Super-tall bombshell Nicole Kidman was spotted in London this week leaving Claridge’s Hotel London with her beloved Keith Urban. The pair stayed at the 5-star London hotel while in town for the premier of Kidman’s film The Golden Compass, which hits U.S. screens next Friday. While bloggers are making a big deal out of her outfit (meow!), we’re more interested in the hotel where she and Keith bedded down during their stay in London town.

The 203-room Mayfair hotel features a mixture of Victorian and Art Deco rooms, as well as the Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s restaurant headed up by Chef Mark Seargeant. While you probably can’t star in your own film and marry a recovering alcoholic country star (well, it might not be that hard to accomplish the latter), you can have your own star-worthy stay with the Claridge’s Luxury Break gift experience. That is, of course, if you’re willing to pay the celeb-style rates. For 875 GBP (which includes regular service charges and VAT), you and a guest receive a two-night stay in a superior king room and English breakfast for two each morning.

Celebrity Travel News 11.1.07

Love must be in the air, because the biggest news in celebrity travel this week involves two new rumored Hollywood couples. Of course, they might not be couples anymore by the time you finish reading this, but we won’t worry about that.

Hot and Heavy in Hollywood

First, the semi-palatable coupling: The New York Daily News reports that Jessica Simpson and Owen Wilson were spotted dining at the Huntley Hotel Santa Monica on Sunday evening. Perhaps they were chatting about their common origins – both blondes hail from Texas. After the pair dined at Penthouse, the hotel’s slick restaurant from Executive Chef Michael Reidt, they didn’t stay to check out the hotel’s luxurious suites designed by Thomas Schoos, but instead retired to Wilson’s Malibu home.

Grossed Out at the Gramercy

In EW GROSS news, gajillionaire Ashley Olsen reportedly engaged in a snog-fest of Tour de France proportions with Lance Armstrong Monday night at the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar. Hmm, rob the cradle much? Of course, considering Olsen’s pasts with actor Jared Leto and club owner Scott Sartiano, we know she’s had her fair share of experience with older men. But still, who makes out in the middle of a nice hotel bar? Something about this Hollywood coupling made us throw up in our mouths a little bit.

Even More Celebrity Makeout News

Because we can’t get enough sordid stories about celebrities making out with people who not their spouses in upscale hotels, we’d like you to know that, according to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, singer Pink made out with a female friend at the Viceroy Santa Monica Hotel last week.

Britney’s Topless Spa Day

Perez Hilton also reports that Britney Spears was spotted wandering around the locker room of the Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills wearing only her bikini bottoms. But when someone asked her where the hotel’s pool happened to be, she had no idea whether there was even a pool on the premises (there is; it’s on the rooftop terrace).

Saving the Sahara

Good news for Vegas fans. Philippe Starck has reportedly been tapped by SBE Entertainment Group (the folks behind star-studded L.A. nightclubs Hyde and Area, among other hotspots) to turn the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas into a hip, happening place instead of a destination for $1 blackjack tables.

Drop-Kicking the Met

If you’re heading to London and want to be star struck, then you’d do well to pass on a room at the Metropolitan London, reports Saska Graville in the Sydney Morning Herald. You might spot stars like Daniel Craig or Elle Mcpherson at the hotel restaurant Nobu – where both were seen recently – but, despite the hotel’s longstanding reputation as a favorite among celebrities, reporter Graville complains that her accommodations fell short of the rock star experience she expected and, instead, looked more like a room display from IKEA.

Instead of the Metropolitan London, Graville suggests the Haymarket Hotel and Ian Schrager’s St. Martin’ Lane Hotel (and its members-only nightclub Bungalow 8) as the best places to both see the starts and get treated like them (as long as you’re on the list, of course).

Elsewhere

Angelina Jolie was snapped at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Tuesday during the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 18th Annual Courage in Journalism Awards.

Kate Moss was taped leaving John F. Kennedy International airport on Monday. You can watch the riveting footage via this Splash News video.

Matt Damon needed a little extra help getting through security at Los Angeles International Airport this week. Hey, we know it can be confusing:

Perez Hilton offered up his travel tips to MSNBC in this interview. Spoiler: they aren’t that good. For example, he recommends signing up for a mileage program. Thanks. Got it.

Paris Hilton reportedly had to stay in – gasp – a Hyatt during a recent visit to Moscow, as there were no Hilton properties in the area. In town for a fashion show, Hilton – we assume since there’s only one Hyatt in the city – laid her bleached blond, newly reformed and compassionate head upon the pillows at the Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow.

Last and pretty much least, we hear that the boys of CW show Gossip Girls hit the Hotel Gansevoort, though apparently they did more yoga than partying.

And there you have it, folks. More crucial information from the wide world of celebrity travel.

Celebrity Travel News 10.26.07

No Love for Love

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.

Bringing Hang-Ups Back

According to local news sources, radio personalities in Brisbane, Australia discovered the hotel where Justin Timberlake is staying while he’s in town for concerts this weekend. Giddy with their nugget of celebrity information, the radio peeps attempted to prank call Justin Timberlake and sucker him into speaking on-air by calling the Stamford Hotel where the singer is staying under an alias. They identified themselves to hotel staff as high-ranking recording executive Denis Handlin, who, as you might guess, was mighty p.o.’d when he found out lowly radio personalities were using his name to bother JT. The gullible staff put the call through to Timberlake, who hung up as soon as he realized that on-air pranksters, and not the president of Sony BMG Australia, were on the other end of the line. Still, people with too much time on their hands are listening to the recording of the incident. If you are someone with too much time on your hands, you can also listen to the recording here.

But what we’re really wondering is whether Justin is staying in the hotel’s Stamford Suite, located on the top floor of the hotel. The posh digs offer a living room outfitted with a baby grand piano, gold-plated fixtures in the bathroom and a spa area with views of the Brisbane River and Kangaroo Point Cliffs.

Britney Takes Drugs

In Britney news, a few shocking developments. First, X17 scored photographs of prescription medicine Provigil peaking from Britney’s handbag as she headed to the Beverly Hills Hotel to meet up with ex K-Fed for parenting classes the pair were ordered by the court to attend. Gasp! The girl takes medicine she got from a doctor. Really, I’m happy to hear the girl’s taking something. Better to turn to the doctor’s orders than shave your head in public again. Jesus.

But what’s more interesting is that the Britney and Kevin chose to hold their parenting classes at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the first place. For someone who looks so depressed and annoyed every time the paparazzi appear, you’d think she could have opted for a lower-profile location. Like the parenting counselor’s office.

Up in Smoke

Celebs are fleeing the California wildfires and heading to high-end hotels, reports the Associated Press (story: Fires Disrupt Hollywood Lives, Work). Hollywood bigwig David Geffen was in a charitable mood and reportedly offered rescue workers and firefighters free rooms at his stylish Malibu Beach Inn.

Luxe lodging like Shutters on the Beach, the Viceroy Santa Monica, Chateau Marmont, the Four Seasons Beverly Hills and the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel told reporters they are completely booked this week with evacuees.

Other Stuff We Only Sort of Care About

Speaking of the Chateau Marmont, we hear that Scarlett Johansson celebrated boyfriend Ryan Reynolds’ birthday there earlier this week by presenting him with a necklace made out of one of her wisdom teeth (that can’t possibly be true… or can it?).

In who really cares anyway news, Lindsay Lohan was photographed leaving the Beverly Hills Hotel on Tuesday. Now, if she had run into Britney and they had both fallen off the wagon together at the hotel and then gone clubbing, we would have cared.

London Calling

Far from the flames ravaging Southern California, actor Josh Hartnett was spotted attending a screening of his new film 30 Days of Night held at London’s Soho Hotel, where swanky private screening rooms can accommodate up to 100 guests and feature red leather and cow print seats by Poltona Frau. We love!

The latest exploits of Britney Spears kind of remind me of Thelma & Louise, only with one woman and better hotels. This week alone, the tabloid trainwreck has been spotted checking into the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel and the Viceroy Santa Monica Hotel, where she reportedly bunked in for the evening only to venture out around 2am with an unidentified man driving a white Lamborghini. All this for a girl who lives in the Hollywood Hills. Gossip-mongers at TMZ.com have posted plenty of comments pegging Brit’s hotel hopping as an ongoing, highly contrived photo op, but I’m betting she’s just in it for the room service.

In Vegas tonight? Page Six reports that Nicky Hilton will be celebrating her first quarter century tonight at the Luxor Hotel and Casino’s over-the-top club LAX. Oh, what a world it would be if we could all get paid megabucks to show up for our own birthday parties.

In other celebrity travel news this week, the lovely Kate Beckinsale got snapped leaving the Ritz-Carlton New York only to get frisked at the airport later. Singer Faith Hill checked out of a Ritz Carlton somewhere, Cameron Diaz and Bradley Cooper reportedly dined at Morgans Hotel and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielson reportedly plans to open a hotel and restaurant named Rick’s in the raging metropolis of Rockford, Illinois. Blond bombshell Gwen Stefani smiled for the lenses when she left the 5-star Claridge’s Hotel in London last week with son Kingston in tow.

Rapper 50 Cent, whose head seems to be growing ever-bigger by the second, has wowed the staff at Croatia’s Antunovic Hotel with requests for Skippy peanut butter (which I am sure is readily available in Croatia), Norwegian salmon, six flavors of soy milk, exotic scents for his jacuzzi and unlimited quantities of Hennessy and Dom Perignon for his room. As an aside, we have to wonder how celebrities can drink so darned much Champagne. Don’t they also get headaches from the French bubbly? Or is that something that only happens to those of us drinking $15 Korbel? But before you wrinkle your nose at 50’s bevy of requirements, you should know that he also requested that everything brought into his room come from 100 percent recyclable materials. He even bans paper products from backstage catering at his concerts, reports new site Javno. Aww, we love an environmental gangsta.

Looking ahead, in just two weeks the Hotel Palomar Dallas will welcome a star-studded list of guests for Dallas International Fashion Week 2007. Be prepared to spot celebrity designers like Alvin Valley, Nicole Miller and Jamie Pressly (yes, she still has a clothing line) who’ll be in town for the four-day event.

Usually, it seems Bono can do no wrong. He’s an international rock star, peace advocate, avowed Christian and buddy to both corporate big wigs and government officials. But Bono’s star power isn’t helping his plans to expand Dublin’s Clarence Hotel, which he owns with U2 guitarist The Edge. If Bono had his way, the boutique hotel would grow from its current 43 rooms and four suites to encompass several neighboring buildings. Local preservationists say the plans jeopardize the Georgian architecture surrounding the hotel and make-way for an ultra-modern eyesore. Apparently, the plans designed by British architect Lord Foster call for a dramatic glass dome to be built atop an atrium that runs from the basement to the rooftop of the hotel.

While the powers that be battle it out with Bono and The Edge, the Clarence is still open for business. If you were to visit this Dublin hotel - a favorite among celebrities - you would find simple, yet chic rooms outfitted in Shaker furnishings and Egyptian cotton linens. If you’re visiting Dublin and staying elsewhere, stop by the Tea Room for the prixe fix lunch and dinner selections that change daily or head to the hotel’s Octagon Bar for signature cocktails like Night at the Clarence (berry vodka, sweet and sour, topped with champagne) or the Clarence Signature Martini (Vodka, Blue bols, pear liqueur, citrus juice, gomme syrup, topped with champagne).

Bono’s Hotel Plan Angers Dublin Traditionalists

For celebrities, London’s 5-star Dorchester Hotel is one of the most popular places to bunk in. In New York, A-list celebrities can be found staying in any number of hotels, but in London, the Dorchester seems to have a monopoly on Hollywood. Case in point: J. Lo and husband Marc Anthony chose the hotel during their recent stop in London, where the rumored mommy-to-be stepped out in this interesting outfit.

If you can’t swing the Dorchester’s room rates (which, when I checked today, start at about $650/night for a 300-square-foot room and go up dramatically from there), you can see what all the fuss is about with a dinner at The Grill, which puts a modern twist on classic British fare from head chef Aiden Byrne. Another option, but one with a slightly higher price tag? In November, highly-anticipated Alain Ducasse restaurant opens up in the hotel.

Celebrity Watch: Jennifer Lopez in London

Imagine a bar that tells the bartender when your drink is empty? A place where video-screen walls morph from rainforest views to models stomping down a catwalk according to your whims. A party destination for up to 400 that features over 1,000 different mood lighting colors. London’s recently opened TwentyFour just might be the most high-tech place you’ll ever get sloshed. Billed as the world’s first interactive bar, TwentyFour is located in W1 (central London) near the Oxford Circus tube station on Kingly Street. It’s open Thursday through Saturday until 3am.

London’s Docklands district became home to a new 4-star hotel property today with the opening of the Radisson Edwardian New Providence Wharf. Located on the east side of the city about 15 minutes from the London City Airport by taxi, the 169-room hotel features interiors designed by Aukett, the fitness facilities and pampering treatments at the East River Spa and riverside dining at the Azura Bar & Restaurant. Rooms offer free wireless Internet access, and guests have the option of checking in online before they arrive.

When I just checked, room rates for a Friday night in October ranged from $173 for a superior room to $304 and up for suites.

Yesterday the Eurostar train making its inaugural test trip between London’s soon-to-open St. Pancras station and Paris broke the record for its fastest rail journey, arriving at its destination in two hours and three minutes. I can remember the days when the Eurostar took much longer than that - it had to have been at least three hours when I rode it last in 2000. The route officially opens Nov. 14, 2007 and will run between the new Eurostar terminal at London’s St. Pancras station and the Paris Eurostar terminal. The move from London’s Waterloo station to St. Pancras means faster journeys (the trains will run on newly laid tracks), more tube lines (six) serving the station and access to all the good stuff (Europe’s longest Champagne bar will be in the new station) in the St. Pancras-King’s Cross area of London before or after you board the train.

Eurostar Sets London Paris Record

Now this is some celebrity news we can’t make fun of: the fabulously rebellious UK singer Amy Winehouse was seen two nights ago running from the London Sanderson Hotel in the middle of the night covered in bloody cuts and bruises. We won’t post the pix here just because some are kinda graphic, but you can check them out should you so desire at the Daily Mail story linked below.

According to celebrity blog PerezHilton, Winehouse claimed she made the cuts over angst about drugs and fought with her husband when he walked into her hotel room and tried to stop her.

Bloodied and bruised Amy Winehouse stands by husband who ’saved her life’