HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Openings / Element Hotels / Airport Hotels / Denver Hotels / Dallas Hotels / → All Tags

Element Hotels Open in Denver and in Dallas

Element Hotels, a spin-off of the Westin Hotels brand, are slowly but surely expanding. The green extended-stay hotel chain has announced the openings of their fifth and sixth hotels in Denver Park Meadows and at Dallas Ft. Worth Airport North.

Rates at the Element Denver, which is actually on the outskirts of the city near the Denver Tech Center, start at $144 a night for a room with a king bed and a queen sleeper sofa and that rate includes a full hot breakfast. You can also make your own meals in the full kitchens that come with every room. Rates at the Dallas Airport location were not available yet as the hotel is expected to open later this week.

Up next for Element? The Element Hotel in Ewing, New Jersey which will open on November 5. We still have to wait a little bit longer for the promised NYC property as the Element Times Square West is now set for an August 2010 date.

[Photo of the original Element, Element Lexington, by Working and Playing/TripAdvisor]

Tags: Snapshot / Green Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Element Hotels / → All Tags

Get Charged at the Element Lexington

Where: 727 Marrett Road - B [map], Lexington, MA, United States, 02421

We told you about the electric car-charging station at the Element Lexington when they announced that they were installing one back in July. But now we can bring you photos of the charger in action. And doesn’t it look cute?

more ›

Tags: Green Hotels / Eco-Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Element Hotels / → All Tags

Element Lexington Gets an Electric Car-Charging Station

We'll give a thumbs up to this initiative — even though it's just another notch in Element's green bedpost (teehee): Starwood's new eco-friendly, low-priced chain announced today that they'll be installing an electric car charging station at its Lexington property.

Almost as cool as the Charles Hotel's Juice Bar, Carbon Day Automotive has established a partnership with Starwood to split the cost of installing one of their ChargePoint Charging Stations in Lexington, slated to be up and running tomorrow. These stations offer universal plug-ins for electric cars, buses, Segway scooters and bikes, and "subscriptions" are sold in units of "sessions," which the Chargepoint site describes as a "transaction that covers the entire charging sequence from plug-in to plug-out."

As long as you're subscribed, all you need to do is swipe a keyfob to charge your electric vehicle at the station (you don't have to be an Element guest to use it) — and the sweet thing about this particular brand of charger is that you can actually locate a nearby station and check to see whether or not it's occupied — right from your smartphone (as long as it's got Google Maps functionality).

This is another component of Element's green transportation program; recall that these hotels promote green go-go-go-ing by giving better parking spots to people cruising around in hybrid or electric cars, and they'll loan bikes to guests for free.

Tags: 2009 Brand Expansion Report / Hotel Brands / Industry News / Aloft Hotels / Element Hotels / Hotel Indigo / Andaz Hotels / Edition Hotels / Barry Sternlicht / NYLO Hotels / → All Tags

Brands Born in the Recession: Where Are They Now?

It's no secret that the economy has had a massive impact on the hotel industry. Hotel openings have been delayed; construction has been halted on properties in development; jobs have been lost; room rates have been slashed — but the last several years also saw a boom in the introduction of new brands and a handful of entirely new, supposedly game-changing segments (the "budget chic" pack, for example).

Naturally, with the introduction of each new brand came a wave of hype and some big, big expansion plans — and then came the recession. Needless to say, those big plans changed.

Here's a look at the current state of some of those newer brands — a progress report, if you will — that outlines how many properties each brand had planned on when the concept was introduced, how many properties they've actually opened as of mid-2009, and, of course, how they're faring out there in the cold, brutal world.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Rumors / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Industry News / Budget Hotels / Aloft Hotels / Element Hotels / Sam Chang / → All Tags

Element and Aloft Are Coming to Manhattan. Someday.

Not to bum you out on a Friday or anything, but we were hearing some sorta-sad whispers about a pack of budget hotels planned for Manhattan that are getting seriously delayed. Specifically, budget hotel guru Sam Chang — the dude behind many, many affordable hotel developments in the NYC area — and his McSam Hotel Group have delayed starting construction on five projects planned for Manhattan. We already knew McSam's Tri-Pack hotel was having some issues and delays, but some of the upcoming hotels are already facing major setbacks before any shovels have hit the dirt.

But what hotels are they? We took a lookie-look at the glorious HVS Hotel Market Overview this morning (which seems to have finally been updated) and noticed McSam has had quite a few irons in the fire, including a Hyatt Place, a Hilton Garden Inn and — no joke — an Element for Manhattan.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Technology / Hotel Amenities / Starwood Hotels / Hotel News / Aloft Hotels / Element Hotels / Four Points by Sheraton / → All Tags

Aloft, Element and Four Points Introduce 'Digital Newsstands'

Whoa. Sweet. Just when we thought Amazon Kindles topped the list of awesome tech offerings for word nerds and news junkies, we hear about this: Starwood announced this week that they've entered into a partnership with Zinio (a company that digitally publishes print magazine titles) to offer a "Digital Newsstand" for free to guests in Aloft, Element, and Four Points by Sheraton hotel properties.

According to a press release:

The digital newsstand, which will be accessible in Starwood's guest rooms and lobby kiosks, will offer participating titles including: Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream, Golf Fitness Magazine, Kiteboarding, Macworld, mental_floss, Outside, Outside's GO, PC World, Saveur, Ski Magazine, Skiing, Spa Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Wakeboarding and Working Mother. Also, Starwood will be the first hotel company to offer VIVmag, the first interactive digital women's luxury-lifestyle magazine, conceived and designed exclusively to be read digitally.

To access the digital newsstand during your stay, you click through from the internet portal page (on your laptop in your room or on a lobby kiosk) "to the private-label newsstand where free single issues will be featured," pick the magazine you want to read, register for Zinio, and read mags to your heart's content.

more ›

Tags: Industry News / Aloft Hotels / NYLO Hotels / Element Hotels / The New York Times / → All Tags

Breaking: New Brands Not Growing As Quickly As Originally Planned

Remember when Aloft, NYLO, Element and Indigo were announced [Ed Note: wow, that early Aloft post makes us feel as nostalgic and wistful as our high school yearbook], back in simpler times when the insanely rapid expansion plans of the mid-priced hip hotel brands seemed only sorta-insanely rapid but still somewhat feasible?

Ah, those were the days...and those days are gone. A New York Times article ran today that spelled out just how much the growth of those new budgety brands has varied from those rather-hopeful initial goals due to the recession and its impact on travel.

NYLO, for instance, had always planned on a franchise model for growth — but they'd planned to build and operate the first few hotels themselves and then franchise the rest, and had 40 franchises in the works when the brand first launched — but now a rep told the Times that they'd be "lucky 30 hotels open by the end of 2011."

However, the NYLO exec still seemed to have high hopes for their spinoff XP brand, which he hopes, once the economy turns around, will be a little bit easier to "build and sell" than a NYLO-branded hotel because it is a limited-service brand, not a full-service hotel like NYLO.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Openings / Starwood Hotels / Element Hotels / → All Tags

The World's Third Element Hits Houston Today

Where: 14555 Vintage Preserve Parkway [map], Houston, TX, United States, 77070

While the music junkies, artists and techies have descended upon Austin for SXSW, there has been another grand arrival in the Lone Star State — Houston, to be specific: the third oh-so-friendly Element Hotel opens today. And by "friendly" we mean environmentally-friendly, wallet-friendly, and 2009-friendly.

Dallas is usually the first Texas town to receive the newest budget-chic brands (the first NYLO hit Dallas before any other city, and the honor of having the first Texas Aloft was given to DFW as well), so we're happy Space City's finally receiving some love. Located in Vintage Park, an area of Houston with lots o' shopping and offices, the Element Houston Vintage Park is about a 20-minute drive from the Houston airport and less than a half hour from downtown.

The property is going for its LEED certification within its first year (as all Elements are required to do) and the property takes its green principles from the building's fixtures to the parking lot: guests arriving hybrid cars are get priority parking.

more ›

Tags: Green Hotels / Travelocity / Kimpton Hotels / Hilton Garden Inns / Element Hotels / → All Tags

Travelocity Keeps Tabs on Hotels Keen to be Green

Finally collecting the world's sustainable hotel properties and top eco destinations into one list, Travelocity has launched the Green Directory with the aim of connecting travelers to "options that will help to diminish the footprint their trips leave on the planet."

All we can say is that it's about time a popular booking engine drew attention to these properties working to improve and innovate. Showcasing approximately 250 environmentally responsible hotels on the international list, Travelocity points out some obvious choices like the LEED platinum Proximity Hotel and Element Hotels while surprising us by including affordable chains like Hilton Garden Inn and Kimpton Hotels. The list includes properties doing more than just planting saplings, but serving organic and local cuisine, reducing water usage, recycling, and even going so far as carbon neutrality.

Matching the dedication of these hotels is Travelocity itself as they have joined in the talks for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria; this means that one day, hotels hoping for the "earth-friendly" label will have to run through Travelocity's eco-gamut first. The Green Directory may be one small step for hospitality, but it's totally one giant leap for the "greenvolution."

[Fairmont St. Andrews photo: Travelocity]

Tags: Snapshot / Element Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags

Element Las Vegas is the Westin's Much Prettier Sibling

Where: 10555 Discovery Drive [map], Summerlin, NV, United States, 89135

The Element Las Vegas became the second Element Hotel to open last month and we were anxiously awaiting photos all over our holiday vacation (Not really.) While Santa Claus didn't bring us any, a very nice tipster sent us this glossy photo of the hotel's exterior. We actually thought it was a rendering at first but upon closer inspection, we think it's kind of legit. (Larger picture can be seen here.)

Like Aloft is a spin-off of W Hotels, Element is a spin-off of Westin Hotels--created for extended-stay travelers who want nicer, relaxing digs while they are traveling and working.

So far, there aren't any reviews on TripAdvisor to check out but if they are anything like the Element Lexington property, this hotel will be doing A-OK in 2009.

Rates are currently going for about $165 a night.

Tags: Element Hotels / Hotel Openings / Las Vegas Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags

An Element Hotel Opens Just Outside Las Vegas

Where: 1055 Discovery Drive [map], Summerlin, NV, United States, 89135

Amazingly, it looks like the brand-new Element Las Vegas might have a white opening today. Starwood Hotels has just announced the opening of their second-ever Element Hotel in the Summerlin suburb of Las Vegas, which was dumped with snow the other day.

The hotel's 123 rooms were designed for extended-stay living so all are equipped with a pull-out sofa bed, a full kitchen, and furniture and amenities to create your own sort of home office like swiveling desks and free wireless. Since it's an Element brand, the focus on green living is an important one too as this hotel will strive for LEED certification.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Delays / Element Hotels / Dallas Hotel Scene / Aloft Hotels / → All Tags

Element Irving Delayed Until February

Where: 3550 Highway 635 [map], Irving, TX, United States, 75063

For now, the Dallas/Fort Worth area -- who, it seems, is always one of the first cities in the country to see properties from new chains -- will have to make do with their sparkling new Alofts to get their Starwood fixes for now.

Element Irving, which we had originally heard would be opening on November 1st (this Saturday), is delayed. Per their website, the first Element in Texas won't be offering up its eco-conscious rooms until February 19th, 2009. While we'd like to think the folks out there changed their minds about the decidedly blah design and wanted to some extra time to jazz it up a bit, it's probably just another hotel construction delay.

Meanwhile, Aloft Las Colinas is officially up and running, though there are no reviews on TripAdvisor just yet and we haven't heard much about it (tipsters?). Aloft Plano, however, has us scratching our heads: last we checked, the hotel still seemed on track for its November 20th opening. Then we hopped on over to their website and saw they were taking reservations for arrival on or after November 13th; then we called, where an outgoing voicemail informed us the hotel would be "opening October 2008." So, Aloft Plano is, er, coming soon-ish.