For $50,000, a floating hotel room in Denver's skyline is yours

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - If being a mile above sea level is not high enough for visitors to Denver, guests at one hotel can pay a cool $50,000 to get an additional 22-foot (7-meter) boost in an inflatable room hoisted into the downtown skyline.

Perched atop a mechanical scissor lift affixed to the roof of a van parked outside the Curtis Hotel in downtown Denver, "the world's only floating pop-up hotel" is a small but fully functional guest room, according to hotel promotional material.

The 5-foot-by-7-foot (1.5-meter-by-2.1-meter) inflatable chamber - about the dimensions of an elevator - is the brainchild of New York-based artist Alex Schweder, who created the work for a local festival to promote the arts.

Made of clear vinyl with inflated walls like a bouncy room for kids, the chamber is furnished with a bed, chair, couch, and complete lavatory facilities. The couch and chair retract when the bed is deployed, similar to a pop-up book.

An aluminum railing around the room provides a measure of security lest a sleepwalker decide to take a midnight stroll.

The floating room concept is part of the Curtis Hotel's pop culture-themed lodging experience, said sales and marketing director Kate Thompson.

Other amenities included in the $50,000-per-night charge are limousine service, a Tiffany's diamond pendant and earring set, binoculars for viewing, and "groovy in-room" swag like 1960s-era scarves and bell-bottom pants.

Patrons can also host a disco party at the main hotel's '70s-style lounge. And guests who buy the package will be greeted at their hotel room by Sonny and Cher impersonators.

Although the quirky concept is creating a buzz in downtown Denver, so far no one has reserved the room, which will be available for another few weeks, Thompson said.

"We've had one serious phone call but no one has booked it yet," Thompson said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric Walsh)

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It's no ordinary dog's life at Vienna's Hotel Sacher

By Georgina Prodhan

VIENNA (Reuters) - Many people believe the Austrian capital Vienna is friendlier to dogs than it is to children, and a new service from the city's renowned Hotel Sacher seems to bear that out.

As of last week, hotel guests who cannot bear to leave their four-legged friends at home can book into rooms at the Sacher that have been newly kitted out especially for dogs, with baskets, doggy blankets, feeding bowls, muzzles and leads.

Dogs play a central role in the lore of the 19th century hotel. Anna Sacher, the cigar-smoking widow of Eduard Sacher who took over the hotel aged 23 and turned it into a Viennese institution, was famously inseparable from her French bulldogs.

Current manager Elisabeth Guertler says it was only natural that the hotel should provide special facilities for its canine guests and their owners, who have included former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and fashion designer Valentino.

"There are so many guests, especially women, who travel with dogs. They are not big dogs, they are dogs that you can bring on the plane with you in a nice bag. They're also well brought up dogs, they're not some kind of dirty dogs with fleas," she said.

In the event they do make a mess, the owner will be charged for the damage, says 63-year-old Guertler, who is also director of the Spanish Riding School and used to run the Vienna Opera Ball that is the pinnacle of the city's social calendar.

She rarely travels without her own dog, one-and-a-half-year-old Ella, a Jack Russell terrier.

Dog-friendly rooms at the Sacher cost a mere 35 euros ($46) on top of the 400 to 5,000 euros that the hotel charges per night for its rooms and suites, the best of which overlook the neighboring Vienna Opera.

As well as doggy comforts, dog owners will find a rule book on "animal etiquette" when they check into one of the 40 parquet-floored dog rooms at the Sacher.

Dogs must be kept on leads in the hotel, and muzzled if they are liable to bite. They are not allowed in the spa, nor in the plush restaurants, or the cafe where the world-famous Sacher Torte is served.

Dog food can be purchased from the concierge, but for those with finer tastes, the hotel chefs will rustle up something custom-made from the kitchen.

"They should simply order up a tenderloin or a veal schnitzel from room service," says Guertler. "The dog will always get the best." ($1 = 0.7557 euros)

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by Paul Casciato)

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No joke: Jester wanted at Austrian hotel

VIENNA (AP) — Wanted: A jester. Wallflowers need not apply.

It's no joke. An Austrian hotel is advertising for a modern-day court fool, who is communicative, extroverted, musical, creative and imaginative.

Applicants are asked to bring — and play — their musical instrument during the job interview. Also welcome: creative costumes. The successful candidate will earn 1,400 euros — around $1,900 — a month.

Hotel director Melanie Franke says those interested should not think they're on a fool's errand in applying. She says the idea is to treat guests like royalty, noting that "jesters were a luxury that royal families indulged themselves in."

The hotel in Austria's Styria province was designed by famed Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Franke says the jester concept fits its hotel's colorful appearance.

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Boy, 10, finds $10,000 in Kansas City hotel room

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 10-year-old boy who found $10,000 in a drawer at a Kansas City hotel where he was staying with his dad turned the money over to police.

Tyler Schaefer found the neatly stacked bills Saturday in the room where he and his father, Cody Schaefer, were staying at a hotel near the airport, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/16sloUJ). Cody Schaefer, a truck driver and mechanic from Rapid City, S.D., meets his former wife in Kansas City every year to get his three children for summer vacation.

Cody Schaefer said Tyler, a Cub Scout, is always on the lookout for clues and treasure.

"He looks for stuff at random," Schaefer said of his son. "He's very observant."

Schaefer said after they checked into their room Saturday, Tyler began opening all the drawers, and it wasn't too long before Tyler announced: "I found money!"

Schaefer thought maybe his son had found a forgotten $10 bill, but when he looked closer he saw the stack of bills totaling $10,000. He wondered if the bills were fake, but saw they had the appropriate watermarks and seemed legitimate.

"We didn't know what to do at first," Schaefer said.

Schaefer told his son they couldn't keep the cash because they didn't know who it belonged to. They handed the money over to two off-duty police officers working security at the hotel. The officers contacted Sgt. Randy Francis, a property and evidence supervisor, who stored the cash at a police facility.

Police said it's unclear how long the money had been there, and they can't track down every guest who stayed in that room recently. Police spokesman Capt. Tye Grant said Thursday no one had claimed the money yet.

According to a Missouri statute, lost money could revert to a finder after about seven months if no one can prove ownership. But the owner then has another year to prove the money is his or hers and claim it from the finder.

"I didn't come there with $10,000 and I didn't leave with $10,000," Cody Schaefer said. "So it was a wash."

___

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com

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Opulent Hotel Crillon bids farewell to treasures at Paris auction

By Tara Oakes

PARIS (Reuters) - One of the grandest luxury hotels in Paris will put most of its of furniture and fine wines under the hammer next week to help raise funds for a lengthy restoration.

The sumptuous Hotel Crillon, hushed after the departure of its last guests in March, has been transformed into a buyer's wonderland as it closes its doors for a two-year renovation.

Full suites of furniture are on display ahead of a series of auctions scheduled for April 18-22, with about 3,500 lots including carpets and curtains expected to raise hundreds of thousands of euros.

Buyers seeking to recreate a little bit of the hotel in their homes can even stock up on reception counters, staff uniforms and bathrobes.

"A sale like this is a unique moment, a real cherry on the cake," auctioneer Stephane Aubert from auction house Artcurial said.

Such vast hotel sales are rare, with once-in-a-lifetime treasures available.

A highlight is the hotel's mirror-encrusted bar designed by 20th-century French sculptor Cesar, who gave his name to the annual French film awards where, similar to the Oscars, miniature reproductions of one of his works are distributed.

The artist's signature is inscribed on the twinkling glass front of the bar - protected beneath a perspex panel ever since a cleaner unwittingly took the first version for graffiti and scrubbed it off. Cesar was able to return and sign again before his death in 1998.

Dominating one side of Place de la Concorde, the Crillon has housed the great and the good since its construction as a private home under French King Louis XV in 1758.

The ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette took music lessons on its first floor only to be guillotined years later in the shadow of the palace's grand neoclassical façade.

Since its conversion into a hotel in 1909, it has welcomed U.S. pop singer Madonna, former president Bill Clinton and was the site of the formal founding of the League of Nations.

U.S. composer Leonard Bernstein regularly set up home in a top floor suite with a view onto the Arc de Triomphe. One anonymous client rents that same suite every year to watch the finale of the Tour de France with friends and an unspecified amount of champagne.

Bidders with deep pockets can fork out for the piano Bernstein is believed to have used during his stays, while fans of lesser means can still hope to go home with light fittings and rugs.

A large part of the Crillon's vast wine and spirit cellar is likely to be snapped up by connoisseurs, including a rare Louis XIII Black Pearl Remy Martin cognac with a list price of 7,000 euros ($9,200). Mini-bars and chairs customized by artists are also being auctioned for two French charities.

Profits raised from the auction will fund a sweeping modernization to bring the hotel up to date while preserving its character, with work due to last until 2015.

The Ritz in Paris is also out of action for a revamp, with both hotels aiming to reinvigorate their classic grandeur and poach customers tempted by high-end newcomers such as the Shangri-La opened in Paris in 2010.

A sad tale of a grand old dame selling off her jewels? Not at all, according to Aubert.

"It's part of the story of these objects that they go and have a new life," he said, eyeing up his favorite lots - the silver-plated cocktail shakers from the bar.

($1 = 0.7642 euros)

(Reporting by Tara Oakes; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Paul Casciato)

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Pope returns to Rome hotel - to pay bill

By Naomi O'Leary

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis returned on Thursday to the Church-run residence where he was staying before becoming pontiff, and insisted on paying the bill, despite now effectively being in charge of the business, the Vatican said.

The morning after his election, Francis asked a driver to take him to the clerics' hotel, the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI, where he had stayed during the run-up to this week's secret electoral conclave.

"He wanted to get his luggage and the bags. He had left everything there," a Vatican spokesman told a news briefing.

"He then stopped in the office, greeted everyone and decided to pay the bill for the room ... because he was concerned about giving a good example of what priests and bishops should do."

The spokesman did not disclose the amount of the bill.

Jorge Bergoglio brought with him a reputation for frugality from his native Argentina. The first pope in 1,300 years born outside Europe, he is the first to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi - a gesture of solidarity with the poor from the new leader of an institution long associated with great wealth which is now battling to retain loyalty among its congregations.

Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, who lives in the central Rome boarding house where Bergoglio had stayed, told Reuters he was surprised the new pope had insisted on settling his account: "I don't think he needs to worry about the bill," he said.

"The house is part of the Church, and it's his Church now."

Rytel-Andrianik said Bergoglio had been a regular guest: "When we were eating at the table, you wouldn't realise he was a cardinal unless you already knew. He was just like any priest.

"He never asked for a car although he could have done," he recalled. "He always took the metro or walked."

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Alastair Macdonald)

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