Tag: ron burkle
View All TagsHotel Industry News / Hotel Woes / Hotel Lawsuits / Delano Hotels / Morgans Hotel Group / Ron Burkle / → All Tags
And The Morgans Mess Gets Messier
The hotel that launched a thousand ships pages of court filings
Last month, things were getting down and dirty with Delano Hotels. This month things are getting even messier with the Delano's parent company, Morgans Hotel Group.
According to Bloomberg News, investor Ron Burkle threatened to "crater" some of the hotel group's other deals (like in Moscow and Las Vegas) if the Morgans board members did not approve the Delano South Beach buyout bid from his Yucaipa companies as well as his proposed recapitalization plan.
One of Morgan's largest shareholders, OTK Associates, has already filed a lawsuit against other Morgans board members to stop this arrangement. OTK also wants to overhaul the board and in effect, the company. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports that Morgans with its 13 hotels has lost money in every quarter since 2007.
If this sounds terribly confusing, it is. Essentially two board members are fighting each other over direction of the company and who gets most of its assets. Like we said last month, this may not immediately affect your experience at a Morgans Hotel right now, but it certainly could in the future.
More importantly, if the hotel group hasn't turned a profit since 2007, we're not so sure how many of their new hotel projects will actually come to life. To be continued....
[Photo: HotelChatter]
Soho House Hotels / Hotel News / Nick Jones / Ron Burkle / → All Tags
Soho House Gets a Bigger House to Hold All Their Houses
The Shoreditch House in London
Last week we were overly excited about the future opening of Soho House Chicago. But before the private members club/boutique hotel opens in the Windy City, Soho House is expected to first open in Mumbai this June and then in Istanbul in 2013.
And it turns out all this globe-trotting expansion is probably due to a major investment from grocery store billionaire Ron Burkle who recently bought a 60 percent share in the company.
Soho House hotelier Nick Jones wrote about the news to Soho House members saying:
'Though we've had a number of interested parties table offers for Soho House in the last few years, I believe that Ron shares our vision, and provides us with the backing to expand and improve our clubs whilst remaining true to our original ethos.'
Hotel Construction / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Ron Burkle / Sydell Group / → All Tags
The NoMad Hotel Gets A Glass Pyramid Roof!
The hotel that rocked the construction zone party is back for more—this time with a construction zone restaurant tour! Midtown's NoMad Hotel invited an editor from NBC's The Feast to take a look at the unfinished hotel's unfinished "urban playground" restaurant. And nothing get us in the mood to play more than drywall and exposed water pipes.
The restaurant, described as "fun" and "spontaneous" by chef Daniel Humm and GM Will Guidara, will center around a glass-pyramid-ceiling room known as "the atrium" (pictured). Interesting to have such a unique design be located only one block from the even-weirder protruding facade of the Gershwin Hotel. Perhaps there's more to south midtown than meets the eye...
Morgans Hotel Group / Morgans Hotels / Edition Hotels / Ron Burkle / Hotel Industry News / → All Tags
Morgans Hotel Group is Getting a Little Dose of (Gasp!) Marriott
There's been some interesting new developments over at Morgans Hotel Group. Billionaire investor Ron Burkle has joined the board, about two years after his Yucaipa Cos., invested $75 million in the company. The hotel group has also appointed a new CEO, Michael Gross, to succeed Fred Kleisner.
This comes as no surprise since Morgans has been struggling with debt after attempting to expand its high-design boutique hotel brand and its management operations with limited success. The Hard Rock in Las Vegas was run by Morgans who has also had a minority ownership stake in the property but it has since been taken over by a lender.
And now the flagship hotel, Morgans and recently revamped Royalton are up for sale. However, a Morgans rep told us that the two hotels will still be managed by Morgans going forward.
Hotel News / Celebrity Scoop / Ron Burkle / The Bowery Hotel / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Ron Burkle Brings the Party to the Bowery Hotel
"Billionaire party boy" (er, we'd say "man") Ron Burkle -- who has a staggering amount of money and a small amount of fame among the masses (if only because he was the dude who filed a lawsuit against Anne Hathaway's sleazy ex-boyfriend) -- is reportedly moving into the Bowery Hotel.
That's right, folks: there were two extraordinarily expensive loft penthouses available up on the top floor of the hotel and Guest of a Guest is sayin' the Burkle himself has nabbed one.
The price tag? $30,000 a month.
We sort of expected someone like Lindsay Lohan to move in there, but we suppose he'll wander downstairs and go gallivanting with Lohan and Sam or any of the rich hipster doofuses that hang out at the Bowery.
Guess it's not a party til a sugar daddy-ish type shows up to reign over the hotel. As G of a G so perfectly worded it, "so much excitement hasn't hit a hotel since Dunston checks in."
