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Philippe Starck's 'yoo' Launches a Hotel Group, Yo
| April 16, 2009 at 2:02 PM | 2 Comments

From left: John Hitchcox, Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck
Yoo, a design and investment company co-founded by developer John Hitchcox and much-hyped designer extraordinaire Philippe Starck which we believe is pronounced like "you" and not, like, your stoner cousins drawn out "yo" greeting is launching a hotel group of its very own.
Apparently, the company won an architectural competition to design a new hotel in Split, Croatia, and after designing the 110-room hotel on the Adriatic Sea (the first five star resort and spa in the city), the company which, right now, primarily does residential projects announced a new focus on hospitality.
Several yoo designers have already done hotel projects: The JIA Hotel in Hong Kong was designed by yoo, and The Mondrian South Beach, "the work of yoo's newest design partner Marcel Wanders," are examples from here, yoo plans to partner with hospitality groups to "design hotels in the brand's signature style with the dramatic lobbies, whimsical accessories and unique lighting already found in yoo's residential work."
Philippe Starck: conquering the hotel design world, one quirky piece of room decor at a time.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Philippe Starck / Dallas Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
Westin Galleria Dallas Got a Dallas-Style Facelift
| April 1, 2009 at 5:07 PM | 0 Comments
Too much and perhaps too late? Hotels around the globe are completing renovations just as travelers start to rethink their vacation plans. On the bright side, you will probably be staying in new rooms for less. This week we'll be looking at some of the new-old faces out there and telling you what these spiffed up joints will cost you. Any suggestions? Let us know.
The Westin Galleria Dallas, which we named the Best Hotel for Serious Shoppers in the big D (and yes, we meant it), has just unveiled the final results of its makeover, a nice addition to the recently-revamped (and seriously upgraded) Dallas Galleria mall to which it is attached.
Okay, confession: as many a native Dallasite will tell you, this mall has recently acquired some heavy fab-ness and it's hot time the hotel stepped up to match. The Galleria's interior was pretty-fied, a Sushi Samba was added not to mention it still has an ice-rink, a Saks and a Nordstrom.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Fred Bernstein / Paris Hotels / Budget Hotels / Philippe Starck / → All Tags
The New York Times Finally Visits Mama Shelter in Paris
| March 23, 2009 at 9:11 AM | 1 Comment

Fast becoming the most talked about new hotel in the City of Lights, Mama Shelter is a Philippe Starck-designed budget boutique option in an out-of-the-way (some might say “dodgy”) corner of Paris that seems to be drawing international hipsters (and New York Times journalists) to its chic bar and simple rooms. That’s thanks, in no small part, to the starting rate of 79 euros a night—a rarity in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
So buzzworthy was this budget boutique hotel becoming that the New York Times sent travel writer Fred Bernstein to stay there and enlighten us all with his review. We've been dying to hear what the critics say about Mama Shelter since November and Bernstein gives it a thorough review.
Tags: Hotel Spas / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Openings / Philippe Starck / → All Tags
The Viceroy Miami's Breathtaking Spa
| February 27, 2009 at 3:39 PM | 1 Comment
What you are looking at is the Philippe Starcke-designed Spa at Icon Brickell, the very spa that is open to guests of the Viceroy Miami. As you can tell, this spa is quite unusual from other hotel spas. For starters, the 28,000-sq.ft relaxation mecca has killer views of Biscayne Bay from every facility including the locker rooms and the spinning studio. And almost all of the windows are floor-to-ceiling. Believe us when we say this: you will never want to leave here.
Tags: Rio de Janeiro Hotels / Kimberly Murgatroyd / Brazil Hotels / Philippe Starck / → All Tags
Jet Set Girl Flashes Her Black Card at The Fasano Hotel
| January 13, 2009 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments
Brightening up our dreary lives once more is Jet Set Life's Kimberly Murgatroyd who has graced us with another hotel review from an exotic location, making us eternally envious of her jet-setting ways. This time, she's touched down in Rio de Janeiro.
When speaking to the über-chic guests at the roof top pool of the Fasano Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, your conversation always turns to where you stayed B.F. (Before Fasano). You will get a variety of answers, yet everyone agrees that with the Fasano, Rio de Janeiro finally has a star on the hotel scene.
There was a lot of hype about the Fasano hotel opening in Rio. So, my husband and I decided to stay at this Ipanema property for ten-days during our second trip to Rio for New Year’s Eve. When we pulled up to the perfectly located Fasano, it was rather unassuming. Once inside we found a beautifully designed lobby pulling us in three directions.
To the right is the check-in and elevators, to the left are the plush couches of the lobby lounge and straight head, we can follow the narrow white curtain enclosed, lit pathway to Londra, one of Rio’s sexiest bars.
One thing we did notice is a lack of music in the lobby. No faint sexy beats of any kind can be heard, just guests chattering in multiple languages. This is something that we will determine is a consistent, yet easily correctable flaw in many areas of the hotel.
Tags: Hotels with iMacs / Geek Hotels / Paris Hotel Scene / Hotel Technology / Philippe Starck / Paris Hotels / → All Tags
Mama Shelter is the Mother of All Geek Hotels
| November 7, 2008 at 11:54 AM | 0 Comments
Paris' newest Philippe Starck-designed hotel, Mama Shelter, may just be the mother of all geek hotels (get it? Mama? Mother? Har har).
No, but really: the new hotel, located in the Saint Blaise quartier (which is the 20th arrondissement and on the edge of Paris), has 174 "digital" guest rooms that sort of give us of a trippy NYLO-meets-geek-chic vibe with a techie twist.
French company DirectStreams has outfitted every guest room with an iMac which, in itself, is nothing particularly groundbreaking given the number of hotels that are throwing iMacs into guestrooms nowadays but Mama Shelter's actually act as comprehensive multimedia centers: a single terminal that offers every in-room digital service you're gonna need (HDTV, music, radio, CD, films, DVDs, Internet, etc.)
Tags: Philippe Starck / Paris Hotel Scene / Hotel Openings / Hotel News / → All Tags
Paris Hotel Scene:: A New Starck Hotel Arrives in the Form of Mama Shelter
| October 8, 2008 at 4:40 PM | 0 Comments

The other day, we got a tip from a reader who let us know that there was a new hotel on the scene in Paris called Mama Shelter and it's from Philippe Starck! Here's what this covert tipster wrote us:
designed by philippe Starck and run by the Trigano family (founders of Club Med). just opened a couple of weeks ago
Screeeech. Club Med and Philippe Starck together? Cannot be. But it is!
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Snapshot :: Philippe Starck on Display at Le Meurice
| October 6, 2008 at 12:44 PM | 1 Comment
Last week we showed you le bike that Le Meurice in Paris keeps on hand for its guests (and maybe its employees too). Today, we show you the work of Philippe Starck from inside the hotel's lobby. Starck was in charge of renovating the swanky hotel and he gave the place an updated new look at the end of December 2007.
There's no old fugly carpeting here! Just unusual furniture done in the Starck way, which is something that we happen to like.
Tags: Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Hype / SLS Hotels / Sam Nazarian / Philippe Starck / → All Tags
What's Happening with The SLS Hotel in Miami?
| August 18, 2008 at 9:20 AM | 0 Comments

A reader sent in this snapshot of the old Ritz Plaza in Miami Beach saying that this is supposed to be the site of the new SLS Miami.
The first SLS Hotel is set to open in Beverly Hills sometime later this fall and Andrew Calvo reported on Passions of a Zealot that Miami is to be the next location.
But even as far back as 2004, Hotel Online reported that Sam Nazarian and Philippe Starck would take over the Ritz Plaza on Collins Avenue for a new SLS hotel.
Yet as this photo clearly demonstrates not much is happening with SLS Miami. Que paso? Anyone who knows, send us a hint.
Tags: Hotel Demolition Parties / Paris Hotels / Philippe Starck / Kanye West / Hotel News / → All Tags
Kanye West Hits Up Demolition Party at Le Royal Monceau Hotel
| June 30, 2008 at 9:24 AM | 0 Comments

The demolition party that went down at the The Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris wasn't just any old party. This is Paris after all and the hotel managed to make their demolition artistic by inviting 25 contemporary artists and celebs to "artistically ruin" the hotel rooms on the third floor.
On hand for the crazy/beautiful destruction were Kanye West, Jude Law, and 18-year-old internet celebrity Cory Kennedy.
WWD reports:
"I'm gonna smash everything," yelled Cory Kennedy, rushing into Andre and Olympia Scarry's all-black room, fitted out with battered couches and a giant disco ball. Kanye West, who roamed the corridors with a bemused-looking Yves Carcelle, said that trashing hotel rooms was old hat. "Yeah, you know, the usual throwing the telly out of the window type of thing," he said.
The AFP has a more detailed report of the party, including the fun fact that Madonna's "Justify My Love" video was shot here in the hotel.
Tags: Paris Hotels / Hotel Demolition Parties / Philippe Starck / Raffles Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
Hotel Demolition Party: Royal Monceau To Get a Fresh Starck
| June 26, 2008 at 12:23 PM | 0 Comments

The Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris has had some issues, to say the least, over the past few years. From booting out guests to playing hot potato with luxury brands, the historic hotel has seen far too many ups and downs.
But all that is in the past now as the hotel readies for a complete overhaul and a new look from Philippe Starck. As a way to clean house, the hotel held an auction of its furniture and now they are letting guests demolish whatever is left behind.
Tags: Hotel Hype / SLS Hotels / Philippe Starck / Design Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Philippe Starck Unveils Lobby Design for the SLS Hotel
| April 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM | 2 Comments

A tipster let us know that the International Herald Tribune had a round up of things from the Milan Furniture Fair and this rendering of Philippe Starck's lobby for the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles was one of them.
From IHT:
The plans for a new luxury hotel, the SLS at Beverly Hills, are to be unveiled during the Salone. The hotel is to be designed by the ageing enfant terrible of French design, Philippe Starck, with furniture and fittings made by Cassina, a subsidiary of the Poltrona Frau Group. It is to be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts with a shop run by the New York design impresario Murray Moss.
We are kinda liking this. There are those chandeliers we had seen before on the hotel's website and in promo materials (sans monkeys) and Starck has a thing for chairs so titanium/silver-dipped (?) bar chairs are not surprising.
We just hope those white curtain things can partition off your seating section. Not like we would have anything to hide when sitting in a hotel lobby but it would be cool to be like "this is my section." You know, like the cafeteria in high school.
But we are curious: are those antlers on the back wall?
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