While most gossip hounds are interested in rap mogul Jay-Z’s recent decision to step down as CEO/President of Def Jam records due to the job’s low monetary payout (such drudgery), we are more interested in a little tidbit included in the New York Post Page Six story that broke the news (Page Six: Bigger Paycheck). Apparently, with his newfound freedom under his belt, Jay-Z is thinking of getting into the lodging business. The semi-retired rapper and lucky Beyonce boyfriend is said to be scouting for a Manhattan space to house a chic boutique hotel to be named The Jay. (Personally, I think that he should have checked his ego and made his lady happy by naming the future hotel The Beyonce. Or wait, wait. What about The Hotel of Hard Knox? Or 99 Rooms? Okay, I’ll stop). Whatever the name, if Jay-Z launches a hotel, we’d want to stay there and are pretty sure half the free world will, too.

Here’s some celebrity travel news that’s actually kind of interesting. (Okay, maybe not riveting, but it’s at least not about one of Hollywood’s young starlets and her latest prurient behavior.) Julia Roberts, who has kept a low profile of late thanks to motherhood and a two-year break from acting, surprised onlookers at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel recently as she headed through the opulent lobby on her way to a press interview for her film Charlie Wilson’s War. Roberts’ fans will recall that the actress’s hit film Pretty Woman featured scenes in the hotel lobby (the in-room scenes were apparently not shot at the hotel). To this day, the hotel is, for many, synonymous with the movie. The hotel even keeps one of the film’s posters on display. As any pop-culture junkie can attest, spotting a celebrity in one of the very locations that catapulted her from relative fame to international recognition is no small feat - especially so many years later and completely by coincidence. If you don’t like Julia Roberts, just think of it this way: a sighting like this would be like spotting Jimmy Stewart in 1957 on the U.S. Senate floor completely randomly…

Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman Back in Make-Up

To help launch you properly into the New Year, we’re rehashing all the scandalous moments in celebrity travel from the past year. One shining example? The seemingly endless human train wreck that is Courtney Love. As we reported this fall, Love’s behavior in one of London’s finest hotels did not go over well with the Brits in 2007:

The five-star Claridges Hotel in London has reportedly refused Courtney Love as a guest. It’s not a surprising move on the part of the hotel management. The last time Love bunked in at the luxury hotel in London’s Mayfair neighborhood, she started a fire (allegedly from smoking a cigarette) in her $3,000-a-night suite. Worse, Love has a reputation for ruining hotel rooms. Earlier this year, you may recall reports of Love’s raucous birthday celebration at the Covent Garden Hotel, where she wrecked her $1,000-a-night suite. In slightly less shocking news, Love is still really scary looking.

Another one of our favorite celebrity travel tidbits of 2007? Back in October, we reported:

Branson Swan Dives

On Wednesday evening, Sir Richard Branson celebrated Virgin America’s inaugural flights to Las Vegas by free-falling 40 stories – harnessed to a safety wire of course. But during the fall, a gust of wind slapped the daredevil billionaire into the side of the Palms Casino Resort. Branson emerged alive, but not without some scrapes and bruises.

Gee, I can’t imagine any better way to promote your new airline than crashing into solid objects at breakneck speeds.

On the upside, Branson did apparently scatter free Virgin America tickets as he fell, though none have been claimed. So be on the lookout in you’re in Vegas this weekend.

As part of the ongoing Virgin America festivities this week, Branson threw quite a shindig at the Wynn Las Vegas nightclub TRYST, where celebs like newlyweds (ew!) Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon (double ew!), Carmen Elektra and The Hills star Lauren Conrad showed up to take part.

This week, among other things, we’re reprising the best celebrity travel news of 2007. Waaay back in January 2007, we reported the following:

Hey, I thought Diddy could get in anywhere. I guess not. (And I guess Tara Reid shouldn’t feel like the only celeb to get publicly humilated while trying to get into an exclusive party). After the Golden Globe awards in Hollywood, Sean Combs was reportedly barred from entering an after party at the Sunset Tower Hotel. The reason? Party throwers claim they “just didn’t invite him,” while others say the rebuff has to do with the star’s rude behavior towards someone on the party thrower’s staff several years ago. Who knows? And really, who cares?

At the end of the day, things could be a whole lot worse. You could end up getting into a party, then getting rejected by some marginally famous random, then passing out in the hallway of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel like Lindsay Lohan reportedly did on the very same evening.

Even Celebrity Moguls Can’t Get Into Every Party

Did a Broken Heart Send LiLo to Rehab?

Last Friday, U.S. snowboarding champ Shaun White (a.k.a. The Flying Tomato) got into some hot water over his antics in the gameroom at the Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO. The 2006 Olympic gold medalist was caught on hotel security video chasing a female companion with a pool stick before removing a fire extinguisher from the wall and discharging its contents onto the gameroom floor. It seems his shoes - and not his fiery red hair - were what identified White to the Breckenridge po-po. According to The Smoking Gun, police were able to match the tread pattern from the bottom of White’s shoes to the prints left in the dust from the extinguished extinguisher.

If you were to visit the Beaver Run Resort, we’d suggest skipping the gameroom entirely and heading for the Beaver Run Spa’s outdoor patio complete with hot tubs and Watsu water therapy pool overlooking the mountains. Rather hit the slopes instead? Then you’re in luck. The resort also offers ski-in, ski-out access to the Beaver Run Super Chair lift and the Quicksilver Six at Breckenridge.

Well, I know we can all rest a little easier knowing that Britney Spears has escaped the hotel celebrity banning trend that seems to be hitting Hollywood. While the Internets were abuzz on Friday when Brit showed up to dine at the Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills and was denied entry to a private parking area she apparently had used before, subsequent reports have squashed rumors that Brit was no longer welcome at the hotel. In this TMZ.com video, you can see the Gimme More singer getting turned away by hotel security.

While some jumped to the conclusion that the Four Seasons had banned her from the hotel because of unpaid bills or too much paparazzi mayhem, others on the scene caught the final outcome. After pulling out of the parking area she was trying to enter and driving to the hotel’s front entrance, Spears drove her white Mini convertible into yet another parking area. This time, she was allowed to enter the hotel as security guards pushed back the paps with cameras a-snapping. If you’re so inclined to watch Britney’s eventual admittance to the hotel, where she frequently goes for meals, you can do so at Britney Banned from Four Seasons? Nope!

Wanna spend New Year’s Eve at New York’s Hotel Gansevoort with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton? He posted the following on his blog today (So Much to be Thankful for):

And, if you wanna spend New Years Eve at the best party in New York City, then call (646-432-5947) to purchase tickets to the ultra exclusive soiree Perezzz is hosting at the Gansevoort Hotel. Lots of celebrities are expected to attend!

Where do you go for a romantic, private birthday escape in Paris when you’re one of the world’s most recognizable celebrity couples? If you’re Jay-Z and Beyonce, you head to Le Meurice Hotel and book a room overlooking the Tuileries garden.

Earlier this month, the longtime couple reportedly celebrated Jay-Z’s 38th in style at the hotel with a visit to the on site Spa Caudalie and a tour of the city in a chauffeured Maybach limo before heading to dinner at L’Avenue and catching a show at the famous Crazy Horse Cabaret.

For your own luxe celebration at Le Meurice Hotel, book the hotel’s Romance in Paris, “La Vie en Rose” package, available through Dec. 31, 2007. While you hide from your imaginary paparazzi in a deluxe double room for 740 EU per night or do it up star-style in the Meurice Garden one-bedroom suite for 1,610 EU per night, you’ll enjoy overnight accommodations for two, an American breakfast each morning, Champagne, pink flowers, pink petits fours, bathrobes, late check-out and use of the fitness and spa facilities at Spa Caudalie.

It seems fancy schmancy Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica may have shuttered any hopes Lindsay Lohan has of returning to the hotel, where she reportedly stayed recently with then-boyfriend and fellow rehaber Riley Giles. If the reports are true (and that’s anybody’s guess), Lohan may just be win the distinction of being an even worse hotel guest than Courtney Love.

According to the rumor mill, the hotel will not be welcoming Lohan back anytime soon. The reasons? Apparently, hotel employees entered the celebrity’s suite to find ciggies peppering the carpet and “a bloody syringe” on the bedside table. (What’s that they say about dating people you meet in rehab? Oh, yeah. I think it goes a little something like, “DON’T DO IT.”) The only plausible explanation, other than rehab being a massive failure, is that Lohan’s father must have stopped by for some QT with his daughter.

Luckily for the rest of us, the posh hotel is still fair game. The hotel’s luxurious spa has many celeb fans - Madonna and daughter Lordes among them.