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Virgin Hotels' First Location Will Be Chicago
Well, here's the news we've been waiting for for over a year now. The location of the first-ever Virgin Hotel has been announced, and it's not quite what we were anticipating: Chicago—specifically the Dearborn Bank Building in the north Loop—will welcome the brand's 250-room debut in Fall 2013. And boy have they put a lot of thought into this decision!
Virgin announced this morning at 11am that Chicago was chosen because it's "economically vibrant, culturally exciting, and a sports and entertainment hub." They neglected to mention that this yet-to-be renovated building also finds itself smack in the middle of an area populated by tons of other hotels.
Whether this is just a way to show their own superiority over lesser hotel beings, or tap into a well-visited section of the city (or both), we can't say. But to forgo the expected cities like NYC, SF or Miami is obviously Virgin's way of saying they want to establish their presence as a major player in the up-and-coming hotel world from the get-go. And really, who's about to stop them?
Hotel Fires / Richard Branson / Necker Island / Hotel News / Private Island Hotels / Kate Winslet / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Kate Winslet Saves Granny Branson as Necker Island Catches Fire
We used to think Sir Richard Branson was untouchable with his death-defying stunts, jet-setting lifestyle and nonstop partying but last night, Branson and his family narrowly escaped a dramatic fire at the Great House on his 74-acre personal paradise, Necker Island.
While family (including Branson's 90-year-old mum), friends (including Kate Winslet) and staff escaped unharmed, the Great House building suffered substantial damage and is according to Branson's blog still burning:
We had a tropical storm with winds up to 90mph. A big lightning storm came around 4am and hit the house. My son Sam and nephew Jack rushed to the house and helped get everyone out and many thanks to Kate Winslet for helping to carry my 90 year mum out of the main house to safety wondering when a Director was going to shout CUT!
The main house is destroyed and the fire is not yet completely out. My office was based in the house and I have lost thousands of photographs and my note books which is very sad. But all family and friends are well - which in the end is all that really matters.
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theWit Hotel Chicago Got Mixed Up with a Virgin and a Billionaire Last Night
Last night in a terrifically rainy Chicago, Virgin top dog Richard Branson filled up theWit Hotel with VIPs and held court on the roofdeck, joined by celebrities just in on one of Virgin America's first flights to Chicago from LAX and SFO. We caught Tim Meadows in the elevator, Adrian Grenier shying away from cameras, and Creed Bratton from The Office chilling...just to name a few. Of course Creed was our absolute favorite spotting of the eve.
It was a motley bunch, but in true Virgin style. The purpose of the whole thing was to announce to the Windy City that Virgin America has finally begun flights here, after three straight years of battling it out with the legacy airlines. It's such a big deal, that the party to celebrate the flights' arrival was also a Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Wines affair. And it's rumored that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Branson in his suite for pow wow.
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Could You Be Bedding Your First Virgin In New Mexico?
UPDATE: a tipster in the know says that although the spaceport is in the works, the first Virgin Hotel will, as planned, still open "in a major US city". They tell us to expect an official announcement "within 45 days".
We've spent the past few months racking our brains trying to guess which city will get the first Virgin Hotel treatment, and while we suspected San Francisco, we never thought that it'd be in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. But, according to The Independent, Richard Branson is looking to begin with a property overlooking the still-under-construction Virgin Galactic Spaceport headquarters.
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We Won't Be Sleeping with a Virgin For Another Year or More
We just waded through a tough-to-chew article on the forecast for the hotel industry in the New York Times to find the answer to something we've been dying to know--how much longer until we sleep inside a Virgin Hotel?
The answer: 12 to 18 months.
That timeline is not quite what we were hoping for but at least we can start counting the days. And we suspect that in a short while we'll at least know where this very first Virgin Hotel will open. (Hint, Hint.)
Right now, Virgin has only stated that they will open about 25 Virgin Hotels in major cities across the world but the U.S. will probably get first dibs. (We think San Fran might be the very first Virgin Hotel.)
But there's something else we're concerned about.
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Where Will Virgin Hotels Open First?
Yesterday we were practically jumping for joy when we found out that Virgin Hotels had finally launched a website meaning that a hotel opening is in the very near future. Tingles!
The hotels will be inspired by the cool Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses aka airport lounges and according to Sir Richard Branson, they will be "the hippest most comfortable new hotel in any city. Anyone's who anybody will know to go there."
Even better for us Yanks, Virgin Hotels has their eyes set on Virginizing North America first instead of the UK. The list of cities put forth are the following:
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Virgin Hotels Launches Website; Plans to Virginize North America First
In chatting mid-flight with Sir Richard Branson back in June, we only had thing on our mind--When will Virgin Hotels open? And the answer he gave us had us tingling for a few days after we landed even if it was rather vague. He said then that Virgin was "not many months away from making an announcement" regarding their first hotel.
As it turns out, Virgin Hotels was apparently not many months away from creating a website as Hudson Crossing tipped us off that VirginHotels.com is now officially up and running.
There's a cheeky Do Not Disturb sign anchoring the page ("Opportunity knocking", "Shall we go back to your place?", etc) but most of the information is aimed at developers who want to partner with Virgin for a hotel brand. Still, we do learn a little bit about Virgin Hotels' philosophy and more importantly, their locations.
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Shack Up in Richard Branson's Private Island for Just $25,400
Necker Island has been reserved as Richard Branson's hideaway and the backdrop for the occasional Victoria's Secret catalog photo shoot, but now you have a chance to hang in the beautiful locale in the British Virgin Islands. And no, we aren't suggesting you become a scantily clad VS model to do it.
Normally the entire private island is rented out, but during Celebration Weeks—which take place select times throughout the year—couples, singles or families can book one of 14 rooms individually and share the island.
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Could You Soon Be Sleeping in a Virgin Hotel after Your Virgin Flight?
Sir Richard Branson. Can anyone guess the DeGrassi High alum sleeping behind him?
Yesterday we were fortunate to grab some time with Sir Richard Branson at his first class seat on the launch party flight for Virgin America's new Toronto route.
And while we could have asked Branson what a typical day is like for him at his Necker Island retreat or if he fancies Dita Von Teese, we had our mind on other sexier things--like Virgin Hotels and when we might expect them to open.
Branson told us they are "not many months away from making an announcement" regarding Virgin Hotels (an opening announcement that is.) He says they have the resources and the concept which is somewhat under wraps but he did confirm it would be very much a translation of the airline experience. And remember, Virgin Hotels is very much an urban brand that will only open in cities.
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Now Is Your Only Chance To Stay At Richard Branson's Private Swiss Ski Lodge
You know that Virgin Group main man Richard Branson owns a British Virgin Island, right? That would be Necker Island, the diamond in the tiara of Branson's Virgin Limited Edition label, which includes several super private, super luxe properties. Now did you also know that Branson owns a ski lodge in Switzerland?
He does! It's called The Lodge and it's nestled in the snowy valleys of the Swiss Alps at Verbier. Usually you'd have to get your rich, ski-happy friends together to get in here, since The Lodge is only available for full rental—no individual rooms are sold hotel-style. That is, until now.
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Richard Branson To Pretty Up New Jersey With 'Natirar'
It looks like we may be making a trip out to New Jersey very soon. That's because billionaire fly guy himself Sir Richard Branson is opening a resort in New Jersey next week that will have a cooking and wine school on the premises. The New York Times reports:
The resort, located in Peapack-Gladstone in Somerset County, is called Natirar Y(the reverse of Raritan, the river that runs at the edge of the property). A restaurant, Ninety Acres, will be open to the public, along with a cooking school run by Viking, the kitchen appliance company, and a wine school. Natirar, which consists of 492 acres in total, was built as a private estate in 1912 and in 1983 it was bought by the king of Morocco to use as a summer residence. The Moroccan royal family sold it to Somerset County in 2003. All except the 90 acres that have been leased to Branson and his partner, Bob Wojtowicz, are used as parkland.
Hah, we love it. They took a dirty sounding word like Raritan and prettied it up to sound more exotic. Natirar. Maybe we should do that with all of New Jersey's town names. For instance, Nekoboh-Hoboken. Elliveryas-Sayreville (Jon Bon Jovi's hometown.) Timmus-Summit (our hometown.) Erohs Yesrej-Jersey Shore. Man, you could create a new epic journey through middle earth using backwards Jersey town names.
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Inside Boston's Liberty Hotel 'New' Tower Suites
Someone over @ Virgin America knew what they were doing when they booked Boston's Liberty Hotel for Richard Branson's BOS route opening soiree last night.
Ok, ok, the old jail building's gorgeous atrium lobby is not exactly conducive to stellar ways of egress for the legendarily large posse Sir Richard tends to bring to a party, however, the historic Charles Street Jail turned Liberty Hotel possesses some of the coolest mixing of new and old that we have seen, and we have been around the hotel block.
Room: 1301
Type: 16-story Tower Suite
Square Footage: ~750 square feet
Best Feature: 240 degree Panoramic Views of the Charles River -- all the way to the Citgo sign.
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