Tag: Hotel Rumors View All Tags
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Los Angeles Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Hard Rock Hotels / Hotel Hype / Edition Hotels / → All Tags
Who Will Be Marriott's Neighbor at LA Live: Schrager or Rock Stars?
Curbed LA has some great scoop today on the potential hotel that may open up across from the JW Marriott at LA Live (and also attached, a Ritz-Carlton).
Latest rumor about that mystery AEG-funded hotel--planned for right across the street from LA Live--comes courtesy of Karen Englund, director of sales and marketing for Marriott at LA Live: She tells us that the new hotel will likely either be a Hard Rock (as noted before) or an Ian Schrager hotel.
Now we, like Curbed, read the words Ian Schrager and we immediately thought of Edition Hotels. But we have to remember that Ian still can open up his own independent hotel a la Gramercy Park. But we bet Marriott would much rather an Edition Hotel than a competitor like Hard Rock.
We say? While we would love an Edition to open up in our backyard, a JW Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton might be too many luxury hotel rooms. Besides LA Live fits the Hard Rock brand better. Just our two cents. What do you think?
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Marriott Hotels / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Industry News / Simon F. Cooper / → All Tags
Is Marriott Taking Out a Hit On The Ritz-Carlton?
The Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey.
We got a tip late last night that told us things could be changing drastically at Ritz-Carlton Hotels which as you all know is a part of the Marriott Hotels. Our Hotel Deep Throat writes:
Major restructure with Marriott International underway. Most Ritz Carlton corporate roles are gone or replaced with Marriott personnel. The operational and regional structure will also be replaced by Marriott. The question will be what effect this will have on the guest experience and the famous Ritz Carlton mystique.....is this the beginning of the end for this great brand (Ritz)?
Tags: Ace Hotels / Hotel Rumors / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
The Ace Hotel Rumor Mill: Are LA and Vancouver Up Next?
It seems that our gentle suggestion to open up an Ace Hotel in Chicago fell upon deaf ears: BlackBook magazine ran an interview with Ace Hotels founder Alex Calderwood today, and in it he hinted at the possible next locations for his urban-hip brand of funky hotels. And Chicago was not mentioned. Boo.
LA and Vancouver were mentioned, though — which is pretty exciting, if we do say so ourselves:
L.A. and Vancouver would be great places to build, but there’s nothing specific on the board that we’re aggressively looking to move forward with.
Can we start the rumor mill a-churning now, or should we just go back to moping about how our brilliant Chicago idea was not picked up?
Also, interestingly enough, Mr. Calderwood says of the NYC hotel: "In general, the feedback is almost unsettling because we’ve been getting tremendous, tremendous positive feedback from our guests. I expected more glitches." Well, okay. We suppose you don't call the insane number of delays with the opening a glitch, then. (Zing!) And, um, by the way: Ace New York is going for as low as $97 on Quikbook right now, in case you want to check out what all this hype is about for yourself.
Tags: Four Seasons Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Rumors / → All Tags
The Four Seasons Seattle Needs Some Help in The Kitchen
Try as we might, we can’t make heads or tails of what’s going on at the (newish) Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. Rumors have run rampant for weeks of huge hotel and restaurant staff layoffs (yeah, we get that we’re in a recession and this isn’t exactly earth-shattering hospitality industry news), but the one person who might get ole' heave-ho is the hotel's ART restaurant Executive Chef, Kerry Sear.
Name the local publication and since day one, the long-time local chef has gotten seriously panned. You’d think he’d step up his game a little bit – it is the Four Seasons but we’ve heard (and experienced) nothing that jives with what we’ve grown to expect from the Four Seasons brand.
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Hotel Openings / Vikram Chatwal / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Don't Count On That September Opening For The Chatwal
Listen. We wouldn't necessarily call ourselves pessimists or cynics when it comes to the Manhattan hotel market. In fact, we like to think we're open-minded and hopeful, embracing pleasant surprises like on-time openings, cool new concepts and even a little bit of neighbor drama. But we've been doin' this for a while and we have come to lower our expectations when it comes to hotel hype and promises of opening dates — in Manhattan, it is a sweet, sweet miracle from the heavens when a hotel opens on time.
Which is why we're calling this now: we don't think The Chatwal is going to open in September, as the Leading Hotels of the World site is promising us right now. See, not only is the hotel not taking booking at all for the month of September (not too unusual, but certainly not promising), but we haven't heard a peep outta Chatwal's peeps in a good long while. And let's not forget this one tiny detail: this hotel has been in the works for about a decade now.
Also, this: The HVS Manhattan Market Overview lists The Chatwal's opening date as early 2010; we're inclined to go with the word of HVS on this one.
Got any hot gossip on The Chatwal for us? Speak up.
Tags: Four Seasons Hotels / Concierges / Hotel Rumors / → All Tags
Whispers of Change Behind The Four Seasons Concierge Desk Remain
There is still something afoot with the concierges at Four Seasons Hotels. A rep has assured us they are not phasing out their concierge service and all guests staying at a Four Seasons hotel will have a qualified concierge at their beck and call. But we're still getting reports of some personnel shifts behind the concierge desk. A tipster writes in:
As a person from the Concierge community in the Bay Area... Here's what I know. The FS laid off it's Chef Concierge (member of Les Clefs d'Or) worked for them for over 20 years. They merged the remaining Concierge to the Front Desk as Front Desk Agents. They either took a $3 an hour paycut or got a pay out to leave the company. All but 2 took the package. Four Seasons San Francisco can no longer have Les Clef d'Or members at that hotel because to be a member your title must say Concierge.
Tags: Hotel News / Hawaii Hotels / Edition Hotels / Hotel Rumors / Hotel Woes / → All Tags
Hawaii's Ilikai to Close; Will It Still Become an Edition Later?
The gigantic Ilikai Hotel, which "Hawaii Five-0" fans will recognize as the building Steve McGarrett stood on as the helicopter zoomed in on him during the show's intro, plans to cease operations in two days due to serious operating losses. According to the AP, iStar Financial said "203 hotel rooms in the nearly 1,000-unit property" will shut down on Thursday and guests with reservations will be accommodated elsewhere.
Per the AP article:
The company bought the hotel for $51 million at a foreclosure auction in May. In a statement, iStar said it hoped its subsidiary would be able to cut costs enough to allow the hotel operations to continue after it takes possession of the property Friday.
"Unfortunately, alternatives to reduce the operating losses at the hotel have not to date been achieved, thus leading to the decision to close the hotel," the company said.
Tags: Four Seasons Hotels / Hotel Rumors / → All Tags
All Is Well: Four Seasons' Concierge Services Aren't Changing
False alarm, kiddies (or so we're told): Four Seasons is not, in fact, phasing out its concierge services, as we'd speculated yesterday — it was apparently just a rumor.
A rep for Four Seasons says:
Just to clarify, under no circumstance is Four Seasons "phasing out" the Concierge service in our 82 properties worldwide. We have fully-trained Concierge staff at all of our properties who will continue to perform this vital function for our guests.
Four Seasons pioneered company-wide Concierge service back in the early 80’s and we understand how valuable it is to our guests. In fact, in our guest satisfaction surveys, our Concierge services continue to rank as one of the services that our guests are most pleased with.
So there you have it. Under no circumstances. Interesting.
Still, let us know if you see any evidence to the contrary — we're always lookin' for dirt.
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Ian Schrager / Chicago Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
Schrager to Buy Chicago's Ambassador East Hotel?
Hot gossip for the oh-so-early morning: Crain's is reporting that Ian Schrager is in talks to buy the not-so-buzzed-about-anymore Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago (along with its Pump Room restaurant).
Obviously, he would rename and completely revamp the 285-room, somewhat distressed property. Per Crain's:
Mr. Schrager hasn't decided on the hotel's new name, or whether he'd rename the Pump Room, where celebrities from Bette Davis to Frank Sinatra to Natalie Wood once held court. During the heyday of cross-country train travel, the late Sun-Times newspaper columnist Irv Kupcinet was a fixture in the restaurant's Booth One, where he interviewed movie stars passing through Chicago on trips between the coasts.
Aww, bringin' back an old scene-y place. We suppose that if anyone can take something and make it trendy again, it woulde be the Schrager-man — and though the deal between Schrager and the owners is supposedly still "in talks," there are whispers that the owners (who paid $44.5 million when they purchased the hotel a couple years ago) have already accepted his $25 million offer.
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Hotel Construction / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Whose Boutique Hotel Has Risen in Midtown Manhattan?
A couple of weeks ago, we received some questions asking us if we knew any hot gossip about the hotel that has been rising at 46th Street in Manhattan — specifically, a skinny little building at 16 East 46th Street that has taken the place of the Gotham Book Mart. Truth: we didn't know. But we're starting to get teensy tidbits of info as the place takes shape.
Per a press blurb posted by Curbed, here's what we can tell you so far:
R&B Development Group recently topped off the 22-story, 66-room boutique hotel at 16 East 46th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues – the site of the famed Gotham Book Store. In addition to a high-end 70-seat full service restaurant, the hotel will feature balconies in every room and a sky-top yoga room.
Apparently, developers are "in talks with a well known boutique hotel management company to manage and name the hotel" — but who, who, who is it?
Tags: Hotel Hype / Hotel Rumors / Toronto Hotels / Thompson Hotels / → All Tags
What is Happening With Thompson Toronto?
Um, remember Thompson Toronto? Perhaps not, as it hasn't opened up yet and there hasn't been a whole lot of buzz about the place in recent months — but we assure you, it's still on its way.
At least: we were assured the place is still on its way. We don't have an exact opening date for you, but a fairly official Thompson-er told us the place was set for the end of 2009 (and the hotel's website still exists and lists 2009, which is promising) — but all the press releases we'd seen for the Do Not Disturb restaurant group [sidenote: yes, the Thompson dudes started their own restaurant group — in case you missed it] seem to be hinting at a 2010 opening.
Here is what we know: there will be a pool and an ice rink, and the rooms will look a little bit like this.
...Annnd that's all we've got. What can you tell us? Any word? Do share.
Tags: Stalking W SoBe / Hotel Rumors / Hotel Openings / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags
Not Only is W SoBe Opening July 2nd, But It's Reportedly Sold Out
Whoa. Excuse us for being cynics. We have just gotten word that not only is the W South Beach actually going to open on July 2nd as promised — but it's sold out.
Seriously. We reported early this morning that trying to make rezzies on the hotel's website yielded an error message — the same error message we got on two occasions prior, after which we received word of delays — and so we assumed another delay was a-comin'.
Not so! We contacted an employee of the hotel who assured us that we couldn't book any rooms that night 'cause the place is totally full. Nice. Good to hear.
We're sorry for doubting you, W SoBe. But we're not sorry for stalking you. Yeah, we're gonna keep that up all week.
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
