$99 Specials for 9-9-09
Posted September 11, 2009 , comments closedDates like 09-09-09 don’t drop by every other day, which is why they’re so interesting. The Beatles are set to rock Sept 09 with a release of a remastered version of ’Revolution 9′ from The White Album. And many hotels are going all out to milk this human fascination with numerologic and astrological alignments, so we have a bucketload of $99 specials popping up all over the place.
$99 Specials for 9-9-09
Expedia: For just nine days, top 4- and even 5-star hotels are $99 a night—or less. This fall, you can stay in utter luxury while enjoying rock-bottom rates across the globe when you book on Expedia. Book by September 9; travel through September 30, 2009.
Hotels.com: Hundreds of hotels on offer for $99 or less – Book by September 9, 2009 for travel between September 7 – September 30, 2009. The featured hotels include many 3.5 and 4-star hotels in Boston and Orlando, including minty-fresh and new Aloft hotels. There’s also a $10 hotel in Las Vegas…
Speaking of Vegas, Sin City is going nuts over this astrological ‘day of good fortune.’ The La Bella Wedding Chapel at the Las Vegas Hilton is offering a $99 special that includes photos, 2 tickets to the Hilton’s Voices show, and a free witness for the wedding.
And it’s not just Vegas – the number 9 lucky star seems to have spread to Atlantic City too - The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, along with sister hotel – the Water Club, is offering a ‘Summer of 99′ special in September – $99 hotel rooms, plus $99 Spa treatments and a chance to win a $999 bonus on the slots. More info here (or call 866-692-6742) and here (call 800-800-8817).
And to make matters worse, the 09-09-09 bug has started spreading on twitter too. The Hard Rock Chicago has a twitter promotion for Sept 09.
Twitter users who re-tweet the message: “RT to win! @HardRockChicago is giving away 9 rooms for $9. Winners selected 9/9/09! #contest #hardrockchicago09” are automatically entered to win one room night at the hotel for a special $9 rate. The nine lucky “tweeters” will be selected at random on the date of 9/9/09.
And then there’s Starwood’s 999 promo – rooms for $9.99. Book by Sept. 9 and valid for stays upto Dec. 27. Participating Starwood brands inlude Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, W, Aloft, Element, Luxury Collection, Le Méridien and St. Regis hotels. Use promo code NIN or visit www.starwoodpromos.com/999.
Beach Camping: Kirby Cove, Marin Headlands, California
Posted , comments closedI admit–sometimes I sit down to write a beach post and my mind goes blank. What do I write about? Which beach, where, how and why? I call to my husband in the other room, “Name a beach! Any beach!” And he spouts off beaches I’ve already covered. So then I turn to Google and type in: beach. Too much. Pretty beach. Not helpful. Ugly beach, beach with sand, beach with waves, tropical, cold, black, white and, um, beachy? Sometimes there are just too many options. So today I typed in: best beach Northern California, and this is what I got. Kirby Cove, my first thought, well, duh, why I hadn’t I thought of this before?
Kirby Cove is a darling little beach nestled at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in the Marin Headlands, and yes, if you’re wondering–a beach can be called darling if it’s a cove. This beach is available for day-use but better visited as a camping spot, particularly with kids. To get there you must hike roughly a mile, starting high above the beach at eye-level with the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Park on Conzelman Road and walk down through groves of cypress, eucalyptus and pine. (The smell is heavenly!) Along the way you will see the the abandoned Battery Kirby which was in service from 1898 to 1934, (a great opportunity to teach kids about the history of the area!). Once at the beach, you will find clean, coarse sand with a perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco, the bay spread wide before you. And if you’re very lucky, you may spot a whale. The water is fairly gentle but cold; there is no lifeguard on duty. Dress in layers for cold weather as the area is often foggy.
Kirby Cove includes four camp sites each with a maximum of ten people–reservations are highly sought after, so reserve well in advance. Kids can play in the trees or on the beach, watching sailboats and tankers glide beneath the Golden Gate. In the fall, watch for hawks, falcons, harriers and other birds of prey. Parking is restricted to three cars per site, within 100 yards of the campsites. Pit toilets, BBQ-pits, picnic tables, and fire rings are available, but there’s no water for drinking and hygiene. Call 1-800-365-CAMP for more information and reservations.
Photo credits in order of appearance: Golden Gate Bridge, Beach.
World’s Best Hotel Designs – Gold Key Award Winners
Posted September 3, 2009 , add a commentThe 2009 Gold Key Award winners for ‘Excellence in Hospitality Design’ have been announced, and the world’s best hotel designs (urban) were judged to be the Andaz West Hollywood, InterContinental Chicago O’Hare and Las Alcobas in Polanco, Mexico.
Andaz West Hollywood & Intercontinental Chicago O’Hare
The best bar/lounge design was the W Hotel Atlanta Downtown, Atlanta, GA, along with the Mondrian Miami and the Punk Bar in Beijing, China.
Drink Shop, W Atlanta Downtown
The best guest room award winners included the Lydmar Hotel in Stockholm and the Mondrian Miami, along with the Miraval Guestrooms in Catalina, Arizona.
Lydmar Hotel, Stockholm
The best lobby/reception winners included the Smyth Hotel in New York and one of the ‘Best Suite’ design winners was Penthouse Eight at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, also in New York.
Tribeca Grand, New York
The Gold Key Awards are sponsored by Interior Design and HOTELS magazines, and finalists were selected by a panel of notable industry experts from more than 225 projects in 24 countries. The awards ceremony will be held during the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show® (IH/M&RS) on Nov 7-10, 2009, at New York City’s Javits Center.
For more details about all the winners and their designers in all categories, visit IHMRS.com.
Photos courtesy Hyatt Hotels Corp., IHG Plc, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, WorldHotels and Grand Hospitality.
Tips for a safe and longlasting tan
Posted , add a commentWith the summer winding down, I want to make sure that my tan lasts as long as it can into the autumn months. It’s been two weeks since my last trip to the beach and I’ve finally stopped peeling. I love being in the sun; I used to be that person who used baby oil to ensure the deepest, darkest tan possible but these days, it’s a minimum of SPF 15 for me. I’d like to share with you some tips on getting a safe tan and maintaining your summer glow for as long as possible.
- Pre-Beach: Exfoliate. If you want your tan to last, exfoliate your entire body with a gentle scrub to get rid of dead skin cells. If you’re on a budget, a sudsy cleansing pouf works perfectly. If you’ve a little extra cash, try St. Ives Fresh Skin Gentle Apricot Scrub; I use this for both face and body since it tends to be less rough than the actual body scrub. If you’ve got cash to blow, then Clarins Smoothing Body Scrub For a New Skin with Bamboo Powders is both velvety and luxurious.
- At the Beach: Use Sunscreen. Experts say that SPF15 is the minimum protection everyone should use. On a daily basis, I use Kiss My Face’s Face Factor SPF 30 for face + neck. This product goes on really smoothly and is PABA free, meaning it isn’t thick and greasy and won’t cause breakouts like other sunscreens can. At the beach, my default is Tropicana but I’d actually like to try using an organic sunscreen product. My roommate swears by Badger’s SPF 15 for Face & Body and it smells like lavender which is a natural insect repellent – double bonus! Make sure you apply a good amount of sunscreen before venturing out into the sun, and reapply after you’ve gone into the water. I admit that sometimes I’m too lazy to do this but I always regret it when I don’t. Lastly, don’t forget your lips – the skin there is very thin and easily burns so try Alba’s Tangerine Lip Balm with SPF 18, a personal fave.
- Post-Beach: Sooth and Maintain. First thing I do is take a cold shower; I swear it helps lock in the tan. The most important post-sun action is to make sure your skin always stays moist since peeling occurs when the skin begins to dry. In Thailand I use a post-sun product by Nivea but I haven’t found any retailers who carry the exact product here in the US. Burt’s Bees has a lovely lotion called Aloe & Linden After Sun Soother . I find the consistency to be a little too thin, but I use it for the first few days after the sun and them move on to a regular lotion to ensure that my skin stays moisturized and supple. I like to use Whole Food’s 365 Everyday Value Brand Body Lotion in Lavender Blend.
I try to follow this beach skincare regimen as closely as possible, and I’ve spent a lot of time (and money) trying out all sorts of products. The items mentioned here are the ones that I’ve personally found to work best. Of course, there are tons of products out there on the market so feel free to experiment to find the best for your skin type. Happy and safe tanning!
Images courtesy of Alba Botanica and Kiss My Face.
A Dream Come True: Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica, CA
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Sitting here at my computer with “The Letter Factory” blaring from the television and Cheerios crunching under my feet, my experience spending the last few days at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica feels like a dream.
A dream come true, that is.
After a long summer of family visits and travel which included schlepping our two little boys across the country and back, my husband and I sorely needed some peace and quiet. When the Fairmont Miramar hotel agreed to host us for a couple of weekday nights, my father came to visit and watch the boys, and the planets came into the perfect alignment, we were given a chance to experience exactly that. No long drive, no air travel, no hassle. A true “staycation.”
The Fairmont Miramar is nestled among the palm trees at the western edge of the continent – on Ocean Boulevard at Wilshire in Santa Monica. This luxury hotel has existed in that spot in one form or another since 1889. In its current incarnation, the hotel consists of a ten-story tower, 32 bungalows, meeting rooms, a fitness center, a spa, and a restaurant.
The dream began when I checked in, solo, on a Wednesday afternoon. Every single person in the hotel, from the valet to the guests to housekeeping, was gracious and helpful. The other guests at the front desk seemed relieved to be checking in after a long day at a local theme park. Surrounded by the luxurious setting of the Fairmont’s lobby, I can see why.
As a guest of the hotel I was greeted by a bottle of champagne and strawberries to dip into a little pot of chocolate, in my ocean view room on the seventh floor overlooking the pool. My husband was not scheduled to join me for hours, and there was no way I was saving any of that chocolate for him. I did save the champagne though.
The room was small but just big enough for two people to co-exist peacefully. Indeed, it was romantically snug, with a very comfortable king-sized bed (squishy pillows), one small desk and one larger one, an adequate closet, and a comfy chair. (The doors to the bathroom were slatted like shutters, making bathroom privacy a little bit thin, which was okay for a couple who have been together for 12 years but maybe not so much for that first weekend tryst if you want to keep some mystery between you.) It was a thinking-man’s getaway, complete with a thesaurus and dictionary. The large flat-screen digital TV had decent speed when loading channels. In-room wireless is $13.95/day, which confirmed the idea that I should unplug for my stay there. Just as well. It’s not a true vacation if you’re checking your email constantly, right?
Same with driving. At $30/night for valet parking, we took full advantage and just…left the car there. In this location in Santa Monica, right across the street from the beach, the Santa Monica Pier, and the Third Street Promenade, the Fairmont is in walking distance of anything you need. We walked down to the beach, to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to do some shopping, to the movies. It seemed alien to not just hop in the car and drive somewhere, but after a while our limbs relaxed and our muscles got some exercise, and it was nice to not sit in traffic.
(Here’s something I learned about this hotel, and I wonder if it’s common. The valets pool their tips, so when you are accosted by 5+ smiling, friendly young gentlemen who all seem to help bringing around your dirty car with crumb-encrusted carseats in it, and you don’t know to whom you should give the tip, you can be assured that they share. )
In fact, we never really needed to leave the hotel itself if we didn’t want to. The Fig restaurant has a reasonably priced menu and a very cool happy hour starring $5 glasses of wine and a pricier selection of cheeses. I took advantage of the lovely on-site Exhale Spa, and we made great use of the pool area, which was crowded with children and families. Luckily, since our balcony overlooked the pool, we were able to pounce when we noticed some deckside chairs opening up. The pool area closes at 9pm, so late-night hot-tub soaking with a cocktail in hand was not an option. On the other hand, the lobby bar starts serving coffee, fruit, and pastries at 6AM, so you can get up with the sun and enjoy a light breakfast poolside.
Pool view from 7th story
Many of the guests we met or observed were from other countries and brought their young children, who seemed well-behaved and content for the most part. I saw the front desk clerk hand stuffed animals to two of the young guests, who were delighted. And it is a good deal for families if luxury and convenience are important to you. The hotel offers family packages: for example this season there was a special for a family of four that included the room, a meal, and passes for local entertainment for $500 a night.
As I mentioned, the hotel staff was friendly and helpful, and their vibe was infectious. There was a lot of activity in this hotel throughout the day, with business people coming and going, and nobody looking disconcerted or unhappy. The few glitches we encountered were handled swiftly. When we couldn’t get the TV to work, an engineer came right up and fixed it. When our key cards didn’t work on the second day, the front desk clerk brought us new ones within a few minutes.
Overall our stay at the Fairmont Miramar was perfectly decadent. It was a peaceful break from our busy lives, and we couldn’t have asked for a more convenient or luxurious location. I know I keep using the word luxurious, but it’s really the best word for it. It was exactly what we needed. Of course, the whole time we were there, we watched other people’s children and said to each other “We should bring the kids here.” Some other time.
[Photo credits: all but 2nd photo by Kim Tracy Prince, fig tree entrance by Joan S.]
