Archive for the ‘Checking In’ Category

I made the following video for my Best Western blog at www.youmustbetrippin.com and it’s sorta gone viral (nearly 1000 views as of Aug 27)

It’s a video report on the opening of the cool new Hotel Avatar in Santa Clara, Calif….in the heart of Silicon Valley. Very clever re-do of the classic motel with all the modern amenities you’d expect, like free and fast wifi, nice pool, gym with elliptical trainers, etc.

Rates start in the very reasonable range of about $130 per night and it’s a nice colorful change compared to a lot of the beige box hotels in the area.

Check out the two min video and see for yourself:

Between our business trips, press trips and personal travel, we stay at a LOT of hotels. We’d like to share our experiences with TICKET readers here in this new feature, CHECKING IN WITH THE TICKET.

HOTEL PALOMAR-ATLANTA. We’ll start out with a review on familiar turf: Atlanta. A few months ago, the new Hotel Palomar in Midtown Atlanta hosted us for one night. By now you may have seen the 21-story, 304 room Hotel Palomar from the downtown connector. It’s a brand new-from-the-ground-up hotel at 12th and West Peachtree.

We stayed there on a Saturday night in late May. Having had many positive experiences at other Kimpton Group hotels scattered around the country, we had high expectations, and we are pleased to report those expectations were met this time around.

For a hotel that had only been open a few short months, we did not detect the slightest bit of just-opened jitters. All the staff, from the bellhops who greeted us on the street, the front desk staff, housekeepers…everyone was completely on their game. We are used to giving a wide berth to the staff at brand new hotels as they work through opening kinks, but that was definitely not necessary at the Palomar.

We really liked the modern, yet comfortable design of our room. Lots of ambers, browns, grays and tans in both wood and stone with a splash of red and orange here and there. Nice desk with an Aeron-like chair. Wi-fi is free for members of Kimpton’s In-Touch loyalty program. Flat screen TV. A nice bright and modern bathroom with a big tub-less shower.

Overall, it had the mod feel of a W Hotel without the disco-y dark corridors throbbing to a deep beat which always strain us when traveling on business.  We had an outstanding meal in the hotel restaurant called Pacci, which was reviewed earlier this year in THE TASTE OF THE TICKET. Then we spend several hours on the rooftop deck, complete with its own screened in porch.

The only downside was the enforced valet parking @$30 per night (plus tip). There’s no self-park option, which is too bad considering that the hotel parking lot is located right next to the hotel…and about 100 feet from the valet stand. Next time we’ll ditch the car and take MARTA!

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