A Peninsula guest, a la Garbo
Some hotels, as we learned last month, charge five figures for a single cocktail. Others, which shall remain nameless — OK, it’s the Four Seasons Maui — deploy poolside staffers to cool down sunbathing guests with spritzes of Evian. And then there’s the Peninsula Beverly Hills, a hotel so exclusive that its true VIPs don’t even bother with the ho-hum 425-square-foot — and $425+ per night — standard rooms. Instead they stay in one of the Peninsula’s 16 villas, each of which has its own private entrance — and each of which costs between $885 and $6,000 a night. (In 2007, Britney Spears hid out from the paparazzi in one after she lost custody of her children to K-Fed.)
In honor of Sunday’s Academy Awards, the Peninsula Beverly Hills, or “PBH” as we in the biz (that would be the hotel biz) call it, has introduced something called “Recapture Classic Hollywood Glamor.” For a mere $950, guests can enjoy the “opportunity to be photographed in a style that brings back the famous black-and-white studio publicity portraits of movie stars in the 1930s and 40s.” Award-winning celebrity photographer Roger G. James “will set up a portrait studio in the guest’s room, complete with makeup, costumes, props and lighting. Within one to two hours, he will transform the guest into a glamorous star from the past, à la Lana Turner, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable or Greta Garbo and capture the look on black-and-white film.” One such Garbo is pictured above. Not bad, as you can see here.
Read More »
by Laura on December 23, 2009
Lobby of the Hotel Madera, one of our picks for the capital's gay-friendliest hotels
Washington, D.C. could soon become THE hot new wedding destination if a same-sex marriage bill recently passed by the city council gets past the U.S. Congress, which must approve new laws in the nation’s capital. That could happen as early as March, so the city’s hotels have already begun to ramp up their marketing campaigns in an effort to attract spouses-to-be. We did our homework before the bill passed, however. Here’s our list of D.C.’s best gay-friendly hotels, all of which have been approved by the Travel Alternatives Group and/or the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association:
Read More »
Softcore porn from our friends at Palms Place Hotel and Spa
A few months back we brought you the sexy lady phenomenon, the time-tested marketing tactic in which one singular sexy woman is placed in an otherwise empty pool for the sake of a photo shoot. The hope is that you start thinking about sexy women, and then you think about sexy women being at the hotel, and next thing you know you’ve booked a stay — or so the marketers hope. (If you’re wondering: We beelined for Palms Place at the Palms Casino Resort when we saw the above photo, but alas, the pool was empty.)
The more we travel, the more sexy ladies we find (on the Internet, that is). After the jump, more proof that sex is used to sell Las Vegas hotels. (You can thank us later.)
Read More »
by admin on August 13, 2009
Myth: Shiny, happy people.
Reality: Boozey, sunburned people.
Imagine setting a date to say your vows — notifiying only your nearest and dearest; a handful of your most cherished family members and pals — and running off to the Dominican Republic with your spouse-to-be, dizzy with excitement and drunk on love. And imagine, if you will, that this lovely photo of a beaming just-married couple led you to book this pristine white gazebo at the Riu Palace Punta Cana in which to say your nuptials.
And then imagine that all of this imagining (courtesy of the heartbreakingly misleading photo on the resort’s website) carries you on a cloud of delight and excitement all the way to this not-so-awesome reality check at the altar: your wedding ceremony has been crashed by this hot crew of ladies and gentlemen in full-coverage tropical swimwear.
Nothing says elegance like an uninvited onlooker in a leopard print sarong.
Myth: Sexy lady in an eye-catching bathing suit at Riu Negril
Reality: A big crowd (no sexy lady in sight) at Riu Negril
See if you can spy the difference between these photos. Don’t think too hard – it’s pretty obvious. Did you get it? The answer is: humans! That’s right – real, live hotel guests.
Marketers can’t show you real guests, but they’re always more than happy to include one, singular sexy lady in an eye-catching swimsuit. And she’s always having a fabulous time! But the truth is, many hotels are big, and you’re probably going to find more than one person at the pool. Naturally, there’s nothing deceitful about a hotel omitting their normal guests in their published photos. But we can give you a real impression of what it’s like to sunbathe among the swarms of swimmers splashing about. See another example after the jump.
Read More »
-
-
The Essex House Hotel photo we found on Expedia is unmarred by traffic and street lights.
-
-
The Oyster hotel Reviews Photo reveals what the hotel Photoshopped away.
-
-
The powerlines above the pool are absent in the Essex House Hotel photo from Expedia.
-
-
Oyster Hotel Reviews shows you the ugly power lines and the building view that the marketing photos don’t.
Last week, we showed you what clever cropping can do. This week, we show you how hotels Photoshop out unsightly objects.
We think
The Essex House Hotel in South Beach, Miami is a great value — but we’re not big fans of their Photoshopped marketing photos. Both the hotel exterior photo and the pool photo were visibily altered.
