In one of the odder news stories about new hotels, the Hayden Ferry Lakeside development in Tempe, Ariz., which was to include condos, a hotel, retail and office space, has told Starwood's Le Meridien to take a hike.
The Valhalla Development Group, the developers of the project, are ready to have a groundbreaking in December, but Le Meridien isn't ready to commit to the project yet - so the developers decided to go with another 4-star hotel brand which has not yet been announced.
In our latest edition of Viva Vegas Hotel Construction Updates we have two pretty big developments, both which - not surprisingly - are caused by the credit slowdown that's affecting everyone nowadays.
First, Elad Properties has announced that they are delaying the construction start of The Plaza until "sometime in 2009" (we won't hold our breath) but are still fully committed to finishing the project.
Last Friday The Chelsea, which is calling itself Atlantic City's first non-casino boutique hotel in decades had their ribbon cutting announcing their Grand Opening.. buuuuttt -- the real opening won't be until August 1st.
Huh?
Yep.. Guests have been staying at The Chelsea since the beginning of July, and the Chelsea's website has been taking reservations since then - but not all the rooms are finished, and none of the amenities are opening until August 1st.
Now we can add Baccarat Hotel and Residences to Dubai's ever growing portfolio of hotels. Over the weekend, Starwood Capital and Mr. S himself, announced the Baccarat Hotel & Residences at Dubai Pearl.
For those who gave up keeping track of Dubai's developments years ago - Dubai Pearl is made up of retail, hotels, residences, and commercial components and is located right at the foot of the Palm Jumeriah (you know, the smaller of the 2 man-made islands in the shape of a palm tree.)
Boutique hotels have finally made their way down to the Jersey Shore with Long Branch NJ's "Bungalow" currently under construction.
Bungalow probably won't open until Spring/Summer 2009 - but the plans call for a 24-room luxury hotel on the beach, a-la W Hotels. In fact, the developers of Bungalow are the same developers of the W Hotel Hoboken, and the design of the hotel will be contemporary luxury with attention being paid to the fact that it is a beachfront hotel.
With the WaterClub's opening two weeks ago, and The Chelsea opening in a few weeks - we were getting nervous that there'd be nothing good to write about in Atlantic City, but by the saving grace of the Atlantic City Boutique Hotel Gods we found out about Prasada.
(Developers with bad comb-overs who exploit their daughter on billboards and magazine ads don't count.)
Prasada, being built by some company we've never heard of before, DiGeorge Atlantic, is due to open in 2010, and will be located right on the Boardwalk at Kentucky Ave. It's going to be a 50 story luxury condominium and boutique hotel complex, with 420 ocean front units. There are probably more units than that though since it is a 50 story tower.
First opened in 1955 on W. Bonanza Ave, near downtown Las Vegas as the first interracial casino hotel in Las Vegas, the Moulin Rouge only lasted 6 months. Apparently not even a star studded cast of Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Jack Benny who all performed almost nightly, could not keep the doors open. Even though it lasted 6 short months because of financial problems - it made history by being the first hotel and casino in Las Vegas that allowed black and white gamblers, employees and hotel guests.
Since that time the hotel has sat unused, except for the filming of "Casino" in 1995 and in May 2003 the site was completely gutted by fire (except for its facade and sign) which was ruled as arson.
We highlighted a report last week that hotel chains had launched 24 new brands in the past 24 months, but Hyatt doesn't want to slow down the pace. They just announced the launch of new brand Andaz, with the first opening slated for this September in London. Another Andaz brand will open across from New York's Public Library on Fifth Avenue but no opening date has been set.
It seems Andaz is another case of out with the old (that's the Great Eastern Hotel atrium pictured here) and in with the new--some word that they say means "personal style."
Have you just yearned for a hotel that is not quite a Hyatt and not quite a Park Hyatt? To the marketing consultants who live and breathe this kind of thing, apparently those two brands are like ebony and ivory. They saw vast white space on their charts that needed to be filled in:
Hyatt is calling the Andaz brand an unpretentious upscale alternative focusing on "casual elegance" and "local identity," which it is positioning in between its Park Hyatt and Hyatt Hotel brands. CEO Mark Hoplamazian said in a statement that Hyatt's "worldwide customer base is looking for fresh, uncomplicated luxury that is timeless and gimmick free."
We've got to hand it to a corporate communications department that can put a new brand called "Andaz" and the words "gimmick free" in the same press release while still keeping a straight face.
0 Comments - Add Yours
by AndrewC
With the 
