If you’ve ever wondered what kind of kitchen magic one could make with 70 pounds of gingerbread, hundreds of pounds of sugar, 60 pounds of flour, more candy than you could possibly carry and, oh, somewhere around 400 hours of work, an answer comes in the form of the 12-foot holiday sugar castle now being constructed at the Westin St. Francis by the San Francisco hotel’s pastry chef Jean-Francois Houdre.

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Chocolate lovers among us take note: some of the best chocolate in the world can be found in hotels. Read more »

Budget Travel recently profiled four emerging wine country regions that promise tasting opps without the tourist-laden limo crowds those of us familiar with Napa and Sonoma adventures know all too well.

If you're looking for a hotel in one of these areas, you're in luck. Here are a few suggestions for each:

1. Walla Walla, WA:

A lobby bar makeover or subtle redesign isn't usually enough to prompt us to post, but we were taken with the look of the new Lumen bar at the Ritz-Cartlon Atlanta when we received a few images of it this week.