Mixing Business With Pleasure In Las Vegas and Chicago

The fabulous Cosmopolitan Hotel

By ManAboutWorld Global Correspondent Jeff Guaracino

Great trip ideas can come from travel columns like this one, from your favorite travel magazine or recommendations from friends and family. Business travel — if planned correctly — can be a perfect time to research your next pleasure trip. Yes, I know we are always in a rush to get to that next meeting, answer that pesky text or resolve the work emergency, but hey it’s travel. Don’t forget to stop and smell the fun!

Viva Las Vegas—midweek

I was invited to speak at the Las Vegas International Tourism Safety and Security Conference. I hadn’t been to Las Vegas since 2007, so I was excited to see what had changed along the famed Las Vegas Strip. A midweek trip proved to be an exceptional option to avoid the crowds but still enjoy all of the amenities that Vegas has to offer.

Blackstone Hotel, Chicago: An Unexpected Oasis

Perched alongside Chicago’s most famous parks (at South Michigan Ave and Balbo Street), the Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel has a long, rich history and a desirable set of assets and amenities that make it a worthy choice for gay travelers.

It’s steps from Millennium and Grant Parks, home to art museums, fountains, lush lawns, outdoor performance spaces and, of course, the famous reflective “Cloud Gate” sculpture, informally known as the Bean. It’s near the financial and theater district, the Loop (and the “El,” what we know of as the subway in New York). Downtown is where most major hotels are located in Chicago. Boystown is a good $20 cab ride away but you can hop on the Red Line which goes right to the heart of Boystown in about 20 minutes for a lot less. (Take the El at Harrison and get off at Belmont.) There’s shopping and a Starbucks on the Concourse level below the lobby.

Photo credit: www.flickr.comphotos22746515@N024865734246.jpg

Quick (New) Hotel Getaways in PA and MD

He tried (and loved) the 4 Seasons spa, but this is not our writer.

By ManAboutWorld Global Correspondent Jeff Guaracino

Do you need to getaway quick? Does room service and a maid sound just fabulous?  Travel doesn’t always have to be far away from home (just far enough!). Could it be as easy as checking into a local luxury hotel that is part treat and part escape. When you travel as much as I do, sometimes a hotel can be just another hotel. There are two close-by hotels that surprised me both by their incredible views, luxurious but affordable prices, and staff who make everyone feel VIP. And guess what? They are both in two cities that are worth spending more time in — Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Sin City Hosts These Hotties And More for Matinée Las Vegas Memorial Day Weekend

They’re hot plus they can wash your clothes on their abs!

Vegas will get just a tad hotter this Memorial Day weekend with the return ofMatinée Las Vegas Festival.

Our friends at Matinée are asking fans to

feel the revolution this Memorial Day – the party revolution, that is.  The festival that has become world famous for re-imagining the elaborate party experience with blazing pyrotechnics and production by Cirque du Soleil and Matinée Ibiza, returns to Las Vegas with the biggest dance festival of the summer. Taking place Friday, May 24th thru Monday, May 27^th, MATINÉE LAS VEGAS FESTIVAL will play host to over 8,000 clubbers dancing to twenty of the world’s leading DJs at eight high-energy party events.

See ManAboutWorld At NY Times Travel Show

Have budget and PTO but don’t know where to spend them? Looking for the right gay-friendly getaway? Your wife wants a spa weekend but you want a camping trip?

Help is on the way!

Please come by the New York Times Travel Show’s annual LGBT travel panel on Saturday, January 19 3pm-3:50pm and hear from a knowledgeable group of avid, savvy travelers: Merryn Johns, Michael Luongo, Jerry Portwood, Joseph Pedro and myself. Free tickets to the consumer days are available, first-come, first-serve, with the code IGLTA13! http://ow.ly/gGcZT.

Before or after the show be sure to visit the IGLTA booth 342 to pick up the latest magazines by these and other media partners as well as information about gay-friendly hotels, destinations, attractions and events around the world.

Also be sure to come with your gay/lesbian travel questions. The panel can help you spend those dollars, discover the gay (and lesbian-)-friendlest destinations around the globe, and hopefully maintain vacation and same-sex marriage bliss with a perfect luxury/wilderness combo at what promises to be a lively session.

Upside Down Christmas At Boston’s Liberty Hotel

Gravity defying Christmas trees!?

We love the Boston’s Liberty Hotel hotel and covered it in our Boston Now/Next (ManAboutWorld October issue).

They’re getting a little funky for the holidays hiring handsome designer John LaRoche of blueGuava Design Group to transform their already dramatic interior lobby into an upside down Christmas tree-a-palooza. Check out the picture from last year above. If you’re not staying at this national historic landmark and architectural gem built in 1851, stop by for a drink and to gaze upon this unexpected holiday treat.

The installation is scheduled to go up November 26, 2012 and will remain in place till just after the new year.

Hotel Monaco Philadelphia: Gayot Named It One of Top 10 Hotels

I stayed at the fabulous new Hotel Monaco Philadelphia this past weekend. I only got to spend one night but with a late check out I felt as though I was able to get a good feel for the new property. Gayot named it one of the top 10 new U.S. hotels.

The property is in the totally renovated historic (but previously neglected) Lafayette building, built in 1907 as a homage to Revolutionary war hero General Marquis de Lafayette. The building imposed some layout constraints so when you enter from the street you have to turn right into the ample lobby, the site of a free nightly wine hour from 5pm-6pm. (On the left from the entrance is the Red Owl Tavern.)

It’s in Old City so if you are visiting with the intention of getting a big gulp of historical Philadelphia, you can’t find a better location. It’s right on Independence National Historic Park with more early American history than you can shake a copy of the Declaration of Independence at, which was actually signed very near hear. It’s a quick easy cab ride or a nice 10- to 15-minute walk to Philly’s vibrant Gayborhood.

The room I enjoyed was a one-bedroom suite with stunning (third floor) views of a number of important historic buildings and museums including the home of the Liberty Bell and the National Constitution Center. The furnishings are reminscent of others in the upscale Monaco brand, very modern and tasteful with a dark, masculine palette, with localized touches like the words to important early-American legal documents in the wall treatments.

The Red Owl Tavern has become a very popular restaurant in the short month it’s been opened. What the staff may lack in seasoning (which will come), they more than make up in warmth and earnestness. I personally don’t like to be greeted as “friend” by my waiter every time he walks by the table, but there are worse infringements and it did not diminish from the hearty, tasty options like the fresh-caught seared Marlin special I enjoyed.

I briefly checked out the Stratus Rooftop Bar & Lounge, which drew a cool young (25-40), mostly hetero crowd. The view of the faint stars above was great but high walls obstruct actual city views.

For more information about Philadelphia, download ManAboutWorld’s inaugural issue by clicking here.

More info:

• Hotel Reservations
• Red Owl Tavern
• Stratus Rooftop Bar & Lounge

Which Gay Philly ‘Hood Is Gay-Tastic? Lady Gaga Tix In The Balance

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/6216738628/sizes/o/

Want a shot at winning Lady Gaga tickets, an overnight stay at the brand new Hotel Monaco Philadelphia – A Kimpton Hotel and more? Here’s your chance to Visit Gay Philadelphia and find out what neighborhood you would have a gay-tastic time in.

Click on Visit Gay Philly’s “Which Philadelphia Neighoborhood is Gay-Tastic? contest to enter to win. According to our friends at Visit Gay Philly:

One visit to Philadelphia, and you’ll learn quickly that it’s a city of neighborhoods. The question is: What Philly ‘hood best suits your personality? Take this short, fun quiz to figure out just that.

On a personal note, I am scheduled to stay at the new Hotel Monaco this weekend (no hurricane is going to keep me from my appointed gay rounds!) and will have a report soon thereafter. Check back here next week.

ManAboutWorld’s October Issue Is Now Available

You gotta see this in the iPad (something actually moves!)

 

Her’s the cover of our current issue. It’s chock full of the insightful, in-the-know recommendations for where to go, when to go, and where to stay, eat and play in some of the most exciting and gay-popular destinations on the planet. Download October now via the AppStore.

This month we bring you the boys of Rio and the steamy-hot Brazilian beaches of Buzios, Florianopolis, Trancoso and Paraty. We also bring you the definitive guide for the perfect gay weekend in Boston, Brussels, Cologne, New Orleans, Puerto Vallarta and Quebec City.

Did you know that Brazil is soon to enter its sultry summer season? Check out the bathing suits we spied there (below). Or that Rio’s beaches are absolutely packed with revelers for New Year’s Eve who come out all dressed in white to enjoy a spectacular fireworks display? One of our articles includes a snippet of video from that sexy holiday embedded right in the piece.

You’ll find this and lots more fun surprises from slideshows to audio clips to, simply put, the definite guide for where to go. So what are you waiting for, invitation? Here is is: We invite you to become a subscriber, enjoy our FREE trial offer and join our incredible journey.

You lookin’ at me? (Please say yes!)

LGBT Hotel Search Website Launches

I want to stay where *he’s* staying

Here’s a dispatch from our friend Ryan C. Haynes, ManAboutWorld correspondent and consultant for World Rainbow Hotels.

World Rainbow Hotels has launched a gay hotel search engine with over 850 three-five star properties that are ‘genuinely gay-welcoming’. Gay travelers now gain access to welcoming hotels in 129 destinations worldwide.

You can search, review and make a reservation with a choice of branded, independent and boutique hotels knowing that all of them have been screened based on their current involvement with the LGBT community, compliance with non-discrimination policies and same sex benefits for their staff.

So you can be confident you will be treated equally without the worry you may have your booked Double bed exchanged for a Twin.

Hotels include the reputable brands of Kimpton, Joie de Vivre, Rocco Forte, Fairmont, and Swissôtel as well as the iconic The Lords South Beach Hotel, Miami Beach, The Elysium Hotel, Mykonos and St Martins Lane Hotel, London.

Visit the website to find out more. http://worldrainbowhotels.com/