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Tags: Food Travel / Restaurant Week / Restaurant Travel / Philadelphia Travel / Philadelphia Restaurants / Hotels / → All Tags

Some News From Philly That's Not World Series-Related

How do you enjoy Restaurant Week menus and prices without it actually being Restaurant Week? Well, if you're in Philadelphia, all you've got to do is book your hotel stay on withlove.gophila.com, and you'll receive all the details on the hotels where you can dine on discount prix-fixe menus through December 30.

Restaurants featured run the gamut, from super swish 4-course meals at Lacroix at The Rittenhouse to fresh Italian at Positano Coast. And since we promised Restaurant Week prices, you'll be happy to hear the the 3-to-4-course meals are all either $20, $30 or $35 per person. We're guessing that Lacroix is up at the $35 end, but menu choices aren't piddly; think "prime rib, crab imperial, handmade orecchiette and olive oil-poached Scottish salmon."

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Tags: Hotels / Omni Hotels / Travel Deals / → All Tags

Found a Cheap Ticket? Now All You Need is a Hotel Room

Omni Hotel San Diego.

Last week was a bit of an airline fare war bonanza with Virgin America, Southwest and even American Airlines launching some steeply discounted airfares. But getting your ticket is only 1/2 of your vacation planning, unless you plan on shacking up with some friends and family.

If you aren't, then you're probably going to need a hotel room. This is where Omni Hotels comes in. The hotel chain has just announced a limited offer of 40 percent off hotels in destination that were recently featured last week in the fare wars.

That means that Omni Hotels in Austin, Chicago, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Diego, New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston and Tucson are all discounted (some up to 40 percent) for stays between Dec. 2 and February 10, 2010.

The Fine Print: You must book before November 5. Yup it's a quick 72-hour sale. It's also subject to availability and the one black-out date is December 31st.

Related Stories:
· Omni Hotels coverage [HotelChatter]
· Omni Hotels [Official Site]

[Photo: DbKing]

Tags: Travel WiFi / Dublin Travel / Eircom / Hotels / Insomnia / → All Tags

Where To Find WiFi Hotspots in Dublin (But They Aren't Always Free)

For power internet users like us, a week in Dublin can cause some serious withdrawal and cost some serious dough. Eircom, the largest telecommunications operator in Ireland, offers over 1,000 WiFi hotspots in Ireland including most McDonald’s and most of Dublin’s public phone booths. The catch is that you have to pay in advance to access them.

At some hubs you will be prompted to make a payment when you open a browser, like in the Dublin Airport which costs around €3 for 30 minutes, others won't let you in at all without being a subscriber.

But when you take into consideration how much most hotels charge for in room WiFi, (we paid €20 a day at the Hilton Dublin Hotel for a connection equal to dial up in 1999) its a bargain.

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Tags: Tragedies / Marriott Hotels / Hotels / → All Tags

Terrorists Checked In as Guests at Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott in Jakarta

Two Marriott hotels were attacked yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia by suicide bombings that killed eight people and left more than 50 injured. It is now believed that the suicide bombers actually checked into the JW Marriott Jakarta and the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta. A third bomb was later found on the 18th floor of the JW Marriott in one of the guestrooms.

Times Online has details from the blast sites:

Bleeding victims, including foreign businessmen who had been in breakfast meetings, crawled and staggered out of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta’s Mega Kuningan business district after the explosions struck two minutes apart shortly before 8am.

Footage from a security camera at the Ritz-Carlton showed a suited man wearing a baseball cap, and carrying a backpack and a wheeled suitcase, entering the hotel’s first floor restaurant just before the explosion, which killed two people.

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Tags: Ski Resorts / Ski Travel / Park City Travel / Hotels / Funiculars / → All Tags

Park City's Upcoming St. Regis To Get Equally Swanky Funicular

Right now, we're a little preoccupied with our summer cocktails and our river tubing spots to begin thinking about the upcoming ski season. Yet we did come out of our summertime haze for just a moment to read this press release about the first funicular to ever open at a North American ski resort. The lucky ski resort? Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.

The funicular, which is nestled at the base of the mountain at The St. Regis Deer Crest Resort’s Snow Park Building and is adjacent to Deer Valley’s Snow Park Lodge, ascends 500 vertical feet in just 90 seconds to the primary hotel building.

The funicular cars will have panoramic windows that are tinted and UVA and UVB-protected. They will also be heated (with AC operating in the summer) with leather seats and a separate area for luggage. Fifteen well-heeled (booted?) skiers can fit into these cars. But unlike other funiculars in the U.S., the Deer Valley cars will function independently so that "demand can be met at the base and top terminals."

The ride is free and the St. Regis is hoping you'll try the funicular on a lark and then of course, pop into their hotel to check out Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new J&G Grill, a wine bar, or the Remède Spa, or the ski beach overlooking Deer Hollow ski run or the outdoor terrace with its 40-foot long firewall.

A 500-ton crane is installing the funicular as we speak but the St. Regis Resort won't be open until later this year.

Related Stories:
· Park City Travel Guide [Jaunted]
· The St. Regis Deer Crest Resort [Official Site]
· Funicular [Wikipedia]

Tags: Table Crashing / London Restaurants / Hotels / London Travel / → All Tags

Sanctum Soho's Restaurant is a Little Underwhelming

We liked Sanctum Soho when we looked around it back in April (a lot more than the New York Times did, as it turned out). We said at the time that, as long as the clientele were up to scratch, it held a lot of potential.

Last night we found ourselves back there, eating at No. 20, the restaurant. We had high hopes – it looked pretty fine when we saw it pre-opening, what with its sexy booths and scarlet bar – and we were looking forward to the puddings described in the Sunday Times as ”the sort of thing that could make all the difference on a first date”.

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Tags: HotelChatter / Hotels / → All Tags

After Checking Out The High Line, Sip On Drinks at The Jane Hotel

Our sis site HotelChatter does a bang-up job of covering the latest news and trends in the hotel world. Check in and stay awhile.

· The Jane Hotel Officially Opens Their Ballroom and Yes, You Can Drink There

· The Five Best Hotels for Father's Day 2009

· Up Where We Belong at Cedar Creek Treehouse

· Alaska Hotel Guide

· Hotel Missoni Opens Today, But Why In Edinburgh?

Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Hotels / Sydney Travel / → All Tags

A Teacup With A View Of Sydney Harbor

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

If you want to swim in Sydney, you're better off trying one of its famous beaches than the pool at the Park Hyatt Sydney. We may not own a bathtub bigger than this rooftop pool, but we're fairly sure we've seen a few, and the endless turns would just be murder. But you don't enjoy the Park Hyatt pool because of its actual water, just loll about gazing at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and saying to yourself, I'm in Australia, mate!

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Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Tahiti Travel / Pools / Hotels / → All Tags

Your Own Semiprivate Oasis In Tahiti

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

The invention of the sandy-bottomed approach was one of the great pool innovations of the '90s. But the pool at the Le Méridien Tahiti takes it a step further: There's nothing real about this white-sand beach, but your toes won't know the difference.

The sand in question is claimed to be natural, but is in fact imported from other parts of the island to give the Le Méridien lagoon that particular sparkle. The blob-shaped pool is somewhat remote from the nearby city of Papeete, but the hotel also features an on-site artist's studio and horseback rides should you be bothered to change out of your swimsuit.

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Tags: Priceline / Travel Tips / Booking Sites / Hotels / → All Tags

Priceline Travel Hacks Work For International Hotels Too

Priceline's in the news this morning for their new Bring-A-Friend bonus, where you get $100 in Priceline credit when you book two or more hotel rooms at the same time for the same trip. We also know that many of you are going to Europe this summer, and we've even gotten a question from someone about using Priceline to book international hotels. So off we go.

The formal and informal rules for booking international hotels - the bidding process and the tricks that you can use to beat it - are basically the same as for domestic hotels. You put in the price, the star-level, and the locations that you're willing to accept.

Priceline spits out whether or not they managed to get you a room at that rate. If your bid fails you get to bid again, but you have to either reduce the star level or add another acceptable location. You can't just increase your price, which is the incentive to get you to bid higher initially.

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Tags: Booking Sites / Voyij / Sidestep / Travel Deals / Hotels / Airfare Deals / → All Tags

New Travel Booking Site Voyij Feeds Our Deal Addiction

Did we really need another travel search engine? While most people with healthy internet habits may say no, deal junkies like us say there are never enough.

The latest on the scene is Voyij, a new site just launched by a bunch of ex-Sidestep employees, and we're loving their setup, which is designed for travelers with wide-open plans. Voyij's homepage simply asks where you are in the world and if you'd prefer to travel this weekend, sometime later this month, or in an upcoming month. It then sorts through all the airplane, hotel and booking sites to find the cheapest deals for your given time, assuming you're willing to go anywhere in the world.

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Tags: Subways / Public Transportation / Fare Hikes / New York City Travel / Hotels / → All Tags

NYC Bus and Subway Rides Now Cost $2.25 Each Time You Swipe

You better bring a little extra spending dough when you come to New York this summer. After months of speculation, the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority has bumped up the price of a one-way bus and subway fare from $2 to $2.25. This is less than the initial proposal of $2.50 but still crappy all the same.

The new prices go into effect on June 28. And it's not just mass transportation that will be affected. There will also be a taxi surcharge increase of 50 cents.

Fortunately, one hotel is trying to take the sting out of the fare hike. The Wyndham Garden Hotel Manhattan Chelsea, a new property which just opened last fall, is offering guests who stay a minimum of two nights a complimentary one-day MetroCard and customized step-by-step (literally) subway and bus directions from HopStop.com. Although we suggest practicing your passback with your hotel roomie before you hit up the subway turnstiles, just so you aren't in our way when we're coming through.

Rates at the hotel start at $189 a night. Use the promo rate plan "SUBWAY" to book online.

Related Stories:
· Do Not Want: Possible New York Subway Fare Hike [Jaunted]

[Photo: phrenologist]