In January, we brought you news of NYLO's new spinoff brand, XP Hotels and now we're super excited to finally show you what the new brand (which is less expensive than its big brother) is going to look like.
We managed to score some renderings of the interior and, judging by the eclectic cocktail of shabby-chic fabrics mixed with warm brick fireplace action with the same sleek, modern loft feel of NYLO, we'd call it "comfortably hip."
XP amenities include a lobby wine bar (!), a breakfast buffet and 24/7 grab and go food, free WiFi, check-in kiosks that also print airline boarding passes, flat-screen TV's, iPod docking stations, a totally free business center, a 24-hour gym, free bottled water and free local and long distance domestic phone calls.
Even with all this free stuff, rates are totally reasonable: $90-$110. As for where the first XP will open, no one knows...
We were among the first to bring you a review of the flagship NYLO brand property in Plano, Texas this winter, and now that the hotel has been up and running for almost 6 months, we checked in with our friends at TripAdvisor to see how the property's been doing.
And things are lookin' pretty good! Aside from the same sorts of structural headscratchers we mentioned a few months ago--bathroom doors that leave little to the imagination, for instance-- recent guests have tons of good things to say.
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
Robert DeNiro must be a pretty confident guy. After just opening a hotel which shall not be named last month, he's going to do it again in NYC's financial district. The NY Post reports:
The "Raging Bull" star - who already owns several restaurants and hotels - will open a Japanese-themed condo-hotel complex in Financial District. His Nobu Hotel will offer condos as well as hotel rooms, a spa - and, not surprisingly, a Nobu restaurant.
The hotel on 50 Broad St. will have 140 units, half of which are condos. The hotel minibars will hold green tea and sake will be available from room service. And we assume, we're still blacklisted from this place too.
· Gloria Estefan joins DeNiro in that silly crowd of celebrities turned hoteliers. The Miami Sound Machine frontwoman will be opening the oceanside Coste d'Este Resort in Vero Beach, FL this June.
· The Borgata in Atlantic City has officially gone smoke-free. Tri-state area lungs rejoice! · Hilton Hotels has partnered with French luxury cosmetics and toiletries company L'Occitane to redesign the hotel company’s full service spas, menu of services and spa product offerings. · NYLO Hotels have broken ground on their third hotel. Located in Irving, Texas it will be called NYLO Las Colinas. NYLO Warwick in Rhode Island is set to open this July.
Yesterday at the all-important Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager weren't the only one with a big announcement to make.
NYLO Hotels also made a big splash--by announcing a new brand, XP Hotels. Since we couldn't attend the conference (due to a damn cold), we have the news straight outta the press release:
XP by NYLO Hotels aims to combine the best qualities of boutique and select-service hotels. The brand extension caters to business travelers looking for mid-priced lodgings with unique design and enhanced amenities.
Each property will feature NYLO's signature urban loft design, the lobby as gathering place and high-tech amenities. At the same time, rates will be well within reach at $90 - $110 per night.
And some more:
"XP by NYLO will extend the boutique lifestyle concept to a new price point and make it feasible to develop this exciting hotel in a wide variety of markets that heretofore have suffered from a lack of interesting lodgings," [NYLO President Michael] Mueller explains.
So it sounds like it's basically the NYLO experience but a little cheaper as NYLO costs around $200 a night. But similar to NYLO it will be found in suburban, secondary and tertiary markets as well as near airports and major office complexes.
NYLO Hotels, having opened in Plano, Texas and with their eyes on opening another location in Warwick, R.I. this summer have announced a third location in Irving, Texas.
The five-story, 200-room hotel will be located in Las Colinas, an award-winning master-planned community ten minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and fifteen minutes from downtown Dallas.
NYLO Las Colinas will feature many of the same amenities and services as the NYLO property such as The Loft restaurant and bar, NYLO Wear uniforms by Daniel Vosovic, local artwork, free WiFi, Pure guestrooms for allergy sufferers and green/eco-friendly materials.
And it looks like NYLO will run into more Aloft Hotels competition here as the new Starwood brand will have a location in Las Colinas as well. Already, there is an Aloft under construx in Plano. We had no idea the suburbs of Dallas were so popular. Hotel brand smack-down!
After an interview with NYLO's GM Patrick O'Neil and a room review from Hotel Maven Stranger on a Train, we decided we still couldn't get enough of NYLO Plano, the newest boutique biz travel hotel that opened last month in Texas. So we sent our favorite girl Jenna, who just so happens to be a Plano native, down there to check it out for us. Enjoy.
From a distance, Plano's NYLO property looks right at home among the low-rise office buildings and cute retail plazas splashed across North Dallas' sparkling-new Shops at Legacy area. And it wasn't until we drove up to the property that we saw the funky, urban-chic brick-and-glass exterior--which, by the way, looks even cooler all lit up at night.
Admittedly, we had to drive a lap around the parking lot before we figured out that the bright red door was the front entrance, but we were more than willing to forgive when we were greeted by a cheerful front-desker who seemed totally on top of her game (especially considering she couldn't have had more than like two weeks of experience under her belt).
Hotelier. The word is so romantic, so eccentric, so...French. However, run-of-the-mill real world hoteliers don't always live up to the etymology.
Always looking to bring you the most pertinent information on the worldwide hotel scene, we figured when we found hoteliers that were worthy of the French pronunciation of the word, we would let them speak to you directly. Besides, before you dropped a bunch of cash to stay at someone's house, wouldn't you want to get to know the owner a bit? Exactly. We, always oh so full of ourselves, are calling this series Hoteliers That Matter and we are sitting down with these hoteliers and letting them tell you, straight from their mouths to web ears, what you need to know about their hotels.
Former intern Jenna skipped on down to her hometown of Plano, Texas over Christmas break to spend a night at the newly opened NYLO Plano Hotel. While there she was able to check-out the entire property from top to bottom. We'll have her full review tomorrow, complete with hotel judging skills acquired from nearly four years in attendance at the Cornell Hotel School.
But we're even more excited to show you this clip of Patrick O'Neil, the general manager of the hotel as well as the Senior VP of operations for NYLO Hotels. O'Neil spoke with us on NYLO eve, just before the Plano hotel opened and you can read what he had to say then here. To see him talk live and in living color, watch the video above.
Big thanks to Jenna for getting the vid and bigger thanks to Patrick for overcoming some nervousness to pitch NYLO Hotels to HotelChatter.
Looks like Santa Claus dropped us a present under the HotelChatter review tree....
Last week, NYLO Plano opened and we called out for readers to send in their review and lo and behold, Stranger on a Train heeded our call.
I had to work at my corporate office this weekend so I decided to try the new NYLO Friday since it was just down the street. I booked a Pure Glass Loft King and got the discounted soft opening price.
You can read the full review here but we have taken out the crucial review points for you after the jump.
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by Jenna
Yesterday at the all-important Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager weren't the only one with a 
