While some hotel staffers are busying themselves finding new and innovative ways to charge insane hidden fees, others are ... harvesting their own honey on the roof of their big-city hotel, if you can believe it.
Here's something we haven't heard of before (we'll spare you the "buzz" puns): Toronto's Fairmont Royal York has added three beehives to its rooftop terrace (where the hotel already grows its own herbs and veggies) that will produce up to 700 pounds of honey every year. Sweet! (Ha! Sweet! Get it?)
And in a display of cuteness so sweet it almost stings (ha - again!), the hotel has named the hives the Honey Moon Suite, The Royal Sweet and the V.I. Bee Suite.
The hotel has opened its own Fairmont Gold lodgings--ultra-swank accommodations that act as a separate luxury hotel within a hotel. The Gold rooms consist of 69 newly-renovated guest rooms, three parlor suites and a 2,100-square-foot private lounge on secluded grounds.
But the piece de resistance of this special set is the Casa Dorada--a 3,700-square foot super-suite located on a private enclave of the resort grounds.
More on this super-suite (with photos!) after the jump.
The latest hotel to become a member of Hilton's luxury tier of hotels is the Roosevelt Hotel, the hotel's original name before it became the Fairmont New Orleans in 1965.
The The hotel was was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina and so it will undergo a $100 million renovation that will be completed by Spring 2009.
Key among those plans to restore the property to its previous grandeur will be the reopening of the hotel's famed "Blue Room," as well as the legendary Sazerac Bar. In the golden era of supper clubs from the 1930s to the 1960s, the Blue Room played host to some of the biggest names in show business as well as to an elaborate floor show. The reopened Blue Room will once again periodically host live entertainment. The Sazerac Bar, a fixture in The Roosevelt since 1949, will once again be serving its signature Sazerac Cocktails and Ramos Gin Fizzes when the property reopens.
The hotel's ballrooms will get a new look as well and WAC management team will once again do the "extravagant" Christmas decorations which was something that the Fairmont New Orleans was known for.
In total, there will be 500 guestrooms, a luxury spa and a fitness center on site. Fun fact: The hotel was known for having inspired the 1965 best-selling novel from Arthur Hailey titled, Hotel.
We've been waiting for an update on the famous Savoy in London, which now belongs to the Fairmont Group who are sinking loads of cash into the place. They closed up back in December and auctioned off most of the furniture, ready to make way for the new look.
Until now we haven't heard much about the new look, but the bosses have just released some more info about what they're doing to the Savoy. They've launched a Savoy 2009 website which includes all the latest news on progress as well as providing a really interesting look back on the Savoy's life so far.
The new Savoy, they say, will be a combination of 1930s art deco and a classic late 1800s look. It will include a £2.5 million Royal Suite (that's a huge amount of money for one suite--we can't imagine what they'll be doing in there) and they will also be reintroducing the historical glass roof over the Thames foyer. It sounds like they're still on track for a spring 2009 reopening, but it'll be a while before there's a more accurate guess of opening day.
After a few years of living elsewhere, Eloise has returned to The Plaza again. A portrait of the six-year-old children's book heroine was returned to its original resting place on the near the famous Palm Court dining room. The child actress Jordana Beatty, who will play Eloise in an upcoming movie, was on hand for the unveiling too.
The portrait was returned to its original spot on a wall outside the sumptuous restaurant, whose stained-glass ceiling, covered with plaster in the 1940s, was uncovered and restored during the two-year renovation.
Children staying at the Plaza who love Eloise can order an Eloise bubble bath with milk and cookies (pet turtle not included) and can choose goodies and eats from a children's menu with Eloise's picture on the front.
Hmmm...we think if these parental units are shelling out $1,000 a night at the Plaza, the hotel can do better than a bubble bath and a menu with a picture of Eloise on it. But that's just us.
The Plaza officially opened to the public on Sunday but there will be no grand opening party for at least a year. Page Six reports:
The Plaza's grand opening party set for last Saturday was canceled at the last minute due to a death in the owner's family. A spy said, "They had to send out like 2,000 e-mails to people telling them not to come." A rep for the event, Harriet Weintraub, said, "Itzhak Tshuva's mother died, and in the [Jewish] Orthodox tradition, you can't have a celebration for a year. It will be rescheduled."
Okay all you downhill skiers, in 2011 the ever-popular slopes of Vail will welcome a new posh mountain resort from Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. The luxury hotelier just announced plans to develop the Fairmont Vail, with 128 plush rooms, 73 Fairmont Residences as well as Fairmont Heritage Place, the company's private residence club homes.
Set amidst the destination's three mountain areas, the new resort will treat winter and summertime guests to a handful of restaurants, a signature 10,000-sq.ft. Willow Stream spa, and 9,500-sq.ft. feet of function space, including a 3,000-sq.ft. ballroom for apres-skiing fun.
Vail is going to be getting a slew of luxury condo-resorts like The Ritz Carlton Residences, the Solaris Solaris and a Four Seasons Hotel by 2009. The Fairmont brand is already located at other famous ski resorts like Banff Springs, Whistler, Lake Louise, and nearby Telluride.
Despite the deluge of luxury digs, eco-minded skiers will be somewhat comforted to know that the entire Vail Mountain destination is 100% powered by the wind.
With exclusive boutique hotels becoming all the rage, some hotels are getting smart and creating a boutique hotel within their large hotel--putting aside a couple of floors to make a semi-separate hotel with separate check-in and services, but with the advantage of guests being able to access all the restaurants, gyms and pools of the larger hotel if they want.
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort was one such example, and now the latest to follow this trend is the Fairmont Gold in Dallas. They've turned the top three floors of the Fairmont Hotel into a boutique hotel space for "gold guests". There are 47 rooms in the Fairmont Gold, include six deluxe rooms and six suites, and the area includes two lounges with drinks and snacks in the evening and a continental breakfast in the morning.
The Fairmont Gold must have hit the mark, because it's already getting some celebrity visitors--they say that John McCain stayed in the presidential suite of the Gold recently. With rates ranging from $250 to $1,000, it's not at all out of the question that you could be a gold guest too.
Normally, we don't like kicking off a Monday with grisly hotel crime but when it happens at a luxury hotel in Orange County, it's hard to ignore.
A woman's body was found packed in dry ice at the Fairmont Newport Beach Hotel Saturday and the details surrounding her death are mysterious to say the least.
The body of Monique Felicia Trepp was discovered in Room 966 at the Fairmont Hotel just before midnight Thursday, shortly after narcotics investigators say they arrested [Stephen David] Royds with a small amount of cocaine.
There's no cause of death yet but both Trepp and Royds had several prior drug-related arrest. Royds also told the O.C. Register that "Everything that happened was for religious reasons."
This is certainly not the kind of publicity the Fairmont wants after having just completed an extensive $32 million renovation. Maybe the Mondrian West Hollywood has some tips on how to cope.
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by Jenna
Normally, we don't like kicking off a Monday with grisly hotel crime but when it happens at a luxury hotel in Orange County, it's hard to ignore.
