This is 25 seconds well spent!

We love finding hotel bed images here at HotelBedHQ.com. What’s better than a hotel bed image? A bed image with a guest review attached!

The first part of our trip was spent in Waikiki (that’s the tourist area near Honolulu proper, if you haven’t been there). We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and when we checked in, they hadn’t held a king sized bed room for us, so we got shafted with two doubles.

The chick at the front desk said she’d see if she could find something else for the other two nights we’d be there, but then never did. Not impressed at all with this hotel, to be perfectly honest. The front desk staff was nice, but not exceptional and not really all that concerned with their guests’ happiness.

The restaurants were good, but you needed reservations for almost all of them, even when they weren’t full, which annoys the crap out of me. And everywhere you turned, they charged you for something different. The stupid minibar was automated for “your convenience” so that even if you just pulled something out to LOOK at it, you got charged and had to tell them that no, you’re just stupid, please remove the charge. Really. Really. REALLY. irritating.

You’re paying that much money for a 4-star resort hotel, you don’t expect them to try and nickel and dime you at every turn on top of that. Not that I have problems paying for minibar stuff — I don’t, honestly — but the guise of “automated for your convenience” is just dirty pool. Anyway, I won’t be going back there, probably.

[Hyatt Waikiki Hotel]
HotelsByCity [Honolulu Travel Guide]

Upscale hotel brands like Four Seasons pride themselves on their personalized service delivery and attention to detail. But what do housekeeping room attendants do when they find items in a guest’s room that require service far beyond what their extensive training has prepared them for?

Housekeeping staff are used to hotel guests leaving items in their guestroom upon check-out. Cell phone chargers, personal items, nudie magazines – room attendants have seen just about everything. Once in a while, guests leave “special” items behind on purpose, simply to mess with the staff.

Vancouver’s Four Seasons Hotel, home to upscale guests and the Hollywood set recently had a guest in house who was in Vancouver working on a commercial shoot. As it happens, this guest had a female mannequin prop in his room for the shoot, and he thought it would be fun to set her up in his guestroom bed and film the housekeeping staff’s reaction. The Four Seasons housekeeping team showed their usual attention to detail during service, with more than a few visitors arriving from departmental colleagues, security and management.

What ensued is featured in the video below, which was followed by a letter of apology to the hotel.

Vancouver Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

Christian and I felt the beds were extremely hard to lie on. We decided to investigate the mattresses and realized that we have to sleep on a piece of “soft” wood attached to the springs.

We’ve all had to share a bed with a brother, sister or friend at some point in our “career” as a hotel guest. Maybe it was during a school trip, sporting event, family vacation…or a conference for work.

Regardless of the reason for your crowded hotel bed, you will appreciate the new strategy below for managing your platonic bed “partner”. Enjoy!

Half a million viewers from all over the world. Hundreds of guest-submitted images. You have all been part of something special over the last four months.

HotelBedHQ.com is very pleased to roll out our new site design today - we hope you like it. Same awesome content, sweet new look.

We are also delighted to announce that we have partnered with HotelsByCity.net - a hotel booking engine and travel research site who truly understands the magic that is HotelBedHQ.

Thank you all for visiting the site, for submitting your incredible images and for helping make Hotel Bed HQ, BedJump and the like a hotel industry phenomenon. I’m thrilled that we are moving in an exciting new direction, and I can’t wait to be part of a team committed to providing the most interesting hotel content on the net. Just wait until you see what’s coming next!

Chris

As we always say it just keeps getting better and better.

Bed Jump Jump on Hotel Beds! Remember when you were told not to jump on your bed? Our guests didn’t get the memo.	Hotel Bed HQ You always want your room to have a sweet bed. See the best of the best beds here. Then see the rest.
Hotel Splash Water-babies beware, you’ll never want to leave. Enjoy the best hotel pools anywhere, and the guests in them.	Hotel Drink Lounges, bars, bartenders and cocktails from hotels around the world. Hotel F&B, less “F”, more “B”.
Hotel Throne Bathrooms, toilets, showers, tubs and WC’s from hotels everywhere. High tech, low tech and no tech.	Hotel Blog Hotel news, unique dispatches and commentary from the lodging industry

Hotel guests traveling with their four-legged friends have more selection than ever before. Brands like Westin Hotels have embraced the fact that pet owners want to travel with their pooches and are no longer relegating guests with pets to the worst room in the house.

In fact, many hotels have upped the anti even further by actually having dogs on staff. Hotels like the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and the Fairmont Waterfront allow some employees to come to work with their canine friends, and actually allow guests to walk them. This brings a smile to many a guest’s face who might be missing their own pooch at home, and allows travelers such as women traveling alone to get out on the town when they might otherwise not be comfortable walking by themselves.

Thanks to Eric for sending in the image below of a few of his favorite “people”. Eric’s latest trip to Portland included his two former “racers” who look more than happy to slow down and live a dog’s life of relaxation. Although Westin offers a dog version of their “Heavenly Bed” - clearly these two retirees are more than happy right where they are.

Here’s a pic of the three most important “people” in my life. The furry two think we’re just “dogs that walk upright”. This was totally above board as the Westin Hotels are all dog friendly. Not that we have smuggled them into some places that aren’t!

Aurelia is our girl dog and Ducati is our boy dog. Both are retired racers, 9 yrs old and loving their retirement as they get to travel more and work not at all.

[Westin Portland]
Doggie Boutique [Westin]
Pet Loving Hotels [USAToday]

Ok so this is funny…because Star Wars was filmed at Tikal and I had Anakin Skywalker sheets on my hotel bed! Yes!

In the movie Star Wars: A New Hope, the “Massassi” temples were actually the ancient pyramids found in Tikal, Guatemala. A skeleton crew of ILM cameramen travelled to Guatemala to film the handful of scenes required.

And when you check into a nearby hotel, you might be sliding between the sheets alongside a Star Wars character or perhaps an alien being.

Movie Location Info [StarWars.com]
Guatemala City Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

One…three…five pillows on red floral, not including the ones we can’t see on the port side of this king-sized bed at the Hampton Inn in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Hampton Inn’s “Cloud Nine” sleep system is the kind of bed action we love at HotelBedHQ.com.

“Revamping the bed experience is something we have been researching and testing along with our other Make It Hampton components,” said Phil Cordell, senior vice-president, Hampton Brand Management.

“We tested many different versions of the bed, and Cloud Nine represents the best of the best of what guests said they love. Cloud Nine takes the sleep experience to a new level with a comfy, high-quality, raised mattress and new, dramatically more comfortable products and fabrics.”

Hampton Hotels Best Rates [HotelsByCity]

The People’s Republic of China is experiencing an incredible renaissance in their hotel industry. With the Summer Olympics coming up next year in Beijing, and Shanghai fast approaching Hong Kong as China’s financial center, hotels are being built and renovated around the clock.

The frenetic pace of hotel renovation is also great news for guests, who are increasingly enjoying the very best furniture, bedding and guestroom technology on the market.

The image of hotel mattresses awaiting removal on a quiet Shanghai street nicely reflects the hotel industry’s exponential growth.

Shanghai Hotels [HotelsByCity]
Beijing Hotels [HotelsByCity]
Beijing Olympics

Styled as “New York’s newest affordable crash pad”, the Hotel QT is a contemporary retreat with some interesting twists, including a desire for anonymity with a strict “no pictures allowed” policy.

The hotel’s swimming pool, lobby and lounge are intermixed into a den of fulfillment all on the main level. And in the bedrooms…a white sleep haven on platforms. Bunk beds are even making a comeback at the QT.

Oops, we got a picture…keep it on the “QT”.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Westin Hotels & Resorts have proven themselves to be quite an innovative brand. Long before they were bought by Starwood Hotels, they had already engineered a number of hotel industry firsts:

• 1930 - As luck would have it, two hotel competitors found themselves having breakfast at the same diner in Yakima, Washington. They struck up a conversation, formed an alliance and Western Hotels was born.
• 1946 - The first guest credit card was issued by Western Hotels.
• 1947 - The “Hoteltype” reservations system was introduced, allowing Western to instantaneously confirm guest reservations.
• 1969 - Western Hotels was the first to offer 24-hour room service
• 1983 - Westin (changed names in 1980) was the first major hotel to implement a comprehensive credit card reservation and check-out system.
• 1991 - Westin guests were offered personal voice-mail service – a first in the hotel industry.

And…we love this one here at HoteBedHQ.com:

• 1999 - Westin proudly introduced The Heavenly Bed® and changed the industry paradigm of a superior sleep experience.

Check out some Westin guests enjoying their “Heavenly” innovation:

Westin Site
Heavenly Beds [Westin]