Hotel bike: eco, hipster or both?
The hotels, always on the lookout or attentive to the zeitgeist (depending on how pedantic we want to be) have integrated bicycles into their discourse. With a little touch, they become:
a) Echo. Concerned about not dirtying the city with strange noises or smoke.
b) Hipsters. Concerned about not being left behind. It is more, worried about being ahead.
It is usually an inexpensive gesture, very easy to implement and covers the hotel with a varnish that nobody bothers . Although not used. It doesn't matter: that's the least of it. We like to know it's there, like the shower cap.
There is a small problem: being something so easy, a lot is done . And as much is done, the casuistry is enormous and ranges from hotels to those that naturally have their own bicycles to those that simply offer them, without further ado. We all thank you. For the record.
Pure hipster in Manhattan
An eco hotel with touches of hipster, you need bicycles. This completes the brand positioning. In New York they have known this for years and cultivate it with more grace than usual. Enviable examples are those of the ** Soho Grand ** or the Grand Tribeca . Not only do they offer bicycles of various types (and for free), but join him to a picnic . For just $15 you can get a bike, an arugula salad, a club sandwich and a bottle of San Pellegrino, for example. The whole image is irresistible and affordable.
Bowery Bikes for Soho Grand
TheMark is another hotel that has taken the simple bicycle loan to the extreme. Their bicycles are exclusively manufactured by Republic Bike . They include nods to the Jacques Grange design. They can also join the picnic, in this case, created by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Includes blanket and cutlery so that the stop in Central Park is irreproachable . And so guests don't get lost around the park, Isabelle Hogan has posted an illustrated map.
Bike + Picnic = Perfection
This format of bicycle+picnic spreads and. It is also offered by hotels like the Drake , in Toronto, with a special package called The Drake Escape . It's easy, it's good for the whole family and it fits a bit into local life, something every traveler aspires to with more or less success.
Not without my two wheels
We love these cases, but sometimes, for those who have a weak saddle, it helps if they provide them with a bicycle. NH hotels They make it easy: they have bikes for rent in 162 of the nearly 400 establishments they have all over the world. The cost per hour? Affordable, like a taxi ride. In Madrid, those who cannot live without pedaling can opt for the NH Ribera de Manzanares for being in Madrid Río. The hotels Bed4U offer the service Bike4U : ie free bikes for their guests. You can now ride them in Pamplona and Tudela. The Hotel Miró, in Bilbao also has this service. For €5 you can have two hours of cycling and a route map. The idea of seeing the curves of the Guggenheim on two wheels is quite appealing.
some hotels Mandarin Oriental They also have this rental service in their hotels in Prague, Paris and Barcelona. Bikes are not only not at odds with luxury, but they are part of the new luxury. ** Ritz-Carlton ** is another great luxury label that has bicycles as an amenity in some of its hotels. Another example in this segment is the Park Hyatt Washington D.C. . It is one of the most valued amenities. We insist, even if they are not used.
These are all examples of urban cycling. When hotels are in the country, they don't promise hipster values. There the landscape claims him; the bikes are then loaded with a more sporty or hiking component. Also familiar. Places like the precious Castell Son Claret in Mallorca, they offer their bikes for free to their guests. So does the Brenners Park Hotel in Baden Baden. In that place, in the Black Forest, tours are organized from greater to lesser difficulty. For those who need an overdose of green, this is the hotel. The lucky ones who have considered a Nantucket vacation and have chosen **The White Elephant Hotel,** will be entitled to their bikes. With them, they can travel the 14 kilometers of this island and, incidentally, make the rest of the world envious.
*** You may also be interested in...**
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- 20 cities that invite you to pedal
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- All the articles of Anabel Vázquez
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