Fundapart Hotel

Room With a Killer View: Eiffel Tower Gazing from Green Gavarni

August 25, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty–yeah we are that shallow. Let’s help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.

HotelChatter tipster Cecile recently stayed at the Hotel Gavarni in Paris and sent us this killer view–the Eiffel Tower might be something the locals used to want to tear down as an eyesore, but we think staring out over it from our hotel room makes the experience just that bit more Parisian.

There’s another bonus about staying at the Gavarni, according to Cecile:

It’s an old style hotel in the 16th arrondissement but at the same time green, they put in place variety of things such as recycling the water from the showers, organic food etc.

Yep, green is good. Even the rates are relatively reasonable: double rooms go for €160 (US$235) in the low season and the most expensive possibility, in the high season, is to grab three friends and stay in the Eiffel Suite (with this view, of course) for €550 (US$810).

Hotel Reviews:

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La Quinta Brings a Bright Spot to Life With Free Stuff

July 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

Whenever we book a hotel room, we always feel this pang of guilt when we see the room rate — no matter how low — and tend to lament the loss of money that could have been used to purchase 1/4 of a pair of super expensive shoes. Or flowers for our mother. Or a bunch of pizzas, even.

But the La Quinta chain feels us on that one: right now when you book a room at any La Quinta, you can visit their Bright Spot website, enter your confirmation code and gain access to discounts on stuff like rental cars, Dominos pizza and Borders books. Hooray!

And even if you’re not booking a room at a La Quinta, check out the Bright Spot Challenge website and register to win daily prizes — which include free nights at La Quintas, free flights, and money. Money, people.

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Sneak Peek :: Asia de Cuba Inside the Mondrian South Beach

July 4, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

A rep for the Mondrian South Beach hotel just sent over this restaurant of the planned Asia de Cuba restaurant (run by China Grill Management) which will open inside the hotel in December 2008. Here’s the official restaurant and menu description.

Asia de Cuba at Mondrian South Beach blends a vibrant, social atmosphere conceived by Marcel Wanders with innovative menus, incorporating the best of Asian and Latin cuisines and producing intense flavors distinctly united.

The restaurant delivers imaginatively prepared signature dishes such as Calamari Salad “Asia de Cuba,” with chayote, hearts of palm, banana, cashews, chicory and radicchio in a sesame orange dressing; Tunapica, a picadillo style tuna tartare with Spanish olives, black currants, almonds and coconut in a soy-lime vinaigrette; Palomillo of Marinated Lamb, Miso-Cured Alaskan Butterfish accompanied by a tempura-battered shisito pepper, and Lobster “Mai-Tai, with rhum, coconut, red curry and wok crispy boniato.

Mmmm…our stomach just growled. This will be the sixth Asia de Cuba. There are other locations at the Morgans Hotel in New York and the Mondrians in LA and Scottsdale as well as the Clift in San Fran and St. Martin’s Lane in London.

The hotel is set to open sometime in December 2008 and while we had heard a rumor that the hotel would be taking reservations starting November 17th, we aren’t going to hold our breath.

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You’ve Been Overserved

June 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

Ok, maybe we would need some help if we had this much luggage with us.

Think back on your most recent hotel stay. Was there an instance -if only a fleeting one–when you couldn’t wait to escape some overzealous hotel staffer who was hell-bent on giving you “an experience” that you could go home and eagerly share with your friends?

For example, we still can’t stop talking about a stay of more than a year ago at the Marriott Marco Island Hotel in Florida. As soon as our cab pulled up in front of the hotel, a bellman was opening the door while a second was attempting to whisk our luggage away, into that purgatory where it seems to disappear for hours after checking-in.

When we politely objected, we found ourselves in a verbal volley of courteous “please-ma’am-allow-me” and “thank-you-but-really-I-manage-it.”

If you’re wondering if the issue is that we don’t want to tip them, it isn’t; We simply want to go up to our room and be able to fresh up and change immediately.

Letting the bellmen take the bag up means waiting for them to deliver it. Not to mention, if we could get our single carry-on to the hotel, we can certainly get it up to the room.

But don’t get us wrong. We do appreciate the offer of assistance and we like knowing that it’s there should we ever want to take advantage of it.

Still though, as the guest, we’d prefer to feel secure in knowing that our wishes are respected, even when that’s turning down the offer of help. And this is something thatp we’ve found can immediately put us at ease with our surrounding.

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HotelChatter OpenThread :: Should We Tip Extra for Room Service?

May 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

Tipping. Yikes. While most of us know to regularly tip our bellmen and some of us routinely tip our housekeepers (and all of us should!), things start to get a bit dicey when it comes to room service.

See, in most hotels, gratuity is included on a room service order. But then when you open up your folio to sign off on your charges, you breeze past the line detailing the auto-gratuity that’s been added…and you encounter it: the additional gratuity line before the total.

Man, this extra line is the worst. Are you supposed to add in extra tip on top of the gratuity? Exactly what kind of performance on the staffer’s part might warrant such a bonus?

It’s always super awkward when the person who brought us our delicious burger is standing in front of us and staring us down as we sign off on the charges and contemplate the “additional gratuity” space. And, frankly, sometimes we tip and sometimes we don’t. Depends on how we’re feeling that day, really.

Here’s where you come in: what’s the official protocol for tipping on top of the included gratuity?

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Kids Get the Better View From the Alchymist Hotel in Prague

April 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

A while back Amy Langfield from NewYorkology headed off to Prague and went through a little bit of drama pre-flight with Tablet Hotels about her lodging situation. But as we told you back then, everything worked out ok and Amy and family was sent to a nice suite at the Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa.

Since today is Killer/Anti-View day, we thought it fitting to post these views from her suite.

The above view is the Killer View from the kids room. While it’s mostly buidlings, you can see the castle jutting out in the far background. So what kind of view did the master bedroom aka the parents’ room have? Click after the jump to see.

Awww…snap! Oh well, such is life. Kids are always getting the better view—on airplanes in the window seats, at ball games sitting on someone’s shoulders, front row at the Jonas Brothers, etc. etc. Hopefully, when we have kids of our own (in the year 3000) we’ll be as kind with our hotel room views as Amy was.

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Snapshot :: Michael Phelps Swims Again in Beijing

March 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

Michael Phelps keeps on swimming in Beijing but his latest race wasn’t for gold. It was for something even better.

Phelps jumped into the pool at the Hilton Beijing on Tuesday to swim 6,250th and final lap of the “Hilton Swim to Beijing Relay.” The relay is a multi-city charitable event contributing $100,000 to the USA Swimming Foundation to fund swim education programs across the United States.

The race actually began back in November 2007 when Phelps kicked off the swim at the Hilton Universal City. It then went on to five other cities. So why 6,250 laps? Well that’s the distance from LA to Beijing.

Hilton will be donating the money to swim education programs in the participating cities as well as $50,000 to the USA Swimming Foundation. We’re pretty sure every kid in America is going to be asking for swimming lessons this year.

A pic of Phelps in action after the jump.

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Room With an Anti-View: Window to Window in Pune, India

February 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized

You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.

With a name as grand sounding as the Royal Orchid Golden Suites, you’d expect something quite magnificent when you were heading here in Pune, a city in the Maharashtra region of India. Unfortunately, at least one of the rooms has a view like this.

This is really a pity, because from all reports the gang at the Royal Orchid Golden Suites treat their guests very well and it’s one of the most popular hotels in Pune. Average rates are something around $125 a night, and for that rate in this city we’d be hoping for a better view, so check the room before you check in.

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Luxe Hotels Lure Customers with Insane Amenities

December 24, 2007 - Posted in Uncategorized

So, the hotel industry? Not doing so great this year. Not even in Beijing. But, MSBNC reports, the fanciest hotels are all doing their best to stay afloat, and they continue to lure wealthy heads onto guestroom pillows worldwide. Their secret strategy?

Why, baller amenities, of course.

At most high-end properties these days, flatscreen TV’s, iPod docking stations and other high-tech gadgets pretty much come standard, so the luxe hotels have opportunities to distinguish themselves by offering super high-touch service.

Not surprisingly, butlers have become more and more popular in luxe hotels and there are more than 150 hotels with butler “programs” — individuals assigned to anticipate and cater to a guest’s every whim — around the world.

The article even discusses something called a baby butler at the Keswick Hall– which sounds like a nanny to us, really. Essentially, a baby butler does all the things mom is supposed to be doing…up to and and including rocking the baby to sleep “while mom soaks in the tub.” Lord.

Other baller amenities and services high-end hotels are using to distinguish themselves?

The Ritz Madrid places monogrammed bathrobes in guests’ closets prior to their arrival. Jade Mountain in the Caribbean places a poem on the pillow at turndown (an original poem? ‘An Ode to the McDonalds I Saw You Sneaking Through the Lobby at Breakfast,’ perhaps?)

And then there’s this, which makes us giddy with glee:

Four Seasons Resort Nevis in the West Indies, guests can contribute to local conservation efforts by paying to adopt an endangered sea turtle, which has been tagged with a satellite transmitter for research purposes. Adoptive guests then monitor their turtles’ migratory patterns via an Internet-based program.

A sea turtle! For rich people that prefer the air to the sea, Banyan Tree Phuket flies guests by private plane to a secluded island to eat breakfast and watch the sun come up.

Apparently, these over-the-top services and little touches here and there that differentiate luxury hotels from one another and keep guests interested.

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Would You Pay $40 for a Bottle of Water?

October 24, 2007 - Posted in Uncategorized

We assume and hope the answer to this question is going to be a resounding “hells no,” but we have to ask: would someone really pay $40.00 for a bottle of water?

London’s Claridge’s Hotel thinks so.

The hotel (which has a Water Menu, believe it or not) sells — for reals — bottles of water that range in price from about $9 USD to about $40 USD. 40 dollars. For water.

One of the most expensive bottle on the menu (that we can see, anyway) seems to be something called Just Born Spring Drops, which is presumably bottled from the tears of newborn babies. Royal newborn babies, even.

Also on the menu is 10 Thousand B.C., a bottle of water that can be yours for about $28 USD. The high price, says Maclean’s, is due to the fact that the water is sourced in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains range. It’s priced at $38.50 per liter — or 5,000 times the cost of tap water.

Ew. Any water that costs 40 bucks a bottle had better be able to reverse the aging process, slim our thighs, and make Chace Crawford appear in bed next to us.

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