Posts under ‘Hotels’

The Roosevelt Hotel is a luxury hotel that first opened for business in 1927. built in a Spanish style the hotel is named after the 26th President of the USA, Theodore Roosavelt and has been the place to stay for Hollywood’s A list since it opened and even hosted the 1st Academy Awards Ceremony back in 1929.  Some of its more longer term residents include Clark Gable and Carole Lombard who’s old penthouse is now named in their honor. Marilyn Monroe also spent some a lot of time at the hotel as well as Montgomery Clift, both stars are said to haunt the hotel to this day with sightings of Montgomery wandering the 8th floor hall and Marilyn dancing in the ballroom. Read the rest of this entry »

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado is a large 1909 built Georgian Hotel. Built by Freelan Oscar Stanley, the man behind the Stanley Steamer, (a popular car before those new fangled internal combustion engine cars come along) the hotel has had plenty of famous guests over the years including Steven King who got the inspiration to write “The Shining” there. The hotel was even used in the 1997 TV mini series adaptation of the novel, as well as TV shows “Most Haunted”, “Ghost Hunters” and the film “Dumb and Dumber”. Many of the hotels staff and previous guests claim to have heard plenty of noises from empty rooms, as well as see things move by themselves or of other apparitions that come and go. The piano in the lobby is also often heard playing a tune despite no one being at it, staff think this may be F.O. Stanley’s late wife who did play the piano. Today the Stanley Hotel is still open as a luxury resort and also operates history and ghost tours of the building. The Stanley is situated about an hour from Denver, in front of the Rocky Mountains. Read the rest of this entry »

Opening in 1993 the Luxor on the Las Vegas Boulevard strip is one of the more eye-catching of the huge theme hotel casino resorts. Owned by the MGM group the resort is home to over 4400 rooms and some of the city’s best gaming, nightclub, bars and theatres. The centrepiece of the complex is a 30 story black glass pyramid topped with a spotlight which is claimed to be the worlds brightest and can be seen from Los Angles and it is claimed can be seen from space. The pyramid is guarded by a massive Sphinx which is one of the city’s best photo oppourtunities. Over the last few years over $300 million dollars has been spent renovating the Luxor, which has replaced much of the Egyptian inspired interior out of the complex and replacing it with a more luxurious and contemporary style. But the exterior still retains the amazing ancient Egyptian look. The Luxor is home to LAX, on of the world’s hottest nightclubs and has hosted some of the world’s hottest celebrities including Britney Spears, the Hiltons and Christina Aguilera to name a few. Like many other Vegas casinos the Luxor also features an amazing Cirque du Soleil show called Criss Angel Believe which is set to run until 2018.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gondola ride in Vegas

You no longer need to travel to Italy to see the wonders of Venice they are all available in Las Vegas- there’s the Grand Canal complete with gondola ride, the Rialto Bridge, St Marks Square- the statues the artwork and even St Mark’s Campanile and Doge’s palace. The detail is just amazing and inside are just spectacular. As for the casino and hotel it is one of the biggest on the Las Vegas Strip. There are over 4000 suites and a new tower is under construction. The gaming halls have over 100 different games and there are 17 dining experiences, and we mean experiences with some of the world’s best chefs cooking up a storm. If it’s entertainment you want, well the Blue Man Group and Wayne Brady have shows and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s classic musical Phantom of the Opera also shows at the Venetian performed in a theatre to resemble the famous Palis Garnier in Paris. There’s nightclubs, bars, 5 acres of pools and decks and huge spa club and if that’s not enough there is nearly 2 million square feet of convention and exhibition space. An amazing building for an amazing city. Read the rest of this entry »

We did a story a few months ago on Windmill Lane Studio’s in Dublin which is being redeveloped as a 120metre high tower called the U2 tower and will include their new recording studios. Well what will be Ireland’s tallest building isn’t the only bit of U2 property getting a huge overhaul. The Clarence Hotel on Wellington Quay Dublin is a renowned hotel which dates back to the 1850’s. U2’s Bono, The Edge and a few other investors have been planning a spectacular development which has been years in planning and approval stages. The plan is for the historic hotel to be demolished to make way for a spectacular modern building which has a dramatic atrium surrounded by rooms with a roofline which could only be described as a flying saucer shape. The architect Norman Foster from Foster + Partners have been responsible for some pretty spectacular landmark buildings including the new terminal at Beijing Airport, The Al Raha Beach Development in Abu Dhabi and London’s Gherkin – the Swill Re HQ. IT is hoped the new Clarence will be open in 2010 and will be a bold new landmark for Dublin. Read the rest of this entry »

When you think of spending your night in a drain pipe you think of raw sewerage, rats and other nasties, but not at the dasparkhotel. They have very fancy drain pipes turned into cabins complete with all the comforts like double bed, lighting, woolly blankets and power, but best of all the rates are “pay as you wish” you just pay what you can to support the project. The concrete pipes are quiet spacious and there are toilets, showers and minibar close by so you have everything you need. The hotel Ottensheim on the beautiful Danube is open May to October over the warmer months, bookings are pretty much done on line and you receive a pin number to enter into the drain pipe to enter your ‘room’- sounds like fun. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne offers one of the best views of the city while you are doing your business. Huge panoramic windows offer spectacular views of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and a magnificent view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and sporting precinct from the 35th floor. The 5 star 363 room hotel makes up the upper floors of the Collins Place twin towers which design was inspired by the World Trade Centre in New York. The Towers are also home to major tenants ANZ Bank and has a host of theatres, boutiques, bars and cafes at the basement underneath a huge glass and steel canopy. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting out as a two story garage complex for the French in the late 1950’s and later being renovated into a trading centre with cinemas, cafeterias and dance halls what is now Ho Chi Minh City’s Rex hotel has seen a lot of changes in this vibrant city. During the Vietnam War the building located in District 1 the hotel’s rooftop bar was a favorite place for the American troops to relax within a magnificent view of the city. It is also beloved the hotel was used by the CIA during the 60’s. Today the hotel is pretty interesting and fairly kitschy although it has had a serious makeover, bamboo detailing and huge crown shape lampshades and plenty of bud lighting to make it feel like Christmas. The location, atmosphere and history its of this hotel makes it worth cent. Even if you are not planning to stay there make sure you visit the upstairs bar, its open around the clock and serves great food and refreshing drinks. Read the rest of this entry »

We are probably being a bit harsh by our title, but the Hotel Celica was not the place you would have wanted to spend the night a few years back when it was the notorious Ljubljana Prison. Today it is one of Slovenia’s hippest places to stay and has been turned into a artistically renovated 20 room or cell hostel for travelers. Opening in 2003 the Hotel Celica has one of the highest occupancy rates in the country and with prices starting around 20 Euro it is no wonder why. The hotel has won many special awards including the golden award or Sejalec from the Slovenian Tourist Board and in 2006 the popular Lonely Planet publication voted it the Hippest Hostel in the World. The Celica has all the things you need for a hostel stay including kitchen, TV rooms, laundry, tourist desk and internet to send your photos and stories back home. – If you have any good ones- we would love to see them.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Library Hotel in New York is kind of a theme hotel based on the dewey decimal system where each of its 10 floors is catergorsied into one of the standard library catergories with each room devoted to a particular subject. An example is that the room one on the seventh floor would have an “architecture” theme while the second room would have a “paintings” theme as the seventh floor is part of “the arts” catergory. The book Lemony Snicket’s The Penultimate Peril had a hotel in it called the Hotel Denouement that was modeled after the Library Hotel. Interestingly the owners of the Dewey Decimal System trademark once sued the Library Hotel for trademark infringement, now the Library Hotel is allowed to use the system in its hotel and marketing in exchange for making a donation to a nonprofit organization promoting reading and literacy among children. Read the rest of this entry »