Taste NM history in our many varieties in wine.

You may have heard that Hotel Andaluz had teamed up with local winery Milagro Vineyards and Winery located in Corrales, NM just outside Albuquerque. This was the launch of our wines dinners at Hotel Andaluz. This concept isn’t new, but it’s something wanted to bring to the heart of Downtown Albuquerque.

We were really excited to bring fans of Milagro to the hotel. Our chef prepared an exquisite menu paired with Milagro wines. Wine maker and Milagro founder Dave Hobson was on hand to tell us about each wine, it’s flavors and how to best enjoy Milagro Wines. The event was sold out and we saw lots of happy faces when the event concluded.

This was the first of many events planned for Hotel Andaluz in 2013. In the coming weeks we want to tell you all about our refreshed menus in Lucia, our revamped happy hour and the re-opening of the Ibiza rooftop patio. For our next Wine Dinner we have teamed up with another local winery, Casa Rondena. We are working on the details but mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 27^th. And if wine isn’t quite your forte, we are planning a sister event with local brewery La Cumbre. We’ll be hosting a beer happy hour with appetizer parings on February 15^th.

Keep checking hotelandaluz.com or ‘LIKE’ us on facebook  more information and how you can make your reservations to join us for some fun. Until next week.

New Mexico’s population is largely Hispanic, and this is a contributing reason as to why New Mexico holiday season is a celebration. Perhaps the most notable sign that the holidays are approaching is the luminaria or farjalito, a small candle set inside a paper bag with sand. As Christmas approaches thousands line the streets, staircases, walkways, fences and even roofs. Visitors can best view these luminarias at Albuquerque’s historic old town or Santa Fe and Taos’ historic plaza’s. Our facebook friend Bill, mentions the small Acoma pueblo, known as Sky City as another beautiful area lit up by luminarias for Christmas Eve. On Taos’ and Santa Fe’s plazas there is often carolers and cider to celebrate the lightings.

If the soft glowing lights of our farolito doesn’t quite lure in you in. Try checking out our local ski areas that transform into a family gathering spots to enjoy sun and snow for the holiday season. Facebook friend Marie mentions the Taos Ski Valley’s torch light parade. Every year on Christmas Eve, Taos Ski Valley comes alive with a parade of skiers carrying torches ski down from the top of the mountain to the base at dusk. When all the torches make it down the run the valley is lit up by a fireworks display rivaling major city celebrations. It brings the whole mountain of skiers and lodgers together in cheers.

Another Christmas Eve tradition in Taos or the surrounding pueblos is the traditional Native American dances that occur on Christmas Eve through Christmas morning. Large bon-fires warm spectators as dances of prayer and celebration are performed. After the different events take place the feasts begin around the state. Traditional New Mexican Christmas meals consist of tamales, red chili, posole (hominy), beans and our state cookie, the biscochito (sugar cookies baked with anice, licorice spice).

Christmas in New Mexico is focused on traditions. We like to think that our style of holiday is a small getaway from the Christmas seasons that held at hostage by the department stores. How do you spend the holiday? Will you be traveling to New Mexico? Tell us your plans this season…

Did you know it’s National Recycling week?

It’s true, National Recycling Week is celebrated November 12^th through the 18^th. All of us at Hotel Andaluz are big on being as lean and green as possible. Did you know we are the only full-service LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Certified hotel in the country? We do as much as we can to help make our little corner of the world as sustainable as possible. That warm water for your shower is heated by our rooftop solar thermal system. Live plants in the rooms and hotel are watered with captured rain water. And our amenities (shampoo & soap) are fixed in dispensable bottles throughout, so we aren’t tossing miniature plastic bottles everyday!

We enjoy being green so much, we thought it’d be fun to give a shout out to National Recycling Week and share quick tips on how you can join the fun.

We promise, it’s easy.
Water bottles, water bottles, plastic water bottles, we see them everywhere. And while the beverage companies are doing as much as they can to make sure these plastic bottles are friendlier to the planet, we can all do a little more to help out as well. First off, if you have to take a plastic water bottle, make sure and RECYCLE it, there are bins most everywhere. Easy… right?

Next… if you can, purchase an aluminum water bottle! Most fancy bottled water is just tap water from another city. You don’t need a brand new bottle every time you’re feeling parched, do you? If you do, refer to the above mentioned tip. But with a reusable water bottle you can fill it, refill it and refill it and hydrate! If after a while it needs a light cleaning, is it really that big a deal? You wash your wine glasses at home all the time… . And lastly, our favorite tip… when choosing travel accommodations in the Albuquerque area please choose Hotel Andaluz, we’ll do most of the green things for you.

We told you these tips were easy. You can reduce your waste, and save a little $$$ too. Until next week Andaluz fans… Happy National Recycling Week!

Our mezzanine has been transformed into a local artist’s gallery that has art from corner to corner. Be sure to save a little time next time you’re in to walk through and enjoy these pieces by an array of local artists.

In addition to our mezzanine being transformed, “Art in Action” allows the community to have a behind-the-scenes look at local artists creating their art in the lobby of Hotel Andaluz each month. Eliza Schmid will be featured on Nov. 13^th and J. Waid Griffin, also a painter, will be featured the following evening. Both shows will run from 5 – 8 p.m. Hotel Andaluz will donate a percentage of sales that occur during “Art in Action” to Harwood Art Center, a community outreach program of Escuela del Sol, an independent, non-profit Montessori school founded in 1968. harwoodartcenter.org

“Hotel Andaluz has always had a focus on local artists, which is evident in our mezzanine gallery,” said Howard Jacobs, General Manager of Hotel Andaluz. “This program takes it a step further and our ongoing partnerships with local organizations will give our guests a taste of Albuquerque’s thriving arts scene.” We are really excited about this new partnership and want to invite the community and guests to come experience this with us. Hope to see you on November 13 & 14!

Hotel Andaluz voted among the best hotels in the world by readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

We just received some exciting news and it is all because of you! Hotel Andaluz was awarded a “Reader’s Choice Award” by Conde Nast Traveler. The 2012 awards were rated by a record 46,476 readers voting on hotels, resorts, and cruise lines around the world. The Hotel Andaluz team is thrilled to receive this recognition and we are so thankful that our guests took the time to share their experiences with Conde Nast Traveler. In addition to being named among the world’s best hotels, Conde Nast Traveler recognized Hotel Andaluz as one of the Top 25 Hotels in the Southwest.

Here are a few examples of some of the guest feedback that helped us win this award:

“This was an amazing find! Beautifully redone… green, comfortable, everything you could possibly think of to make one’s stay as comfortable as possible. The lobby sitting area is magnificent and the restaurant graciously served us after a late arrival. Staff was excellent and went out of their way to be friendly.”

“Andaluz is a luxurious escape in the heart of downtown Albuquerque. Ultimate comfort near bustling nightlife, great shopping, and wonderful restaurants. I don’t ever want to stay anywhere else in this city!”

A full list of winners can be viewed here.

ISEA2012 will be held in Albuquerque, NM, the first U.S. location in six years. This year’s theme will be Machine Wilderness, exploring the potential for humans, animals and machines to coexist in a positive, sustainable future. Machine Wilderness is analogous to New Mexico as an area of rapid growth and technology alongside wide expanses of open land. The symposium aims to present artists’ and technologists’ ideas for a more humane interaction between technology and wilderness in which “machines” can take many forms to support life on Earth.

The lead organizations hosting ISEA2012 are 516 ARTS, The University of New Mexico and The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History. There are a total over 50 partnering organizations including museums, colleges, nonprofit arts organizations, environmental organizations and the scientific and technological communities. The events include exhibitions, performances, screenings, speakers, artist talks, a Latin American forum, and the Intel Education Day. ISEA starts September 19 and lasts through September 23.

Hotel Andaluz is a proud sponsor of the ISEA2012 and will be hosting several artist talks, as well as late night lounge events in our rooftop bar, Ibiza. Don’t miss your chance to see and interact with this exciting event. For more information and event details, visit the ISEA2012 web site.

We love our guests and strive to make every stay at our hotel a memorable one. That’s why it means so much to us when guests take the time to post reviews on TripAdvisor and other travel websites. So, thanks again, everyone. We love you as much as you love us!

Haven’t left feedback yet? Now’s your chance!

Only one and it’s us.

Many people don’t know that Hotel Andaluz was actually built by Conrad Hilton, a New Mexico native. In fact, it was the fourth hotel he ever built. At the time (1939), it was the tallest building in New Mexico and the first building in the state to have air conditioning. After Hilton built his state-of-the-art hotel, he was a frequent guest, bringing with him a slew of notable friends and family. It’s fitting that he would choose the hotel as the honeymoon location for his second wife. And, while the marriage didn’t last, the room they stayed in did.

Today, the Zsa Zsa Suite is one of our most popular Hotel Andaluz suites.

One of the elements that makes our hotel so green is mostly hidden from view, unless you’re lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the hotel.  Although not visible from the street, we have a 73-panel solar thermal system tucked away on the roof. This system generates about 60% of our domestic hot water, which is used in guest rooms, laundry facilities and in the kitchens. In essence, the hotel developed a system whereby the heat from the solar panels is transferred to a 4,000-gallon tank, which is situated on the 10^th floor and is original to the old hotel.

How’s that for environmentally proactive? To learn about some of the other cool stuff happening in our green initiatives, check this out.