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Starwood Sponsors First Skating Rink at Boston's Prudential Center

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Sports

Luxury hotel megabrand Starwood is sponsoring the first-ever ice rink at the Prudential Center in Boston, now open through the end of March. Starwood's Boston properties – Sheraton Boston Hotel, The Westin Copley Place, The Boston Park Plaza Hotel, W Boston, and The Westin Boston Waterfront – dedicated the rink to the Boston community in the hopes that Bostonians will take the time to connect with one another on the ice. "This rink speaks to our commitment to give back to the community that has been home to the Sheraton Boston for more than 45 years," notes Colleen Keating, Sheraton Boston's Marketing Manager. All opening day proceeds went to the Bruins Foundation. In celebration of the occasion, the Sheraton Boston (above) is offering two "Share the Ice" value stay packages:

Tags: Boston, hotel deals, ice skating, sports, Starwood, W hotels, Westin, winter sports

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The Sugar Palace At The Westin St. Francis

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Westin St. Francis has created a dazzling treat for the holidays, a 12-foot sugar castle. It is created by Executive Pastry Chef, Jean-Francois Houdré and is one of the country's largest sugar castles. The rotating masterpiece is displayed in the Landmark Lobby. It was inspired by a French Chateau from Chef Houdre's hometown of Bordeaux and weighs more than 1200 pounds. The castle has more than 20 grand circular towers, approximately 30 rooms and illuminated windows surrounded by silver sugar trees, stars and snowflakes made out of pastillage, chocolate balls in brilliant colors and elves constructed out of marzipan.

The main lobby is decorated with a 15-foot, glimmering white and silver holiday tree decorated in energy saving LED lights that display changing colors. The Tower Lobby has an 18-foot tall tree and the front desk is decorated with clusters of beautiful metallic apple green and pale gold Christmas trees and an assortment of glittering green boxes surrounded by gold garland, patches of snow and clusters of dripping LED icicles adorning the length of the overhang.

The Sugar Castle will be on display November 24 - January 3. The Westin St. Francis has a variety of holiday packages including discount rates, ice skating on Union Square, Oak Room Holiday afternoon tea and special Christmas Day Dinner and New Year's Eve Dinner menus.

Tags: holiday decorations on sale, holiday hotel, holiday hotel specials, sugar castle, westin, westin st francis

Westin Gets Into Bed With Amazon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Westin Hotels & Resorts has announced a new partnership with Amazon.com that will create the first hotel branded storefront for Amazon.com. The store will be located at http://www.amazon.com/westin. Westin's storefront picks up on the hotel chain's health and wellness focus showcasing merchandise from brands such as Gaiam, Kate's Paperie, Tea Forté and Riedel. Items will include fitness gear, workout DVDs, home decor and healthy snacks. The store will also sell signature Westin products including the Heavenly Bed, Heavenly Bath amenity collection and the popular White Tea scented candles and diffusers. Westin guests who stay twice mid-week from February 22nd through May 13th, 2010 will receive a $100 Amazon.com gift card (to be eligible, guests must register at westin.com/balance before booking).

Tags: amazon, hotels, westin

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Westin At Home Adds A Blanket For The Road

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Holiday Guides

Westin Hotels has a booming side business by selling items from their Heavenly line including the Heavenly bed. New for the holidays is the Heavenly Travel Blanket and Heavenly Bath product line. The Heavenly Travel blanket is a versatile item. It is a full size blanket that can also be tucked into hidden pocket so that it can serve as a travel pillow. It sells for $60.

The Westin Heavenly bath line includes calming blend of botanicals and natural ingredients. Products include a soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion and body oil. The collection is available in White Tea Aloe, Green Tea Grapefruit, and Chamomile Lavender. Prices range from $12 to $18.

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Tags: heavenly bed, HeavenlyBed, holiday gifts, HolidayGifts, westin, westin at home, WestinAtHome

Celebrating the Fall of the Berlin Wall

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Berlin Wall Memorial, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Germany

It's been 20 years since the fall of The Berlin Wall, and the city's been celebrating all year, with special events, exhibits and hotel packages. I was in Berlin a few months ago, and even then, the energy around the anniversary was palpable -- strolling the sites defined by where the wall once stood, bristling with energy, it's hard to imagine the city divided. Potsdamer Platz, for example, was a barren urban wasteland and is now home to a moving temporary exhibit. And of course there are plenty of museum exhibits and memorials. (A list of special exhibitions here.)

Since we're now entering the anniversary of the season of unrest that led to the wall's euphoric end, on November 9th, 1989, this is the time to go relive one of the last century's landmark historic events, in a city with uniquely troubled modern history. The Westin Grand Berlin is offering a package that includes the opportunity to take hammer and chisel to a portion of the wall that the hotel has artfully (if a bit jarringly) placed right in front of its portico. This cushy hotel is convenient to the Brandenburg Gate and to other Wall memorials.

Gallery: Fall of the Berlin Wall, 20th Anniversary

A Piece of the Wall at Berlin's Westin Grand

Break Off Your Own Piece of the Berlin Wall at the Westin

The Brandenburg Gate, Once Sealed Behind the Berlin Wall

Tags: berlin, berlin wall, BerlinWall, history, hoteldeals, westin, westinhotels

Hotel Beds Go On Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

If you love hotel beds this is your month to buy. Two hotel brands are hosting retail sales. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Heavenly Bed, Westin Hotels & Resorts is kicking off a two-week sale on its entire retail line with 25 percent off Heavenly Beds, travel blankets, new bath amenities, White Tea scent products, and more. The sale runs from August 24-September 7 at www.westin.com/store. Marriott's bed is also on sale for two weeks. It is listed at 20 percent off from August 14-27 at www.shopmarriott.com. Now if only I could find someone to make my bed as nicely as they do in the hotels.

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Tags: bed, hotels, marriott, westin

The Soleil Center In Raleigh Trim Tower Plans

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Another big development project is faltering in the face of a poor economy. This time it's the Soleil Center, the 43-story tower in Raleigh, North Carolina. which was to include a Westin Hotel and a 54 condos. Now the project is being scaled back. According to the News & Observer, the Soleil Group wants to build the tower in two phases, creating the 300-room Westin Hotel first and leaving the option to top the hotel with luxury condos until later when the economy improves. The developers plan to start building a 14- to 16-story hotel in the spring. The Soleil Group has already spent $20 million on a foundation that would support a 43-story building.

Construction stopped in June when a lender backed out of the deal. Without having to worry about condo sales it may be easier to find lenders to finance the project. Without the condos, the project could cost roughly $53 million but to build the larger tower it would cost $175 million. While $53 million is still a lot, it's a bit easier to get hotel financing compared to real estate financing right now because it doesn't rely on the promise of sold properties. The project is still in peril, contractors have filed liens against the property seeking payment for completed work.

Gallery: Towers in Trouble

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Tags: raleigh, soleil center, SoleilCenter, westin

Westin and United Team Up To Relax Stressed Fliers

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wings

The Westin is taking their Heavenly Bed blankets and pillows and White Tea scent into the airport. First and business class customers who fly United's p.s.service between New York and California can snuggle under oversized Heavenly blankets and pillows inspired by the Westin's Heavenly Bed. They will also be offered White Tea scented towelettes and mints, and Westin's stress-relieving video and music content on United's personal media players. United will serve a specialty cocktail inspired by the Westin SuperFoods program. A new cocktail will be unveiled each season and served on a brain-teaser coaster.

Westin has also created branded "Renewal Lounges" within United's Red Carpet Clubs. The San Francisco airport lounge is equipped with a blue-light ActiViva lamp, not yet available for purchase in the United States, which provides phototherapy to make people feel more energized. The lounges are outfitted with plush furniture, fabrics and a nature-inspired color palette along with a LED candle wall and artwork typical of the Westin mellow-you-out-quick style. The Westin signature White Tea scent is diffused throughout the lounges and the televisions play relaxing nature videos. Westin has also created an exclusive, a non-alcoholic SuperFoods elixir to be served in the lounges. Sounds like first class and business passengers will be very chilled out. Economy fliers will remain stressed and frustrated.

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Tags: travel, united, westin

Westin Versara

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

Sales are well underway at the Westin Verasa in Napa. This project is the fifth project between Starwood hotel group and Intrawest. The Westin Verasa Napa Residences are 160 whole ownership units ranging from studios to two-bedroom suites and owners are each entitled to stay at the hotel up to 29 days a year. The hotel amenities include a pool and spa that overlook the Napa river, a Reebok gym, bocce ball courts, a bar, and a signature restaurant. The suites range in price from approximately $500,000 to over $1.3 million per room. Vacationers can book nightly accommodations when the resort opens next year, no word on the rates yet. The resort is ideally located for wine country exploration, it is adjacent to Copia, the center for food and wine and the Oxbow Public Market, a large market featuring local vendors and organic farm stands will be right next door.

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Tags: california, condo hotel, napa, versara, westin

Breakfast of Champions? The $1,000 Bagel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Truffles and gold: It must be time for breakfast. Frank Tujague of The Westin New York hotel at Times Square has created the $1,000 bagel. The bagel is topped with white truffle cream cheese and goji berry-infused Riesling jelly with gold leaves. The chef created the unique treat to help raise funds for the Les Amis d'Escoffier Scholarship, which gives scholarships to cooking students. The $1,000 bagel is only available until December 14 and has to be ordered 24 hours in advance.

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Tags: bagel, new york, truffles, westin

Westin Hotels Put SuperFoods On The Menu

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Westin hotels have done a lot to promote the relaxing and healthful aspects of their hotels by creating special aromatherapy scents, workout rooms and special suites devoted to relaxation. Now they are creating SuperFoods focused menus for their guests. They have partnered up with the publishers of the SuperFoodsRx books to create a diet rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients. Offerings include banana oatmeal brulé, green-tea-infused salmon and molten dark chocolate cake. They key to the SuperFoodsRx philosophy is combining certain foods for maximum nutrition. The initiative is currently rolling out in 25 Westin hotels in the U.S. and Canada and will go global in 2008.

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Tags: health, hotels, menu, superfoods, westin

Westin Opens In Minneapolis

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Minneapolis is becoming one hot city with a variety of new condo developments planned. Minneapolis takes another big step toward big city land with the opening of their very own Westin. The Westin Minneapolis has opened in the historic Farmers & Mechanics Bank Building in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. The building has a distinctive 34-foot vaulted entryway and lobby and a restored marble staircase. There are 214 guestrooms including a penthouse suite with an outdoor patio and a Bankers Boardroom with floor to ceiling windows. The Bank restaurant has a vaulted ceiling and serves contemporary cuisine. Rates start around $220.

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Tags: hotel, minneapolis, minnesota, travel, vacation, westin

High-priced Condos A Hot Seller in Detroit

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Sure, luxury condos have hit trouble in Miami and Las Vegas but apparently the luxury condo business is thriving in Detroit. The Detroit Free Press reports on the sales of the new Westin condo residences at the Book-Cadillac Hotel. The building held their first invite-only sales event this week and already 40 of the condos were snapped up. Prices range from $280,000 to $1.5 million. People will move in in mid 2008 when the hotel reopens as the Westin Book-Cadillac with 455 hotel rooms and 67 condos. The initial public offering of the condos will be in December if there are any left by then.

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Tags: condominiums, condos, detroit, westin

Starwood Hotels Want You To Stay A Long, Long Time

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Last year, Starwood Hotels launched "aloft," their new hotel brand. Now they have a new brand, Project ESW. Project ESW will be an extended stay version of the Westin Hotel and will include Westin features like the Heavenly Bed and the Westin Workout rooms. The hotels will be contemporary new builds with studios and one-bedroom suites. The kitchens will have stainless steel appliances and there will be gourmet pantries stocked with food and wine. Common areas include large lobbies, cafe areas, terraces and pools. Starwood plans 150 markets for Project ESW and the first one will open in Lexington, Massachusetts in late 2007.

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Tags: extended stay, hotel, project esw, starwood, travel, westin

More Smelly Hotels

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

We first saw this at the Westin with the white tea scent that many of you found so beguiling. Now other hotels are following suit with their own signature scents. UPI reports that the Sheraton has new fig, bergamot, jasmine and freesia scent and that their Four Points hotels use apple cinnamon for a homey approach. The Omni chain has chosen the clean scent of lemongrass and green tea for their lobbies. The scent is just part of Omni's new Sensation offerings which include the Sensation Bar, a minbar that includes a moleskine notebook, deck of cards, CD, mojito jelly beans, pomegranate lip balm and a lavender pillow mist.

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Tags: hotels, omni, scent, sheraton, westin, white tea scent