We hope you're sitting down because we have big, big news: Tuesday night, the Chelsea Hotel Atlantic City lit up its sign.
Take a moment to lift your jaw from the floor.
To clarify, it did not open. And it won't be officially opening until August 1st. But it did turn on its sign to kick off what is apparently a month-long series of summer opening events.
The signage lighting of the luxury non-gaming boutique hotel on the boardwalk symbolizes what the Chelsea will bring to Atlantic City when it opens in August -- refinement, color and vivacity. The sign changes color with the seasons and celebrates American holidays.
If that isn't enough to get you into the holiday spirit, more Atlantic City festivities will be happenin' tonight, too -- the Borgata and Harrah's Atlantic City will be jointly hosting a fireworks show.
One more thing: if you plan on checkin' out AC this weekend, be sure to do your research first.
In case you didn't get one of the keys handed out by half-naked girls in lower Manhattan or just couldn't swing ending the work week early, we mustered up the strength to head down to Harrahs Atlantic City and check out their Take Over the Tower free night promotion.
Next week, when we recover from the odd hangover induced by free booze and saltwater taffy, we'll have full coverage of what happens when 1,500 New Yorkers descend upon Harrahs newest hotel tower for a single night of penny slots and crab leg buffets.
Let's just say that in terms of partying, the Borgata has nothing on Harrahs for today.
The hotel's website is taking reservations for travel starting on July 1st. However, the hotel will actually open in June so if you can't wait until July, you can all the hotel's reservation line at 1-800-800-8817 to try and snag yourself a room.
Be prepared to cough up some cash. The first day open in June 15th at $239 a night. Weekend rates bump up to $539. Yikes! And forget about the Fourth of July.
So what do you get for all this dough? Oceanfront views, flat-screen TVs, iPod docking stations, Rain Dome bath showerheads and 400-thread count sheets are some of the amenities. Which should help you forget you're in New Jersey (Hey, it's our home state so we're allowed to say that!)
While Wall Street tanks, Atlantic City is soaring to new heights with The Tower at Trump Taj Majal, a brand new pinnacle of success for the boardwalk hotel and casino. There's nothing The Donald can't fix with a $255 million fix, right?
This week the new construction's final beam was hoisted in Trump-ette fashion with beam signing and the raising high of evergreen tree and American flag, true hallmarks of a spectacular topping out.
What's in The Tower you ask? Well, when completed in December 2008, there'll be a total of 782 large guest rooms, including 74 suites, four of which will offer the same luxe surrounds as The Penthouse suites at the hotel.
We opened our inbox Friday morning to a nice little surprise containing some great looking renderings (after the jump) of the The Chelsea, Atlantic City. After no major delays, no financing issues, and no crane collapses - The Chelsea, Atlantic City is officially scheduled to open mid-July 2008.
The Chelsea is the first non-gaming boutique hotel to open since the 1960's (read: First nice hotel without a casino) in the former Holiday Inn Atlantic City Boardwalk which closed down for this conversion last year.
After looking at these pictures, it looks like the Chelsea is going to be a destination onto itself - no casino action required here to keep guests mingling around all day long. With two Stephen Starr restaurants, named Chelsea Prime and Teplitsky's, a nightlife destination called "The 5th Floor" (located on...well...I think you can figure that out), a spa, a banquet facility catered by...(this is a hard one) Stephen Starr, and an indoor salt water pool as well as an outdoor, rooftop pool surrounded by a huge pool deck. Whew!
Of course, you can't forget the rooms - 331 rooms, divided into two classes "Chelsea Luxe" and "Chelsea Lite". All rooms do include flat screen LCD TVs, twice daily maid service and room service furnished by Stephen Starr.
Rates for this amenity galore hotel? $225-$450 during the high season, $95-$275 during the low season, so even though you can't get any comped rooms by dropping a grand on the casino downstairs, it's still surprisingly reasonable.
It's about time someone decided there is more to Atlantic City than gambling!
According to a report last week in the Wall Street Journal, the planned $3.5 billion restoration and 9,500-room addition "are at best on hold, and at worse under an ominous question mark while [the owner] manages the fallout of losing another casino, the Tropicana Atlantic City."
In December, for only the second time in 29 years, gambling regulators in New Jersey refused a casino owner an operating license when they yanked control of that casino from Mr. Yung, citing poor management practices, a cleanliness crisis, and a failure to abide by state regulations after Mr. Yung cut 900 employees and, according to regulators, failed to set up an audit committee according to state specifications.
Ouch. Yung is now selling the Atlantic City casino, as well as other properties, in order to pay off creditors. He's going to have a tough time getting new financing. Another developer has just defaulted on a $760 million loan, plus there's already $35 billion in other building projects underway--in the middle of a banking crisis.
There's one silver lining in all of this: we can still find a cheap midweek room on The Strip!
Usually we're the ones bringing you the hotel video tours. But the smoking hot, as-yet-unopened Water Club in Atlantic City has an animated video sneak peak up on its website. And, yes, it's complete with airy, downtempo lounge music.
The fly-through takes you through the garden-filled lobby, by the outdoor pools and their cabanas, through a model room overlooking the water and back to the 32nd floor spa and indoor pool.
While The Water Club won't have a casino, it will bring a big-name chef to the premises. Geoffrey Zakarian of New York's Country and Town restaurants will oversee the food service operations at the hotel. He'll be just down the street from the name brand restaurants of Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay and Michael Mina at the Borgata.
Seriously, how is the Hotel Carter still open? We've been writing about the woes of doing NYC budget-style at this hotel for a few years now. From dead bodies under the bed to bedbugs, this place is pretty much a horror hotel. Thus, TripAdvisor has named it the dirtiest hotel in the U.S. for the third year in a row. Coming in second place? The Ramada Inn in Niagara Falls which was cited by travelers as having dirty pillowcases, spiderwebs and dried urine in the bathroom. Gag.
0 Comments - Add Yours
by Jenna
