6 hotels from tanks disappearing trends for new rates

NEW YORK – Pump bottle on the wall of the shower or individual shampoos and lotions that you can take home? Luxury bathtub for a bath of self-indulgent or no bath at all? A friendly hello to a well-informed or sent electronically code that will open your hotel room without any human interaction at check-in at all?

Here are some details of the six hotel trends bubbling in the industry right now, and how they affect your stay.

The increase in expenses: Your hotel bill may include some surprises. Not only the usual $ 20 per day resort fee and approval, if you pay or not you use tennis courts and pool complex, but how about an extra $ 12 cleaning fee required or to store your luggage in the lobby?

Total fees and additional charges levied by hotels in the United States were up $ 1.7 billion in 2010 to a record $ 1.8 billion in 2011, according to new research by Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality Robert Preston and sports management. Hanson recommends that consumers ask when obtaining a rate for a hotel if all necessary fees will be added to the invoice. If you're online, you may have to hunt around the list to see what could be added to the quoted rate, plus tax.

Lobbies as social centers: colored seats, free Internet service and a cocktail of fashion and cafes are helping to transform the hotel lobbies once sterile social hubs. Hanson said when the baby boomers could see the lobby as a place to meet for 18 hours before heading to a place high pre restaurants, young travelers may prefer to gather more informally in the lobby, out for a while , socialize and take their time to choose where they will spend the evening. They could check email, go online using a cell phone or iPad to seek recommendations to eat, or try out a few treats and drinks are readily available in the market hall or bar.

Hilton Suites Home2 new extension of the brand are their lobbying designed with an eye toward bringing business travelers out of their rooms. Colorful tables and chairs provide space for informal meetings as well as areas where anyone can plop a laptop and a drink rather than sitting alone in a room watching television.

Baths Loss: Unless you are booking a suite, your next stay in a hotel room can not afford the luxury of a bath. Many hotels offer a newly built shower only. Marriott, for example, is "to advise our newly constructed hotels to put in showers 75 percent of rooms and baths in 25 percent of the rooms," said Marriott spokeswoman Laurie Goldstein. "Our research shows that travelers Business prefer showers to baths, but families like the flexibility of a bathtub and a shower. "

So if you are traveling with an infant will need a bath before bedtime, call ahead to make sure your room has a bathtub.

Pump dispensers: The advent of pump dispensers in the bathroom hotel is good and bad news for customers obsessed with the little bottles of shampoo and wrapped soaps that were a pleasure beloved for decades.

The good news: If you need more than the shampoo can be as little as half an ounce in those little plastic containers, you can pump as much as you want from the distributor. No more fighting with your roommate on this tiny bottle or running at the reception before your shower six hours to get another.

You can also feel greener if you use the pump. No more disposable plastic add to the waste stream.

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The bad news: What if you simply love those little bottles? The hand lotion is the perfect size to fit in your purse, and if you have leftover shampoo, the container is small enough to pass through airport security. Or if you find uncomfortable dispensing pumps? Some customers think they are unhealthy and prefer to use soap or shampoo individual farms.

Fortunately, Hanson, hotels that have opted for the pump distributors often have bottles of soap wrapped on request at reception.

Electronic check: Who needs to wait in line at the reception for recording? Some hotels offer Starwood Aloft "Smart Check-In" for the Starwood Preferred Guest members. Members are sent a magnetic card identification technology radio frequency, and the day of intended stay, a text message is sent to the customer's mobile device with a room number. Upon arrival, the product of the guest room, and the magnetic card will open the door.

The technology is in place aloft in Brooklyn and Harlem in New York, Lexington, Massachusetts, Dallas, Jacksonville, Florida, and London.

Hanson fully electronic check-in technology is suitable for the hotel industry very slowly, but at the same time it becomes more widespread, he expects most hotels will still want the staff in the halls to greet customers and to provide other services – if only to meet an older generation that prefers human interaction with a touch screen.

Locavore options: locavore trend and hyperlocal who took over the world food is becoming de rigueur in the hotel industry, especially in high-end properties and a shop where the chefs are increasingly their own herbs and even hosting their own hives. The W San Francisco in September had a local beekeeper, Jack Ip, beehives on the roof with a target of honey production to eventually use the menu from the hotel.

In New York, Andaz Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is sponsoring a farmers market from May to November in an arcade next to the hotel where the products, goods of bread and some are sold by farmers and other suppliers . The Andaz hotel also sells freshly squeezed juices and sandwiches on the market, and customers include hotel guests and residents.

"Customers come down and mingle with residents," said spokeswoman Rachel Harrison Andaz. "It allows them to feel they are really part of the neighborhood. We want you to feel like locals. "

Hotel Indigo, which holds 30 U.S. and eight in the world, also in partnership with local suppliers and vendors to showcase local seasonal fare, like a barbecue pork sandwich on the menu at the Hotel Indigo Asheville, North Carolina, and a local craft beer called Sweetwater served at the Hotel Indigo in Atlanta.

Hotel Indigo is also working with celebrity chef Curtis Stone on a competition called "The people know best – dishes on the flat," in which the public is invited to nominate favorite dishes of local restaurants. The contest runs through October 15 and nominations can be submitted via Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hotelindigo. You can meet Peter on September 30 and give your recommendation in person at an event at the Hotel Indigo in Chelsea, 127 W. 28th Street, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.

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Submited at Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 4:00 am on Tips by blum
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