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Hotel Construction / ME Hotels / Melia Hotels / London Hotel Openings / London Hotels / → All Tags

Despite a Fire, ME by Melia London is Rising

It's been a while since we checked in on the construction of some of London's newest hotels set to open just before the Summer Olympics but thanks to a London tipster we've got some recent construction shots of the ME by Melia Hotel opening sometime in 2012.

We first heard about this hotel back in October which will have 173 rooms over 10 floors, two restaurants and bars, along with a lounge promising "astonishing urban views". However, our tipster noticed some signs about apartments being above the hotel so it could possibly be a mixed-used residential project.

Our tipster also says there was a "pretty massive" fire in part of the construction back in June which delayed things for a while but judging from these pics, it looks like things might be back on track.

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Hotel Hype / London Hotels / Sol Melia Hotels / ME Hotels / Norman Foster / → All Tags

In 2012, London Will Be All About ME

Where: Holborn, London, United Kingdom, WC1

The current Melia offering for London: the White House Hotel in Regent’s park

When we think luxury we don’t normally think of Sol Melia (and London doesn’t really come to mind either), but that’s set to change with the new ME London that’s arriving in Holborn in 2012.

ME is the lux arm of the Sol Melia brand (there are other hotels in Spain and Mexico with one another planned for Vienna) and to make sure the London branch is glam enough, they’ve recruited Sir Norman Foster to design the hotel, and are dropping €180 million on the project.

What’s more, it’s going to be a green one - it will have “Biosphere Hotel” certification when it opens in 2012.

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Madrid Hotels / Hotel Deals / ME Hotels / → All Tags

American Passports Earn Discounts at the ME Madrid Hotel

Where: Plaza de Santa Ana 14, Madrid, Spain, 28012

You know how in Europe various attractions and monuments give discounts to holders of European passports? Kind of annoying, isn’t it? Well finally, flashing your U.S. passport will get you something other than a dirty look.

Time’s got the scoop on the ME Madrid Reina Victoria, where an American passport gets you 20 percent off room rates when you book at least three nights, plus a bottle of cava and strawberries en suite, free breakfast, and 50 percent off dinner for two at the hotel’s Midnight Rose restaurant.

Rates start at about $240, and the offer is good through March, which might not be warm enough to take advantage of The Penthouse, the hotel’s Rande-and-Scott-Gerber-helmed rooftop terrace, but you will get to stay at one of Madrid’s more trendy hotels—and we know Madrid's got a lot of trendy hotels, but trust us on this one. When we passed by last May, the crowd was terrifyingly hip—so terrifying we didn’t go in.

Barcelona Hotels / ME Hotels / Pete Wentz / Fall Out Boy / Hotel Openings / → All Tags

Barcelona Hotel Scene :: The ME Hotel Celebrates Opening with Fall Out Boy

Where: Pere IV, 272 286, Barcelona, Spain, 08005

This week we're taking a look at what's going on in Barcelona. We actually spent some time there a few weeks ago so we'll be dropping our own hotel reviews as well as news on the Barcelona Hotel Scene in general. Any questions? Send it our way.

ME Hotels which has a few popular properties in Cabo, Mexico and Madrid has opened their fourth hotel, this time in Barcelona.

The ME Barcelona hotel hosted a grand-opening party on October 9th which featured a performance by Fall Out Boy whose guitarist Pete Wentz opened an outpost of his Angels & Kings bar on the hotel's sixth floor.

The hotel is located on Diagonal Alley in the city's modern 22@ district and the hotel's building is actually 30 stories tall. So it's quite a different stay than the swank old guard hotels of the Eixample district.

Designed by renowned French architect Dominique Perrault, the 30-story building features 259 rooms and suites, all with magnificent views of either the mountains of Barcelona or the Mediterranean. The lobby is a modern and dramatic, but inviting space, filled with lively world music, local art and a fresh scent developed exclusively for ME Barcelona.

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Cancun Hotel Reviews / ME Hotels / Mexico Hotels / → All Tags

It's All About the Shower at the ME Cancun

Where: Boulevard Kukulkan, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico

The New York Times ran an all-Caribbean section this week, but the paper singled out a hotel in Mexico for some serious scrutiny. The ME by Melia Cancun, complete with its Rande Gerber bar and Maxim Pool Bar, ends up sounding pretty good, if Cancun is your thing.

The hotel is a renovated property, says writer Michelle Higgins, but the conversion into trendy, Miami Beach-style hotel is complete. All the standard in-room electronics are in place, the three pools are "inviting" and the two restaurants do well both in the dining room and through room service. The reason to stay, though, is in the bathroom:

The highlight was the spacious shower, with a seat and two showerheads -- an oversize rainfall-type and a handheld nozzle -- both of which had great water pressure and worked simultaneously.

It is curious though, that the Times would hold this review for so long. Higgins says she stayed at the property in February, and we have a hard time thinking not a thing has changed since then.

[Photo: Michelle Higgins/The New York Times]

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