While you may want to swim at the Marriott in Manhattan, visiting the Marriott in Baghdad probably doesn't sounds so refreshing.
The Washington Post said Bill Marriott and co. were contemplating opening a hotel in the fortified Green Zone of Baghdad. Um yeah, that sounds crazy.
Opening a Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh is one thing. But moving into Baghdad is quite another. The Green Zone has been a frequent target of attacks by insurgents. A recent flare-up, when 114 rocket and mortar rounds fell in the Green Zone during a 30-day period ending in late April, showed the unpredictability of the danger.
Marriott is actually aggressively attempting to expand its presence in the Middle East from 26 to about 75 over the next several years. Yet we say, maybe Marriott should work on streamlining their WiFi policy before they start building in Iraq?
Corporate blogs are all the rage these days, presumably designed to let the corporate moo-vahs and shake-ahs communicate directly with adoring fans who want to know more. And in the hotel world, Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, has jumped onto the heap with his blog, Marriott on the Move.
While we are still convinced Bill is dictating his blog posts to a secretary, he does try to keep relevant. For instance, there's his take on immigration reform as it relates to the travel industry, and his post about the company initiative to teach employees Spanish. Of course, there's some questionable posts like his recommendation of "The Bucket List" but our fave is his latest.
Here, Bill talks about his chain's historic properties, including Chicago's Blackstone (with a wonderfully produced video covering the grand re-opening), and Dublin's Shelbourne.
He also has this to say about The Mayflower in Washington, DC:
The Mayflower hotel in Washington, D.C. was the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inaugural ball back in the early 1930s. Also, J. Edgar Hoover used to have lunch at the Mayflower all during his tenure. Eleanor Roosevelt had afternoon tea there, and there have been many other famous people who have stayed there. What a lot of people don't know is that, in addition to being a famous hotel, the Mayflower is one of more than 140 Renaissance hotels around the world.
Mr. M conveniently omits the Mayflower's more recent notoriety -- it's the same hotel where Client 9, aka former New York State Luv Guv Eliot Spitzer, spent the night in room 871 conducting some unofficial gubernatorial hoo-hah.
Sure, it's not great PR for the chain, Bill, but it sure would make for awesome post fodder if you blogged about it.
So a while back we heard some rumors that the Edition Hotel from our older-man crush Bill Marriott and boutique pioneer Ian Schrager would open in Washington DC in a former First Church of Christ Scientist church at Columbia Road and Euclid Street.
It looks like those rumors are getting closer and closer to truths. Again our tipster Lee W wrote us to say that the Dupont Current interviewed a developer who has plans for the site.
The details of the project is a 9-story boutiques hotel rising behind the First Church of Christ Scientist, with 150 guest rooms, a restaurant, one-to-two stories of penthouse condos, and "4,000 square feet of community space" to be able to build more on the site. The church itself will remain intact as the lobby and restaurant area.
While the developer Brian Friedman wouldn't name the hotel brands that he was working with, the reporter surmises it could be an Edition Hotel.
Interestingly, the building behind the church currently houses the Washington City Paper which is fitting for the Edition Hotel brand.
However, Lee W is psyched that:
Either way, DC might finally get an actually cool hotel!
This is just too much for us! Everyone's favorite over-70 hotelier Bill Marriott has just turned 76 and he commemorated the occasion at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn, a property that's been in the Marriott family for over 40 years and is the place for the Marriott gang's annual Spring Breaks.
On this trip, Bill celebrated his bday with a lemon daffodil cake by chef Laurent Touroundel, (pictured above) who will open a BLT Steak restaurant in the Camelback soon. In fact, the property is undergoing a pretty extensive renovation right now.
But that's not all. Aside from blogging, Bill Marriott has his own Flickr Account. Woot! Go Bill! You can flip through the photos of Bill's bday bash as well as some pictures from the past including what Camelback Inn looked like in the 1960s.
We have to admit, this is very brave of Bill to put himself out there like that and we appreciate that. Maybe when we get to be his age, we just won't care anymore either.
Our older-man crush on Bill Marriott is officially over thanks to his latest blog post about Marriott Golf where he writes:
A lot of my fellow corporate executives like to play golf. I have a set of clubs, but they're a little bit rusty and I've got to tell you, golf is a handicap for me. I've never been able to play the game well and that's always been a frustration. I'm sure some of you know how I feel.
Ah Bill, what coulda been. Unfortunately, we need a man who can play golf and play it well. How embarrassing would it have been if we went on a date on the links with Bill and we outscored him. Or is that underscored him? Maybe Bill can pay Tiger Woods for some lessons? That could resuscitate our crush. At least we still have the Marriott Bear.
Edition Hotels was formally announced this past January at the ALIS conference in Los Angeles and Marriott has created a news video on the event and uploaded it to YouTube. (Notice their customized page!)
There's nothing much new here that we haven't heard before about Edition Hotels but we do see a lot. Bill and Ian both speak on camera and are extremely excited about the project. Btw, Ian has found a perfect tan shade. And Marriott's Chief Financial Officer Arne Sorenson gets some screen time to talk about the planned nine locations and expects half of the Edition Hotels to be outside of the U.S.
The developers of Edition Paris and Edition Chicago also speak out, (the young one uses the word "synergy!) which makes us wonder if these two will be the first to open.
Then there's just a lot of party shots. Marriott threw a pretty swank party at the Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills with Cristal champagne, caviar on ice blocks, exotic flower arrangements and servers and bartenders pretty enough to work in some of Ian's hotels.
We can't tell if it's because we actually heard Bill Marriott talk instead of blog or if we just like a good party, but now we're excited again about Edition Hotels. (Which after the logo reveal was much-needed.) Now, if only we could jump in our time-travel machine to 2010.
It's been a while since we checked in with Edition Hotels after an initial flurry of hotel announcements and today Andrew Calvo has discovered the logo for the Bill Marriott-Ian Schrager love child.
And....here it is.
And...we're kinda bored.
Sure the sideways O is a nice touch but it does look like old newspaper font. Maybe in 20 years it will be nice to stay at an Edition Hotel and reminisce about the golden age of newspapers but for now this is pretty dull.
It's actually something we expect from Marriott but not from Schrager. Then again, Marriott's footing the bill. Here's hoping the hotels are better than this.
Last week we linked to an article from USAToday that said Washington DC's first Edition will be located on the "18th Street Corridor", well thanks to a great tip from Lee W, we juuuusssttt might have an idea as to exactly where Washington DC's first Edition Hotel will be located.
Apparently the locked down and closed First Church of Christ Scientist located at 1770 Euclid Street NW (a block away from 18th Street) was supposed to be converted into a condo building, but since the District's Historic Preservation Review Board wouldn't allow it, the developer, Brian Friedman, decided to build a boutique hotel instead.
Lee W writes:
A church would be quite a dramatic place for a boutique hotel in Washington, and really bring a lot of class to the neighborhood, though there are some great restaurants and bars in the area. But this site seems to make the most sense.
The plans include demolishing the Washington City Paper building located next to the former church then expanding the church building, while keeping its appearance on par with the church's aesthetics.
We'll see if this site does end up being an Edition or not - but one thing is for sure - converting a church into an Edition Hotel would fit perfectly with Ian Schrager's goal of making each Edition unique.
Does this mean we'll get morning church services along with our complimentary continental breakfast? I think that's one Schrager innovation Bill Marriott would go for.
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by juliana
