tour posters adorn the room, which has an L-shaped couch and floor lamps activated by guitar pedals. Other amenities in the suite include wall graphics of Pearl Jam fans, a Pearl Jam-curated library of books, vinyl turn table and cassette players, set-lists from past shows, a state of the art sound system and loaner guitars and fenders amps. (Rates start at $2,000; 10 percent of suite revenues booked through August 10, 2018 will be donated to programs fighting homelessness in Seattle).

Not a Pearl Jam fan? The hotel also recently revamped it Beatles Suite with new Mop Top memorabilia, turntables, records and more.

Catch and cook in Oregon

 

(Courtesy Stephanie Inn, Cannon Beach, Oregon)

 The Stephanie Inn, on the waterfront in Cannon Beach, Oregon, offers complimentary daily classes for guests staying two days and a series of special for-guests-only“ Sojourns. The annual “What a Catch” excursion takes place this year on August 21 and includes a Columbia River salmon fishing excursion with a fishing guide and the inn’s chef, a box lunch, 5-course ocean-bounty dinner and a portion of the day’s catch shipped home. ($1299/per person; overnight accommodations not included.)

Not a fisher? The Stephanie Inn Sojourn: Inside the Mind of a Winemaker will take place October 4 and includes a 3-hour wine blending class at Adelsheim Vineyard, 2 bottles of your own blend to take home and a 5-course wine pairing dinner at the inn. (Price: TBA).

Marriott moments expansion 

In addition to selling hotels, Marriott hotels offers guests the opportunity to create their own packages through the recently expanded Marriott Moments program, which boasts more than 100,000 experiences that can be booked online. Offerings include everything from a scavenger hunt in Denver ($15) and a walking tour of London locations made famous in movies ($22) to a day in Paris that includes an Eiffel Tower dinner, a Seine River cruise and a Moulin Rouge show ($333) and a day of golf with a golf tour professional near San Francisco ($850).

Virgin Atlantic’s ‘secret’ Clubhouse hotel room

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I didn’t get to spend the night, but on Thursday morning I did get to peek into this pop-up hotel room tucked into the corner of the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow Airport.

Put together by Onefinestay, the hotel room has unique views of the airfield and, for those lucky enough to have been chosen this past week to spend a night, came complete with all the amenities of the attached Clubhouse lounge, including a personal butler, spa treatments, food service and a cocktail bar.

This is defintely the “Airport Amenity of the Week”

 

Harriet’s Hotel Stay: Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5

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As an airport aficionado, I’m a big fan of hotels that are right in or right at-the-airport. So, when heading to London recently for a business event taking place near Heathrow Airport, my first thought was to stay at the Hilton London Heathrow Airport (connected to Terminal 4) or the Sofitel London Heathrow (at Terminal 5).

I’ve stayed at both hotels in the past and adore the convenience, but no favorable rates could be found, so this trip I decided to give the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 a try.

Except for a bit of transportation inconvenience (more details below) I see why this hotel is especially popular with business travelers and why it gets so many repeat visitors.

The Welcome:  Arriving worn and weary well before official check-in time, I was expecting nothing more than a place to store my bags. Instead, check-in was a breeze, I was given helpful “what’s where” information, and I was in my room within 5 minutes.

The room:  I didn’t tour all room types, but my room had a super comfortable Hilton bed, complimentary Wi-Fi (no password hassles), a large flat screen TV, a speaker in the bathroom and both UK and International power plugs at the roomy desk.  There was even a cookie with the coffee and tea set-up.

Executive lounge privileges came with this room and I stopped by one morning for the complimentary breakfast and both evenings of my stay for the complimentary evening cocktails and canapes.

Hotel dining and amenities: In addition to a 24-hour fitness center, this hotel has a spa area with a don’t-forget-your-swimsuit hydrotherapy pool. For dining, there are two bars, a lobby coffee shop, and the Gallery Restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This Hilton hotel also has a surprise hidden treasure: Mr. Todiwala’s Kitchen. Closed Sundays, I missed my chance to eat there, but now that I know its reputation and uniqueness (as a hotel restaurant, but also for London), I will make an extra effort to go back. Chef Cyrus Todiwala has an award-winning restaurant – Café Spice Namaste – in London proper and many of the signature dishes from that menu are offered at his popular restaurant at this Hilton, which draws locals and out-of-towners alike.

Getting there: Except for the hotels inside the airport, getting to any of the hotels near Heathrow can be confusing and time consuming. This is not one of the Heathrow-area hotels accessible by a free local bus, so an Uber or the Hoppa Bus (buy tickets in the terminal before you board to save a pound each way) is the best way to get back and forth from the airport. Call or email the hotel ahead of time for  instructions and study the Hoppa timetable so, like me, you don’t dawdle and miss the bus by two minutes on a cold night and have to hang around at the bus stop for an extra half hour.

(I received a discounted media rate for my stay the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5; opinions are my own.)

Even more holiday fun at airports

Hotels,

Heading to the airport this holiday season?

You’ll find holiday decorations galore and, in many airports, a full menu of holiday entertainment and regular visits by Santa and his helpers.

HMSHost is doing its part with free tastings, contests, fun activities and photo booths at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport and Orlando International Airport where travelers can pose with holiday themed props and then instantly print out those pictures or share the images digitally.

On Thursday, December 14, look for the photo booth in Terminal 2 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Bonus activities scheduled include hot cocoa samplings, a cheesecake decorating contest, adult beverage tastings and other special holiday entertainment.

At McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, look for the photo booth in the Terminal 1 Baggage Claim Main Lobby on December 19 and in Orlando International Airport, be ready to pose in the Main Terminal Food Court on  Thursday, December 21.

Posing for a photo will not only be fun – it can save you money on an airport meal: anyone who gets their picture taken will get a chit for a 15% discount in participating HMSHost airport restaurants.

Details on how to win a $100 gift card for sharing your airport photo booth pics here.

Holiday hotel packages with dazzling extras

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We’re spending the week at a hotel in Florence, Italy this week that (on our budget…) feels extravagant because not only does our room overlook a park, it is super comfortable and comes with a great breakfast buffet, afternoon tea and a complimentary Handy phone that helps us find our way through town.

But this package  we’ve  purchased fades in comparision to some of the unique and over-the-top holiday packages I found for a piece I put together for CNBC this past weekend that include extras such as trimmed trees, stuffed stocking and lots of bling.

 

There’s no charge to visit the Holiday Wonderland on view now through December 27 in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Charlotte, but it will certainly make you hungry.

Decorations include three trees bedecked with a total of 9,500 French macarons. The hotel’s Bar Cocoa dessert boutique boasts to having constructed the world’s largest éclair tree, using 980 éclairs in glittery red, gold, black and silver.

Starting December 2, the Tucson-area Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain will begin serving meals at its Dine-In Gingerbread House in the resort lobby. The house seats six and is made with 400 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of ginger powder, 50 pounds of cinnamon, 250 eggs, and 10 pounds of nutmeg. Viewing is complimentary, but reservations are required for lunch and dinner. Cost: $200/$250 fee, plus meal costs. Nibbling on the edible walls not permitted.

 

Several packages offer built-in holiday cheer at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park.

The Holidays on the Fly Package offers the add-on options of a three-foot-tall tree to enjoy and take home ($50) or a six-foot-tall decorated artificial loaner tree, complete with lights, topper, skirt and ornaments ($150). For an extra $20, those who book the Snowman in a Box Package will receive a kit with a top hat, red scarf, coal eyes, buttons, pipe cleaner, authentic Chicago Oak Twigs and an organic carrot. Snow is not included, but the kits are available now through March 31, 2018.

And both friends and family can stay out of their holiday hosts’ hair by booking the Winter Fun package (starting at $154, plus tax, gratuity) which includes overnight accommodations and $25 dining credit.

Santa and Mrs. Claus welcome both adults and children to the much-loved Teddy Bear Tea ($94.33 $128 per person; $1500 for a Golden Table for 10) in the block-long lobby of The Roosevelt New Orleans, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which turns on its elaborate lobby lights and décor the day after Thanksgiving.

In Dallas, Texas, the Hilton Anatole transforms its lobby into Peppermint Park, complete with train rides, games, interactive entertainment, light displays, photos with Santa and more. Guests can book the “Breakfast with Santa” package, which includes a guest room, a holiday movie, and breakfast with Santa for up to two children and two adults or the Grand Holiday Experience package which includes the guest room, a holiday movie, breakfast with Santa, and two kids’ fun passes to all the Peppermint Park activities.

When Christmas Eve comes around there’ll be no need to bake cookies for Santa and leave them by the chimney if you’ve booked the Christmas Eve fantasy package at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa in greater Palm Springs, CA.

The resort’s December 24, 2017 package costs $15,000 and includes accommodations for six in the resort’s Governor’s Suite, a connecting room, a holiday dinner served by Santa’s elves, a private movie screening, bedtime stories with cookies and milk offered by elves, breakfast with Santa and a keepsake family photo. Also included: a decorated in-suite Christmas tree, $2,000 in shopping money, and limousine transportation between the resort and any airport (or home) within a two-hour drive.

For $100,000 per night (with a two-night minimum) the Bubbles & Bling package at the Lotte New York Palace is the most over-the-top holiday package we’ve found (so far).

The package includes round-trip helicopter transfers from any of the major NYC-area airports, overnight accommodations in the Jewel Suite one night and the Champagne Suite the next, extravagant in-room holiday décor that includes a decorated Christmas tree and stockings stuffed with gifts, and evening in-room entertainment by a local jazz duo.

The Jewel Suite includes a Martin Katz jewelry gift under the tree, while the Champagne Suite includes a decked-out bar cart with Martin Katz custom jeweled bottles. Also included in the package: a holiday-inspired food and wine tasting ‘experience’ and breakfast in bed.

Holiday guests who don’t choose the Bubbles & Bling package will still be offered a pencil and postcard at check-in so they can write a letter to Santa and receive a small gift and a personalized response during the daily Palace Hour (5-7 p.m. daily), where December treats include elaborate food presentations, surprise goodies and a life-size Molton Brown bath and body products advent calendar with free giveaways.

 

 

 

Souvenir Sunday: read an illustrated history of travel

Aviation history, Books, History, Hotels, Souvenir Sunday,

Journey – an Illustrated History of Travel, published by DK in association with the Smithsonian Institution, arrived in the mail a few weeks back and our household has been leafing through it since then.

It’s a big coffee table-style book – 440 pages, in full color and pretty heavy – and is separated into 7 chapters, or “ages,” each tackling advances, experiences and the means by which humans have made their way around the world.

Chapters 1 through 3 tackle the Ancient World (including travel in ancient Egypt and the travels of Odysseus and Alexander the Great), travel that powered trade and conquests, including the travels of Marco Polo, and The Age of Discovery, when explorers set out to find “new” parts of the world.

Chapters 4 through 7 dig deep into the ‘The Age of Empires’, ‘The Age of Steam,’ ‘The Golden Age of Travel,’ and “The Age of Flight,’ with lots more achival images, historic maps, artifact images, bits of journals, and works of art.

I was delighted to find a spread on the Wunderkammern – or curiosity cabinets – that collectors began putting together in the 16th century to show off souvenirs such as shells, preserved animals, scientific and mechanical obects, and other odd tidbits they’d picked up on far off journeys or purchased from others who had gone on adventures.

The three voyages of Captian Cook are detailed, as are the inventions and inventors that brought the world flight.

There are sections on the rise of the manufactured souvenir, World’s Fairs, Grand Hotels, luggage labels, national parks, efforts to create maps that accurately reflect the world and parts of it, camping, Route 66, travel to every corner of the world, the Jet Age, space travel – and much, much more.

Towards the end of this big book there’s a section of biographies stretching from Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, to Amelia Earhart, Thor Heyerdahl, Ernest Shackleton, and Amerigo Vespucci.

This one is a keeper and a good gift for anyone interested in travel or history.

All images from Journey – an Illustrated History of Travel.

 

Love the layover: Boston’s new Yotel

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I’m a big fan of the Yotel chain, having stayed in their affordable, cruise cabin-inspired hotel rooms at London’s Heathrow Airport, at the Paris CDG Airport and in New York City.

Room are on the “cozy” side (“Premium” cabins at CDG start at 97 square feet) but have everything you need : free Wi-Fi, a flat screen TV, a cool retractable bed that turns into a sofa at the touch of a button, private shower and bathroom, work space, lots of power sources and cool lighting.

My most recent Yotel stay was at the brand new Yotel Boston.

Located in the super trendy Boston Seaport neighborhood, the Yotel Boston is on one of the first few stops of the (free!) Silver Line bus that goes into the city from the airport and is right next door to the station.

Rooms look much like other Yotel rooms, but have a few fresh twists. Layouts start at 152 square feet and include an updated bathroom layout with monsoon shower head and some creative storage and roll-out work surfaces.

The public spaces are charming as well.

Guests can have a drink or a meal at the lobby bar or duck into one of the work spaces for a quick meeting. There’s a well-equipped fitness room and an already very popular rooftop bar.

The Yotel chain started out as an in-airport amenity, and now offers short-stay cabins at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. In addition to the Boston Yotel, there is an in-city Yotel in New York and branches set to open in San Francisco and Singapore.

(My Yotel stay was booked at a media rate.)

 

 

 

 

Can messy hotel rooms save the earth?

Hotels

Courtesy Provenance Hotels

Eco-friendly hotels incorporate green initiatives ranging from low flow showerheads to heating and air conditioning units that only run when there’s someone in the room.

But while 65 percent of global travelers surveyed by Booking.com for its 2017 Sustainable Travel Report expressed interest in staying in a “green” accommodation at least once, in the big picture, “The only green that really matters to traveler is money,” said Douglas Quinby, Vice-President, Research at Phocuswright, ” And how great a deal they can get,” said Quinby.

Acknowledging that, some hotels offer guests a cash incentive or some other perk to encourage them to forgo housekeeping services and help conserve water and other resources.

At properties operated by Provenance Hotels in Seattle and Tacoma, WA, Portland, OR, New Orleans, or Nashville the ‘Green for Green’ program, encourages guests staying more than one night to opt out of housekeeping services in exchange for a $5 per day credit for either the honor bar or hotel food and beverage outlets.

About 25 percent of eligible guests take advantage of that offer, said Provenance Hotels spokeswoman Kate Buska, which not only helps the hotels cut down on water usage, but also on the use of cleaning products.

“And reducing consumption of cleaning products, even if they are green, makes our environmental footprint smaller,” said Buska.

High Peaks Resort, in Lake Placid, New York, also offers guest a $5 per night food & beverage credit to opt out of housekeeping, but also offers the option of having that $5 donated directly to an organization that works to keep Lake Placid’s Mirror Lake clean and pristine.

In San Francisco, Hotel Abri’s ‘Green for Green’ program rewards guests with a $5 Starbucks gift card for passing on a room cleaning, while At Kimpton Hotel Palomar Philadelphia and Kimpton Hotel Monaco Philadelphia, guests who opt-in to the ‘Choose to Conserve’ program receive a $10 hotel or food and beverage credit each night they skip housekeeping service.

And both the Shade Hotel Manhattan Beach and the Shade Hotel Redondo Beach in California have arranged to have a non-profit organization, Plant with Purpose, plant a tree in honor of each guest that forgoes housekeeping during their stay.

Big brand hotels do this too.

So far in 2017, nearly 1000 guests of the 1,020-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld have passed on a day of housekeeping in exchange for a $5 on-property food and beverage credit or 500 Hilton Honors points, representing a saving of 13,000 gallons of water for the earth and more than $12,000 of savings for the hotel.

Guests of Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in the Americas who opt-in to the “A Greener Stay’ program and forgo housekeeping receive 500 IHG Rewards Club points following their stay.

And Marriott currently has 1,500 hotels in the US and Canada participating in one of three different programs that allow guests to decline housekeeping in exchange for 250-500 hotel program points or, in Canada, to have a tree planted on their behalf.

According to Marriott, since the three programs launched there have been more than 11 million participating room nights and more than 80,000 trees planted.

While it seems like a win-win situation for hotels to offer guests a perk in exchange for skipping housekeeping services, “It’s often a better deal for the hotels,” said Patricia Griffin of the Green Hotels Association.

“Hotels not only save water, energy and cleaning supplies, but also a great deal of labor,” she said, which is especially helpful in areas where hotels find it hard to keep their housekeeping department fully staffed.

(My story about hotels offering perks for guests who pass on housekeeping also appears on NBC News Travel in a slightly different version.)

 

Hotel tidbits

Hotels

 

Just sharing some tidbits about hotels I’ve stayed at recently – and hope to return to.

In New York City, I was a guest at Marriott’s Courtyard New York Manhattan/Central Park – which turned out to be in the theater district and around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater, where The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is filmed.

The location could not have been better and my cozy room, with a work desk, complimentary WiFi, city view, coffee maker and crisp white linens was an ideal for base for a one night stay.

I didn’t have time to check out the fitness center, but did spend some time at Nosh!, the living room-style 4th-floor restaurant and bar open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the sort of place where you can get a coffee and just hang out to work or read.  After my stay, I learned that this is the go-to hotel for good friends when they go to New York City to see plays or concerts.

In Portland, Oregon I’ve been a guest recently at some of the darling and diverse Provenance Hotels,  including the Sentinel,  where my room looked just like this, including the terrace and fire pit.

Among the great amenities – a giant fitness room and, on my floor, this ‘secret’ lounge with a snack bar, TV, sofas and cool (fake) wall of books.

 

In Paris with one extra night to spend in the city, I was a guest at the 37-room charming Grand Pigalle Hotel, in the 9th arrondissement, in the hip South Pigalle, or SoPi, neighborhood.

The first floor has a cozy wine bar and Italian restaurant  where breakfast is also served. Rooms – all different and designed by noted French interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon – have metallic wallpaper, brass lamps and handles, and tiled bathrooms with deep tubs. Some have terraces too.

My only regret from my stay: I was too busy making sure not to stumble on the circular stairs to snap a photo of the martini glass-themed carpeting.