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Tags: Hotel Openings / Chicago Hotels / Hotel Hype / Kimpton Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Palomar Chicago Won't Open Until May But You Can Make a Rezzie Now

Where: 505 North State Street [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60654

UPDATE: The hotel's reps tell us that it will actually open a few weeks before May 1. So Spring 2010 is the preferred opening time frame. Rezzies are still being accepted for May 1 and beyond.

Just as you start to hunker down for the winter in Chicago, we'd like to give you something to look forward to when the ice thaws--the upcoming Hotel Palomar Chicago has just announced that it will be opening in May 2010.

Located in Chi-town's River North neighborhood the 261-room hotel will be as Kimpton as you expect it to be (stylish decor, eco-friendly practices, free wine hours etc.) but it will also have a heated indoor pool and sundeck and a restaurant adjacent to the hotel with what will be "the city's largest mixology station." Um. Yeah, you will find us here at 5pm. Not in the lobby drinking wine.

Now, May is a long ways off so forgive us if we're not clicking immediately to make a reservation but for those of you who can't wait, the hotel is accepting reservations for May 1. Rates start at $190 a night for a king deluxe room.

Tags: Hotel Hype / Westin Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Disney World Hotels / Orlando Hotels / → All Tags

Starwood To Cram in More Westin Hotels Before 2010

More Westin Heavenly Beds for Everyone!

If you're into Westin Hotels and white tea scents then you'll be happy to know that Starwood Hotels plans on opening six Westin Hotels before the year is out. The WSJ reports:

The company, based in White Plains, N.Y., will cut the ribbon on two new Westins--one near the Washington Dulles Airport and the other in Orlando--on Thursday. The rest, built from the ground up, will open in China and India by the end of the year.

Mickey Mouse and Westin? That sounds so dirty. And so good.

But there's already a Westin in Orlando near Disney World called The Westin Imagine Orlando. The newest Orlando hotel is actually the Westin Lake Mary, Orlando North. Yeah, it's a mouthful. The hotel, which opened on November 12, is located in the center of Florida's High Tech Corridor and while corporate offices for companies like Allstate, Mitsubishi, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Scholastic are within a few miles away, Disney World and more fun attractions are about 40 minutes away. (Room rates start at $159 a night.)

So Starwood might be cramming in the rest of their Westins for 2009 but they are kind of ho-hum hotels.

Next year, Westin will plan on opening 12 more hotels in more exotic locations like Mexico, Canada, Greece and Japan. And we fully expect the signature white tea scent to be wafting throughout every one of them.

Tags: Autograph Collection / Marriott Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Brands / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Will You Want Marriott's Autograph (Hotels?)

The news is official: Marriott Hotels has unveiled a new brand, The Autograph Collection.

As we mentioned the other day, this new collection will consist of independent hotels that will retain their individuality but have access to the Marriott reservations systems and guests can use and earn Marriott rewards points here.

Here's the official statement from Marriott's VP of brand management, Don Semmler.

"The Autograph Collection will take the innovative approach of grouping these iconic hotels according to the unique experience that guests are seeking whether it's a resort, historic hotel, boutique arts, or urban edge hotel in a dynamic gateway city. Each hotel will be highly unique and distinct with its own identity, appealing to a growing segment of our customers who are looking for an experience that an independent hotel can deliver."

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Tags: Hotel Hype / Intercontinental Hotels / Hotel News / London Hotels / → All Tags

Intercontinental's Next London Hotel: Way Better Than We Thought

Where: 28 Broadway, London, United Kingdom, SW1H 9JX

When it was announced this weekend that Intercontinental were opening up a second hotel in London, we weren’t too excited.

For one, we’re not the biggest fans of the Park Lane branch - totally lacking in fizz, if you ask us. For another, the location they’ve chosen - Queen Anne’s Chambers in Westminster is a place we used to pass most days on our way to work, and it always seemed like more of a commuter ratrun than somewhere you’d actually want to stay. Also, it’s next door to police HQ New Scotland Yard, and that made us feel a bit queasy too.

But to give it a fair hearing, we popped over to see the building site today – and we take it all back. Intercontinental Westminster has the potential to be a fabulous hotel.

For a start, it’s not as small as it looks from the façade in the picture here. Because that’s just the front façade. The hotel’s actually going to take up four buildings, across three streets. Yup, three: Broadway, where the entrance will be, along a block of Tothill Street and down Dean Farrar Street round the back. Think of it as a triangle shape, with all the space in the middle belonging to the hotel as well. It sounds fantastic.

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Tags: Hotel Hype / 21C Museum Hotels / Cincinnati Hotels / Museum Hotels / → All Tags

A New 21C Museum Hotel Will Open in Cincinnati

Where: Cincinnati, OH, United States

The 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville.

A reader in Ohio tipped us off last night about this excellent news for downtown Cincinnati--The 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky will open its second hotel in the old Metropole Hotel next year. And in living up to the museum part of its name, the new hotel will play a huge role in the city's burgeoning contemporary art scene.

Here are some detes from the press release:

The new 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati will be located adjacent to the Contemporary Arts Center and across the street from the Aronoff Center for the Arts. 21c Museum Hotels is working with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation on the restoration, scheduled to begin next fall. The total expected cost for the project is $45 million.

21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati will offer 160 rooms, an 8,000 square-foot contemporary art museum open to the public free of charge, and a Proof restaurant and bar serving contemporary cuisine made with locally grown ingredients.

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Tags: Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / Kimpton Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Kimpton's Next Hotel in NYC Will Be Quite an Eventi

Now that Ink48 is up and running, it’s time for the seemingly unstoppable folks at Kimpton to start focusing on their next New York property: Hotel Eventi in Chelsea. As with some of its other properties (such as Miami’s Epic), the hotel will share space with apartments, in this case rentals. The Eventi will also share its entire-city-block with retail stores and an outdoor plaza with public seating.

Even better, the developers plan to construct a 20-foot wide screen to be used in the plaza for public and private events. The hotel’s restaurant will also have a long dining terrace overlooking the plaza.

Exterior construction has been progressing above Sixth Avenue in recent months, so it must be almost time to send in the interiors designer. Colum McCartan will bring Eventi’s 287 guest rooms to life, while Philip Koether Architects and Syd Mead will work on the multi-level bar and restaurant, which will be operated by China Grill Management, and the residential section of the building. There are no room renderings to peek at just yet but for an idea of McCartan’s work, take a look at his interiors at Le Parker Meridien New York, Hotel Adagio and Hotel Vitale in San Francisco, and Hotel Sax in Chicago.

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Tags: Hotel Delays / Hotel Hype / Hotel Openings / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / → All Tags

Mandarin Oriental Barcelona Will Now Open on November 26th

Where: Passeig de Gracia 38-40, Barcelona, Spain, 08007

Oh Barcelona, you’re pretty n all, but we could do without your mañana mañana attitude spoiling our hotel plans. First the W pushed back its opening date no less than three times, and now it’s the turn of the Mandarin Oriental.

Last time we checked, the hotel was due to open on October 29. But when we hadn't heard any fanfare today, and checked out the hotel’s website to find the calendar showing “no availability”, we smelt a rat.

So we just called Mandarin Oriental’s PR people, and they told us the hotel is scheduled to open on 26 November. So that’s delay number one. But we’re expecting a delay number two, seeing as the website’s not taking reservations until 15 December. Hmm.

Opening rates, if they are opening December 15, are showing up as €284 ($421/£254) at the moment, although there’s an intriguing note on the booking page saying that “most rooms accommodate 3 people.” Er, surely the kind of people paying that amount of money won’t want to share with two others? Unless, of course, we're being, um, naive.

Here’s hoping all will be revealed on 26 November. In the mean time, how nice does that rooftop pool look? Shame it'll be too cold to use when they finally let us in.

Tags: Hotel Hype / Four Seasons Hotels / Beirut Hotels / → All Tags

Four Seasons Beirut Will Open in December

Where: 1418 Professor Wafic Sinno Avenue, Minet El Hosn, Beirut, Lebanon, 2020 4107

For all you Four Seasons loyalists out there, you have a new reason to visit Beirut. The Four Seasons Beirut will be opening there in December, joining other Middle East sister properties such as Amman, Damascus, Doha and Riyadh.

The hotel plans to play off its nickname of "The Paris of the Middle East" by giving each room and suite its own private terraces with views of the city, the mountains and the Mediterranean. The hotel will even get a little Miami spice with a rooftop pool that turns into a cocktail and tapas lounge at night. (Expect the pool to open later in Spring 2010.) Rounding out the amenities are a full-service spa, two restaurants and three lounge/bar areas.

There's no word on exact opening date or how much rooms will be, but this is a Four Seasons--you know what to expect.

Tags: Sneak Peek / 10 Hot NYC Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

A Sneak Peek at The Surrey Hotel

Where: 20 East 76th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10021

While the Crosby Street Hotel wowed us in downtown Manhattan, a sneak peek at The Surrey Hotel left us breathless uptown. If you love The Carlyle, then you will love The Surrey which has the same elegance as The Carlyle, except it's now newer. (And it's just a block away.)

The hotel won't soft-open until October 15 but we took a tour with the hotel's designer Lauren Rottet the other week and got a sneak peek at this model room on the 12th floor.

This is a Grand Deluxe Salon which averages about 330-sq.ft. and features a little sitting area off to the side of the bed. Aside from loving the soft gray color scheme, we found ourselves admiring the hand-painted armoire which holds the flat-screen TV. Usually, we despise armoires in hotel rooms but this one was just too pretty to resist.

The rooms also feature a mirrored wardrobe closet, a vanity/desk and a windowsill seating area overlooking the posh Upper East Side. The minibar is Don Draper-approved with a cocktail tray and the appropriate bar utensils to make your old fashioned, neat. Or at least a Tom Collins.

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Tags: Hotel Indigo / Hotel Openings / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Hong Kong is Getting A Dragon-Wrapped Indigo Hotel

The Hotel Indigo people seem to be sure that global financial woes are a thing of the past, because they're forging ahead with their expansion plans in Asia. After signing a deal for the Hotel Indigo Shanghai to open next year, they've been quick to follow up with the promise of the Hotel Indigo Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong version should be ready to open in 2012 and will be located in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong – a northern part of Hong Kong Island which is known for its historical value. The hotel itself sounds like it will be something a bit different:

The architectural concept features a conspicuous dragon in burnished bronze wrapped around the building, functioning as an "eco-screen" to counteract the hot spots and solar gain.

We can't wait to see that in real life. There should be even more Asian Indigos to follow – the smart money is on Tokyo and Singapore as likely locations for the next hotels.

[Photo: Sleeper Magazine]

Tags: Hotel Hype / Vail Hotels / Ski Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / → All Tags

Four Seasons Resort Vail Aiming For a Summer 2010 Opening

Last time we mentioned the future Four Seasons Resort Vail, we'd heard you could be skiing up to the Four Seasons' door by 2009. Latest reports have the resort opening during summer 2010 (hmm, just not in time for the ski season!) but at least we can see on the Four Seasons Residence Club website that there is definite progress being made.

For the non-residential guest (that means most of us), the Four Seasons Vail will include a choice of 121 rooms, plus tons of amenities like a full service spa and fitness club, a 75-foot lap pool in a sunken courtyard, a ski and snowboard concierge, fine dining restaurant and plenty of parking and gear storage space.

There'll also be the Après Ski Lounge with a dual fireplace and floor to ceiling windows looking out to the Vail Mountain slopes. The resort is pretty much at the main entrance to Vail so it'll be easy to find. No word yet on room prices, but you can buy one of the residences instead if you've got a spare $405,900 lying around.

Tags: Hotel Openings / Charlotte Hotels / Hotel Hype / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / → All Tags

The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte Opens Today But is Booked for the Next Week

Where: 201 East Trade Street [map], Charlotte, NC, United States, 28202

Devoted readers know just how much we like to hype new hotels — and, well, chronicle their delays and opening flubs. But what it boils down to is that we love new hotels, and we especially love new hotels that open on time.

And so with that we offer congratulations to the Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, which successfully opened today, as planned (albeit a very long time coming)! And even better: When we called to check on availability, we found out the 146-room hotel is all sold-out tonight and through the weekend. (Just don't break out the confetti — remember, this place is all about the green scene.)

In fact, the first day the online reservation system showed availability is for next Friday, Oct. 9, with introductory rates starting at $199 for a standard room (1 king or 2 queen beds). In the meantime, you’ll have to get your Charlotte Ritz fix at the hotel’s two restaurants: BLT Steak and the Lobby Lounge, featuring organic fare and signature cocktails.