Hotel Chatter

Welcome to our regular feature, Pitch Your Hotel, where we let hoteliers, general managers and other hotel execs tell us on-camera what makes their hotels so different from all the rest. And believe us, the competition is fierce these days. So sit back, relax and listen to them explain why their hotels are worthy of your hard-earned dollars or rewards points.

We've told you about the rooms, we've told you about the free high-tech toilet giveaway so it's only natural that we bring you a Pitch Your Hotel from the Miyako Hybrid Hotel in Torrance just south of Los Angeles Airport.

Hotel rumor time! One of the biggest reasons for opening delays is simply picking an opening date that just isn’t feasible when you factor in construction and the tangled ball of red tape that goes with it. But according to one commenter, the delays at Fashion 26 have more to do with disorganized management.

We’re going to call this a rumor for now, but let us know if you've heard anything to dispute or corroborate what TLipton told us. We haven’t heard about any delays since the hotel announced that April 15 was the day—and based on the hotel’s Facebook page, the preparation looks all systems go. There you can see a

“Free” and “Trump” aren’t words you hear in a sentence together too often, so perhaps we should savor saying them out loud. The occasion is the latest offer from the Trump International Beach Resort in Miami—where there is a new Free Fridays package on tap.

None of us are stupid enough to think that we can get anything free these days, so let’s cut to the chase—yes, Fridays at Trump Miami will be free for guests who book a room between March 6 and March 16. The catch? There’s a three-night minimum.

So, really, this is just like a “book two, get one free” promotion, which is hardly new in hotel land. It’s also worth

Are you are card-carrying member of Marriott Hotels' Rewards program? If so, and that card happens to be in the upper Rewards tiers of Gold or Platinum level, then it's also your card to free hotel internet at Marriott's US and Canada hotel properties beginning from March 7.

This is a HUGE deal for Marriott, who are notorious for charging an arm and a leg for WiFi despite their reputation are business hotels. Finally they seem to have wised up, and the free WiFi for Rewards Gold and Platinum members even stretches from regular Marriott hotels over to JW Marriotts and Renaissance Hotels.

Big problems, after the jump

The owners of the World Center Hotel hope so.

This new hotel from the Club Quarters brand directly overlooks the construction on the site where the Twin Towers once stood and they are actively using their location--as a memorial site and a construction site--to market their hotel rooms for both business travelers and tourists.

The AP reports that guest rooms have to floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the site and the hotel's restaurant has an open-air patio from which guests have front row seats to the construction activity. Rooms have special soundproof windows to block out most of the construction noise and blackout shades to keep out the lights from the night construction.

It does seem

It's Oscars week in Los Angeles and the hotels in town are in a very festive mood. Which is probably why the Four Seasons Los Angeles took advantage of the party season to throw a dual-night opening party for their brand new restaurant, Culina.

Culina replaces the hotel's old Gardens restaurant at the ground level of the hotel, off to the right of the entrance. Aside from an interior overhaul, the new additions to the restaurant, space-wise, include a 2,000-sq.ft. outdoor patio with a long firepit; a VIP lounge; and a large wine room that is visible to patrons through decorated glass etched with Italian words and phrases.

Our favorite of the new spaces is the

Fairmont Pacific Rim made the news at the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics for its anti-bottled water stance but the brand-new hotel is also making an impact from street level. That's because its entire exterior is covered in two-foot high stainless steel letters (in Helvetica bold font) that repeat the text:

lyingontopofabuildingthecloudslookednonearerthanwhenIwaslyingonthestreet...

(If you can read nonsensical Twitter hashtags then we think you can figure this one out.)

Gone are the days that South by Southwest was a sleepy music festival for music fans and journos. Thanks to the addition of the film and interactive portions, the 10-day event in Austin is now as big as the Internet! And you know what that means? (Cue Debbie Downer trumpet sounds.) Fewer hotel rooms.

In fact, those film and internet types have gone and taken all of the official SXSW hotel blocks for their dates—March 12–16—but there are still some rooms available for the music dates, March 16–20.

We'd love to show you a rendering of the indoor pool at The Chatwal but this hotel has everything on lock down.

We're still waiting on an opening date for The Chatwal, the luxury hotel that plans to take New York by storm, but we do have a scoop on how they might be do this storm-taking: With a lap pool.

When we toured the construction site back in January, we heard rumblings that the spa space might include something "special" and "rare", and now we hear that groundbreaking on the pool is well underway.

For all that talk that Jeff Klein gives about how his Sunset Tower Hotel is the most private of private celeb-friendly hotels and that his staffers are held to the highest of high non-disclosure standards, there's really nothing he can do about this view into his hotel, taken from the rooftop pool at The Andaz West Hollywood.

We're thinking that Klein, a very savvy hotelier, probably would never put any of his celeb clientele in a strip-facing room but if they insist on the view, he should probably warn them to close the drapes at night. That goes for you too Jennifer Aniston up there in the penthouse suite! Kidding. We didn't see

The Dorchester. Playboy. Not two words you’d normally associate together, but all this is about to change.

Not that the Dorchester Collection is saucing up its image – it’s merely being inclusive as it branches out. Turns out that the site for its next London hotel, 45 Park Lane, is what used to be the London outpost of the Playboy Club.

Sometimes new hotels have modest goals—to provide a warm bed and perhaps a meal for the night. Then there are the more ambitious hotels who want to go further than that and wow us with all sorts of amenities. With a name like The Eventi, it’s probably no surprise that New York City’s next Kimpton falls on the ambitious side. More than just a bed, it vows to bring guests art, music, and food. Lots of food.

When it opens this spring—or on June 1st (the first date you can make a reservation)—Eventi will reveal a permanent installation by digital artist Barbara Nessim. One that measures 28 feet, spanning the height of the third and

Last week we told you that the newest hotel in South Beach, the Prime Hotel was a sure bet for Kardashian clan-spotting. Now we can tell you that the rooms come with a Kardashian family price tag, too. The entry level rate for the boutique property is a whopping $425 a night.

Of course, for this price you get all those South Beach scenester amenities we mentioned, like an espresso maker and Malin & Goetz toiletries. There’s even an “ultra quiet hair dryer,” which we imagine Kourtney K might want to use so she doesn’t wake the baby.

He's won the gold medal in figure skating, he's got the girl (fellow gold medalist Natsia Liuken) and he's rumored to do a stint on "Dancing with the Stars" but what does Evan Lysacek really want to do? According to Entertainment Weekly, he may get involved with hotels.

I have a lot of other interests…. Movies, design, other sports, literature, photography, fashion, travel, music, etc. But I am the kind of person that likes to sit down and formulate a plan and a course of action before I take my first step in a new direction. I need to find something that gives me the perfect balance of discipline and creativity. I’ve always admired hotel moguls like

Finally! We've been wondering when Yotel--the airport capsule hotel chain at Gatwick, Heathrow and Schiphol that boasts purple mood lighting and retractable beds--would be expanding and we've just got word that Yotel will hit New York City in 2011.

The first Yotel out of Europe will open at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue and will have a nearly 700 hotel rooms (669 to be exact.) It will be part of a larger mixed-used building owned by Related Properties with design by the Rockwell group in collaboration with Softroom, a Frank Gehry-designed theater adjacent and even residential units as well.

SUITE:
The Liam Neeson Penthouse Suite Suite Jeopardy! Trivia Meet the Man Who Dresses Your Hotel Staff

ALSO: Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach gets a "Petite Blogger"

HOSTEL:
Sex and the City Packages Are Out Now; Movie Not Until May PH Towers has fugly carpeting ExerciseTV threatens room service cheeseburgers

ALSO: More bad news for

If you know any of us at HotelChatter, then you know what really gets our goat is when a hotel's Twitter feed is run by someone off property (and it's even worse if "off property" is really "out of state.") Well, you can rest assured that the folks behind the social media activities at The Roger Smith Hotel in NYC are definitely on property.

The hotel's director of social hospitality, Brian Simpson, and the hotel's media director, Adam Wallace, were pressing sheets earlier today as the hotel's housekeeping staff was unable to make it into work because of the snowstorm. Check out their excellent folding job here! (Also, it's a great video to learn how

Jacko and Justin dealing. Never thought we'd write that

However many times you’ve sauntered up and down the Las Vegas Strip, we can be fairly sure you’ve never made it into Imperial Palace. Mainly because of its unappetizing façade – dodgy lettering and a carpark, rather than a proper entrance, doesn’t really call to us.

But, having spent yesterday evening in there, we’re amazed to report that it’s actually not bad. At all. In fact, we’d go as far as to say that, for a budget casino, it’s actually rather good. We liked the decor (understated, no fugly carpets and with the Chinese theme kept to the ceiling), it was clean. The

Come Monday, the world will have another fashion hotel when Milan's Maison Moschino opens inside of a renovated train station from the 1800s. Like the Italian luxury fashion house, the hotel exhibits a whimsical, surrealist aesthetic that will hopefully conjure humor rather than confusion in its guests.

As we said yesterday, with the preview of the pastry pillows, the Maison Moschino held a grand debut of itself by holding the Moschino Cheap & Chic (which is not cheap at all, actually) runway show at its entrance, as part of Milan Fashion Week. Here is how one attendee of the Telegraph UK described the show and the hotel's appearance:

LOTS of photos of the hotel, after the