Tag: Hot Hotelier News
View All TagsIceland Hotels / Klaus Ortlieb / Hot Hotelier News / Hostels / Kid-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags
Klaus Ortlieb Resurfaces in Reykjavik
It's been a while since we've heard of hotelier Klaus Ortlieb, the man behind several hip NYC hotels like Cooper Square-now-Standard East Village Hotel, the excellent LES spot, THOR and even the super skinny Gotham Hotel on 46th Street. But at last we've got some new chatter on KO.
We've learned he's taken his hotel magic to Reykjavik in Iceland for the Hlemmur Square Hotel.
The hotel is described as "affordable yet stylish hostel accommodations" but the joint also promises "luxurious hotel rooms" under the same roof. Bu-bu-but how can that possibly be? Well, it just simply is. The hotel explains on their website:
To us it makes perfect sense, we are able to bring a little luxury to the world of hosteling and a bit of that “get to know your fellow man and buy him a drink” feeling to an upscale hotel. Iceland is the best place for it, always willing to experiment with pushing boundaries.
HotelChatter 2012 Awards / Sam Nazarian / SLS Hotels / sbe / Hot Hotelier News / → All Tags
Hotelier of the Year: Sam Nazarian Lights Up SLS (and Others)
It's that time of year again: the 2012 HotelChatter Awards! Between last Friday and today, we're showcasing the best (and worst) of hotels over the past year. But we couldn't do it without you! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or shoot us an email. And the Award goes to...
2012 was exactly the exciting year for the hotel world we hoped it would be with more new hotels open than we've seen in a long time. And as we've already mentioned, one of those hotel openings that had us crazy excited was the SLS South Beach.
After years of speculation--will it open or will it just fade away?--hotelier Sam Nazarian managed to open the long-awaited spin-off to the SLS at Beverly Hills. And the SLS South Beach does not disappoint from its kinky bedrooms (hello, mirrors on the ceilings) to its so-hot-right-now selection of restaurants and lounges to the celebrity designers who put their rock star touches on the place.
While the SLS South Beach is not for everyone--once could successfully argue that it's just a nightclub and restaurant with rooms attached--the Shah of SLS has managed to transport his nightlife je nais se quoi into the hotel realm. After all, who doesn't want to party in Lenny Kravitz's poolside bungalow or eat sushi at Katsuya and get wasted at Hyde? Certainly most of the people who head to Miami for its lively party scene. And Nazarian's only just getting started.
Ian Schrager / Public Hotels / Chicago Hotels / Hotel News / Hot Hotelier News / → All Tags
Ian Schrager Talks NYC Plans and Politics at Public Chicago's Anniversary Party
Hotelier boss-dog Ian Schrager talks with HC on hotels, politics, and a side of disco
We're not very good at hiding when we have a crush on a hotel brand, so we'll fess up to being Public Chicago devotees. It was launched by hotelier-extraordinaire Ian Schrager on October 11, 2011 and is celebrating its one-year anniversary.
To mark the occassion, Schrager brought in his buddy, old-school Studio 54 DJ John "Jellybean" Benitez (you wouldn't know Madonna without him)to man the turntables and rock the crowd.
We were thrilled to be invited to a party where even Billy Zane couldn't stop grooving, but before we danced, we took a few minutes to ask Schrager about his latest hotel plans and what financial advice he'd give Chi-Town's own President Obama.
Hotel Restaurants / Hotel News / Standard Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Andre Balazs / Locavore Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / → All Tags
Yes, You Can Now Munch On Fresh Veggies Grown At Andre Balazs' Upstate NY Farm
Not too long ago, we heard rumors about Andre Balazs, the man who concocted one of New York City's most iconic hotels, spending time upstate, raising chickens and generally enjoying a quieter life in the country.
Well, now he's back from his sabbatical, and he's putting his produce to the test with a new seasonal cafe that's popped up outside the Standard New York. That's right—in the same spot where you once saw public art by KAWS, went ice skating, and enjoyed a little softcore porn, you can now munch on Andre Balazs' homegrown tomatoes. Ain't life grand?
Hot Hotelier News / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Sean MacPherson / Hotel Openings / Hotel Construction / → All Tags
A Closer Look At Sean MacPherson's Pants...And Two New NYC Hotels
What is hot NYC hotelier Sean MacPherson up to these days, aside from wearing army surplus khakis and grilling fish over an open fire? Not too much else, actually.
A NY TImes "What I Wore" column over the weekend profiled MacPherson, focusing specifically on his Hamptons chic attire—yet we managed to scrounge up a few hotel-related tidbits along the way.
MacPherson mentions how he normally spends "all day every Wednesday at my two current hotel construction sites," which immediately brought up two questions in our mind: first, are these places in Manhattan, or Long Island? The article seems to imply that MacPherson is speaking about New York City, but it's never explicitly stated. And second, are these two brand new projects? Or continuations of properties we already knew about?
Time to put our thinking caps on.
Hot Hotelier News / Hotel News / King and Grove Hotels / Ben Pundole / Ed Scheetz / Jeff Klein / Ian Schrager / → All Tags
King & Grove Hotels Lose Key Founder But May Partner Up with Jeff Klein
It's been a busy year for King & Grove Hotels, the boutique hotel brand started by former Morgans Hotel Group CEO Ed Scheetz and Ben Pundole, the former Director of Entertainment at Morgans. (You may remember him as the man who brought SPiN Ping Pong to the Mondrian LA.)
King & Grove started out just over a year ago with two boutique properties in the Hamptons before going on to assume management of The Tides South Beach, the Hotel Williamsburg, the Hotel Chelsea and the Hotel Lola as well as plotting out two hotels for downtown Los Angeles. But it looks like all the fast expansion has taken its toll on the brand's foundation--specifically Pundole.
The NY Post reports that Pundole resigned from K&G on Thursday after the promise of ownership and control of the company from Scheetz and K&G's other owner Joseph Chetrit--whose Chetrit Group has bought several of the hotels that K&G is operating--fell through. A source gave the lowdown on the exit to the Post:
Ben has been treated pretty unfairly. Ben created Ruschmeyer’s, which has been a wild success, and was the creator of this new hotel brand. He found and hired most of the employees and even found the Williamsburg, which they purchased on his suggestion, and now he’s walking away with nothing. Chetrit and Scheetz are taking his hard work, contacts and hip following.
Hot Hotelier News / Ian Schrager / Hotel Trends / Hotel Design / Hotel Bellmen / → All Tags
What Ian Schrager Expects From Hotels of the Future (Or At Least Next Year)
Conde Nast Traveler interviewed hotelier Ian Schrager about the three biggest trends he expects to see from hotels in 2013. Sorry, all you good-looking bellmen currently employed by too-cool boutique hotels--you might be out of the job.
Schrager says that hotels will start stripping down and getting rid of "flourishes" like elaborate room service menus, fine china and even bellman.
If you’ve gotten your bag through the airport, you can likely get it up to your room without six guys—and the need to tip each one.
Whoa. Has Schrager been reading our hotel diary? (Apparently so.) Schrager also says functionality is in, while fancy schmancy is out.
Marble fixtures don’t equal luxury anymore. What’s luxurious is at least three square feet on which you can spread out your toiletries.
HotelChatter 2011 Awards / Hot Hotelier News / Ian Schrager / → All Tags
Hotelier of The Year: The Public Antics of Ian Schrager
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2011 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
Incredibly, in the history of HotelChatter Awards*, we have never given the Hotelier of the Year Award to Ian Schrager. But he's finally earned the honor in 2011 and that's all thanks to his well-executed vision for Public Hotels.
Sure, this year wasn't entirely perfect for Ian, thanks to a pesky lawsuit from the owners of the Waikiki Edition, now the Modern Honolulu, who claimed that Schrager has essentially bailed on the development in order to focus on Public. (You can read his official statement on the "frivolous" lawsuit here.)
He also gave up control of the Gramercy Park Hotel late last year which was pretty shocking, given how much fanfare went into the hotel's opening, the parade of celebrity guests who spent the night and how could we forget, the discriminating door policy for the Rose Bar.
But not only did we like what Public turned out to be, we liked how Ian took this new hotel brand public, if you will.
Hotel Openings / Palihotels / Palihouse Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / Avi Brosh / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Hotelier Avi Brosh Returns with Palihotel Melrose Avenue, Opening in February
Three years after opening his stylish extended-stay hotel, Palihouse Holloway in West Hollywood, and over a year after ceding his vision for Palihouse Hollywood to Sam Nazarian's SBE empire, Los Angeles hotelier Avi Brosh is once again back on top with the Palihotel on Melrose Avenue opening in February 2012.
The 32-room boutique hotel is envisioned as a "European neighborhood inn" which is quite the opposite of the Palihouse Holloway, specifically regarding the size of the guestrooms. Where Palihouse rooms start at 600-sq.ft., the rooms at Palihotel will measure about 250-sq.ft. and come in Twin or Queen categories.
And while rooms at Palihouse have little kitchenettes, guests at the Palihotel will instead head down to the Palikitchen, a coffee shop/cafe that will service breakfast, lunch and dinner in a self-service format.
Of course, the trade-off is that rooms at the Palihotel will be crazy affordable, starting at $150 a night.
London Hotels / JW Marriott Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / Royal Hotels / Stuart Bowery / Olympics 2012 Hotels / → All Tags
The Grosvenor Used to Have an Ice Rink (and Other Tidbits From Hotelier Stuart Bowery)
His name aside, hotelier Stuart Bowery has absolutely nothing to do with the eponymous New York hotel. Bowery resides across the pond in London, where he manages the comparably luxe Grosvenor property. Bowery recently received profile treatment from Air & Business Travel News, where he had some interesting things to say about the local hotel scene in the wake of London's disastrous riots and in the lead up to next year's Olympic Games.
Celebrity Scoop / Hotel Rumors / Andre Balazs / Chelsea Handler / Hot Hotelier News / → All Tags
Andre and Chelsea Again...Handler, Not The Hotel
UPDATE, 10.11.11: While DNAInfo.com quoted Balazs as saying that they aren't going to turn the Cooper Square into another Standard, we are hearing the exact opposite now: The Cooper Square will be a Standard Hotel. We're furiously chasing down more leads and we promise more detes to come.
So hottie hotelier Andre Balazs had the good sense to pass on scooping up the Chelsea Hotel but there's one Chelsea he's still holding onto--our fave Jersery girl, Chelsea Handler.
The twosome were spotted in Beverly Hills this week doing the usual schmoopie thing but looking mighty good doing it.
Meanwhile, back in New York it looks like Balazs' plans for taking over the Cooper Square Hotel are going swimmingly. DNAInfo.com has a detailed report from a community liquor license meeting and it seems like most of the residents are pleased with his takeover, provided that he doesn't turn the space into another Standard.
Dream Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / Vikram Chatwal / Lindsay Lohan / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Well, At Least Lindsay Lohan Can Always Get a Free Room at a Dream Hotel
Ladies, dating the club promoter for the hottest club in town is sooo last decade. The new dating up trend is now hoteliers, or so Lindsay Lohan thinks.
We've long suspected that Lohan has been using dating the Dream Downtown's hotelier, Vikram Chatwal, but now it looks like The Superficial has the proof.
The gossip site posted a series of photos of Lohan and Vik inside Vik's apartment in Soho doing whatever it is two people like Lohan and Vik do. Apparently, these shots were taken before Lohan's disastrous attempt to get into some Fashion Week parties at the Dream Hotel.
