Is The Plaza About To Become A Chatwal?

September 24, 2012 at 9:01 AM | by ASchechter | Comments (2)

UPDATE, 3:21pm: We've received a response from Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, who tells us that while the Chatwals have indeed assumed a small equity stake in The Plaza, Fairmont will remain as the hotel's management group. So that stomps out any rumors about a possible Chatwal rebranding!

At the beginning of the summer, reports emerged�and then were confirmed�that the India-based Sahara Group had bought the historic Plaza Hotel for an alleged $600 million. Interestingly, Sahara is the same company who in August also bought a controlling stake in the Chatwals' Dream Downtown.

Never in a million years did we imagine what would happen next.

The NY Post is reporting that Fairmont, who has managed the Plaza since 2007, is on its way out. Next in line is none other than Dream�Hotels owner Vikram Chatwal.

Indeed, we'd wondered what the Sahara purchase of the Plaza would mean for the 105-year-old hotel. After all, those were big bucks involved, on a high, high-profile property on the most iconic block in all of New York (have you watched Home Alone recently? Or, for that matter, Mariah Carey's music video for Obsessed?) Now it looks almost definite that major changes are on the way for the luxury hotel.

The NY Post's Page Six reports:

"Hotelier Vikram Chatwal is nearing a deal to take over the historic hotel and bring in designer Tommy Hilfiger and restaurateur Sean Largotta as partners.
Chatwal told us last night, 'The deal will close in the next couple of weeks. There have been a lot of changes at The Plaza over the years and we want to restore the history and the cultural symbolism of this treasure of New York real estate.'"

Don't forget that Tommy Hilfiger, who knows a thing or two about hotels, actually lives inside the Plaza with his wife Dee, so he has an invested interest in the hotel's future. Though whether Chatwal is up for the task? We wonder.

What do you think? Does this spell disaster or for the hotel, or could this be the start of a beautiful friendship? Let us know in the comments below the story!

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