Short while back, I wrote about the slated openings of a string of hotels in San Francisco by Joie de Vivre Hospitality. One of them was the Good Hotel in SoMa. To add to what was written previously, it’s not just Good in name.

Eco-friendly hotel decor in the lobby with tables made from skateboards, free parking for hybrid owners, philanthropic promotions and the cheeky ‘Be Good’ signs on the walls of guest roooms aside, the hotel also measures its distance from other green buildings - One block from the ‘green’ San Francisco Federal Building, two blocks from SF Environment’s Green Building Association and seven blocks from the US Green Building Council. Photo courtesy Joie De Vivre Hospitality.

Certainly I’m no stranger to hotels climbing aboard any green bandwagon they can lay their check-in hungry paws on, but measuring your distance from other green buildings? Well, no one ever accused JDV of lack of a sense of humor. Besides its all for the Good…

Moving on, LA Times has an article that spotlights how hotels and cruise companies are adapting to bad times with innovative deals and package specials. Includes a hotel room in Vegas for $1 per night at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, and Starwood Hotels’ offer until Dec 30 under which you pay a rate equal to your birth year for the second or third night of your stay at some Sheratons, Westins and other brands in the Northeast and Canada.

And lastly, Dean Robbins, writing for Isthmus, piles on A-list travel agent Sara Ryan-Duffy’s First Class All the Way, which premieres Monday, Nov 3rd on Bravo, for being a caricature of an Ugly American traveler. Robbins says that “Just when you’re trying to enjoy Paris or Monte Carlo, Sarah and her clients open their mouths…. These aren’t just the Ugly Americans, but the Ugly and Stupid Americans. The only time they truly engage the exotic world around them is when they demand a privilege.” 

It is a bit ironic to debut a show for ultra-rich luxury travelers on Nov 3, one day before a historic change election in which people are voting mainly against this kind of elitist behavior. Tin ear for sensibilities, I think.

Posted on November 1st, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News