Tag: Airbnb

Travel

At the Brown, follow royalty’s footsteps (Hollywood and real) for $900 a night

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

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The gilded lobby.

The historic 93-year-old Brown Hotel, now undergoing a $750,000 event-space addition to its rooftop, has hosted a glittering array of royal guests of all stripes over the years, including:

Presidential: Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, George H. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Hollywood: Elizabeth Taylor (photo, above); plus Robert Young, Joan Crawford, Al Jolson and Victor Mature (who worked briefly there as an elevator operator).

The real deal: Queen Marie of Romania was entertained there in 1926 in the Crystal Ballroom, complete with a gold throne on a dais. And the Duke of Windsor, who scandalously gave up the British throne to marry the America divorcée, Wallis Warfield Simpson.

Where: 335 West Broadway St., at Fourth. How much: the top-of-the-line Muhammad Ali Suite can be yours for $900 a night. Reservations.

Related: For more “staycation” options, Airbnb lists more than 300 homes and apartments in the Louisville area starting at $900 a night. Here’s The New York Times’s Louisville travel page, including this just published update to its “36 Hours in Louisville” guide. Don’t forget the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and TripAdvisor’s recommendations.

Plus, a bonus related! All the latest British royals news from Vanity Fair magazine.

Travel

With local Airbnb rentals this gorgeous, we should plan a Louisville staycation
Airbnb house
An amazing kitchen in a Cherokee Triangle home.

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

How big is the home-sharing vacation rental business here in Louisville? Industry leader Airbnb alone offers more than 300 choices across the city.

Our favorite is smack in the middle of tony Cherokee Triangle: an entire four-bedroom, 3½-bath home, with a kitchen we’d die for: “Dacor six-burner stove and double-oven, built-in refrigerator, microwave drawer, dishwasher, farmhouse sink, prep sink, custom floor -to-10-foot-high cabinetry, white marble countertops and 10-foot long island.” Nightly rate: just $500.

That’s right near the city-wide Airbnb average of $493 a night; at that rate, most are in the city center:

Airbnb map

Related: Here’s The New York Times’s Louisville travel page, including this just published update to its “36 Hours in Louisville” guide. Don’t forget the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and TripAdvisor’s picks, too.

Latest Headlines

UPS in deal to deliver blood by drone; Ford exec: ending two-tier pay turned out OK, and Derby brings few arrests

A news summary, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated 4:54 p.m.

UPS just announced that its corporate foundation will explore using drones to deliver life-saving medicines such as blood and vaccines are delivered across the world. The foundation has awarded an $800,000 grant to support the initial launch in Rwanda (press release). Here’s the foundation’s GuideStar page, including annual IRS tax returns.

FORD: A top executive now says that while dropping the two-tier wage system increased labor costs, it eliminated a major source of anxiety in the automaker’s plants (Automotive News).

Donald Trump cap
Amazon Trump cap

AMAZON: 1,500 Amazon shareholders want the company to stop selling Trump-branded products (Fast Company). CEO Jeff Bezos has sold 1% of his stake — just over one million shares — worth $671 million. The stock was sold last Thursday according to a predetermined schedule called an SEC Rule 10b5-1 plan, and takes his stake down to 17% of the company from 17.5% (New York Post). Regulatory filing. Amazon shares closed this afternoon at $679.75, up less than 1%.

CHURCHILL DOWNS: Only 17 people were arrested in and around the namesake track on Derby Day (Courier-Journal).

KINDRED: Why the healthcare giant isn’t content being the No. 1 home health provider, according to CEO Benjamin Breier (Home Healthcare News).

In other news, Metro Council President David Yates is expected to introduce an amendment today exempting Airbnb and other short-term rentals from some regulations during major events, such as the Kentucky Derby (WFPL). Former state agriculture commissioner and University of Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer has filed for bankruptcy (Courier-Journal).

Newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing Co. said its board had adopted a shareholder rights plan — popularly known as a “poison pill” — in a bid to thwart Courier-Journal owner Gannett Co.’s unsolicited $815 million takeover offer (Reuters).

The Wild Dog Rose tea shop will open later this month in the Highlands at 1570 Bardstown Road (Insider Louisville). Also, the owners of Magnolia Photo Booth Co. in NuLu have opened a second store right next door, selling custom t-shirts for kids and adults. The new shop, called OSO Goods, is also at 709 E. Market St. (Insider Louisville, too).

Latest Headlines

Ford survives crash tests, and a hotelier may now be a neighbor

Major Louisville employer news; updated throughout the day.

PAPA JOHN’S denies an Illinois man’s claims in a lawsuit that the pizza giant is unlawfully collecting sales taxes. More Papa news.

HUMANA accidentally told 12,000 Texas customers it wouldn’t cover their medicines, including allergy treatments, because they weren’t FDA-approved (Business First).

BROWN-FORMAN is rolling out its first new bourbon in 20 years, a premium whiskey called Coopers’ Craft (WDRB). Watch video.

FORD‘s 2016 F-150 is the only full-size pickup truck to score the top rating in new front crash tests (WDRB). Ford’s stock.

In other news, coal giant Peabody Energy enters bankruptcy;  pre-market shares plunge more than 70%. The Louisville Metro Planning Commission late last night OK’d Airbnb and other short-term residential rentals. (CJ).