Midtown New Yorkers looking for a big-screen TV to catch Sunday or Monday night football games can head to the Madison Club Lounge at the Roosevelt Hotel.The lobby level bar is offering up gameday discounts for football fans (guests and locals alike), including half-price Coors Light and $10 apps like buffalo wings, potato skins, and sliders. The Roosevelt’s clutch location on Madison and 45th sets up a nice stopping off point for businesspeople looking to catch a quarter before catching the train home from Grand Central. And, Madison Club isn’t your average sports bar – the lounge provides a sophisticated (but unstuffy) atmosphere with plenty of mahogany, leather loungers, and stained-glass windows. So even if game day serves up yet another upset (yeah, we’re referring to both NY teams. Sigh.) you’ll still be served cold beer and sliders in style.

The Marcel at Gramercy, a chic boutique nestled amidst NYC’s stylish (but relatively straight-laced) Gramercy and Murray Hill hoods (and extensively redesigned last year) today announced it will play host to the world’s first ever “tattoo artist in residence.” On November 15-24, LA-based Mister Cartoon (famous for inking celebs like Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, and Ryan Phillippe) will kick off stint #1 of a temporary two-part stay at The Marcel, offering his body art expertise exclusively to hotel guests, who are granted an automatic line jump in the in-demand inker’s year-long wait list (though not exempt from his normal rates, which start at $3,000 a tat). Read the rest of this post »

We just caught wind of an exclusive party package offered at the W Times Square that will get you into one of the year’s hottest parties. Hosted by Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, The Fray, Gavin DeGraw, Chris Webber, and more, with a special performance by OneRepublic, Esquire Magazine’s Seventh Annual Space Cocktail Party in support of VH1’s Save The Music Foundation will take place in a 9,200-square-foot SoHo penthouse next Thursday, November 5. Tickets are hard to come by but the W Times Square is rolling out the red carpet for 14 lucky guests (there are only 14 event tickets available) if you book their special Rock Star package. The package includes two tickets to Esquire Magazine’s Seventh Annual “Signature Space” Cocktail Party, two cocktails in The Living Room bar to kick off the party, and a tricked-out suite. The going price is $799 (10 percent of the proceeds will benefit VH1’s Save The Music Foundation). What would you pay to party with the music industry’s elite? For more information or to book, call Maya Stanic at 917-543-5902.

Shangri-La’s newest Beijing property, the China World Summit Wing, is rushing towards a December debut in the main tower of the landmark China World Trade Centre (pictured).  Soaring 81 stories over the city’s bustling business district and directly opposite the (almost) equally elevated Park Hyatt Beijing (which opened a year ago this month), the tower is currently Beijing’s tallest. The Tihany-designed hotel, perched atop the loftiest floors (starting at 64), is set to offer some seriously unsurpassed views of the country’s capital city.

The 80th-floor Atmosphere bar and 77th-floor CHI spa will both be the highest such facilities in Beijing – with an observation deck, aptly dubbed The Peak, located on level 81 (and featuring private dining). All 278 guestrooms and suites (among the city’s largest at 700 square feet) wouldn’t be complete without floor-to-ceiling windows, free Wi-Fi (bet on unbeatable signal strength), Nespresso machines, walk-in closets, and 17-inch TV screens sleekly embedded in the bathroom mirrors. An indoor infinity pool and outdoor rooftop pine garden provide relaxing respites, with a Japanese eaterie, high-end Chinese-Cantonese restaurant, and New York grill rounding out the facilities food-wise. Ooh la-La…

Few places in the world compare to Bora Bora – a quintessential tropical isle in French Polynesia showcasing white-sand beaches, flower-scented breezes, and idyllic coves. Since getting to paradise can be a lengthy affair (it’s eight hours by plane from Los Angeles to Tahiti, plus another hour to connect), why not treat yourself to an once-in-a-lifetime experience once you land? The Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa just unveiled brand-new over-the-water presidential villas that necessitate a splurge, if you’ve got the pocket change to spare. Read the rest of this post »

Fort Lauderdale is home to some of the most fabulous displays of private real-estate wealth in the country, but its reputation has been primarily defined, until recently, by tides of spring breakers – a playground for the riff raff, rather than the rich. That’s all changed over the last few years, as millions of dollars in development projects have poured in, quickly washing away the popular port city’s party past and elevating it to tony status as the Gold Coast’s newest “it” town. Luxury hotels bearing prestigious names like Ritz, Hilton, and Trump are sprouting up all over – with dozens of newbies opening (such as the first beachfront W in late April) and old favorites, like the landmark Yankee Clipper (known for its live mermaid shows), getting extensive facelifts. Last weekend, I checked into the Westin Beach Resort to check out the hotel’s recent multi-million dollar rebirth. 

Read the rest of this post »

Goodbye travel agents. Hello iPhone. Booking a luxury vacation has become that much easier, thanks to the new Four Seasons iPhone and iPod Touch application that let’s you book overnights at one of their many hotels worldwide with just the swipe of a finger. Find a room, peruse and book spa treatments available at your chosen property, and tour your hotel before you even arrive with the “virtual vacation” feature, which showcases the Four Season’s various properties via streaming video. Download the app for free at the iTunes App Store.

Tailored service and personal butlers ensure everything is exactly how you like it at Hôtel Fouquet’s Barrière, located on the corner of the Champs Elysees in Paris – and we’re talking every single detail. Before I even arrived in Paris, I filled out the hotel’s “Favorites” form via email which allowed me to hand-pick my bedding, the firmness or softness of my mattress, the preferred temperature of my room, the brand of water and types of soft drinks in my (complimentary) minibar, and the kind of flowers I’d like to welcome me upon arrival – all things I’d never really been asked before checking into a hotel. My room itself was actually a suite (see above) that looked out over the courtyard and Le Lucien bar terrace, and was swathed in decadent chocolaty colors, gold accents, and colorful artwork. (All units are designed by Jacques Garcia.) A flat-screen TV rose out of a sharkskin dresser with the touch of a remote button, and another sat above the large deep-soaking bath in the washroom. Fouquet’s has a sexy, curvaceous lobby; the knockout “U” Spa with an indoor pool, aqua-slimming trail, and hammam, Le Fouquet’s brasserie; Restaurant Le Diane; and the swank Lucien Bar (but be prepared for cocktails priced at a whopping €24! Ouch). Room rates start around €600/night.

‘inoteca, the Lower East Side’s popular, pint-sized Italian eatery and wine bar, opened up another, roomier, New York outpost on the ground floor of The Marcel at Gramercy earlier this year. And, now, guests of the recently revamped hotel can sample the restaurant’s full menu, including some 600 wines, from their own room or suite. ZAGAT reports, “this new Murray Hill panini-and-vino vendor has recast itself as a spin-off of the same-named Lower Eastsider, with the same small plates, low prices, high decibels and bring-an-interpreter, Italiano-only menu (there’s also a full liquor bar at this location).”

Large hotel corporations aren’t generally known for the pure-hearted promotion of good deeds – but Denver-based Sage Hotels (the chain’s portfolio includes select Marriott, Starwood, and Hilton properties) is an exception. Sage’s Give a Day, Get a Night deal rewards guests who have volunteered at least 8 unpaid service hours to a registered non-profit organization since July 1, 2009 with 50 percent off their first night’s stay – or, depending upon availability, a full night on the house – at any one of its 53 hotels nationwide. Valid for travels through March 2010 (the offer’s travel period was just extended 3 months), karma buffs can rest vindicated at a variety of properties ranging from full-service Marriotts (e.g. Chicago’s historic Blackstone) to luxurious Starwoods (like Portland’s The Nines). Read the rest of this post »