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Did you know that we’re in the middle of engagement season? We know, we thought our relatives were just bothering us about our future for no reason, but the holiday season is actually peak time for popping the question.

There are a lot of roundups of, oh, everything this time of year, but we always look forward to the awards from the blogger community, and HotelChatter’s list has some fun, quirky nominations that get at the heart of what we love and hate about traveling.

Headliners of all stripes and styles are seizing the moment to take stages all around town, and that includes several major hotel performances. Whether they’re opening a hot new nightclub or just partying with old friends, musicians all over the city want to make it a night to remember.

The palaces of excess lining the Strip are no slouch when it comes to excellent edibles, and they’re going all out on December 31^st. Most of these hotel restaurants have two seatings, but expect to pay more for primetime.

You may have noticed a significant omission in our last New Year’s Eve story—after all, how could we write a party round-up without including one of the biggest party cities of them all? But that’s only because what’s planned in Las Vegas for 2012 is so big, it required its own day. Herewith, our guide to the best of New Year’s Eve festivities in the hotels on the strip:

Planning on getting out of the house for New Year’s Eve? Of course you are. And if you don’t feel like going home that night (falling into your own bed can be a little anticlimactic after popping bottles all night, don’t you think?) it’s the perfect night to indulge in a hot hotel escape. There are a lot of offerings around the country, but these are come of the most exciting.

Our holiday leftover are always a wicked combination of sugar and wine, so Wine Enthusiast’s interview with Katzie Guy-Hamilton, executive pastry chef at New York’s Grand Hyatt came at the perfect time for our pantry. The Top Chef Just Desserts contestant shared her favorite wine pairings for the season’s most popular desserts.

It’s theoretically winter, even though most of us missed out on a white Christmas. But that hasn't stopped many travelers of looking elsewhere for their snow fix. And leave our neighbors to the north to bring the powder. The sporty city of Whistler, already home to some of the best skiing on the planet, has opened its new bobsled facility this week to the public. It's the same track used in the 2010 Winter Olympics, which is the steepest in the world. 

Not all big restaurant successes are built to scale up, but in the case of Le Cirque, the Maccioni family's legendary New York haunt, build up they will. And like many restaurateurs, they’ve found hotels to be a useful partner in their expansion, choosing to align their brand with properties that cater to both their current jet-setting customers. We spoke with Marco Maccioni, one of the sons of founder Sirio Maccioni, to get the scoop on where they’re headed.

Hotel junkies and Ace Hotel groupies got an early Christmas present today: the Hollywood Reporter writes that a downtown Los Angeles location of the popular boutique hotel will open in the United Artists building. That's big time.