HOTELS OFFER 50 SHADES PACKAGES
The movie version of “Fifty Shades of Grey” is scheduled for release just before Valentine’s Day. The film has inspired a few hotels to offer themed packages with components that are a little edgier than traditional Valentine’s Day getaways.
In New York, Kimpton’s Eventi and Ink48 hotels are offering suites with Champagne, an amenities kit from the upscale sex toys shop Babeland, a couple’s massage, two tickets to the Museum of Sex and a $200 credit at a lingerie retailer.
In Florida, Eden Roc Miami Beach has a package for stays Feb. 13-15 including an oceanfront suite, Champagne, cocktails at the bar, 20 per cent off in-room dining, discounts at lingerie retailers and a couple’s intimacy kit.
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HOT SAUCE EXPO IN NEW YORK
It’s going to be one of the hottest happenings around this spring: the Third Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo, April 25-26.
More than 300 hot-sauce products were submitted from around the world for consideration for the event, and 47 made the cut.
The event will include a variety of competitions and awards, including for best hot sauce, the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame and a bartenders’ contest for best bloody mary.
Some 10,000 people attended last year. The event takes place at the Brooklyn Expo, 79 Franklin St., in Brooklyn. Tickets are $10. Details at http://www.nychotsauceexpo.com.
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SCOTTSDALE’S WESTERN MUSEUM
A new museum celebrating cowboy culture and other aspects of the American West has opened in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West opened Jan. 15. The collection ranges from history, artifacts and art to interactive exhibits about the region’s past, present and future.
Admission is $13 ($11 for seniors and active military, $8 for students and children, free for kids under 5). Details at http://scottsdalemuseumwest.org/ .
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MARRIOTTS OFFERING GOPROS
Some hotels will lend you an umbrella. Now 17 Marriott Hotels in the Caribbean and Latin America are lending guests GoPros, the small, wearable video cameras that let users capture adventures like parasailing or snorkeling.
Guests are then invited to share their videos on social media with special hashtags for the opportunity to be featured on a Marriott website, http://www.travelbrilliantly.com/gopro , and for a chance to win prizes ranging from Marriott stays to GoPro cameras.
The participating Marriott properties are in Aruba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Curacao, St. Thomas, the Cayman Islands, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, Puerto Rico and St. Kitts.
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BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM TOP 10
BedandBreakfast.com has named 10 inns the best in the U.S.
Finalists in the contest were chosen based on the website’straveller reviews from 2014, and winners were chosen by a panel of judges that included editors and writers for major travel publications and websites.
The top 10 U.S. properties chosen in the contest were Cabernet House, an Old World Inn, Napa, California; Chehalem Ridge B&B, Newberg, Oregon; Hilltop Manor Bed and Breakfast, Hot Springs, Arkansas; Inn at Harbor Hill Marina, Niantic, Connecticut; Inn at Westwynd Farm, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania; Inn on Randolph, Napa, California; The Provincetown Hotel at Gabriel’s, Provincetown, Massachusetts; Rabbit Hill Inn, Lower Waterford, Vermont; The Twelve Oaks Bed & Breakfast, Covington, Georgia; and Villa D’Citta, Chicago.
