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W South Beach Is Open!

| July 2, 2009 at 9:39 AM | 1 Comment

The day has come: W South Beach is open. Yes, open. It is July 2nd, 2009 and, presumably, there will be heads on brand new W SoBe pillows this evening. Surreal, isn't it? Consider it your very special Fourth of July holiday present. Or consider it a sweet, sweet miracle.

As we've already noted, this weekend appears to be sold out — but if you're really jonesin' to get in there, you can get a room on Sunday night (there appear to be some available) — and rooms are actually down below the $300 mark; you're looking at $295 (before taxes) for a king.

But don't go booking a bikini wax, a massage and a romantic meal just yet: the on-site Bliss Spa isn't opening until December 15, and Mr. Chow isn't supposed to open until August 15.

Are you inside the W South Beach this weekend? Send us pics and tell us what the scene is like!

Tags: Hotel Renovations / Hotel Openings / Hotel Opening Rates / → All Tags

The Roosevelt New Orleans Officially Re-Opens Today

| July 1, 2009 at 11:13 AM | 0 Comments

The Roosevelt's lighting ceremony, in May

We just got word from a hotel rep that the famed Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, which has been undergoing a major, major renovation and restoration (and transition to become a part of the Waldorf-Astoria Collection), is officially opening up today.

We knew the place was running a special reopening promo starting July 26th and running through September 30th ($139! Seriously, get on this) and even though the last time we checked, rezzies were only available on July 11th and beyond, we actually can make reservations for tonight — and the public is welcome to come in and walk through to check out the newly-restored property.

There will be a big grand re-opening sometime in mid-July with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and whatnot, but for now, rooms are available at $139 (the lowest we could find for July 7th, which was the first available room we could book). We gave the rezzie line a call because we were having trouble booking a room for tonight, and agent told us that either the place was totally full or it's doing what a lot of hotels are doing and requiring a few nights' minimum stay over the holiday weekend.

[Photo: The Roosevelt Blog]

Tags: Park Hyatt Hotels / Hotel Openings / Saudi Arabia Hotels / → All Tags

A Pretty (But Pricey) Park Hyatt Opens in Jeddah

| July 1, 2009 at 10:16 AM | 0 Comments

The Park Hyatt group have just added a new hotel in Saudi Arabia, with the Park Hyatt Jeddah opening up for business. As well as a five-star hotel there are also a Red Sea marina, club and spa in the complex so it sounds like a good vacation hotel, but they're also looking to get business travelers with fancy meeting facilities and a location close to Jeddah's financial district.

Creating this resort involved reclaiming land from the Red Sea, but Park Hyatt promises that they made sure to "retain the delicate surrounding marine life", and we sure hope that's true. Of course, the result is that the place has great views over the Red Sea and also to the famous King Fahd fountain which sprays water 1,000 feet into the air.

Park Hyatt Jeddah has 142 rooms, many of which overlook the Red Sea, and they all have 42" flat screen TVs, broadband internet and rain showers. They're not advertising any opening specials but rack rates start from 1650 riyal ($440) a night for the smallest rooms, with the huge royal suite going for 15,350 riyal (over $4,000). In other words, there are no budget nights to be had at the Park Hyatt Jeddah, but you're almost guaranteed a Red Sea view.

Tags: Hotel Openings / Hotel Renovations / Los Angeles Hotels / JDV Hotels / → All Tags

JDV's Hotel Maya Opens Today in Long Beach

| July 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM | 0 Comments

Fresh off a $20 million renovation, today marks the opening of Joie de Vivre's Hotel Maya in Long Beach, California. We've been talking a whole lot about JDV Hotels lately — mostly, we have the hots for the Cali-based boutique hotel company because they've got decent rates, clean and quirky designs and usually-free WiFi — and this 197-room property is the latest addition to the group to keep an eye on.

Hotel Maya's got a seafood bistro called Fuego, a fitness center, and a business and events center right on the waterfront — plus a heated lap pool and Jacuzzi, and a water canal with floating cabanas.

The "Mayan Journey" package is still bookable (and recommended), a $149 per-person rate that includes a room, breakfast, a three-course dinner, parking, and water taxi to downtown Long Beach (but schedule that excursion around the free daily sangria tastings at 5:00pm).

It looks like rooms are still available tonight, starting at $159.00, though this weekend seems to have limited availability (it looks like the night of the 4th is totally sold out, but give 'em a call just to be sure).

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Sneak Peek at The MAve, Opening July 2nd

| June 30, 2009 at 1:04 PM | 0 Comments

Glory be: it seems a Manhattan hotel is opening on schedule. Or, rather, they're at least sticking to the opening date they've been promising for a while.

Desires Hotels' newest, The MAve (that's for Madison Ave — which is the name people chose and voted on) will be opening its doors on Thursday, July 2nd. Opening rates for the rooms there will be cheapo by Manhattan standards: $169 for a basic room, with a 3-for-2 sale running when it opens — that is, pay for two nights and get your third night free. Rooms are still available this weekend, too.

We got our hot little hands on this sneak photo of one of the rooms; it's got H2O Aquatics bath & spa products, free WiFi, velour bathrobes, and 32" LCD TV's. And some trippy-ass art. Yeah.

Tags: Hotel Openings / Tri-Pack Hotel / Tri-Pack BT / Four Points By Sheraton / Manhattan Hotels / Staybridge Suites / Fairfield Inn / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Another Tri-Pack Hotel is Now Two-Thirds Open in Times Square

| June 25, 2009 at 1:37 PM | 2 Comments

How could we forget that the Tri-Pack hotel in Times Square would have some competition. We got a press release today saying that the Four Points Times Square has opened. When we checked our archives to see what else we have written about this hotel, we found this story which focused largely on Gene Kauffman's Tri-Pack Hotel.

However, we also wrote that he was working on a similar packaged hotel at 40th street that would include "a Four Points by Sheraton, Fairfield Inn and Staybridge Suites, each more than 30 stories tall." For clarity's sake we'll call this new one Tri-Pack BT (Business Travelers.) The other Tri-Pack will have the more budget-y brands of Holiday Inn, a Candlewood Suites and a Hampton Inn.

Now the Four Points is open at Tri-Pack BT but Staybridge Suites won't take guests until January 16, 2010. On the other hand the Fairfield Inn is already open with rooms at $199, making this Tri-Pack hotel two-thirds open.

And yes, that's a Starwood property, an ICH hotel and a Marriott brand all sharing the same space. (Btw for giggles, check out the Staybridge Suites rendering on their site which shows the building as a standalone.)

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Go Into the Red at Paris' New Banke Hotel

| June 25, 2009 at 9:26 AM | 0 Comments

Here’s an upside (kind of) to all these banks closing down: there will be a few nice buildings hanging around that might just end up as hotels — like the Banke Hotel, Paris’ latest lux addition.

Formerly the HSBC bank in the Opera district, it’s now home to 93 bedrooms and an art gallery (it’s part of the Spanish Derby Hotels group, whose owner is an art collector, dontcha know). Apparently, we should expect "Egyptian, African, Pre-Columbian, Roman and Buddhist" artifacts amongst the check-in desks and the bedrooms.

Everything’s very red from the headboards to the scarlet bar area, which looks incredible (that shiny gold 15-seater sofa was built for fun). And having stayed in a couple of the Derby hotels in Barcelona, we’re already fans of the group. The only thing we’re not sure about is the name; shouldn’t it be the Banque Hotel?

Whatever. To ensure the hotel’s finances are less ruddy than its decor, it’s offering 25% off rates until August 31. Doubles (pre-discount) currently start at EUR180 ($250; £154)

Tags: Hotel Openings / Canada Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags

Montreal's New Westin Opens In Old Newspaper Headquarters

| June 23, 2009 at 4:21 PM | 0 Comments

You know you're in Montreal when a newly-opened Westin sticks a "Le" in front of its name. Please welcome to the Canadian hotel scene the Le Westin Montreal, a 454-room property housed in the historical building once belonging to The Montréal Gazette.

In homage to the former tenants, the hotel has named its restaurant "Gazette" and its bar "Le Reporter." As far as the rest of the hotel goes, it's a standard Westin with Heavenly beds in every room, a WestinWORKOUT fitness center, and even an indoor pool. Special attention has however been placed on the work spaces within the rooms, since Montreal is just as popular a destination for business as it is for leisure, and the Westin happens to be centrally located in the downtown district.

Rates for such a fresh and well-situated property are excellently low to start off; this summer is looking at rooms from $150 per night. For once we may be freed from the expensive appeal of Le Saint Sulpice, but for how long?

[Image: Le Westin Montreal]

Tags: Hotel Indigo / Hotel Openings / San Diego Hotels / Hotel Art / → All Tags

Hotel Indigo San Diego Gets a Cool Sheet of Glass

| June 23, 2009 at 3:42 PM | 0 Comments

The Hotel Indigo San Diego is now set to open July 13 and while previously we touched on the hotel's green offerings, we didn't have any real photos of the place. But thankfully, now we do.

Here are some exterior shots of the hotel which feature a four-story glass sculpture titled “Indigo Waters” by local San Diego artist Lisa Schirmer. (That's what great about Hotel Indigo--they incorporate as much artwork from local artists as they can.) And lest you think this is just another pretty sculpture, there's actually some serious mathematics behind it. From the hotel:

The underpinning of the Hotel Indigo brand’s design and décor can be attributed to the Fibonacci sequence and the ratio known as the Golden Mean (or Phi). These math principles are found in nature and can be seen in the perfect proportion of the nautilus shell, which is represented in the Hotel Indigo brand logo. Adopting this mathematical ratio as a design principle helps create a feeling of balance and effortless beauty within the space.

“The idea behind the sculpture is to create a wavelike pattern of indigo colors by rotating and repeating square and quarter circle shapes on square glass panels,” said Schirmer. The glass panels are arranged vertically in a Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13) in seven layers on a curved outside wall of the hotel. As daylight shifts, the glass will create a dramatic mix of color and movement; tasteful back-lighting at night will create a new composition of colors.

Very cool. Also inside the hotel, local photographer Ian Cummings will have his photos of native plants and water-driven imagery on display in the guestrooms, the hotel lobby, the hotel's Phi Bar and Bistro and other public areas.

Room rates for Hotel Indigo San Diego will begin at $199 a night.

Another shot of the hotel's exterior and the sculpture is after the jump.

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Tags: Shangri-La Hotels / Moscow Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags

Break Out the Vodka: Shangri-La Expands Into Russia

| June 22, 2009 at 11:26 AM | 0 Comments

Talk about mixing cultures. The Shangri-La Hotels group has just signed a deal to create its first-ever Russian property, a 400-room hotel in Moscow. And with the deal involving an agreement with the China Huaming International Investment Corporation, there's a real Chinese theme going on with it.

The hotel — whose official name seems to have not been released yet — will be on the top floors of the Park Huaming Business Centre in the north-east corner of Moscow, about six miles from central Red Square (shown). Many of the rooms will have views over the Chinese-landscaped gardens in the complex; and as for dining, guests will be able to choose between a Russian and a Chinese restaurant (We're thinking Chinese for the food and Russian for the drinks?)

Expected opening date is not until 2012 so we'll get some more details before then, but we imagine that even keeping it out of the super-expensive central area of Moscow won't make it any cheaper. Fancy hotels in Moscow are simply expensive, no matter what — and this one surely won't be any different. But at least it will have free WiFi.

[Photo of Red Square: gmetrail]

Tags: Stalking W SoBe / Hotel Rumors / Hotel Openings / W South Beach / Miami Hotel Mambo / → All Tags

Not Only is W SoBe Opening July 2nd, But It's Reportedly Sold Out

| June 22, 2009 at 10:13 AM | 0 Comments

Whoa. Excuse us for being cynics. We have just gotten word that not only is the W South Beach actually going to open on July 2nd as promised — but it's sold out.

Seriously. We reported early this morning that trying to make rezzies on the hotel's website yielded an error message — the same error message we got on two occasions prior, after which we received word of delays — and so we assumed another delay was a-comin'.

Not so! We contacted an employee of the hotel who assured us that we couldn't book any rooms that night 'cause the place is totally full. Nice. Good to hear.

We're sorry for doubting you, W SoBe. But we're not sorry for stalking you. Yeah, we're gonna keep that up all week.

Tags: W New York Downtown / Hotel Openings / Hotel Delays / W Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

W New York Downtown Shoots For December 1st, 2009

| June 19, 2009 at 10:17 AM | 0 Comments

Today in "good luck with that one" news: we never thought we'd see the day, but the W New York Downtown seems to have selected an opening date.

For a long time, the hotel's website was sittin' pretty with an "Opening 2010" splashed up across the top, and the only news we were hearing about the place were coming in the form of updates on the latest construction disasters and some rather upsetting outdoor terrace views.

However, the site doesn't have a whole lot of info about the hotel itself (no amenity lists, bookable rooms or particularly groundbreaking renderings — well, except for this one of the sky bar, above), but at least there's a date, right?

Not to be those people, but we're going to guess the actual opening might arrive sometime in March or April of 2010. But we'll see, won't we?