Everything worked out for our girl Amy at yesterday as we and she knew it would. Tablet Hotels was able to get her into a family suite at the Alchymist Grand Hotel, after her initial hotel missed its opening date.

Here's what is inside a family suite :

These two level Rooms are the ideal combination of two deluxe rooms, especially for families. The Family Rooms feature a two separated bedrooms with one queen size bed and two twin beds on the upper level.

Each bedroom has air-conditioning, LCD TV with premium channels, DVD and CD player, safe, mini-bar and high speed internet access. Family Rooms have two separate bathrooms, one with shower corner only and

Our good friend Amy over at NewYorkology wrote to us this morning to share some nerve-wracking, last-minute, unplanned changes to her travel plans to Prague.

It turns out the Alchymist Residence Nosticova has not completed its reconstruction, despite taking reservations on its website as recently as a week ago.

Since Amy booked through Tablet Hotels, the boutique hotel booking site is doing their best to relocate her. However, such a change the day before she's due to take off has not made for easy pre-trip organization.

We are suckers for a room with a killer view.  We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.

We like to cater for all kinds of people here on HotelChatter and we've realised that not everybody thinks a Killer View

For a cleverly named European LCC, Smartwings doesn't get a lot of air time. That's because it's not as smart as it sounds ... or is it?

Smartwings is based largely out of Prague and if you want to fly from the Czech capital to anywhere in southern Europe (read: anywhere warmer and sunnier), you've got lots of choices. They also have a few routes out of two other Czech cities, Brno and Ostrava.

The most curious route is a new addition. Smartwings added flights from Prague and Budapest to Dubai last month. This is definitely one of the first low-cost long-haul flights to come out of central and eastern Europe, and it opens up interesting possibilities for flying from Europe to Australasia for a lot less. So maybe Smartwings really is smart.

Related Stories:
· Smartwings [Official Site]
· New Budapest to Dubai Route Opened [CarRentals]
· Site Scramble: Smartwings [Jaunted]

[Photo: mr_nhw]

The grand cities of Eastern Europe are holding festivals left, right and center: We talked about the Budapest Fringe Festival in the spring and now it's time for the Prague Fringe Festival, which runs from May 25 to June 1.

It started back in 2001 and is closely modeled on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There are all kinds of performances to be seen at the Prague Fringe, from shadow puppets from Cyprus to Czech theater and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

Tickets are cheerily cheap for all the performances--on the opening Sunday they're just 100 crowns (just over $6). That's cheap enough that if a particular edge of the fringe doesn't suit you, you haven't lost much. You can always abandon the show for a good Czech beer instead.

Related Stories:
· A Guide to Prague's Fringe Festival [Guardian]
· Prague Fringe Festival [Official Site]
· Spring into Budapest in 2008 [Jaunted]

[Photo: christopher.woo]

If you're the nightclubber type when traveling, yet loathe showing up at hot spots in foreign cities stone cold sober and haggling over cab fare, head to Prague. They've got the perfect solution: Tramix, a tram-based club. Yep, it's a standard streetcar with a full-on party happening on board, including room to dance and mobile bars.

Tramix travels around the city about once a month, picking up locals and visitors alike and transporting them to area clubs revved up and ready to party. They claim that "euphoric entertainment has no limits on board" and guest count can range from 60-150, depending on the car Tramix takes over next.

The trip's generally around two-and-a-half hours and costs about $18. Partiers can buy tickets in advance on Tramix's site. Definitely beats paying a cab driver for just an ordinary ride.

Related Stories:
· Tramix [Official Site]
· Prague: A Moveable Feast [NYT]
· Prague coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Poslouchej]

The Mandarin Oriental Prague is already somewhere we've decided is a good place to stay. We're just a bit more tempted still when they offer interesting packages like the City of Music or Treasures of Prague packages available now.

Drawing on Prague's three opera houses and dozen orchestras as justification for dreaming up the City of Music package, the hotel is offering luxury accommodation, a bottle of wine, a selection of Czech classical music recordings to take home with you, a three-hour guided tour of "Musical Prague", two opera or symphony tickets and a few other goodies, all designed to keep music lovers happy.

This package is available for a minimum three night stay, with

You may not be able to pronounce it, but luckily that's not a prerequisite for staying at the Hotel U Tří Pštrosů in Prague. For the record, we can't pronounce it either (especially with that pesky "ř" sound that Czechs like to challenge visitors to pronounce when drunk), but if it's easier, think of the translation, which means "At the Three Ostriches". The story goes that many moons ago during the reign of Charles IV, a foreign delegation stayed here who'd brought three ostriches as a gift for the big guy. We don't really know why, but at least it makes for an interesting hotel name.

Anyways, thanks to tipster Kim who recently threw some pics

While we don't exactly condone the British habit of picking a European city, flying in for a weekend to sample alcohol and women, and flying home leaving a trail of destruction ... well, it happens, and if you're going to enjoy a few beers in Prague, why not do it properly. Take, for example, the Prague Underground tour company which sets up pub crawls for groups wanting to try more than just that horrifying green absinthe the Czech Republic is known for.

Prague Underground offers the Zizkov Pub Crawl: Zizkov is a neighborhood of inner city Prague that claims to have more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in the world. If you're after a more scenic route, the River Pub Crawl has slightly less hardcore nightlife, but your guide still won't leave you until 2am at the earliest. Drink up!

Related Stories:
· It's Not Easy Being Green [Jaunted]
· Prague Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]

[Photo: johnystadlerka]

This is the latest addition to the HotelChatter Flickr Pool.

Thanks to Biggest Mac, we have a mini-review of the Hotel Cerna Liska in Prague. And Biggest Mac made use of the Flickr notes where you can point out certain elements of your photos. Or as our contributor did, circle your hotel room.

The other note (which we couldn't screencap) mentioned that a daily market sets up in front of the hotel. Biggest Mac also writes:

Wonderful accommodation, great location (Old Town Square), super food! PLEASE COMMENT IF THIS INFO IS HELPFUL OR IF ANY QUERIES!

Judging by the all-caps, he means it too, so help a brother out.

Don't forget to add your