And they have finally arrived with a review in the New York Times. If you're in a hurry, we'll ruin the surprise ending for you:
If you're in town for a convention or to do business in South Boston, the Renaissance would be a no-brainer -- convenient, with high-end tech toys and a friendly, helpful staff. For families or those looking for a classic Boston scene, the out-of-the way location may override the positives.
If you can stick around, we've got the Times' pros, cons, and dirty details after the jump.
· Well, hot damn! The Leading Hotels of the World's 1928 Promo left everyone pissy and you totally burned up the comment threads. Never have we seen such commenter comraderie -- we guess waking up super early to click your mouse (not like that) with no reward gets people a lil' worked up, and the anger fosters a sense of community. Or something.
when toddy and j-pom hit the town looking for 20somethings with daddy issues, who takes the lead and who accepts the role of wing man?
· While Senior Editor Juliana was off in Paris (and not wearing a fanny pack, she'll have you know), she experienced some legendary French 'tude at the Hotel de Crillion and y'all gave her moral support and shared similar experiences. 2surly shares this heartwarming tale from the Ritz in Paris:
I had a similar experience at the Ritz in Paris 7 years ago. I was with a friend (ironically, we were staying at the Crillon) and we wanted to do a quick look at the hotel but were told we could not enter because we weren't staying at the hotel. The irony was that I had a site scheduled the next day at the hotel, which I didn't tell them. Oh well...
· And finally, everyone seems to be in (wordy, thorough) agreement on the epic display of crappiness that is the Criss Angel "Believe" show.
Ah! So that's why we didn't hear more about Vikram Chatwal's brand new Stay.Hotel before its official unveiling earlier this week: the property morphed into the Stay from its former identity, The Quality Inn Times Square, relatively seamlessly.
And now we're kinda wondering if maybe the place is basically a Quality Inn with a baller lobby.
Here's what happened: we hopped over to TripAdvisor this morning hoping that perhaps someone had already submitted the hotel's first TripAdvisor review. But when we found a handful of Stay.Hotel reviews from September, we were disappointed in ourselves for not stalking Tricky Viky with our usual gusto: it turns out the place was quietly operating as the Stay.Hotel for a while, but only recently had its official "unveiling."
We called the hotel to see what the deal was. The fairly knowledgeable woman who answered the phone explained to us that the hotel really just switched lobbies -- as in, the new swanky lobby our tipster showed us was the new Stay.Hotel lobby, and the old Quality Inn lobby space was being turned into the restaurant.
As for the rooms? We're told that nothing was renovated -- the decor just changed. You know, like, "curtains and stuff." Which is maybe why guests have been totally shocked at the teensy size of them. Even for New York.
Luxor continues to roll out their mostly mediocre renovations. They've now opened restaurant T&T and have the world famous BODIES exhibit on display. If you want to be grossed out you could stop by the reviled, hated Criss Angel "Believe" show or stop by the totally cool BODIES exhibit and see just how many muscles it takes to vomit.
Because vomiting is certainly what you'll be doing after T&T.
We're sorry, was that way harsh? Just listen to this, and tell us you don't agree:
T&T embodies traditional and modern elements of Mexican style intermixed with rock-n-roll flair.
Oh and by the way -- the T's stand for Tequila and Tacos.
What? Really, what? Where does the rock-n-roll come from? And why? What is wrong with just plain old delicious Mexican food? Luxor, seriously, stop trying to over do everything.
Whatever, we're worn out from hating on the Suxor. Let's talk about muscles again. Do you think there is a BODIES exhibit that show the effects of too much tequila? That would be cool.
Oh, and we were just kidding about the "Suxor" -- we just thought it made a funny headline. Kinda.
You know what is pretty entertaining? That hugely-popular trend of late to build scenester hotels and plop a few stories of multi-million dollar condos "with hotel amenities" on top. Sure, who wouldn't love to have their beds turned down nightly and the option of room service at all hours, but we're still fully aware of all the issues that can arise when you've got hundreds of transient guests doing what they will in a space where you also happen to live.
Before next summer we'll have even more condo/hotels to choose from, considering that the Smyth Tribeca and Trump Soho in New York and the Trump Tower in Chicago are polishing their door knobs. Chicago will even have an unexpected addition as early as Spring 2009, as the new Doubletree property The Wit opens complete with 238 hotel rooms and 48 condo apartments.
While the Hotel de Crillon in Paris might not let you peek around its lobby unless you are a bonafide, paying, well-heeled guest, the Hotel Le Meurice just a few blocks away on Rue de Rivoli, is a bit more accommodating.
That's not to say that a guard's watchful eye did not follow us around carefully as we peeked into the Restaurant le Dali and Le Bar 228, both designed by Phillipe Starck.
The Le Meurice is a very overdone, stylized, type of luxury hotel and it should comfort the rich and fashionable who want a central location in Paris. It might also be a great hotel for parents who want to spoil their children.
But we kind of liked the Le Meurice bicycle that was hanging out front. We can't tell if it's a service for guests or it's for the hotel employees. Either way, it's kind of cute. Rates here start at around 620 Euros.
Thanks to CourtneyMay who put this snapshot in the HotelChatter Flickr Pool, we are now entirely unsatisfied with sitting at our desks today.
This is the view from Wet, the San Juan Water & Beach Club's rooftop bar and lounge. Touted as San Juan's "only luxury boutique hotel on the beach," it has a swanky rooftop hotspot that serves up kickass views -- and also a delicious drink we want in our hot little fingers right now: the "COCO Nuts Martini." It's 4 oz COCO Vodka, 2 oz Flavored Coconut Rum, and 1 oz Coco Cream. Yes, please.
You know what is pretty entertaining? That hugely-popular trend of late to build scenester hotels and plop a few stories of multi-million dollar condos "with hotel amenities" on top. Sure, who wouldn't love to have their beds turned down nightly and the option of room service at all hours, but we're still fully aware of all the issues that can arise when you've got hundreds of transient guests doing what they will in a space where you also happen to live. 
