ONE HOT HOTEL
Geffen’s posh Malibu Beach Inn hadn’t even hosted its first full house of new customers before the devastating fires erupted and the Hollywood mogul turned his property into a shelter for firefighters and evacuees.
The inn’s manager told news reporters they couldn’t stomach having spare rooms available and not offering them to those in need. Fire victims are currently staying for free at the luxurious inn whose 47 rooms and suites overlook exclusive Carbon Beach (home to A-list celebs including Goldie Hawn).
Once the fires subside and the current crew of firefighters and evacuees depart the inn’s manager says the property will be reopened to paying customers. If you are looking for a beachfront room the next time you are in Malibu, you might consider making a reservation. The regular rates are comparable to other hotels in the star-studded beach locale. Rooms start at $365, but guests are offered what the inn classifies as “enhancements,” including a rose petal turndown for $20 or an in-room massage for $150.
HOTEL SOAP—MYSTERY SOLVED
Have you ever wondered what hotels do with all those bars of soap that are used once or twice by guests and then left on the edge of the tub or sink for housekeepers to deal with?
I don’t know what Hampton Hotels do with theirs, but the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal has come up with a unique way to recycle their guests’ slivers of soap. The hotel turns them over to a local company called Laboratoire Dermoderm, which mixes them with volcanic stone to make a cream that removes substances such as paint, grease, tar and ink from the hands of artists, gardeners and mechanics. (Similar to Lava soap.)
According to hotel managers, the soap recycling program is just one of many creative eco-conscious programs underway at Fairmonts worldwide. At the New Brunswick Fairmont Algonquin resort, used coffee grounds undergo a process that turns them into tee-off mounds for golfers.