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No More Weekdays at The Water Club (Again)
Just in case you weren’t convinced that the cool weather is here to stay in the Northeast, here’s a big hint by way of Atlantic City: The Water Club at the Borgata is closing up shop on weeknights. And if you think you’ve heard this song before, you’re not going crazy: the Water Club also closed rooms midweek back in March, when business was slow, re-opening for the summer party season in May.
Guests wishing to stay at the property Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays can be accommodated at big brother, the Borgata, and it doesn’t look like all weekdays will be blackouts. When we checked out the online reservation system, we noticed that the week of November 15 is showing up as available, from $209 a night. Also, you can crash at the Water Club for just $159 a night tomorrow night.
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The Elbow Beach Hotel in Bermuda Gets Moved to Friday Nights
The Elbow Beach Hotel in Bermuda, a Mandarin Oriental hotel, has decided to close down its 100-year-old main building at the end of November because it was pretty much just for show and besides, the hotel is building a newer, better, bigger resort behind it. As if! But remember those days when hotels could do that sort of stuff on a whim?
No, the Elbow Beach Hotel is closing down the old building because of--you guessed it--the economy. And even worse, the hotel is going to lay off about 160 workers between now and November.
ABC News reports that 131 rooms will be closed, leaving essentially only the 98 luxury suites and cottages open to guests. The hotel would like to renovate the old building during its closure (which should last for several years) but there are no firm plans. The hotel will also outsource its food and beverage operations as well.
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The Overhaul of the Hotel Bel-Air Begins Today
The iconic 63-year-old Hotel Bel-Air closes today for a massive multimillion-dollar renovation that'll take two years to complete.
Burrowed among the canyons in L.A., the hotel's hosted a slew of stars, from Grace Kelly, Jackie Gleason, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe to Oprah, Robin Williams, Hillary Swank and Nicole Kidman. Despite its star-packed clientele, the hotel was in desperate need of an Extreme Makeover: Hotel Edition.
To keep its luxury cred, the hotel will renovate its 91 rooms and suites, Champagne Bar, restaurant and private dining rooms. The Hotel Bel-Air also will add 12 villas on it 12-acre grounds and a new spa with seven treatment rooms and three junior spa suites. General manager Tim Lee told the L.A. Times that technology needs to be updated, as 99 percent of guests can't use their cell phones at the hotel. And we won't even get into those caveman-like big-box TVs in the rooms.
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The Quail Lodge in Carmel Closing Down in November
Some sad news outta Carmel. The Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley will close its hotel operations on November 16.Last week, owner Neil Galloway announced the closure of the hotel side of the golf resort, citing that even though the company heavily invested in the hotel and "we've worked hard" the Quail Lodge has had a net loss every single year for the past eight years.
Even in 2007, a record year for the hospitality industry, the Quail Lodge still lost money. For that reason, hotel operations will be shut down and the closure is expected to be permanent. Since the hotel is part of a golf resort and club, Galloway says that side will still remain open to the 300+ members and that they will continue to service events, but reductions in some services will also be made.
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The Maui Prince To Remain Open; Hilton Portland to Close for a Few Selected Weeks
The water will not run dry at the Maui Prince.
Some good news for Hawaii: The Maui Prince Hotel will actually not be closing next month as was first reported earlier this week. Instead, the hotel will remain open under new management.
There was always a possibility that the hotel would not close if it could get a new management company to come in and run the place. But interestingly, Wells Fargo--the bank that's now in charge of the hotel, thanks to its owners defaulting on the mortgage--would not say which company is managing the hotel. Any of you know which company it is? Spill it.
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Maui Owie: The Maui Prince to Close Next Month
The first Hawaiian hotel casualty of the recession has been claimed--The Maui Prince Hotel and Makena Golf Course will close on September 16, according to news reports. The hotel's management company, Prince Resorts Hawaii, was forced to close the hotel after the owners defaulted on a mortgage of $192.5 million. And it wasn't just the mortgage the owners couldn't keep up with--they couldn't keep up with their end of the operation contract either.
So while a hotel in foreclosure usually doesn't affect the guest experience during their stay, once the hotel owners are unable to meet the demands of their contract with the hotel management company, then things really start to go south.
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Versace’s Former Mansion to Turn Into Nightclub
Widely considered the third most photographed house in America (behind the White House and Graceland), Casa Casuarina is set to become South Beach’s newest nightclub.
More than a decade ago, telecommunications magnate Peter Loftin snapped up the Ocean Drive mansion after former owner, fashion icon Gianni Versace was gunned down on the property’s front steps. Over the years, Loftin has played around with making the lavish 20,000 square foot estate profitable – from running a private invite-only club (memberships at $35,000 a pop) to a 10-bedroom hotel, and most recently, opening up the grounds for tours.
Loftin recently teamed up with Scott Rothstein, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and investor to convert the 1930’s building into Bova@Casa Casuarina.
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Hotel Bel-Air To Close Next Month for Much-Needed Renovations
We've always been a little perplexed as to how the Hotel Bel-Air was consistently ranked amongst the best hotels in Los Angeles, winning Best Decor from the Zagat Guide and the #1 Reader's Choice from Travel + Leisure. There's no question that the grounds are beautiful and the service top-rate--it is a Dorchester Collection hotel after all. But a hotel can only coast on that for so long.
In this day and age when in-room amenity trends are changing at lightning speed (flat screen TVs are standard; hotels now use Keurigs instead of Mr. Coffee makers), a luxury hotel cannot afford to be bested by a cheap boutique hotel that stays up to date while they've still got armoires and chunky box TVs in rooms.
And despite the attentive staff and serene canyon views, the inside of the Hotel Bel-Air was starting to show its age. In fact, over a year ago we hinted that the hotel was in need of a makeover. But guess what? The hotel will finally get it.
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No Surprise Here: The Block Hotel Put on The Chopping Block
Not surprisingly, the snowboarder hotel, The Block at Big Bear Lake, Calif. is now up for sale. Atlas Hospitality Group is selling the hotel for just over $2 million. Actually, it's a court-ordered sale which likely means that The Block forfeited on its loans.
Aimed at snowboarders and other young folk and once a subject of a G4 reality TV show, the hotel brand (there was another location in Tahoe) could never deliver on hospitality. The NY Times once reviewed it saying it was like "camping out at Urban Outfitters." And how could we forget the staff profiles
However, it seems like there's also something a little more sinister beneath the surface as Boardistan.com reports that The Block hotelier Liko Smith was arrested for a few few things including failure to pay transient occupancy taxes. Ugh.
[Photo: Atlas Hospitality]
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Historic Hotel Sadly Rides Off into the Sunset
Watching a once-great hotel let herself go is as sad as any Hollywood crash-and-burn, if you ask us. And frankly, that sentiment extends beyond hotels we’ve personally watched rise and fall. So even though we've never been, we’re shedding a special tear for the shuttering of the historic Eklund Hotel, an Old West hotel in tiny Clayton, New Mexico, complete with a resident ghost named Irene and a saloon with a bullet hole-pierced tin ceiling.
Reports the AP: “The Eklund’s closing comes just five years after completion of a $2.3 million renovation of the stately, three-story sandstone block building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.”
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The Roof Caves In at The Fontainebleau
UPDATE: A Fontainebleu rep tells us that contrary to early reports, LIV and Blade sushi were NOT totalled but rather just closed that evening as a safety precaution. All of the Fontainbleau outlets were open and fully operational the next day.
Over the weekend, a rough bunch of storms swept through Miami Beach and did some may-jah damage to The Fontainebleau Hotel, which opened only seven months ago after nearly $1 billion renovations were finally completed. While South Florida has been dealing with heavy rains for several days, the storm that blew in brought along with it hail, something maybe those renos didn't account for.
According to Metromix South Florida, parts of the roof in the main lobby and entrance caved in and the hotel's nightclub, LIV, was flooded as was its sushi restaurant, Blade. A Twitterer says the sushi restaurant was totaled and LIV will be closed for a while. Meanwhile, the hotel hooked up the guests with a complimentary buffet and open bar on Saturday night.
Other hotels were affected by the storm and subsequent flooding too. The Florida Room at The Delano was closed just because of the downpour and the area around the Standard Miami was entirely flooded. Nobu at The Shore Club was also reportedly under two feet of water. One place that was reportedly high and dry? BLT Steak at the just-opened Betsy Hotel.
[Photo: AlfredSpellman]
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What Will Happen to the Now-Closed Four Seasons Great Exuma?
Sad: the Four Seasons Great Exuma in the Bahamas officially closed on Tuesday. As we reported earlier in the month, the property had been in "receivership" (sorta a last-ditch attempt to avoid bankruptcy), and its owner, Emerald Bay Resort Holdings Ltd., about two years ago.
The hotel was apparently going to be sold to someone else earlier in the year, but the deal fell through in March — forcing the property to close entirely this week. And now, sorta sadly, when we visit the hotel's website, all we get is:
Thank you for your interest in Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma.
We regret to inform you that the resort is now closed. We would be delighted to help you with alternate travel plans at one of our other hotels or resorts for the dates you are travelling.
Cue sad trumpet. Wonder what's going to happen to the hotel site now that FS is gone? Is it just going to sit there empty? Anything? Anyone? Bueller?
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