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.

HotelDrink.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 HotelDrink, BedJump, and all our other great sites.

Thank you all for visiting the site, for submitting your incredible images. I’m thrilled that we aare 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

Internationally known TabletHotels.com, the self-styled one-stop antidote for hotel comoditization hell compiles an extensive list of lodging “alternatives” to a predictable, common and mundane hotel experience.

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Hotel Unique is part of Tablet Hotels’ referral group:

Designed by a leading Brazilian architect of Japanese descent, this place rocks. From the uber-cool building design, to the stunning lobby, comfortably trendy rooms and rooftop restaurant/bar/pool, it is about as hip as they come. While not cheap, it is also a deal compared to similar hotels in London, Paris and Rome.

The only downside is that it is a bit out of the way from the major business/shopping areas around Avenida Paulista, but the architect clearly needed more space than downtown would allow to build his vision. Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese community in the world outside of Tokyo, and the quality of the Japanese food is high all over town. The hotel restuarant’s sushi bar rivals the best…[more]

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tablet Hotels [Site]

Hemingway once said that the best way to make a Martini was to let a ray of sun pass through the vermouth and hit the gin.

This literary-inspired description is simply proof of the fascination this drink holds for many people. Churchill and F.D. Roosevelt were both fond of it. The former liked it “naked”; the latter sipped the drink mixed with Argentine vermouth and spiked with olive juice (today called the “dirty Martini”).

With so many variations of the popular martini being created and served in hotel lounges and bars around the world, the original recipe is becoming somewhat of an anomaly for the “old school”.

In the book, The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them, written in 1907 by William T. Boothby, the recipe for Dry Martini Cocktail instructs: “into a mixing glass place some cracked ice, two dashes of orange bitters, half a jigger of (dry) French vermouth, and half a jigger of dry English gin. Stir well until thoroughly chilled, strain into a stem cocktail-glass, squeeze a piece of lemon peel over the top and serve with an olive.” Other than the bitters and the ratio of vermouth to gin, this is remarkably similar to a modern martini cocktail.

William Grimes, restaurant critic for the New York Times claims (in Straight Up or On the Rocks: the Story of the American Cocktail) that the dry martini was invented at the Knickerbocker Hotel, in New York, in 1912.

Celebrities and the city?s elite flocked to the hotel, drawn both by its luxurious rooms and its world-class restaurant bar. That bar is where, in 1912, an immigrant bartender named Martini di Arma di Taggia allegedly mixed gin and dry vermouth, perfecting the martini. One of his first tasters was John D. Rockefeller, who liked it so much that he recommended it to all his Wall Street buddies, and the drink quickly became a national favorite.

Today the Knickerbocker Hotel is an office & retail complex simply named 6 Times Square and no longer entertains hotel guests at all. But when it opened in 1905, the Knickerbocker was one of midtown?s premier hotels, and one of the tallest buildings on Times Square.

Editor: When I lived in New York City near Washington Square, I used to head over to the “Knickerbocker Restaurant & Bar” where I would get to hear countless stories of the “old days” at the former hotel. The bartender at the restaurant used to work at the hotel when he was a kid.

Check out the Knickerbocker [Emporis]
Read about the origins of the Martini [Wikipedia]

The hotel is definitely in an non-touristy part of Paris. The neighborhood is poor, with obvious problems of unemployment and grafitti. On the other hand, it had fascinating cultural diversity, with many residents wearing the clothing and speaking the languages of Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia. It is near (but not in) the up and coming St. Martin Canal area, which appears to be a magnet for young Parisians, and features many hip restaurants and bars. Of note, the hotel is very convenient to Charles de Gaulle airport by taxi or RER, and might be an interesting alternative to an airport hotel for those with early morning or late night flights.

[Kube Hotel Site]
Paris Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

The Millenium Hilton Hotel lies directly adjacent to the site of New York’s World Trade Center.

HotelChatter.com recently featured an interview with Andrew, an employee of the Millenium’s Lobby Bar who was with the hotel before 911.

In remembrance of September 11, we interviewed Andrew Setticase, an employee of the Millenium Hilton across from the World Trade Center. One side of the hotel was blown out when the buildings fell and underwent extensive renovations to reopen again in April 2003. When it did, more than 3/4 of the employees returned. Andrew Setticase, 54, a waiter in the hotel’s restaurant with 33 years of hotel industry experience (seven of them at the Hilton), was one of them. Working now as the bartender in the new lobby bar, he shared with us some of his thoughts on working at the hotel after 9/11.

Read the Interview [HotelChatter]

[Hotel Site]
New York City [TravelGuide]

The lounge at the hotel Semiramis in Athens, totally wacky - designed by Karim Rachid

In Karim Rashid’s Words: “…I believe that we could be living in an entirely different world - one that is full of real contemporary inspiring objects, spaces, places, worlds, spirits and experiences…”

Athens is known for its hip hotel style, as you can see from this image of the lounge at the Hotel Semiramis.

[Hotel Site]
Karim Rashid [Designer]
Best Rate [HotelsByCity]

We love exotic hotel bar locations here at HotelDrink.com. For some, “exotic” inspires an image of sun-filled resorts or snow-capped ski lodges.

Hotel guests in Kiev, Ukraine, don’t get to enjoy many sun-drenched cocktails on the beach, or apres-ski brandies on the hill. In Kiev, exotic means something entirely different.

Check out these terrific images of snake-charming belly dancers and 1920’s “Flappers” in a Kiev hotel lounge:

“The poolside lounge features orange plastic chairs. This is a long exposure shot taken from across the pool.”

It wasn’t so long ago that downtown Los Angeles after six P.M. was a ghost town. This is the case no longer, and it’s thanks in no small part to the Downtown Standard — in particular, the rooftop bar, with its astroturf, topiary gardens and waterbed loungers, a fixture on the downtown nightlife scene, and a place so exclusive that guests are issued bracelets to guarantee entry.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Coverage [HotelChatter]

The coolest bar on the planet is the Absolut Ice Bar at the Ice Hotel, in Jukkasjärvi in Lapland, Sweden. Here, 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle winter reigns eight months a year.

The only drink served is Absolut, not on the rocks, but IN the rocks! Everything is made of crystal clear river ice.

The bar, glasses, everything is made of ice. And, a few drinks may warm you up so you may want to run around in your underwear like these daring Dutch guests…

Ice Hotel Site

Starwood’s upper-upscale St. Regis brand entertains more than its fair share of celebrities and dignitaries the world over. The St. Regis Grand in Roma is no different - and was recently noted also to be home of the $12 can of Coke:

Thuy and I stayed at the St. Regis Grand hotel for two nights in Rome. Built in 1894 as the first deluxe hotel in Rome, the St. Regis Grand Hotel is within walking distance of the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and Via Veneto. As the marketing literature states “Upon reopening in mid-December 1999, after an extensive restoration and renovation, the St. Regis Grand Hotel, Rome reclaimed its status as the finest hotel in Rome… and is known as a focal point for Rome’s diplomatic and political life…as well as celebrities”

It was fabulous. We were even able to get Thai food there! By this point anything besides Italian food seemed enticing. So even though it was the most expensive Thai food I ever had it was worth every Euro. Oh the luxury. My hedonistic side was in full indulgence mode.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]