by Angie on June 28, 2010
Wedding on the beach at the Melia Caribe Tropical
It’s summer again, which means amor is in the air. And while it seems that you’re spending the summer attending everyone’s wedding but your own, by the end of this season of love it may just turn out to be you planning the fiesta of your dreams.
So if you find yourself dreaming about saying your vows on a quiet beach while wiggling your toes in the hot, white sand, you may want to consider the Dominican Republic as your island of choice. But there are a lot of challenges involved with planning a destination wedding in a foreign country, where the normal stress of wedding planning is compounded with the pressures of taming your hair in the humidity and scrambling to remember your 8th grade Spanish. So we’ved done some legwork for you and we’ve hand-picked six resorts in the Dominican Republic that we know will take marvelous care of you – and the wedding of your dreams. So if you’re in the planning stages – or even just the dreaming stages – of your nuptials, below we’ll tell you about our six favorite spots in the Dominican Republic to take the plunge (and we don’t mean into the ocean).
Want to see more photos of our top picks? Check out our slideshow of destination wedding hotels in the Dominican Republic.
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Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort in the Bahamas is offering a free roundtrip flight deal for guests who book a four-night stay.
On the surface, the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort’s “Companion Flies Free” package announced yesterday sounds amazing: It offers a free roundtrip companion flight to the Bahamas for guests who book a four night stay, and 40 percent savings on room rates. But we at Oyster are always a little skeptical of hotel package deals, so we embarked on a fact finding mission to get the truth. Has the recession caused the Sheraton to resort to desperate measures to fill rooms, or is the deal too good to be true? Welcome back to Oyster’s Bundle Breakdowns, where we go through the painstaking process of (roughly) breaking down the costs of popular hotel bundle offerings to determine whether you’re getting a steal or getting robbed.
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We like to keep abreast of the latest in hotel package offerings, and this one from the Hotel Diva in San Francisco is certainly titillating, if also a wee bit tacky: the boutique property, part of the (female-run!) small West Coast chain Personality Hotels, is shilling a hotel package that shamelessly promotes and encourages Cougardom. That is, the act of being a Cougar — a female on the prowl for younger male playthings. Stupid and gimmicky? Sure. But since the haters are probably gonna hate, we’re gonna tell you a little secret: it’s not a terrible deal.
You could spend 50 bucks on your monthly Botox injections (kidding, sort of), or you could add that 50 bucks to your room rate at the Hotel Diva and get all these Cougar-friendly amenities with the Cougars With Personality package — oh, and everything comes in pairs, so you can bring your wingwoman, too:
- A one-night stay ($159.00)
- Two Hanky-Panky animal-print thongs ($22.00 each)
- Two Lemon Drop cocktails
- Two $25 Gift Certificates for the Epi Center MedSpa ($50.00 – and yes, they do Botox)
- Professional bra fittings at Nordstrom (free, though the reminder that the ol’ ta-tas may be a bit closer to the waist than they were the last time you got a professional bra fitting is probably priceless…)
- “A list of San Francisco’s hottest Cougar bars” (we assume this is where young dudes hang out)
A standard room on October 30th is $159; with the Cougar package, you’re looking at a rate of $209. So for $50 you get at least $100-worth of goodies – who says an older woman can’t have a cheap, hot night if she doesn’t mind being a cliche and is prepared to take responsibility for causing irreparable psychological damage to her children by openly identifying as a Cougar?
by admin on September 3, 2009
The Franklin NYC
Ever wonder if those “romance” or “adventure” hotel packages are really giving you more bang for your buck — or if you’ve been suckered into booking a clever marketing pro’s cutesy champagne and chocolate-covered price markup? Welcome back to Oyster’s Bundle Breakdowns, where we go through the painstaking process of (roughly) breaking down the costs of popular hotel bundle offerings to determine whether you’re getting a steal or getting robbed.
Since, according to Gossip Girl, you’re “nobody until you’re talked about,” we’re going to take a hot time out to talk about this Gossip Girl package being offered by the Franklin NYC – but would any of the characters on Gossip Girl even bother with it? Most of them are rich and all, but, you know, we’re in a recession. Even they watch what they’re spending these days.
The Deal: 2 night stay in an Executive King Room; $100 Gift Certificate at Henri Bendel; $100 Gift Certificate for dinner and drinks at Mansfield Hotel’s M BAR; Two tickets to the Metropolitan Museum; a Gossip Girl Guide to NYC; Luxury Car Service up to 4 hours.
The Package Price: $999 for two nights, plus tax
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by admin on August 31, 2009
The Plaza, New York City
Ever wonder if those “romance” or “adventure” hotel packages are really giving you more bang for your buck — or if you’ve been suckered into booking a clever marketing pro’s cutesy champagne and chocolate-covered price markup? Welcome back to Oyster’s Bundle Breakdowns, where we go through the painstaking process of (roughly) breaking down the costs of popular hotel bundle offerings to determine whether you’re getting a steal or getting robbed.
Today, we’re back in the Big Apple visiting the iconic Plaza hotel and its most famous little fictional resident, Eloise (yes, from the Kay Thompson books about a cheeky young lady living at the hotel). These days, the Plaza is offering up a cutesy deal in honor of the precocious six-year-old: the ‘Live Like Eloise’ package – which is essentially a night in a suite at the Plaza with a couple of treats thrown in — starting at $895.
The Deal: One night in a Deluxe Rose Suite (with complimentary upgrade to the next available suite category at time of booking); a copy of Eloise by Kay Thompson; “Super Duper Sundae” from In-Room Dining; Eloise postcards with complimentary postage
The Package Price for Sunday, October 11th: $1,065, plus tax
The Upgrade on Sunday, October 11th: Since the package is inclusive of a free upgrade at the time of booking, the reservations agent we spoke to told us that we’d be reserved in an Edwardian Suite that night — a one-bedroom, 1,000ish square-foot space that even has a guest bathroom (ooooh, swanky!) Read More »
Delano Hotel
Mondrian South Beach
With so many reviews of so many different hotels, scanning our city guides can sometimes lead to information overload—so our new series, Stay Here, Not There takes the guess work out of finding the right hotel for your trip. Today we’re looking at where to stay to best enjoy late summer in style in Miami.
The Trip: Enjoying Miami’s South Beach—but during the historically slow month of September when deals abound.
The Demands: Beach access, a decidedly Miami scene and plenty of value-per-dollar.
The Options: Three Morgans Hotels are on sale through September 30: the Delano Hotel, the Mondrian South Beach and the Shore Club.
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by admin on August 18, 2009
Bellagio; Las Vegas
Ever wonder if those “romance” or “adventure” hotel packages are really giving you more bang for your buck — or if you’ve been suckered into booking a clever marketing pro’s cutesy champagne and chocolate-covered price markup? Welcome to Oyster’s Bundle Breakdowns, where we go through the painstaking process of (roughly) breaking down the costs of popular hotel bundle offerings to determine whether you’re getting a steal or getting robbed.
Today, Bundle Breakdowns visits Las Vegas to dissect the Bellagio’s fancy-schmantzy Romance Retreat package.
The Deal: One night in a Lakeview Cypress Suite; limo transportation to and from McCarran; Executive Suite Lounge check-in; one bottle of Veuve Clicquot; chocolate-covered strawberries; a 50-minute Couples Massage; prix-fixe dinner for two at Picasso or Michael Mina restaurant (no alcohol).
The Package Price: $995, plus tax
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