Pass the Popcorn: February 2012’s Most Popular Hotel Room Movies

Welcome to our newest feature. Each month we’ll post the 10 top Hollywood films watched by hotel guests in New York and across the US as compiled by LodgeNet, the country’s leading provider of in-room entertainment.

Here’s how guests voted with their TV remotes (and iPod apps) in February. Note to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: The Descendants cleaned up big with hotel guests. Read more

Three NYC Hotels Where You Can Watch the Academy Awards

OscarWhen Hollywood’s luckiest lookers thank their lawyers, agents, stylists and Mom for their screen success this Sunday, where do you want to be? Sure, you can stay home with your TV and Twitter feed, but watching the festivities on a big screen at a hotel can be so much more fun.

We found three hotels in different parts of town that go all out for Oscar night.  The envelope, please! Read more

Trump International New York Hotel & Tower Gets a Great Big Close-up In Action Thriller “Tower Heist”

In case you missed the Trump International New York Hotel & Tower’s starring role in the action comedy Tower Heist (and regret it), you’ve got another chance. The caper movie Rotten Tomatoes called “fun fluff” goes on sale on Blu-Ray and DVD on February 21st. Read more

The Gershwin Hosts a Photo Show from the Creepy New Film “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

We always stop by the Gershwin Hotel when we’re in the neighborhood. Besides Birch Coffee, a one-of-a-kind, sustainable-minded coffee shop, and a lively lobby where you can hang out as long as you want, the hotel buzzes with events – art exhibitions, music performances, drama of all kinds.

On a recent evening we strolled into the lobby and found actress Tilda Swindon at her spookiest staring at us on almost every wall. Read more

Where do Rock Stars Crash When They Play New York, Paris or Louisville, Kentucky? ‘Rock & Roll Hotels,’ a New Guide Book, Tells All

Sex, drugs and fluffy pillows. Think about it, dude. Rock musicians spend a lot of time on the road. The lucky ones score suites in some of the world’s best hotels. Those that don’t often crash in intriguingly oddball places. And things happen. Rooms get trashed. TVs get tossed into the pool. Harleys get driven into the lobby. Read more

The Standard Gets Its Close-up In “Shame,” Michael Fassbender’s Unsparing New Movie

Ever since The Standard opened in 2009, looming high over the High Line and West Side Highway with its floor to ceiling windows, it’s been waiting for its close-up. At last, the sleekly sexy hotel — and its windows — figure prominently in a new movie, and wouldn’t you know, it’s rated NC-17? Read more

Hotel Cabaret — Complete With a Pianist — Makes a Comeback at The Carlton M Salon

Hotels and piano bars go together like cocktail shakers and martinis. So why, in the city of Broadway and countless preternaturally talented musicians, has the hotel piano bar become a borderline endangered species? Read more

7 New York Hotel Libraries That Make You Want To Curl Up With A Book

I love hotel libraries, book-lined havens – or at the very least, a cozy room with a couple of well-stocked shelves – where you can climb into a big, squishy sofa or club chair. Sure, you can byo, but half the fun is discovery – that obscure novel you missed, a travel or photography book you’ve never seen or a Dutch design magazine you didn’t know existed. Read more

Grace Kelly Slept Here: The Barbizon Hotel for Women Flirts With Landmark Status 30 Years After Its Demise

New York boasts no shortage of thriving historic hotels, from the Pierre and the Algonquin to the Waldorf Astoria. But the casualties on the ghost list can be almost as noteworthy, even on occasion, newsworthy. Read more

A Big Dog and a Big Boy: The New York Palace and The Standard Roll Out Sculpture Under the Sky

You know summer’s here when hotels start rolling out outsize outdoor sculptures, the warm-weather equivalent of the holiday tree.  A big dog and a big boy on view all summer offer a taste of art and amusement, not to mention countless photo ops, in midtown and downtown. Read more