Enjoy this outdated (we hope) hotel lounge signage from the Bristol Hotel in Melbourne-West, Australia. Not an uncommon sight in past eras all over the world, we’re not sure whether signs like it came in response to demand from gentlemen bar patrons, or from the ladies!

HotelsByCity [Melbourne Travel Guide] [Hotels in Melbourne, Australia]

Normally when we talk about hotel bars here at HotelDrink.com, we mean the “entire” lounge. Service, cocktails, design and decor - the whole thing. Not today.

All over the world, hotel bartenders are known for their charisma, mixology talent and their ability to “connect” with guests and customers. Customers often go out of their way to visit a bar where they know they will be entertained by the bartender. As of today, customers will be travelling to be entertained by the bar itself!

Check out this incredible video of a hotel bar design of the future. Actually, make that the present, since this is the real thing.

Thanks to Chad for sending this my way. Chad is one of our HotelsByCity resident bloggers, and he authors the excellent hotel blog here at HotelsByCity.net. Chad is keen to install one these beauties in his basement. I hope I’m invited to the launch party!

[i-Bar.ch]

Images can speak a thousand words, and we thought this picture of the Deseo Hotel Lounge on the rooftop in Playa Del Carmen said plenty. Of course, then we read some reviews of the property and discovered a consistent theme among most of them; that this hotel has some serious noise issues.

This is a terrible place for a relaxed stay. It is noisy and incredibly expensive. The rooms are soooooo minimalistic that will give you the impression you are in prision, the so-called breakfast is awful and coffe is served in tin cups, so dirty it is disgusting.

The closest beach is ugly and the “exclusive” beach club you are entitled to go (Mamitas) is quite far and full as a sardine can, so you better get at dawn or you will be left out of the “in” crowd. All rooms look to the pool and there is no in-room TV. Totally disrrespectful DJ activity at the pool everynight, leaves you sleepless until the wee hours of the morning (management, kindly provides ear plugs).

If you are into ectasy and such you will have a great time, if not, stay elsewhere…[TripAdvisor]

HotelsByCity [Other Playa Del Carmen Hotels] [Mexico Travel Guide]

Inside the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco is the wonderful, world famous Tonga Room. There’s a lake in the middle of this tiki lounge/restaurant and it rains every 1/2 hour. Great happy hour!!

Check out the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar [Fairmont San Francisco]
HotelsByCity Best Rate [Fairmont San Francisco] [Sanfrancisco Travel Guide]

Cocktail “lunch” at the Bellagio Hotel

Ahhh, Las Vegas. We love Las Vegas here at HotelDrink.com. Where else can you happily cop to having double rounds of cocktails for lunch. These beauties were mixed at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

With five bars and lounges to choose from at the Bellagio, we can’t quite tell whether these guests enjoyed these cocktails at the Fonatana Bar, the Caramel Lounge, the Petrossian Bar, the Baccarat Bar or the Pool Bar.

OK, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t the Pool Bar.

HotelsByCity [Las Vegas Hotels] [Las Vegas Travel Guide]

Hotel lounges are so often a gathering place for work colleagues and friends. Lodging establishments around the world provide an atmosphere of good times and good food and beverage…and sometimes a little too much of either.

We can’t tell whether this bar patron at the Brooklyn Hotel in Sydney Australia had a little too much to drink, or whether he was being punished for bringing in his own food from McDonalds. Either way keep moderation in mind if you don’t want to be featured in HotelDrink.com’s hall of shame!

Enjoy the deterioration of Man:

[Hotel Site]
Sydney Hotels [HotelsByCity]

Me in the All Nations Hotel in Barrytown, otherwise known as dirty old Baz Vegas, with one of the bar’s regulars.

[Hotel Site]
New Zealand Hotels [HotelsByCity]

This was the bar in our hotel. There were these lights on the sidewalk outside. We didn’t hang out there but had to get a picture anyway.

During the late 1920’s at the height of Prohibition, the hotel quietly and most illegally opened its now renowned Empire Plush Room Cabaret theatre. Merry-makers found their way through a maze of underground passageways, which still exist, to reach the secret cabaret. The San Francisco socialites gathered nightly to enjoy the illegal spirits and to hear the top entertainers of the era perform.

As prohibition faded into history, the Empire Plush Room once shrouded in secrecy, became one of the area’s most popular cabaret clubs. Young torch singers, comedians, dancers, and pianists flocked to the Empire Plush Room hoping to be discovered.

Today the York Hotel and the Empire Plush Room continue to keep the tradition of cabaret alive by hosting entertainers like Rita Moreno, Andrea Marcovicci, Sam Harris, and San Francisco’s own Paula West.

[York Hotel]
[Empire Plush Room]
San Francisco Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

cornelius and i love visiting hotel bars. we usually just get 1 drink each. i love the little snacks they serve, complimentary!

Today we discovered a fellow hotel lounge maven in Vancouver, Canada - whose little joy in life is to visit upscale hotel bars and write about them. What a great day for us here at HotelDrink.com.

“Kickpleat” recently visited the hotel lounges at the Hotel Georgia, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and the Four Seasons in three instalments, then featured her experiences in a blog article.

…the third installment took place at the Four Seasons Hotel lounge. The room was wood panelled and cozy with a round bar in the centre of the room. While my drink was nice and strong, it was the complimentary nibbles that won me over. Wasabi peas, an assortment of herbed olives and salted nuts. Lovely presentation and everything from the little olive forks to the napkins were Four Seasons branded. But for all that presentation, the drinks were the most expensive that we’ve tried so far. [blog]

Editor’s Note: I’ve been to all three hotel lounges above. The Georgia’s tiny jungle-themed den is comfy and boring. The Hotel Vancouver has nice free appetizers and live jazz in the evenings. The Four Seasons is the best hotel lounge in town to see Hollywood stars, but drink prices are more suited to Bill Gates.

Vancouver Hotels [HotelsByCity]

The 5 star Radisson SAS Hotel features the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium with 2,500 tropical fish. The “AquaDom” is 25 metres high and situated right in the hotel lobby.

And when you’re tired of looking at fish, you can drink like one at the swank-blue hotel lounge adjacent to the AquaDom.

I was just so enamored of that aquarium, it was completely extraordinary. We made sure to get a room facing it, so we could enjoy it and I’m so glad we did. The scuba divers were in there every morning cleaning it up and it was just really something for me to be able to see that just out my hotel room window. One of my favorite things on our vacation…[TripAdvisor]

[Hotel Site]
Berlin Hotels [HotelsByCity]