Hotel

Even if you're not yet ready to retire, San Miguel de Allende is perfect for a vacation or long weekend getaway. Getting there United and American airlines offer connecting flights (via Texas) to San Miguel's two closest airports, Leon/Guanajuato (BJX), 90 minutes away, and Queretaro (QRO), one hour away. Round-trip airfares start around $600. Multiple airlines offer flights to Mexico City, which is three hours from San Miguel. When to go January may be the sole inclement month to travel, and even then it's nothing compared to a typical Baltimore winter.

Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore is holding a "That's My Momma's Recipe" contest. The grand prize winner will receive an overnight stay in a luxury suite and dinner for two at Explorers Restaurant over the upcoming Mother's Day weekend. Entries are being accepted through April 30. A panel of judges from the hotel will determine three finalists, and the public will vote for the best recipe on the hotel's Facebook page. Contest rules are on the hotel's website , but be prepared to submit an essay of 100 words or less about why your mother's recipe is the best.

Anne Arundel police responded Saturday night to a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Annapolis for a report of an armed robbery. At about 8 p.m., officers from the southern district arrived at the hotel, at 2451 Riva Road, and were told that a man in his late twenties or early thirties had entered the hotel, displayed a handgun and demanded money from the clerk, police said. The clerk gave the money to the man, who then fled, police said. Police said that county officers and an Annapolis City K-9 unit searched the area but were unable to find the suspect.

A bill that I worked on with my Democratic colleague, Delegate Mary-Dulany James, was recommitted back to committee. HB 1395 promoted tourism and economic growth in Harford County and would have given the Harford County Council the authority to impose a hotel rental tax, up to 6 percent. Many local businesses in the Route 40 corridor contacted me, as well as: County Executive David Craig, Mayor Mike Bennett, of Aberdeen, and Mayor Wayne Dougherty, of Havre de Grace, to support legislation for tourism and economic growth for the County. Because this is not a tax on the citizens of Harford County, but a way to support local development, I helped to get it out of committee by co-sponsoring the bill. Today, after one of our Harford County Delegates asked questions about the bill, it was sent back to the committee, where it is buried for another year The hotel rental tax would not have affected Harford County residents or individuals of lower income who usually stay in hotels with less than 25 or fewer sleeping rooms that are three miles off of the interstate.

HAGERSTOWN — Fire officials say one of two soda-bottle bombs placed in a hotel parking lot exploded, but did not cause any injuries or damage. It happened about 1:45 a.m. Monday at Spring Hill Suites hotel on Valley Mall Road near Hagerstown. The State Fire Marshal's Office says two devices were placed in the parking lot, but only one exploded. Officials tell The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown that bottles contained a volatile mixture of tin foil and toilet-bowl cleaner and were extremely dangerous.

Anne Arundel homicide detectives are investigating a suspicious death at an Odenton hotel Friday morning. Officers responded at 5:40 a.m. to the Royal Inn in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road. They found a 62-year-old man lying on the ground outside the office and lobby area. He was suffering from trauma to his upper body, police said. The victim was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where he died a short time after arrival. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jason McNemar at 410-222-3463 or the Major Crimes Section at 410-222-3450.

No feline wants to be outshone by the fun facilities afforded to local canines. Luckily for them, Howard County cats have posh digs designed for their needs at The Purr-fect Hotel, in Highland. By offering private multilevel cat condominiums, TV and music entertainment and even designated hiding places, the hotel's staff proves to know their clientele. But boarding cats presents unique challenges and considerations, according to Dr. John Cunningham, veterinarian and owner of the Highland Veterinary Hospital, which has been boarding cats for nearly 30 years, and The Purr-fect Hotel, which was added in 2005.

Centuries collide at The Obladi hotel on Main Street, but instead of an explosion, a harmonic convergence was created by owners T. Garland and Zan Wilson.   What they made was a little piece of heaven. “We were going with the 1968 Beatles in India vibe,” says Wilson, pointing out the mural of henna-painted hands in the lobby and a sofa covered in wasabi-colored leather. Yes, their hotel is named after Beatles song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” and, yes, the faces of George, John, Paul and Ringo grace the walls over fireplaces in each of the four guest rooms.

The 62-year-old Odenton man who died Friday under suspicious circumstances has been identified as Richard George Bohlander. He was found at about 5:40 a.m., suffering from trauma to his upper body outside the office area of the Royal Inn hotel in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road, where he had been a resident. He died a short time later at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Investigators are awaiting an autopsy report from the Office of the State Medical Examiner. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Shelly Rattell at 410-222-3458 or the Major Crimes Section at 410-222-3450.

Howard County police arrested and charged three men Wednesday in the robbery of a Jessup hotel in which a sawed-off rifle was used. Police said that Terrance Eugene Davis, 20, of Pitts Place in Washington, Joe Vincent Smith, 21, of Eighth Street in Washington and Jonathan James Loston, 31, of Mandan Road in Greenbelt have been charged in the theft of an undisclosed amount of money from the Holiday Inn at U.S. 1 and Route 175 shortly after midnight....

The family owners of The Inn at the Black Olive in Fells Point hope a bankruptcy filing Thursday will give them time to try to attract investors and keep operating the 2-year-old boutique hotel, their bankruptcy attorney said. The Black Olive Development Co. LLC's Chapter 7 filing in Baltimore's U.S. Bankruptcy Court prevented a planned foreclosure auction of the 12-suite luxury inn on South Caroline Street from going forward Thursday morning. Chapter 7 permits an orderly liquidation of assets to repay creditors, but the case could be converted to a Chapter 11 reorganization if the company finds investors.

The Inn at the Black Olive, a 12-suite boutique hotel in Fells Point known for eco-friendly amenities, will be offered for sale at a foreclosure auction Thursday. An auction by Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. is slated for 9 a.m. at the South Caroline Street site of the two-year-old inn, which touts features such as organic bedding and towels, harbor-view balconies and spa bathrooms with aqua-therapy tubs. The inn is owned by the Spiliadis family, which operates the Black Olive Restaurant on Bond Street, also in Fells Point.

At this time of severe cutbacks in government funding for food stamps, early childhood education and Meals on Wheels, some Maryland legislators are hard at work looking out for the welfare of one of the world's wealthiest corporations. Under a bill advancing in the General Assembly, the Lockheed Martin Corp. would have the taxes on its luxurious Bethesda hotel and conference center reduced by approximately $450,000 a year. An earlier version of the legislation also included a $1.4 million refund for the period since 2010.

The jeans are too gray, Toby Schermerhorn is on the phone saying. They need to be bluer, she tells the person handling the jeans. Prints of this collage - dozens of overlapping blue jean-clad bottoms - are going to grace guest room bathrooms in a new Renaissance hotel in Alberta, Canada. The rendering is an homage to the Levi's manufacturing that used to take place nearby. Hundreds of details like this, the precise color of jean butts, get honed to perfection in Frederick County by Schermerhorn and her husband, Rob Laschever, who run a four-person company that dictates the look and feel of hotel interiors.

The city will be forced to dip into its general fund for $1 million to help the city-owned Hilton Baltimore make debt payments this year, city officials said Wednesday. Harry E. Black, Baltimore's director of finance, said the hotel needs the money to make payments in March and September. The Hilton is expected to contribute $2.8 million in taxes this year from the hotel occupancy tax to the general fund, so the hotel is drawing from money it created, he said. "I expect it's going to be an ongoing thing for a period of time," Black said.

An important detail, yet less sexy, for wedding planning is the hotel situation and transportation. This especially comes into play when your venue is far away from most of your guests. For example, most of our guests are coming from Baltimore and Harford counties, but our venue is in Frederick, which is about a 45-minute to an hour drive. Granted it's a beautiful, country drive and there shouldn't be any traffic on a Saturday afternoon/evening, but it's still a lot to ask of people It's pretty common for couples to arrange for hotel rooms for the bridal party, family, out of town guests and those who want to make an entire night of it. Our wedding will be no different.

Firefighters worked Saturday night to extinguish a three-alarm blaze at a Catonsville Days Inn that displaced 160 guests and shut down a section of Route 40 and exits from the Baltimore Beltway, police and fire officials said. Crews were called at 8:20 p.m. to the 5700 block of the Baltimore National Pike for the fire, which began in the seventh floor of the hotel, fire officials said. The fire went to a third alarm in about 20 minutes and continued to burn for more than two hours, officials said.

ABOUT 8 in the morning of Dec. 14, 1939, the phone rang in the home of Henry L. Mencken, awakening Himself. Mencken (or so the story goes) picked up the phone with a grumpy "Hello! Hello! This is H.L. Mencken. What? Yes . . ." Mencken then apologized, "I just got up."The caller was a reporter, informing Mencken that one of his favorite haunts, the famed Rennert Hotel, which had occupied an irregular plot at the southwest corner of Liberty and Saratoga streets since 1885, was finally going under.

Hotel restaurants often get a bad rap. Many are known for boring decor, pricey food and lackadaisical service. FountainSide at the Doubletree by Hilton in Pikesville fits some of those descriptions - but the service is anything but lazy. The restaurant and its lounge occupy a large space on the Reisterstown Road side of the Doubletree. We entered through the lobby, finding the space fairly easily, despite the lack of clear signage. Later we realized that the hotel's side door was actually more convenient to the restaurant, but first-time visitors would have trouble finding that entrance.

When the 137th annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show arrives in New York City next week, even the small breeds will be living large. That's because pet travel is booming across the United States, with more travelers than ever taking along their four-legged friends on vacations near and far. Dogs and cats that in the past might have been confined to carriers or hidden in the hotel bathroom are instead getting the five-star treatment as they...