Act One: The W Scottsdale is supposed to open on March 20th. Fail.
Act Two (January): The W Scottsdale will be open in Late Spring. Plot twist: a new sushi restaurant, Sushi Roku, is announced. Oooohh... but fail.
Act Three (February): The W Scottsdale will be open May 27th. But...wait for it...FAIL.
Act Four (today): The W Scottsdale will be open September 5th. The delay is due to "setbacks."
Yawn. This is the most boring play ever.
Listen, dudes: what is going on over there? If you're going to keep delaying the opening, at least give us some juicy gossip or a hint of drama to keep us on the edge of our seats.
"Setbacks?" Psssh, whateva. Give us some drama or give us a real opening date.
Thanks to Hotel Maven BK we have this snap of the W Scottsdale which was supposed to open in April but is now opening at the end of May.
Judging from this snapshot we have some skepticism about that May opening but BK says:
The W Scottsdale seems to be coming along well. Looks like a lot needs to be done before that supposed May opening, but they are well on their way.
When the hotel does open, it will have a Sushi Roku restaurant, as well as all the W accoutrements including a Bliss Spa, a Wet pool area and Whatever/Whenever service.
When they broke ground back in November 2005, the $110 million hotel had hoped to open by early 2007 just in time for Arizona' huge winter tourism season. But the target date has since been pushed back a number of times, and now it appears the opening will coincide not with snowbirds but with sun worshipers.
According to General Manager Leon Wood, W Scottsdale is now slated to open May 27. That's more than a month later than the previous April 18 opening. This is big news because the delayed opening means that W will be banking on visitors willing to fork over big bucks (try $659 to $759/night) to stay and play when temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees F.
Perhaps with the W's "cool, cool Wet Pool" and the "natural water elements throughout" no one will notice the heat...
Sushi Roku, a popular LA sushi chain, is opening up its fifth location in the new W Hotel & Residences Scottsdale in late April 2008. There are already Sushi Rokus in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Las Vegas (in the Forum Shoppes.)
Brought to the hotel by the Innovative Dining Group, Sushi Roku will be helmed by executive chef Tim Fields (formerly of the Boulders Resort) and will feature traditional sushi/sashimi option as well as some Sushi Roku faves. It will also serve up breakfast with entrees like the Fresh Herb and Cheese Omelet ($14) and Homemade Oat and Almond Granola ($11). Gotta love those hotel prices!
The 6,000-sq-ft. restaurant like all other Rokus has been designed by the group at Dodd Mitchell's DMD & Associates. Natural materials, including large boulders, teak woods, and black slate will give the place its signature Roku look.
Fortunately hotel guests will be able to benefit from some in-room dining.
In addition, room service choices will incorporate a selection of sushi items from the Sushi Roku restaurant menu, including tantalizing options such as "Sushi in Bed."
Considering that we order Sushi Roku takeout from the Santa Monica location somewhat frequently, "Sushi in Bed" actually sounds delightful.
As for the W Hotel itself, the place will open on March 20, 2008. Expect all standard one word W services and amenities--Bliss, Wet, Sweat, etc.--to be in there.
We now present you with our VIP Hotel Reviewer Series in which we hand-pick experts in the travel and media worlds and beyond to tell us what are their favorite hotels and why. Once a week, we'll feature a hotel review from said VIPs about their favorite leisure or business hotels. Pay attention: These VIPs are experts at what they do and they don't mess around when it comes to their hotels.
The next VIP in the series is Jennifer Birn, the society editor of OK! Magazine, who keeps daily updates about her life at her OK! blog Simply Jen. Enjoy.
As Society Editor of OK! Magazine I travel...a lot. Whether it be Cancun for their film festival, Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, Miami for Art Basel, Las Vegas for New Year's, Tahiti to write a travel story or Peru to hike Macchu Picchu, I'm often living out of a suitcase at a hotel.
My next trip is for the Super Bowl, and since this year the big game is back in Arizona, I'm excited that I get to go back to one of my favorite hotels, the Mondrian Hotel Scottsdale.
I lived in Scottsdale during college, and while working at The Arizona Republic afterwards, so I still have a lot of friends there and go back often. Rather than stay at a friend's house, I always insist on having them meet me at the Mondrian- my home away from home in my often frantic world.
While the flagship Mondrian Hotel has seen better days, the Mondrian Scottsdale is getting mixed reviews. It may even be the most conflicted hotel property in Scottsdale.
The whole Good vs. Evil contrast thing starts in the lobby with the white puffy clouds, white puffy curtains, and most famously, white puffy sheep (yes, sheep). It doesn't take much imagination to "get" the Heaven metaphor. Oh, did we mention the gigantic "tree of life"?
Hotel Maven e recently hit up the new Mondrian Scottsdale and tested out the hotel's spa, Agua.
The positives about the spa seemed centered around the mojitos. However, these great mojitos made for a lot of drunk people hanging out by the pool which is adjacent to the spa. Not quite the relaxing scene you hope for.
Ouch. That's all we can say when we read Consumer Affairs' scathing review of the Hotel Indigo in Scottsdale, Arizona.
A review of the Scottsdale Indigo which opened January 4th, says the hotel intended to bring nature elements inside the hotel as a way to give guests a more relaxing and rejuvenating experience. But Dan Schlossberg's recent experience sees this in another way, deciding that "new and trendy" is a synonym for "uncomfortable and unfinished", listing more than 10 complaints after his stay. Highlights include:
Guest room walls are so thin that normal conversations can be heard from adjoining rooms ... the bare wooden floor is cold ... Drawers are far too shallow and narrow
And to top it all off, "the whole place reeks of formaldehyde". How very modern. However, the place just opened so we're assuming they are still working out some kinks. If in a month, the place still smells like the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home, then the hotel has got some 'splaining to do.
2 Comments - Add Yours
by Jenna
