http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T15:04:09Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Peter%20Sanders http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/6/14/85640/7329 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3/marriott_schrager.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p>The Wall Street Journal reported this morning on the hotel industry's strangest bedfellows to date--<a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Bill%20Marriott"><b>Bill Marriott</b></a> and <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Ian%20Schrager"><b>Ian Schrager.</b></a><p>The 75-year-old Marriott hotelier (and blogger!) has wooed the Gramercy Park Hotel designer and former club boy to create a boutique hotel brand for <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Marriott%20Hotels">Marriott Hotels.</a><p>The paper reports that Schrager will be involved in the design, creation, and marketing of this new boutique brand. Marriott will also have no "overt presence", similar to the chain's Ritz-Carlton brand. Meaning the brand's name won't be anything like "Schrager Hotels by Marriott." Still the plan is quite aggressive for this new Schrager brand:<blockquote><p>Marriott says it hopes to have five hotel deals signed by the end of the year, with a juliana 2007-06-14T09:45:20-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/10/18/154541/62 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/1_seattle_ge.jpg"><p>It looks like numbers are replacing <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/10/10/172012/63/hotels/starwood_loves_to_lowercase_its_newest_hotels">lowercase letters</a> when it comes to new hotel chains.<p><a href="http://www.starwoodcapital.com/mainpages/core.htm"><b>Barry Sternlicht,</b></a> the former CEO of the Starwood chain who oversaw the launch of W Hotels, has announced his latest luxury hotel chain, called <b>"1."</b> (Remember he already has another one in the works called "Crillon" which we decided was code for <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/1/31/152911/819/hotels/Starwood_s_MySpace_Profile">Crunky Millions.</a>)<p>1 is going to be 1 big eco-friendly luxury chain, with the first 1 opening in downtown Seattle in 2008 (see Google Earth image above.) The 1 brand will also feature residences and is designed to compete with Starwood's current luxury lines as well as the Ritz and the Four Seasons.<p>After Seattle, 1 will open in Scottsdale, Paris, Mammoth juliana 2006-10-18T16:07:27-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/7/19/05326/6850 <![CDATA[<p><b>The Marriott Smoking Ban has been elevated to OpenThread Status, <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/comments/2006/8/2/144444/6432/0/post#here">Comment Here</a></b> <p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/cigarrettes_ashtray.jpg"><a href="http://www.marriott.com"><b>Marriott Hotels</b></a> has made a huge announcement in today's <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115327404824310671.html?mod=home_personal_journal_right">Wall Street Journal</a> and those of you puffing away on your cancer sticks with your morning coffee ain't gonna like it.<p>Peter Sanders writes that the hotel chain has decided to ban smoking in every room of its 2,300-plus hotels in the U.S. and Canada (including the hotel's other brands like the Ritz Carltons and Renaissance hotels), "in an effort to extinguish an increasingly common source of guest complaints -- the smell of lingering cigarette smoke."<p>At first, this sounds a little more drastic than it is since 90 percent Marriott's guest rooms were already non-smoking. juliana 2006-07-19T00:53:26-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/2/13/121250/916 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/Wvictoria.jpg">Today's <a href="http://www.wsj.com">Wall Street Journal </a>focuses on <a href="http://www.whotels.com"><b>W Hotels</b></a> seeking new and interesting partnerships with consumer brands--essentially taking the hotel beyond room and board, spa and restaurants.<p>We already saw the brand <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/1/9/134234/7332">jump into bed </a>with Yahoo! by offering the Yahoo! Link service at select <a href="http://www.sheraton.com"><b>Sheratons</b></a> but the hotel chain is going even further.<p>One such partnership is with Victoria's Secret Lingerie line that would give guests discounts on bras and underwear as well as be able to score tickets to the label's sizzling fashion shows.<p>Another partnership (not yet finalized) with Time Warner media company would place a Los Angeles bureau of the consumer mag, Entertainment Weekly, in the <a href="http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=97518"><b>W Westwood Hotel.</b></a><p>The hotel will also serve juliana 2006-02-13T12:41:45-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/