Brice Hotel Savannah: History Collides with the Future
February 15, 2025
Oh how NPS used to love kimpton. We mean SO SO much. But since the IHG takeover, standards are falling all around. The Brice in Savannah (which is fairly new and independently owned) is no exception. Almost Kimpton. Almost.
Fortunately there is Tim. No not that Tim, another Tim—the operations manager. Tim is great. He made our stay much better.
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We were originally assigned a park view suite (as we reserved on the net). We had no idea that the suites at the Brice are cobbled together out of stables and that the park is over a busy highway. Lets just say the rooms look great on the net but they are design disasters in real life. Here is 125.
I mean that sitting room is not bad. Unless you try to sit in it. Situated in an illogical place it serves more as an obstacle course on the way to the bedroom through the very skinny tiny dark hall. Do not sit in the sitting room.
Back in the back bedroom, the bed and the TV stand thing take up the room with no room to spare (so to speak). Getting around at night in the dark without damage to yourself is impossible. And the bedroom adjoins the busy street at street level? What? ha ha ha…park view.
As you can see, the design elements are great. In fact, in a normal king room (which we switched to after a bad night in 125) they kind of fit the funky vibe. We switched to 258 which was fine, but we took no pictures.
Want to put your suitcase somewhere not in the dark? Good luck with that. The closet may well have some of our stuff in it.
The bathroom looks great. And it should be. It’s especially great for eavesdropping on others in the hotel through the vents. And great for water fowl who want to be randomly soaked by the broken shower head. Plus it stays wet for days! So close and yet so far.
There were so many issues with 125 that we spent some time talking to aforementioned Tim about them. Tim was gracious, empathetic, and delivered a businesslike solution with panache. Thanks Tim. People like Tim are what made the Kimpton brand tick way back when.
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Anyway, we were at the Brice for Savannah and friends and art and eating and the superbowl (?!). So lets turn out attention to our many side quests for a minute:
Savannah is gorgeous. The historic part of town is the first properly planned and laid out grid plan city in north america. The parks and the trees are awe inspiring and might just remind you why you are alive. Go for the trees alone.
And the food is world class. Seriously. We had one of the best meals of our lives at Elizabeth on 37th. We had so much fun with the excellent waiter/sommelier and the company we were with. We laughed until we cried as we experienced one of the best meals of our life. The only picture we managed to snap was of the menu. (FWIW, Eliabeth ranks right up there with the Waterside on the Thames and Bare in Bergen.)
Equally excellent but in more of a city hipster style was Common Thread. The food was once again excellent, the service delightful, and not one speck of stuffiness. You could well be in any major city.
Also of note Repeal 33 and Collins Quarter are both superb places for brunch. Best dive bar you ask? Why Bubba Gumbo of course.
There is also lots of funky artiness to be found everywhere in Savannah. This is mainly due to the influence of SCAD, which as far as we can tell is in a fight to the death with RISD. SCAD spends bazillions to toot its horn in an impressive (and manipulative) manner. Go SCAD!
Honestly, though, we are very proud of our friend April Claggett for being a professor at SCAD. April took us everywhere: an art opening,, Saturday market, tybee island dive bars, fancy dinners. What a great time.
There is Tybee Island and its associated dive bars nearby. So nice to walk on the beach.
It is warm enough to swim in February? Your mileage may vary.
The African Art Museum is a gem. Just go.
A horse and carriage ride is exactly what the tour guide ordered. We learned lots during our cloppy ride through town. For example, there is a statue of a cross-dressing horse trainer up a pedestal in one of the many green squares. And the original Savannah charter disallowed lawyers and slaves. And the underground railroad was very active in the city. Makes you wonder about history…
Did we mention art and SCAD? Because we meant to.
We could not pass up a visit to “the cathedral” which is theoretically modeled after Notre Dame. LOLs. We’ll see about that next week when we are in Paris. Same goes for the Paris market.
Superbowl Sunday happened at Maryjane’s house with Tom. The game was a blowout. As was the food and beverage selection. Best Superbowl party evah!
Just blogging about this trip is tiring. What an excellent adventure. We will return for sure.
We bookend our Savannah visit with this gem of a picture…
Four showerheads and even more Tim for the Brice. Maybe Kimpton will rise again.
Marriott Does Corporate: Alida Hotel Savannah
February 15, 2025
We’re in town for a TAB meeting attended by nobody even remotely from Georgia. So we all arrived from everywhere and convened at the Alida. The tribute portfolio properties by Marriott are designed to attract middle management and they execute their mission to a T. They try so hard to be hip that they miss by a mile—like coming to a chess game with a bag of checkers.
NPS was assigned a long skinny room on the ground floor (102) with a window bank overlooking the pool. You might thing that sounds fun, but in their quest to “be young,” the Alida pipes crappy music of no discernible genre into the pool area 24/7. At 4am, that sucks. Hazy bass thomp and ever repeating generic rhythms are so much worse than NY city noise or even, say, silence deep in the night.
As you can see by the pictures, what we have here is standard hamster cage. Who even uses two king beds in one room?!
The bathroom shower situation seems to be becoming common now. The shower features a glass door (nice) but the shower stall is hollow plastic simulated tile. Cheap. We’re trying to decide whether that constitutes the new “plastic shower” of which we want none.
But we are in Savannah and we’re not here to sleep. Perhaps a Negroni will help?
I mean there is one of those fireplace things that runs on gas (also near the pool). We wonder if it burns all night as the music thomps to itself.
The meeting was excellent, though the room down by the restaurant in the basement is cold. The A/V system down there is ungovernable by usual algorithms it seems.
We had some time in the morning to see the trees and walk up to Forsyth after breakfast at the ’80s themed Traylor Park. The newish southern chain is fun, but the trees are magical. And the trees in the morning fog are otherworldly.
Tea at Gryphon (worth a visit).
Lunch at Wright Square Bistro was excellent. Coffee at the Coffee Fox. Later, dinner at Husk was really fun but not really up to Savannah standards it turns out.
Late night cocktails and planning at Congress Street Up were outstanding. (We did not attempt the museum nonsense.) As we discussed how AI is taking over software development, Regan Cannon made us a Good Advice:
1 oz Hayman’s Old Tom
.5 oz Plymouth Navy Strength
.5 oz CioCiaro
.75 oz Ciocci Bianco
2 dashes orange bitters (unspecified)
2 dashes cardamom bitters (Boizers)
absynthe spray
Orange and lemon peel expressed and dropped in.
All told we were here for work, and work was excellent.
Three showerheads and an off switch for the all night music for the Alida. Too corporate for Savannah. But we were not done with Savannah…it was off to the Brice!
Back to the Pittsburgh Monaco
January 25, 2025
It is very fitting that our first trip of 2025 is to Pittsburgh and the Hotel Monaco. We’ve been here a bunch as we are planning our 5/25/25 bash here. (NPS first came to the hotel when it just opened in 2015.). Because we were spoiled rotten during our first visit, we always try to stay in 835.
One of the best things about the Pittsburgh Monaco is that it is doing all it can to hang on to the old Kimpton goodness from before the IHG takeover. We miss those days, and visiting the Monaco reminds us why. That’s bittersweet of course. Much of the goodness comes from the top. Rob Mallinger is a very good GM.
We arrived after a chilly drive just in time to meet with Sydney from catering and do a tasting. We did have a minute to deposit our stuff upstairs. Thanks for the flowers and the welcome note.
The bathroom involves very little plastic.
We spent some time in the grand ballrooms agonizing over how to transform the space into something less sparse. Word to the wise, the hotel does not have a stash of furniture or lighting that you can use to do this. That would be up to you.
For the record, here is what the spaces look like empty.
We also looked at the rooftop terrace again (which we are likely to fold into our event). It was covered in snow.
We provided some feedback to the hotel directly WRT space recombobulation and our tasting experience. As always, the Kimpton staff was all over it and was very responsive. This is a sign of good management. Thanks to Sydney and Erin for being good eggs.
While in Pittsburgh, we decided to attend the Pittsburgh Symphony. That was a very good plan—what a talented orchestra.
Before the show, we had dinner at Gaucho Parrilla Argentina. The experience was ok. Delightful staff but food that was honestly pretty generic. Not much like, say, Argentina. The best thing was that it was right across the street from the Heinz Symphony Hall.
The next morning, before our meeting with the Warhol (also a 5/25/25 destination), we had some donuts at Peace, Love, and Little Donuts followed by a better espresso at De Fer.
And then it was off to the Warhol in the snow. It snowed maybe 2 inches while we were in town.
One our way out of town, we swung by a very swank Aveda Spa (Lapamponee) in Mt Lebanon, which led us through sheer luck to Piyola. Holy cow is Piyola excellent.
And then it was back home over the mountains in the snow. The trip was very cold and a bit slippery.
Five showerheads for the Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh. We can’t wait to be back.
The Peninsula Chicago: High End for the Win
November 30, 2024
Fancy some art in Chicago? Stay at the Peninsula in high luxury while you’re there! Our visit to the city was excellent in most of the ways.
Of course our room was not ready when we arrived before noon on Sunday, and then the powers that be switched our assigned room out from under us while we visited the MCA. The switch was very much likely for the better as we moved from an executive suite on 12 to a grand deluxe suite on 9.
The room was, in fact, amazing. Comfortable, well-designed, modern, and spacious. We were in 910 overlooking the Water Tower and Michigan avenue. Christmas was upon us (and winter too).
910 has banks of windows.
The shower is not plastic. In fact, there might not be any plastic at all in the entire room.
One of the best aspects of the peninsula is breakfast. No really. Just exquisite and interesting: fresh juice, great coffee, myriad international offerings. Possibly the best breakfast in Chicago. We had two.
The MCA is terrific, including the Maripol restaurant inside.
Tiffany is a good place to visit after some art.
The Art Institute of Chicago is absolutely world class.
Duck Duck Goat is very good mid-level Chinese. Sadly, we couldn’t get the Peking duck.
About the only thing not up to snuff during our visit was pizza at Pequod (an old school Chicago deep dish institution). The pizza is great, but the decor is dirty even for an old Denny’s. And the ordering app? Don’t get us started. Just skip it.
Cocktails at the Peninsula bar, Z bar, are solid, but the experience is not worth writing home about or paying extra for.
Oh, and the Spa at the Peninsula…your mileage may very, but your bill will not.
But those wrinkles aside, the trip was excellent. Here are some more pictures.
Rebranding Chicago, one building at a time.
The view from 910.
The windows are really clean. Really really clean.
Five showerheads for the Peninsula and for Chicago art. Yes please. We would do it all over again.
The Morrison Dublin: Almost not a Hilton
October 6, 2024
OK, so we really don’t do Hilton much. We mostly avoid American chains ever since Kimpton bit the dust. But the Morrison came up on a bunch of separate lists and it looked good in bits. And you know what? It was good all told—one of Dublin’s big hotel gems.
Once again it was a beautiful bright day. We needed our American sun glasses. And once again the room wasn’t ready. But Lemon was close by and quite excellent. We had a crepe.
The room was very nice indeed. Great windows over the river. And a very Hilton-design. The only thing missing is any real tech other than wifi (a bare minimum in anyone’s book). Can’t connect to TV? No bluetooth? What?! Apparently google took back their chromecasts leaving the Hilton literally stranded in the tech desert. Not good.
Anyway the room was comfortable and nicely laid out.
The shower was not plastic. It was a good shower.
We did some things in Dublin. Like business…
Stage cocktails followed by a few too many pints of guinness at O’Brien’s Pub (the family pub of a friend).
We hit Kilmainham Gaol early, sobering and excellent.
We had an excellent but very late breakfast at Riggers D8. It was here that we met our fifth very friendly and talkative irishman. Good lord so friendly. But all ever so slightly lonely and all pretty sexist to be honest. An older way of life evolving fast.
We did some shopping near Trinity College.
We had an early Japanese dinner at Kyodai Izakaya after an ill-fated “brazilian drop in”.
And we saw a very good but very old fashioned play (Grania) at the Abbey Theater where we met even more friendly Irish.
We had a huge and very good brunch at PÓG Tara Street on our way to Windmill Lane Studio for a tour.
We spent some time decompressing in St Stephen’s Green.
We paid a visit to Farrier and Draper, ostensibly for a good cocktail. LOL. Dublin may be gentrifying but it has a ways to go. I guess the real bar was bought out for a private event. We had a martini with black olives?!
Which kind of sums it all up nicely. We want to spend some quality time in the real countryside next time we are in Ireland and play some music. The Morrison is a nice place to stay in Dublin, but we are not really the Dublin kind. Four showerheads for the Morrison.
Mandeville Hotel London: NOPE
October 6, 2024
The Mandeville Hotel is worth not visiting. Just don’t go. And whatever you do, do not ignore all the red flags on your way to not staying there. Like say, the inability to book a room category in a reasonable process. Or emails that take three days to answer. Or a room that not only is not ready when you arrive for five nights, but isn’t even worth the wait. Those kinds of red flag.
Billing itself as a “boutique hotel,” everything about the hotel itself is a stretch. What the Mandeville turns out to be, is a business hotel gussied up in an ill-fitting hand-me-down suit with a very wide tie that doesn’t match. But his sister is nice. Some people may be fooled. We are not.
We arrived from an excellent flight across the pond in United Polaris kind of wanting a good espresso and a shower (not necessarily in that order). We did end up getting a nice breakfast on a brilliant bright morning at the Ivy about a block from the hotel. You see, the one very good thing about the Mandeville is its location smack dab in the middle of Marylebone. You may recall from previous entries here in this spectacular blog that the Ivy is a top notch brunch chain (see Manchester and London entries).
In any case, our executive suite (so to speak) was ready when brunch was over. But what a disappointment room 105 was. Don’t stay in this room: weird bank of windows directly over the noisy-at-night restaurant, overlooking an alley of sorts, decor from that decade where polyesther was a good thing, uncomfortable couches. Just all around terrible. This room should be demoted to a much lesser category…like “very large broom closet” or “place to store old wallpaper swatches. We only stayed in this room one night because the other three rooms in our reserved category were not available. Right.
But judge for yourself! I mean look at that wallpaper. And the way the bathroom opens directly to the bed.
The shower was not plastic. Instead it was dangerous. Fortunately nobody broke a leg during our one night in this room. The shower was very nice, danger aside.
When you’re in Marylebone, retail therapy is in order. We spent time wandering the shops, hitting up me+em, theory, selfridges, varvatos, and more. Too much money was spent, but when you are a country mouse like we are, all of the city things are so shiny!
On our first day in London we found Scales bar which is well worth a revisit. Excellent cocktails (limited but creative and nicely concocted).
Fortunately, we were able to switch rooms to Executive Suite 216 after our first night (which was ridiculously overpriced for what it was). 216 was much better situated in the new purple part of the hotel. But the suite itself was still small and very poorly laid out. We’re sorry, but a bathroom opening directly on the bed is just not classy in the least.
The bathroom was much better. So what made us dislike this hotel so much? Well on our last night in London (a Wednesday night no less), a private party rented out the restaurant and bar and proceeded to put on a loud, obnoxious disco starting around 9pm and stretching nicely to 1am. Since we were to be up at 5:00am to fly to Dublin this was not a good thing. Complaints to management on checkout were ignored (so far anyway). We do plan to ride this one down to completion.
In the meantime, by no means stay at the Mandeville. Stay anywhere else.
Of course, London is a fantastic place to visit, and we had some very good experiences this round…
We spent some time at Hyde park checking out the icebergs.
We spent some time conducting business (which by the way will bring us to London regularly, but not again to the Mandeville).
We spent some time at both Tate galleries (Tate Modern and Tate Collection) and on a boat between. If you like the Kandinsky below, check out the others.
And we hit a number of excellent restaurants, including Roka, Carlotta, Tamarind, Chez Roux.
You will find stunning art at Henson’s Bar (in Mimi’s hotel). Apparently Mimi was a collector. We had excellent drinks surrounded by even better art. Need a cult classic like a Paper Plane or a Industry Sour? Of course you do.
Closing out our stay at the Mandeville was the coup de grace. The staff in the morning had no power to make us whole, and the manager who was instructed to get in touch never did. One showerhead for the Mandeville, we will not return.
Learn to Twerk at Hotel Washington
September 17, 2024
It started in the country.
And ended in the city.
With some Springsteen in between.
The Hotel Washington is our chosen destination in DC, and for obvious reasons—excellent hospitality. We hear rumors that this hotel is aptly run my Steph Vogel, but honestly we have not seen him for years. Anyway, from our base in the middle of nowhere, Washington DC is the big metropolis. This time we came in to see Bruce perform at the Nationals Park. An excellent show.
Back in the country, there were cocktails to be had and plans to be hatched. Somehow we overlooked the twerking in our planning.
We headed into DC in the early afternoon. We were greeted at the hotel with dueling amenities and greetings from Steph in our adjoining rooms 710 and 711.
The shower situation was non-plastic, though shutting the sliding door to the bathroom was nigh on impossible. The sink was in the hall.
After the show, we headed up to Vue to have a Corpse Reviver #2 or 2 and damage our hearing. Who knew that the night would end up with twerking lessons from the large group of (young) 50-turning women?! Much fun was had. All of a sudden it was 2am.
Did we need twerking lessons? Judge for yourself. Here is a before video.
Sadly no video of the after has been made available.
Five showerheads, a big thank you, and a fervent wish to get to the bottom of the Vogel disappearance for Hotel Washington.
Grant Street Inn Evolves Right OFF the List
August 28, 2024
We’ve been coming to the Grant Street Inn since the year that it opening (in 1993). Sadly, not many improvements have been made in that time. LOL.
The latest and last trip in August 2024 was the last straw. No more Grant Street Inn.
We requested room 31, and ended up with some disaster of a room on the second floor. Oopsie.
One showerhead and a warning NOT to stay here if you can help it. Nope.  All loyalty drained from the loyalty pool.
Charlottesville Develops an Actual Hotel! The Forum
July 27, 2024
First off, NPS has a special place in its collective heart for Charlottesville, having graduated from UVa in the mid-80s with a degree in the lucrative field of Philosophy. But that is neither here nor there. Trips to c’ville happen every once in a while, and up until now there has been nowhere decent to stay. See here for evidence.
Now there IS a very good hotel, situated fittingly up by the business school and the law school. The Forum is where to stay when you need to be in Charlottesville. And yeah, it’s a Kimpton but not like the real Kimpton used it be. It is actually an IHG property with an echo of Kimpton charm in its chord structure.
We drove in through some very much needed rain that turned into a major thunderstorm delaying the show. Our plans to “grab some dinner” on the walking mall were thwarted by the storm and by the fact that it was restaurant week too (who knew?). So we got a bite at the hotel sports bar that was surprisingly good. The negroni set was excellent. If only the TVs would all just disappear.
We were situated in a terrace king room 345 (maybe). The room was very nice, but the terrace was so wet we couldn’t really use it.
The bathroom is pretty not bad, and the shower is glass.
About the only thing to fix is the “roll up the sidewalk” time which seems to happen around 11pm. When you come in after a show at the Ting Pavilion and would love a nightcap and a midnight snack you are forced to raid the paltry minibar.
The best thing about our trip was the show. Andrew Bird and Nickel Creek all on stage together?! Holy cow. It was a magical evening. Pictures and videos from the show here.
After a nice stop at Greenberry‘s for strip mall breakfast, we drove home the back way through the stunning beauty of Virginia.
Four showerheads for the Forum. Step up the game on the bar and restaurant front, and know your guests! We will be back for sure.
Secret Mission to the Monaco Pittsburgh
July 13, 2024
We’re on a secret mission; our second, actually. And we’re having a great time while we’re at it. There was baseball, there was jazz, there was art. We’ve been to the Monaco before and it is with a wistful feeling that we experience the last of remaining Kimpton spirit on the planet. Keep the spark, Rob Mallinger!
When in Pittsburgh, see the Pirates.
As has become habit, we stayed in 835, a one room suite. This room is about the opposite of a hamster cage, and we like it. We blew by on our way to the game, but were not able to check in early.
There were furries from the convention all over town.
It was a beautiful day, and we walked to and from the Pirates Stadium.
After the game, we were greeted with a drink in our room. Somehow the hotel overlooked that there are two of us here, not just one. Gotta fix that!
The cocktail featured local falernum rum which is very good indeed.
We leaned up in the way non-plastic shower (even using the soaking tub) and headed to Con Alma for some dinner and jazz.
A nightcap in the Commoner was fun. We almost started to experiment, but then hit the wall. Long day in the sun! We do need to try swapping cointreau for luxardo in a Last Word. Sounds great.
About the only disappointing surprise at the Monaco was the room service breakfast experience. We should have gone downstairs instead of hoping to have a nice breakfast together in the room. Time to get past COVID!
We had some very good meetings about our top secret mission, and then headed (slightly late and confused by the GPS) over to the Warhol. The staff was excellent and helpful with our departure, loading the car and having everything ready. They even snuck in some gift Maggie’s Farm falernum which was extremely thoughtful. We found an ABC store and stocked up.
Five showerheads for the Monaco. Hopefully our plan will come together (just like on the A Team).
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