Sit down. Please. Unfortunately, what we're about to tell you does not appear to be a joke.
Various sources are reporting on this dark, dark day that Pamela Anderson -- yes, She of the Giant Breasts and PETA Ads -- is venturing into the international hotel business to build an eco-friendly hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Friends, there are times when the jokes just write themselves. This is not one of those times because this is like, not even funny.
When Andre Agassiannounced he would help Fairmont Hotels build a hotel in Idaho's Tamarack Resort, we were all excited. Think of those hotel tennis courts!
Yet, it was not meant to be. The tennis superstar and his wife, Steffi Graf have cancelled the resort. As usual, money woes are to blame for the development's collapse.
The husband-and-wife tennis champions pulled the plug on the development because Credit Suisse Group sued to foreclose on a US$260 million loan to Tamarack's founders, said Joel Goldman, chief operating officer at Echo Partners, which also invested in the development.
Deposits taken for condo units in the development will be refunded. Perhaps Andre and Steffi would want to look at Las Ramblas?
The rock band U2 has been struggling to get the addition/renovation plans for their Dublin Hotel, The Clarence, approved for quite some time now.
Initially, the city's preservationists called the plans a "bastardisation" but it looks like Bono and Co. will get their way after all. The Belfast Telegraph reports:
The Republic's planning board, An Bord Pleanala, has granted planning permission for a controversial redevelopment of the Clarence Hotel on the Dublin quays, but included an unusual condition that the public must have access to the fabled 'sky bar' which is an intrinsic part of the plans.
True, that might mean the rock stars, celebrities and dignitaries Bono wants to host at his hotel may have to rub elbows with the common folk but we say he'll just have to deal with that.
Now that the plans have been approved, the hotel can begin construction which will quadruple the size of the hotel and include a huge glass atrium as well as an indoor pool.
Globorati reports that Gore Vidal's house in
Ravello, Italy--named The Swallow's Nest, will be turned into a luxury hotel. The seven-bedroom manse that belonged to Vidal until five years ago will reopen next spring to hotel guests.
The setting of the seven-bedroom mansion is impossibly remote, suspended over a bluff facing the Mediterranean and accessed by only a private pathway winding up the cliffside hills.
In homage to the last surviving giant of American literature, Palumbo plans to leave the ground-floor studio with Vidal’s personal library and artifacts intact.
Indeed, two years ago when the house was first sold, The Age reported on what the hotelier Vicenzo Palumbo would keep of Vidal's and it includes a lot: mementoes of his famous guests,the chair used in the movie Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, and the study where he wrote many of his famous works.
No word yet on how much it will cost to stay here but we imagine it's only for the super-wealthy.
Travel Weekly reports that the Marley Resort in Nassau, Bahamas officially opened its doors to hotel guests and fans of the late Bob Marley alike on Friday, July 4th.
The hotel is very much a family business. Bob Marley's widow, Rita, is the owner of the 16-suite hotel that once served as the Marley family's summer home. The resort features the icon's music, daughter Cedella Marley's clothing line and works by African, Bahamian and Jamaican artists.
And the best part? The hotel's suites are named after some of Marley's popular songs like Lively Up Yourself, Positive Vibration, Easy Shankin', Three Little Birds and Kinky Reggae.
These suites come with whirlpool baths, aromatherapy amenities, flat-screen TVs, high-speed Internet access and in-room Bose entertainment systems.
There are also three Royal Suites to check into which have oceanfront views. But if you are a big baller then book the Legend suite which has a separate living room, a signature Marley bed and a stocked wet bar.
Yesterday we were innocently perusing one of our favorite sites, Jezebel, when we came across this question in an item, summing up GQ's recent interview with supermodel Gisele Bündchen:
"Did you know Gisele owns some sort of extended-stay hotel in Santa Monica?"
Um, nooooooooo, we thought as we hung our heads in shame. And we call ourselves hotel mavens! We did some research on the Internets and, adding insult to injury, came up with zero.
The GQ interview is available online, but we're guessing it's the abridged version since there is no mention of said hotel ownership.
However, we did learn via The Insider that she is owner of the Palladium Executive in the south of Brazil, another seemingly phantom hotel that only exists in Gisele's bio, since we can't even find a web site for it.
What is up here? We're too lazy to schlep to the magazine stand on the corner to pick up GQ, so we're asking you to do some heavy lifting for us.
Hey, it's the day before a holiday weekend. We might still be in the room, but we've already checked out.
Anyone got the details on Gisele Bündchen, superhotelier? Let us know.
Miami Sound Machine fans, you can soon stay in Gloria Estefan's new hotel. The Latin pop singer held a ribbon cutting ceremony for her new hotel Costa D'Este in Vero Beach yesterday. The hotel will officially open to guests on Monday.
The Vero place has a distinct Miami Beach look, with porthole windows and Art Deco shapes. Rooms will run about $190 when the place opens to the masses Monday and up to $350 in season.
The hotel will also feature a beachfront restaurant, Oriente, which will serve Cuban cuisine of course.
This is actually Estefan's second hotel. She already runs the Cardozo in Miami. We bet we know what's gonna be on the iPod playlists in these hotels.
With so many celebrities developing hotels these days, you may not remember that a just under a year ago, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen announced he and builder Brent Johnson were in talks to develop a guitar museum attached to a Hyatt Place Hotel in Rick's hometown of Rockford, IL.
"It's going to be garish, over the top, disgusting," Nielsen told the Rockford Register Star at the time. Following that appealing description, you may be shocked to learn what happened next.
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by Jenna
