On Monday, we let you know that hotelier Gregory Peck was continuing on his own way (without "frenemy/hotel partner" Matt Moss) by opening the Crescent San Francisco in the city's Union Square nabe.
All we knew then was that he was going to redo the old Allison Hotel. Today we have some more detes.
The Crescent Hotel Group (Greg's company) is developing and redesigning the Allison. The Crescent Hotel Group will also manage the hotel once it opens. That opening could happen in nine to twelve months.
Like the Crescent BH, the hotel will have a restaurant and lounge. There will be 83 rooms, some with views into Union Square. With the other rooms presumably, the standard San Fran city view will apply.
As an enticement for every kind of traveler, the Four Seasons San Francisco just announced three specials available now through December 31.
First, there's the shopping deal. For the rate of $470 a night, you get a $100 Bloomingdale's gift card, a Bloomie's gift and 15% off additional store purchases, package wrapping and delivery (this would come in handy around the holidays), overnight valet parking, and a makeover at the Chanel counter.
Second, is the get-in-shape deal. A nightly room rate of $595 comes with an hour-long private trainer session, a 50-minute massage (per room, per night, in your room or in the spa), and a daily fruit plate and smoothie.
Lastly is the I-don't-have-to-check-out-yet special. Two nightly room rates of $510 pre-paid gets you the third night for free, with a free hotel breakfast for two thrown on the tab.
In our opinion, the hotel will get the biggest bang on the Bloomie's deal. For Europeans and their powerhouse Euro-dollar exchange rate, a 15% discount will go a long way. Heck, they can buy the Chanel counter.
While it's unclear whether San Francisco will be getting an Alcatraz Hotel or not, the city by the Bay will have a new hotel in Union Square from hotelier Gregory Peck.
As we mentioned last summer Peck was looking to spin off his Crescent Beverly Hills hotel and while we were hedging our bets that Palm Springs would be the place to do so, it turns out Peck is headed to San Fran.
It's very possible that Alcatraz, once the country's most treacherous prison, will turn into a hotel by 2010, so says the National Park Service.
The organization is trying to spruce up some of the Bay Area's national parks and make the most of the land they are sitting on. Thus Alcatraz may have a hotel on it's lonely island. The SF Chronicle reports:
One of the Alcatraz proposals would allow visitors to camp out on the island; another would involve rehabilitating a complex of old buildings and possibly turning one of the buildings into a hotel. Building 64, once used to house guards, could become a science and education center, with classrooms, a kitchen and a hostel for students.
Of course some residents disagree with the building of a hotel so the lodging plan will have to be approved by city residents. And the city's firefighters are concerned about having to race over to the island in case there's a fire or another emergency overnight.
So the Alcatraz Hotel may be a long ways off or it may never even come to fruition. But if you still have a jones for jail hotels, there's a bunch you can try, like the Liberty Hotel in Boston or the Malmaison Oxford.
But if your fetish is strictly Alcatraz-based you can hit up The Rock Love Hotel in Japan. Heh.
Sigh. The saddest hotel in all of San Francisco -- no, make that California -- must be the Hotel Nikko. The place is set to reek of crushed hopes and dreams and probably also failure.
Get this: this summer, the Hotel Nikko's Rrazz room will be the first stop for Idols in Concert, the "traveling cabaret" of former American Idol contestants who placed mostly between fifth and eighth in the first six seasons of the show. This is not to be confused with the American Idols Live! tour; this is the Idol B-Team.
In a very, very depressing article, the SF Chronicle writes:
Beginning in July, 17 castoffs from the first six seasons of the popular Fox television singing competition will get a reprieve from the county fair circuit...finalists such as Gina Glocksen, Constantine Maroulis, Lisa Tucker, Christina Christian and Paris Bennett [Ed note: Who, who and who?], plus a handful of less memorable names...will reprise the performances that got them the most votes on the series.
It just makes us sad, you know? The show runs for 9 weeks at the Nikko before moving on. Tickets cost somewhere between $45 and $55; rooms at the Hotel Nikko start around $180.
Let's just say, hypothetically, that you and three of your friends were stranded in San Francisco with only $50 each. Would you rather spend that money on four tickets to the Idols in Concert show or, um, chip in to score a room at the 4 Diamond hotel hosting it?
A couple weeks ago we wrote about the tired-looking Westin St Francis. We don't want to assume we are some kind of soothsaying project of visionaries, but let's just say we found it very interesting that the grand dame of San Francisco has just announced they are undergoing a $40 million renovation anticipated to be complete in Spring 2009.
Starting on the ground floor, the lobby renovation is headed up by none other than Jesus-for-hospitality-design, Rockwell Group. The lobby will take on a modern palette with blues and browns for the color scheme and guests will notice a cooler, more hip feel (picture hanging edison bulbs and sleek couches.)
However, the traditional aspects that made the hotel famous in the first place will still be honored such as glass and metal reproductions of the lobby's original globe chandeliers.
The Beefeaters at Sir Francis Drake know something you don't know.
We got around to reading the April issue of Budget Travel just a tad late this time around but we noticed a very cool thing they mentioned in their "This Just In!" section.
The Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco is celebrating its 80th anniversary by allowing guests to tour its hidden speakeasy. The hotel, which is now a Kimpton, is offering the tour as part of the "Ultimate Prohibition Package" which promises to transport guests back to the Roaring 20s.
The Prohibition Room, which served as a speakeasy during the 1920’s and 30’s, is located between the first and second floors of the hotel and is accessible only with a special turn-of-the-key on one of the Drake’s elevators.
The hotel also had a bunch of other promotions going on in April but the speakeasy package is still going on.
Starting at $209 a night, the package includes accommodations in a newly renovated King Deluxe Room; complimentary valet parking; signature cocktails at Bar Drake; a tour of the clandestine Prohibition Room; and a choice of a $50 dining credit for Scala's, the hotel's restaurant, or for in-room dining.
Tommy gun-toting mobsters and frantic prohibition officers not included.
We were very excited to stay in a grand dame hotel like The Westin St Francis on the south edge of Union Square. We don't always go for landmark hotels like this, but the occasion called for it and we went in with eager eyes. The other organ that immediately kicked into high gear were our stomachs. The St Francis is home to famous chef Michael Mina, yum!
Walking into the lobby struck another one of our senses and not in a good way. The place smelled old. As if we were stepping into a museum replete with that stale library scent. Sure, the lobby is impressionable--there's echoey marble everywhere--but this is not a strikingly modern, architecturally progressive hotel lobby like THOR.
Then again, we were thankful it wasn't a W Hotel lobby...er "living room". Blech!
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by juliana
