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Is W Chicago City Center's New Look Too Ikea-ish?
| July 2, 2009 at 11:53 AM | 0 Comments
Ch-ch-check it out, Chi-town: W Chicago City Center just underwent a major, major reno (the first since its 2001 opening, obviously) that includes a redesign of the hotel's 235 guestrooms and suites, the W Living Room (goofy W lingo for "lobby," for those of you just tuning in), and a new brand new look for the meeting and event spaces throughout the hotel.
Warning: going over to TripAdvisor to check out reviews of this hotel may be a wee bit risky, as the reviews are about as all-over-the-place as they get. Here's one guest's take on the newly renovated rooms:
The renovated rooms look like a page out of an Ikea catalog. White, cheap furniture. I was reminded of the super-small rooms you get in European hotels where all the furniture is attached to the walls.
Whoops. Management responded to that comment, though, with this:
We ensure you that our furniture was created exclusively by the W Hotels Design team for the comfort of our guests. In implementing our recent 35 million dollar renovation our design team carefully thought of the guest experience – installing sound proof windows and creating more space by making it brighter and recessing furniture.
Probably a good thing that they're trying to make the rooms seem bigger and brighter, at least, since a couple other reviewers on TA complained of the small room size.
Rates here start around $199.
Tags: Hotel Openings / W Hotels / W South Beach / Hotel Delays / → All Tags
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 Art / W Hotels / Washington DC Hotels / → All Tags
W Washington DC to Highlight Emerging Artists
| June 30, 2009 at 3:10 PM | 1 Comment
Dianna Wong, interior designer of the W Washington DC
From the moment you enter the soon-to-soft-open W Hotel in Washington, D.C., hotel interior designer Dianna Wong’s carefully curated art program vies for your attention. To your left, a digital fire flickers in the fireplace. Look closely, and you might notice the flames exhibit some curious Benjamin Button symptoms. Video artist Adam Duplay remixed the staid fireplace, starting with glowing embers and progressing backwards.
And just above the fireplace, Israeli artist Ori Gersht offers a statement charged with post-9/11 politics, laced with throwbacks to both the American and French revolutions. After spraying liquid nitrogen on red, white, and blue flowers, Gersht wired each stem with firecrackers and set up 11 cameras around the blooms. He triggered the cameras and explosives simultaneously to capture the exploding-but-intact petals. His enlarged photo of the flowers “look like brush strokes of paint across the canvas,” as L.A.-based designer Wong described on a recent tour.
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Hype / Viva Vegas / W Hotels / → All Tags
The Remnants of the W Las Vegas Dream Still Remain
| June 30, 2009 at 12:35 PM | 0 Comments
Even in the boomtime of the hospitality industry, The W Las Vegas could never get off the ground. By May 2007, the project had officially crapped out due to rising construction costs and growing financial requirements. Also, we think the Las Ramblas curse had something to do with it.
So when we were in Las Vegas last week, we happen to notice this sign. Sad. But even sadder, the W Las Vegas would have opened this year. The photo in the inset is a rendering of one of the proposed W rooms. Will W try their luck in Las Vegas again? Possibly as there is absolutely nothing happening on this site. But we wouldn't place any bets on it.
Want more stories from Vegas? Head over to VegasChatter.com.
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?
Tags: W Hotels / Boston Hotels / Hotel Hype / W Talent Shows / → All Tags
The W Boston's 'Talent Show' is Going On Right Now
| June 18, 2009 at 4:14 PM | 2 Comments
A promising sign that The W Boston will open on time this September? The hotel is currently holding its W Boston Talent Show (also known as a job fair) at 660 Washington Street. All positions are open at the hotel from Whatever/Whenever staff to administrative positions to bar and kitchen staff. Here's how it will all go down:
Upon entering the Talent Center (pictured), applicants will be transported behind an invisible velvet rope into the world of W. After checking in at the Welcome Desk, potential talent will be escorted to a Starfinder Station to complete an application online and the W Whisper Booth for a more personal meet and greet.
The W will open on September 30 (so they say) in the city's revitalized Theatre District with 235 guest rooms and 123 W residences. For now, the talent show will continue through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. Positions were most interested in hearing more about? The Munchie Box position and the Style position. If you hit the talent show up, let us know how it went.
Tags: NYT Reviews / W Hotels / Istanbul Hotels / → All Tags
NYT Pops Into W Istanbul for Some Turkish Delight
| June 15, 2009 at 10:57 AM | 0 Comments
Until the W Barcelona officially pops its cork this fall, the W Istanbul remains Europe’s only W Hotel. The NYT’s Fred Bernstein checked the place out recently, so we thought we’d compare his observations to those of HotelChatter’s Shira Levine, who just last month filed her own review of the “crazy sexy cool” spot. Overall, the two agreed on much.
Highlights: “There is no perfect spot in Istanbul — the city is too vast and complicated — but the W’s comes close,” Bernstein says. (Er, Levine put it differently: “W Istanbul is located on an attractive but weird corner where there is a complicated traffic pattern.”)
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Mexico Could Have Done Without The Acapulco Drug War Shootout
| June 8, 2009 at 5:01 PM | 1 Comment
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Acapulco Resort Area Under Fire: Mexico has had a bad enough tourism year with the recession and the swine flu but the deadly drug war shootout in Acapulco is absolutely frightening. [NY Times]
· Mulberry Street Hotel Tentatively Called Hotel: There's a new hotel about to open on NYC's Mulberry Street. The name? According to this snapshot, "hotel." [Curbed]
· It's Mojito Monday: At the Mad46 Rooftop Space on top of the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC. The mojitos are $10 but you do get one free ginger mojito. [Twitter]
· The W San Diego's Owners Having Money Issues: The owners of the W San Diego (not Starwood) are forfeiting the property to its lenders. The big question is: Will the W brand remain? [WSJ]
[Photo via the AP]
Tags: Hotel Openings / W Hotels / Hotel Delays / Barcelona Hotels / → All Tags
The W Barcelona Has (Nearly) Popped Its Cork
| June 4, 2009 at 1:02 PM | 2 Comments
When a ship gets launched, it gets a bottle of bubbly smashed on it. When it’s a hotel that happens to be built in the shape of a ship sail, it gets what we’re thinking is a lot more than a bottle of bubbly doled out to the people attending its “ceremonial event” – which is what was going down on 19 May at the W Barcelona, to celebrate the completion of the sail-shaped building.
Unfortunately, although it’s ready on the outside, it must be looking pretty rough internally, because they’re planning on opening October 1st – despite the date originally being down for 2008.
Anyway, as an opening offer, they’re dealing a free upgrade, two cocktails, breakfast, a Bliss Spa gift set, and VIP access to the rooftop bar, which is going to be run by London’s finest Ignite Group. They’re also doling out a complimentary appetizer or dessert if you dine in the hotel restaurant, but we’re betting most guests will be out on the town for their dindins. Anyway, the choice is yours for €299 ($422, or £261). Valid for stays between October 1st (or whenever it opens!) to February 27th of next year.
Tags: Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Parties / W Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
W New York Wants To Spend Sunday Nights With You
| June 2, 2009 at 10:03 AM | 0 Comments
Rooftop hotel parties in New York are all the rage these days. From uptown to downtown, hotels are finally understanding that their guests want a piece of the pie — that is, the glorious rooftop pie where they can be on top of the world for a little while without having to book the penthouse suite.
In that spirit, The W New York on Lexington Avenue has just announced its own Summer Sundays rooftop parties inside the hotel's Extreme Wow Suites (these are essentially the presidential suites.) Starting June 7 and running through Labor Day, every Sunday from 6pm to 10pm, the terrace of these suites will open and guests can order drinks from a cash bar or through bottle service.
Tags: Hotel Delays / Miami Hotel Mambo / W South Beach / Hotel News / W Hotels / → All Tags
Oh, Come On: W South Beach Now Aims For July 1st
| May 29, 2009 at 1:01 PM | 0 Comments
Okay, W South Beach. If you were a guy, we'd have already written you off. Actually, we would have written you off in, like, April: you keep on makin' dates with us and then canceling and rescheduling. In the hotel world, we are usually rather understanding of these sorts of things — things come up. We get it. There are delays. But this is pretty egregious — this is like the 400th delay now. Might we remind you that the original opening date you promised us was in March?
Alright, so now you're promising July 1st, according to the official W SoBe website. Naturally, we don't trust you. We were almost scared to do this, but we tried to make a reservation for the night of July 1st — and it went through, for once; rates are still at the $332 mark (coming out to about $375 a night when all taxes and fees are done).
Ugh. Please just open. It's a damn good thing you have the best sweet-talker in the entire world writing your charming lines for you, otherwise we'd have completed iced you out by now.
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Rooftop Bars / Washington DC Hotels / W Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
The 'Congress of Cool' Could Chill on W Washington's Roof Terrace
| May 28, 2009 at 10:39 AM | 0 Comments
Cheesy “Congress of Cool” tagline aside, we’d be out of order to understate the anticipation surrounding the summer opening of DC’s first W Hotel. It’s a bubbling-under-the-surface buzz, mind you, but the nation’s capital has waited a long time to welcome a W — er, a W Hotel, that is.
Perhaps most of all, Washingtonians are eager to see what Starwood has done with the old Hotel Washington’s iconic Sky Terrace, a roof spot unrivaled for its views of the White House, Washington Monument, and, well, pretty much the rest of DC. Though beloved for its incredible views, the Sky Terrace always seemed to ooze with mediocrity previously (i.e. overpriced-but-underwhelming drinks and a touristy vibe).
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