With a very (very) heavy heart, we are reporting today on something from our sources: Starwood Capital's 1 Hotel & Residences brand is being substantially scaled back.
We mean like.. Instead of the 6 locations listed on their website, and an additional three locations announced since then (Atlanta-Buckhead, Cleveland, Ohio & Vancouver, BC), the world will only see one or two 1 Hotels open in the next few years, as the rest have been permanently or temporarily put on hold due to market conditions.
Our sources tell us that only the Vancouver, BC location and New York City location are still scheduled to be built, although the NYC location will probably not be in Bryant Park.
Now we can add Baccarat Hotel and Residences to Dubai's ever growing portfolio of hotels. Over the weekend, Starwood Capital and Mr. S himself, announced the Baccarat Hotel & Residences at Dubai Pearl.
For those who gave up keeping track of Dubai's developments years ago - Dubai Pearl is made up of retail, hotels, residences, and commercial components and is located right at the foot of the Palm Jumeriah (you know, the smaller of the 2 man-made islands in the shape of a palm tree.)
So two days ago we briefly reported how Starwood Capital and Marine Drive Properties is developing the 1 Hotel & Residences Vancouver Island in British Columbia (that would be Canada), within the Wyndansea development, but it took a day for us to realize just how cool this 1 Hotel location is.
If things weren't already bad enough for Barry Sternlicht's Seattle baby, Avalon Holdings (a significant partner and the original developer of the hotel) has sold its entire interest in the project to Starwood Capital.
Atlanta's Buckhead community has had a lot of development lately. It's quickly becoming the Beverly Hills of Atlanta, with luxury developments springing up left and right.
One of the biggest developments is the Streets of Buckhead, which is a mixed-use development made up of luxury apartments, high-end retailers, an office building and three hotels. Two of these hotels are confirmed to be a 1 Hotel & Residences and Baccarat Hotel & Residences, both of which are from Starwood Capital.
For spontaneous travelers and hotel geeks like ourselves, there is some good news in all of this recession and economic woes talk: hotels won't be raising room rates as much or as frequently in the near future. In fact, there may be some discounts abound!
Many hoteliers and CEOs sounded off at the NYU Tisch Hospitality Center conference last week, which Andrew Gindy dutifully reported on for us.
According to BTN Online, Bill Marriott even said that discounting will probably start happening. Yet it was Barry Sternlicht who seemed to have the bleakest outlook on the hotel market:
Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, said to expect the softening to continue for at least 18 months....
"The U.S. consumer is stretched, and we've been waiting for him to collapse for quite some time. Businesses will do what they've always done in every cycle: tighten their belts," Sternlicht said. "It's going to be worse before it gets better."
Whoa, Barry Downer. He's probably just depressed that he's trying to launch a chain of luxury hotels in these trying times.
Hotel investors meet up at the spot in the Waldorf where they get five bars cell reception.
What a crazy last two days! The biggest hotel conference of the year just wrapped up yesterday afternoon at the Waldorf=Astoria after two days full of guest speakers, informative panels, excellent networking opportunities, and numerous cocktail parties. Over 2,500 attendees were there to witness the hotel madness, including us.
So you want free WiFi when you stay in a luxury hotel huh? Good luck! Send us a post card via FedEx overnight instead, it's sooo much cheaper than paying to send an email from your room. Unless you're staying at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris that is.
If you've been following our Best & Worst Wi-Fi Hotel Stories from the past few weeks, the overwhelming consensus is any hotel that costs more than $150 a night charges for WiFi, whereas any hotel UNDER $150 usually throws it in for nothing.
Hey, those luxury hotels do give you Premium internet access for the $24.95 you pay - it lets you feel like you're worth a million bucks while you browse the internet... Ok, maybe not - you just feel like you were robbed.
But! If you stay at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris--a six-star hotel which has been rated as the nicest and most exclusive hotel in the world--they'll throw in free WiFi during your stay! Thats free WiFi in the lobby, in your room, in the ballroom, in the bar, and in the bathroom!
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by AndrewC
For spontaneous travelers and hotel geeks like ourselves, there is some good news in all of this recession and economic woes talk: hotels won't be raising room rates as much or as frequently in the near future. In fact, there may be some discounts abound!
