Here's our latest roundup of business hotel news from the U.S. and abroad -- openings, closings, rebrandings and such...

May 2008

Two new Westins near D.C.; Hilton opens in Moscow

Hotel openings of note include two new Westins in the greater Washington D.C. area – the Westin National Harbor, part of a big mixed-use project in Prince George County, Maryland, across the Potomac from Old Town Alexandria; and the Westin Reston Heights in Reston, Va., near Dulles International Airport … There’s also a new Westin hotel in Mount Laurel, N.J., six miles from downtown Philadelphia … In New York City, actor Robert deNiro is one of the owners of the new Greenwich Hotel, a downtown luxury property on Greenwich Street in TriBeCa … Farther south, a May opening is scheduled for The Mansion on Peachtree, a Rosewood Hotel in Atlanta with rooms of 480 square feet and larger … Another new Atlanta property is Starwood’s W Atlanta Midtown, on 14th Street NE, near Piedmont Park … Over in Savannah, Ga., there’s a new Cambria Suites (part of Choice Hotels) at the airport …In Florida, the former Miami Biscayne Hotel is now the Hilton Miami Downtown … Another new Westin Hotel has opened in Huntsville, Ala., part of the Bridge Street Town Centre development … In Dallas, a May 30 debut is planned for The Joule, a new member of Starwood’s Luxury Collection; it’s a restoration of a 1920s building at 1530 Main Street … Also in Dallas, the former Adam’s Mark is now the Sheraton Dallas … In California’s Silicon Valley, the former Radisson Hotel in Sunnyvale is now the Domain Hotel, a member of the Joie de Vivre group … Joie de Vivre has also opened The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, a restoration of the 82-year-old Cal Western Life building … And in Los Angeles, the former Bel Age Hotel has been reincarnated as the London West Hollywood, with culinary activities directed by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

Overseas, a May opening is set for the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel; it’s about half an hour from the Kremlin and next to three metro stations … Starwood’s W Hotels this month opens its first property in Europe – the W Istanbul, in the city’s Besiktas district near the Bosphorus Strait … In Germany, there’s a new five-star hotel called, modestly, Fleming’s Hotel Deluxe in Frankfurt’s city center … Next to the Dusseldorf Airport, Maritim Hotels has opened a 533-room property with lots of meeting space… Moving to Asia, Starwood has opened the St. Regis Singapore, located in the downtown embassy district near Orchard Road … Marriott has cut the ribbon on its fourth property in Hong Kong; this one is a Courtyard in the Sai Ying Pan district on Hong Kong Island, near the waterfront … In China, Swissotel Hotels has opened the Swissotel Grand in Shanghai, its third China property … Millennium Hotels has held the soft opening of its 521-room Grand Millennium Beijing … and Germany’s Kempinski Hotels this month opens a 456-room hotel in Suzhou.

April 2008

Chicago gets dual-branded Marriott; Zurich’s Dolder Grand reopens

In Chicago, there’s a new dual-branded Marriott property at 410 N. Dearborn – the Residence Inn and SpringHill Suites Downtown River North, with a combined total of 523 rooms … The Chicago City Centre Hotel & Sports Club – previously known as the Holiday Inn City Centre -- will be transformed by this summer into the Doubletree Hotel Chicago Magnificent Mile … Chicago’s new Avenue Hotel, opening in May on E. Huron just off Michigan Ave., will have 200 rooms and 150 suites; it will offer special “Tech Rooms” equipped with iMacs, dedicated T-1 Internet links and printers … In New York City, Morgans, the original boutique property of Morgans Hotel Group at Madison Avenue and 37th Street, will close down from May 18 through September for a renovation … InterContinental Hotels Group has opened one of its new-concept Indigo hotels in Newton, Mass., outside Boston.

The newest property in Las Vegas is the 1,282-suite Trump International Hotel & Tower … In Texas, there’s a brand-new Grand Hyatt next to the convention center in San Antonio … The former Days Inn at the Dallas Market Center is now the Holiday Inn Market Center following a $7 million renovation … And West Houston has a new Four Points by Sheraton, Memorial City, at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 … Florida’s Orange County Convention Center is across the street from the newly opened Westin Imagine Orlando … Manhattan’s hip Gansevoort Hotel now has a Florida counterpart – the Gansevoort South Hotel has opened (where else) in trendy South Beach, boasting a big rooftop pool and bar … The former Radisson at West Palm Beach (Fla.) Airport is now a Doubletree … Doubletree also has a new Doubletree Guest Suites hotel in Bentonville, Ark., home of Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods … In Arizona, Tucson Airport has a new Hilton Garden Inn just a mile from the terminals … In Minnesota, Hilton Hotels has opened a new property in suburban Bloomington, not far from the Mall of America ... In Maryland, the new Legacy Hotel and Meeting Centre has opened in suburban Rockland, just outside Washington D.C.

Outside the U.S., a May opening is set for Vancouver’s L’Hermitage Hotel, a 60-suite boutique property in the city center … Intercontinental Hotels Group, which already has an InterContinental and a Holiday Inn in San Jose, Costa Rica, has added a new Crowne Plaza there as well … In Europe, there's a new Swissotel in Tallinn, Estonia … The historic Dolder Grand in Zurich has finally reopened after a four-year, $400 million restoration and renovation … In Asia, Four Seasons Hotels has opened its first India property, in Mumbai’s Worli district … Travelers to Vietnam can check out the new InterContinental Hanoi Westlake … Hotels continue to open at a rapid pace in China – In Qingdao, there’s a new 438-room InterContinental, and the Shangri-La Hotel there just opened a new 20-story Valley Wing extension … In April, InterContinental will open the InterContinental Beijing North next to the Olympic National Stadium … An April debut is also planned for the Grand Hyatt Guanzhou … and Starwood has cut the ribbon in a Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Changshu.