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Business hotel update
Here's our latest roundup of business hotel news from the U.S. and abroad -- openings, closings, rebrandings and such...
New York City and China are dominating the news of hotel openings this month. Manhattan welcomes three new properties in August. Starwood cut the ribbon on the W New York-Downtown, hosting the Wall Street crowd from its location at 123 Washington Street in the Financial District. In Midtown – on West 45th Street just off Fifth Avenue – is the new Cassa Hotel and Residences, a 166-room luxury boutique property. And the trendy Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District has a new sister property at 29th Street and Park Avenue South; the new Park Avenue South Gansevoort Hotel has 249 rooms, cool bars and lounges, and a rooftop pool that will reportedly be open during all seasons … Out on New York’s Long Island, meanwhile, InterContinental Hotels Group opened the Hotel Indigo East End in Riverhead … In Georgia, Marriott has just opened the 403-room Atlanta Airport Marriot at Gateway Center, a two-minute ride from the airport terminals via the ATL SkyTrain. But other hotels in Atlanta are struggling for business these days, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that two properties are closing this month – the Wyndham Garden Hotel and the Baymont Inn and Suites; the newspaper said Marriott’s Renaissance on West Peachtree is expected to close by year’s end unless a rebranding can be arranged … In South Carolina, there’s a new Hyatt Place in the North Charleston corridor close to Northwoods Mall and the Boeing offices … Outside Chicago, the Rosemont Hotel at O’Hare has been rebranded as the Hilton Rosemont/Chicago O’Hare … Wyndham Hotels has opened its fourth property in New Orleans, the Wyndham Garden Hotel Barone Plaza … There’s a new Aloft hotel in Tulsa … In Texas, there’s a new Holiday Inn Express-Houston NW at Beltway 8-West Road … California has a new Holiday Inn & Suites in San Mateo, halfway between San Francisco and San Jose; it has shuttle service to SFO … In Canada, InterContinental Hotels Group opened a Holiday Inn Express & Suites 15 minutes west of downtown Ottawa … and Starwood cut the ribbon on a Four Points by Sheraton in Saskatoon … In Mexico, Starwood has opened the Westin Santa Fe, Mexico City, located close to the Expo Bancomer Convention Center.
In China, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has opened the Fairmont Peace Hotel on Shanghai’s Bund – it’s a restoration of the earlier Peace Hotel, dating from 1929, that was the city’s most luxurious lodging in its day; besides modernizing the old building, Fairmont built an addition with a pool and spa … France’s Accor Group also marked an opening in Shanghai, the Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, located at the South Square of Shanghai Railway Station … A third new hotel in Shanghai this month is the 25-story Hotel Nikko Shanghai in the Hongqiao Development Zone, a property of JAL Hotels Co. … Travelers who use the Beijing Airport have a pair of new luxury properties to choose from. The new 320-room Hilton Beijing Capital Airport is a few minutes from BCA’s Terminal 3 by free shuttle bus, close to the Express Rail station … And Langham Hotels opened the Langham Place, Beijing Capital Airport adjacent to Terminal 3, with 372 rooms including Club-level floors with a 24-hour lounge … Elsewhere in China, there’s a new Sheraton in Zhongshan and another one in Wuxi … Newly opened in Hong Kong is the Cosmo Kowloon Hotel, a boutique property with free shuttles to the airport and an Italian restaurant … In Japan, Starwood opened a new Westin in Sendai … Due to open this month in Thailand is the Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit … Singapore’s newest boutique hotel, the Quincy, near Orchard Road, has inclusive pricing that covers airport transfers, all meals, evening cocktails, minibar amenities and Internet … Hilton Worldwide opened its first Doubletree property in Southeast Asia, the Doubletree Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, just northeast of KL City Centre … Best Western has cut the ribbon on two new hotels in Africa – one at Accra, Ghana’s airport and one in Lagos, Nigeria on Victoria Island’s Bar Beach … In Russia, the Rezidor Group has rebranded the Beresta Palace Hotel in Novgorod as the Park Inn Veliky Novgorod … Bremen, Germany is home to a new Courtyard by Marriott, close to Bremen Main Station … In England, the recently opened Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa is the first five-star property in York, a conversion of the North Eastern Railways headquarters building … The Seven Hotel, newly opened in Paris’ Latin Quarter, is a ‘design hotel’ with spectacular decorative elements in public areas and guest rooms … In South America, Marriott has cut the ribbon on a JW Marriott luxury hotel in Bogota, Colombia – not to be confused with the Bogota Marriott Hotel that opened there last year …. And Hilton opened its second Embassy Suites property in Venezuela, this one in the city of Valencia.
In news of newly opened or rebranded hotels this month, New York City is once again the site of multiple openings. The 607-room InterContinental New York Times Square – a 36-story property on 44th Street just west of Times Square – is now open. Rooms average 350 square feet with floor-to-ceiling windows for city views, and oversized bathrooms have walk-in rain showers. There’s a French bistro-type restaurant, Ca Va, designed by celebrity chef Todd English … Over on Fifth Avenue, across the street from the New York Public Library, Hyatt has cut the ribbon on its second Andaz luxury boutique property in New York. The 184-room Andaz Fifth Avenue has guest rooms of 322 square feet and larger, with 12-foot ceilings … Down in the Financial District, there’s a new Holiday Inn Express Wall Street, at the corner of Water and Wall streets, two blocks from the New York Stock Exchange … Over in Brooklyn, the Best Western Arena Hotel has opened near the Atlantic Terminal … Less than 10 minutes from Washington Dulles Airport is the new Doubletree Hotel Dulles Airport-Sterling, in Sterling, Va. … In Florida, the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee has become a member of Marriot’s Autograph Collection of independent boutique properties …There’s a new Doubletree in the Akron, Ohio suburb of Fairlawn; it used to be a Four Points by Sheraton … An 81-room Candlewood Suites Indianapolis East has opened in Indiana, near the intersection of I-465 and I-70 … In Colorado, Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Summerfield Suites Boulder/Broomfield just northwest of Denver … In San Antonio, Tex., the former Radisson Downtown Market Square Hotel is now the Doubletree San Antonio Downtown … In California, the Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, is now the Park Hyatt Aviara … Marriott has added five properties in San Francisco’s Urban Suites Collection to its Marriott ExecuStay group of furnished corporate apartments, all offering free high-speed Internet and Marriott Rewards points … The Hotel Keen is a new upscale boutique property in downtown Palo Alto, Calif. … In Canada, Toronto’s Central King West Village is the site of the new 16-story, 201-room Thompson Toronto … in the Caribbean, Wyndham Hotels has opened the 303-room Wyndham Kingston in Jamaica.
Overseas, InterContinental Hotels Group has added a second Indigo property in London. The small (44 rooms and two suites) Hotel Indigo London Tower Hill, a makeover of a former office building, is in the City of London, close to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London … Hilton Hotels has added two properties in Europe: In the Netherlands, Hilton The Hague is set inside the former Royal Dutch Telecom headquarters in the capital city; and in Poland, the new Hilton Gdansk occupies a waterfront location in the heart of the old town … Hilton’s Doubletree brand has added its first property on the Italian island of Sardinia – the Doubletree by Hilton, Olbia, located close to that town’s city center and harbor … Hilton is due to add its fourth property in Cairo, Egypt this month -- the Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo, a conversion located on Zamalek Island in the Nile; it has 88 rooms and 76 suites … Starwood this month opens a new Aloft hotel in Chennai, India, located along the city’s growing IT corridor on Old Mahabalipuram Road … In Japan, the ANA Holiday Inn Sendai has opened in Sendai, near the city’s train station; and there’s a new Best Western in Osaka, near the Bullet Train station … In China, the five-star Sofitel Dongguan Humen Oriental has opened its doors in Dongguan, Guangdong Province … Singapore has added two new boutique hotels. Studio M, a property of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels “for trendy and savvy travelers,” is in the Robertson Quay district; and the Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore is along the waterfront in the Marina Bay area.
In news of hotel openings and rebrandings this month, Marriott has bolstered its new Autograph Collection of Marriott-affiliated independent properties with two additions: the former Ritz-Carlton Dearborn just outside Detroit, and the Hotel Minneapolis in downtown Minneapolis. The former Ritz-Carlton has been rebranded as The Henry; it is under new ownership and management. The two-year-old Hotel Minneapolis, formerly a Doubletree, is also under new management. Membership in Marriott’s Autograph Collection means Marriott Rewards members will be able to earn and spend points at the two hotels … The first full-service hotel to open in Brooklyn, N.Y. in a dozen years is the new Sheraton Brooklyn, located in the MetroTech Center on Duffield Street, near the U.S. District Court … In Florida, the former Marriott at 400 W. Livingston in Orlando has been reflagged as the Sheraton Orlando Downtown … Starwood has opened a new Aloft Hotel in Winchester, Va. …Choice Hotels cut the ribbon on a new Cambria Suites property in Roanoke, Va. …There’s a newly opened Doubletree three miles from downtown Lancaster, Pa., and another one in Gatlinburg, Tenn. … Hyatt has cut the ribbon on a pair of new properties – a Hyatt Place and a Summerfield Suites – in Warrenville, Ill., located 31 miles from downtown Chicago in suburban DuPage County … In the state capital of Springfield, Ill., The State House Inn has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection … The former Days Hotel Houston, at 500 N. Sam Houston Pkwy East, is now a Park Inn, part of Carlson Hotels; it’s near Bush Intercontinental Airport … Hyatt has opened a new Hyatt Place in Santa Fe, N.M., five miles from both the airport and downtown … There’s also a newly opened Hyatt Place in downtown Seattle … Marriott has cut the ribbon on a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Redding, Calif. … And in Sacramento, Calif., the Inn Off Capitol Park has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection.
Overseas, Ritz-Carlton is due to start taking guests June 21 at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, located in the upper floors of a 58-story tower in the Lujiazui financial/trade zone on Century Boulevard; it’s close to the Shanghai New International Expo Center. It’s the luxury chain’s second property in Shanghai after the Portman Ritz-Carlton …Also newly opened in Shanghai is the Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, a more moderately priced hotel in the Zhabei District 10 minutes from the Bund … Due to open later this month in China is the Four Points by Sheraton Taicang, a city 40 miles northwest of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province … Kempinski Hotels is slated to cut the ribbon this month on the Siam Hotel Kempinski Bangkok, a “city resort” in the heart of town … In Japan, a former JAL Hotels property in Fukuoka has been reflagged as the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk; with 1,052 rooms, it’s the largest Hilton in the Asia Pacific region … Courtyard by Marriott has two newly opened hotels in Europe. In Russia is the Courtyard St. Petersburg Center West/Pushkin Hotel, within a 10-minute walk of the Hermitage. And in Hungary is the Courtyard Budapest City Center, on Blaha Luiza Square in the Pest section … Also newly opened in Budapest is the Alta Moda Fashion Hotel, a four-star property in the shell of a 153-year-old neo-Renaissance building … A new boutique property in Brussels is the Pantone Hotel, with 59 rooms in the Avenue Louise area; it’s owned by the Pantone Universe consumer products company … Along the banks of the Danube, a short walk from the old town in Bratislava, Slovakia, Kempinski has opened the Kempinski Hotel River Park Batislava.
In U.S. hotel news this month, Marriott’s luxury Ritz-Carlton brand is losing two properties: In Nevada, the seven-year-old Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, located 17 miles from The Strip, has closed its doors, a victim of the economic turndown. Meanwhile, Ritz-Carlton is also taking its flag off the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn; the Detroit-area property, a mainstay for movers and shakers in the auto industry, is the only Ritz-Carlton in Michigan. It’s been sold to new owners, who named Greenwood Hospitality Group to manage it; a new brand affiliation is likely to be announced soon, along with a major renovation … In New York City, Kimpton Hotels has cut the ribbon on Eventi, its fourth Manhattan property; it’s on Sixth Avenue between 29th and 30th streets, a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden and Penn Station … Also in New York, Starwood has sold a pair of W hotels – W New York-The Court and W New York-The Tuscany, both on East 29th Street near Lexington Ave.; they’re now part of the U.K.-based St. Giles Hotels group … In Philadelphia, Starwood has opened the 202-room Le Meridien Philadelphia, a makeover of the city’s historic YMCA building a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and next door to the Academy of Fine Arts… Waldorf, Maryland has a new Hilton Garden Inn in St. Charles’ Westlake Village … There’s a new Doubletree hotel in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, Pa. … In the Midwest, the historic Orrington Hotel in downtown Evanston, Ill., just north of Chicago, is now the Hilton Orrington/Evanston … Hyatt has cut the ribbon on its first hotel in Madison, Wis., the Hyatt Place Madison/Downtown … Seven miles south of downtown Cleveland is the Crowne Plaza Cleveland South-Independence, a remake of a former Four Points by Sheraton … In South Florida, Wyndham has opened the Wyndham Garden Hotel Miami South Beach, a short walk from the Miami Beach convention center … The D’Iberville Courtyard by Marriott has opened in Biloxi, Mississippi’s Lakeview Village development … In Oklahoma, Starwood has opened the Four Points by Sheraton Oklahoma City-Quail Springs … In Colorado, the newly opened Hyatt Summerfield Suites Denver Airport, on E. 71st Ave. just off Tower Road, claims to be the closest hotel to the airport terminals … Arizona has a new Aloft Hotel in Glendale, just northwest of Phoenix …There’s a new Hyatt Place in Texas – the Hyatt Place San Antonio-North/Stone Oak, close to the University of Texas-San Antonio campus … Marriott this month is due to open a new Courtyard by Marriott property in downtown Seattle’s 106-year-old Alaska Building on Second Avenue … In Canada, a May opening is scheduled for the Thompson Toronto on Wellington Street West; it’s the first property outside the U.S. for the design-focused Thompson Hotels.
Overseas, Shanghai is adding two new hotels this month, just in time for its World Expo – InterContinental Hotel Group cut the ribbon on its first Hotel Indigo in the Asia/Pacific region, located at Shiliupu Dock at the southern end of The Bund; and Marriott has added the Renaissance Shanghai Putuo, in the city’s Putuo district … Elsewhere in China, Starwood has a new 446-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Taicang, a coastal city 40 miles northwest of Shanghai … There’s another new Four Points by Sheraton in Lianyungang, China, a coastal city in Jiangsu Province … Got business in Inner Mongolia? There’s a new Sheraton there in downtown Hohhot, close to the train station … In India, Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Palace & Tower has reopened its newly restored Heritage Wing and the wing’s three restaurants; all the rooms and suites have butler service … And at Mumbai’s international airport, there’s a newly opened Courtyard by Marriott … Swissotel this month cuts the ribbon on its first hotel in India, the Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista; Kolkata, in eastern India’s state of West Bengal, is the nation’s third-largest city … In Europe, Moscow has a pair of new hotels this month – the Renaissance Moscow Monarch Center; and the Radisson Royal Hotel, a remake of the city’s Hotel Ukrania, located on a bend in the Moskva River and close to the Russian White House … Novotel has opened a new property at Germany’s Munich Airport, right on the airport premises … And Stuttgart Airport is due to get a new Hotel Ibis, opening May 31 … Rezidor has opened a new Radisson Blu hotel in Milan, in the city’s northern Bosiva district near the venue for international trade fairs … Off the coast of Italy on the island of Sardinia is the new Hilton Olbia-Sardinia Hotel, in the port city of Olbia … In Egypt, a May opening is scheduled for the Kempinski Nile Hotel Garden City Cairo, a luxury boutique property … Openings in South Africa this month include the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel, Sandton Johannesburg; and the Holiday Inn Rosebank, also close to Jo-burg’s Sandton business district … Australia’s newest hotel is the 658-room Crown Metropol in Melbourne, with an unusual wave-shaped design and two restaurants from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay … Downtown Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, is the home of the new Radisson Brunei Darussalam … In Central America, InterContinental Hotel Group has converted the former Hotel El Salvador in San Salvador into the Crowne Plaza San Salvador.
April 2010
New York City dominates North American hotel news this month, with four openings slated for April. The Trump Hotel Collection has opened a luxury property with 391 rooms and suites in Soho, at 246 Spring Street; it’s in a 46-story building and boasts a gourmet Italian restaurant and a spa … Got business in the Garment District? Fashion 26-A Wyndham Hotel is due to open April 15 at 152 W. 26th Street with free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour fitness center and a rooftop bar … InterContinental Hotels Group this month adds a new Holiday Inn in the financial district; the Holiday Inn Wall Street, at 51 Nassau St., is a conversion of the former Hotel Reserve … InterContinental also debuts a Staybridge Suites in Manhattan this month; the new Staybridge Suites Times Square has 310 studio units, a free fitness center, and 24-hour business center … Also in New York City, the former Tudor Hotel at Second Ave. and 42nd Street is now the Hilton Manhattan East … and the Solita Soho Hotel has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection … In Asheville, N.C., the Grand Bohemian Hotel has become a member of Marriott’s new Autograph Collection … There’s a new Aloft hotel in Chapel Hill, N.C. … South Carolina has a new Hyatt Place Charleston Airport/Convention Center less than two miles from that city’s airport … April marks the opening of a 414-room Loews Hotel in Atlanta; it’s part of the 12th & Midtown development, the city’s new business, cultural, retail and dining hotspot … In the midst of golf course country at Doral, Fla., Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Miami at the Blue; each of its 15 three-story villas has 16 hotel suites, ranging from 700-sq. ft. studios to three-bedroom units … There’s a new Country Inn & Suites by Carlson near Florida’s Tampa International Airport … The Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, Fla., has joined Marriott’s Autograph Collection … Embassy Suites opened its second hotel in the Birmingham, Ala. area, on John Hawkins Parkway in the Hoover Riverchase district just off I-459 … There’s a newly opened Hotel Indigo from InterContinental in downtown Nashville … Due to open in San Antonio this month is The Watermark Hotel & Spa, the first member of Omni Hotels’ new luxury brand, Mokara … The Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport opens this month between Phoenix and Tempe, Ariz. … Wyndham Hotels breaks into the San Francisco market this month with the rebranding of the Parc 55 Hotel near Union Square as a Wyndham … There’s a new Hyatt Place hotel on the campus of California’s UC Davis … In Canada, Hilton opened a combined Homewood Suites/Hampton Hotel near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport … And an April 29 opening is slated for a Four Points by Sheraton at Calgary Airport.
Overseas, there’s a new luxury property in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa. The Taj Cape Town, part of India-based Taj Hotels, is a conversion of the 100-year-old South African Reserve Bank and Temple Chambers/Board of Executioners buildings. Each guest room has a wireless media hub that lets laptops interface with the TV, and the hotel is offering a third night free through May 31 … There’s a new Holiday Inn Express at Dubai Airport … India’s Oberoi Group has set an April 24 reopening for The Oberoi, Mumbai after an extensive restoration and renovation project … Pan Pacific Hotels has cut the ribbon on a new Pan Pacific Serviced Suites property in Bangkok’s Thonglor district; it has 148 luxury units ranging from studios to three bedrooms …Opening in Shanghai this month is Les Suites Orient on the Bund, an art deco-style boutique property; it’s a member of Preferred Hotels … In China, Sofitel this month will open the Sofitel Dongguan Humen Oriental, a luxury property in Guangdong Province; it’s half an hour from Shenzen Airport … Taipei has a new “boutique art hotel” called Hotel Eclat in the city’s Da-An district … Also new in Taiwan is the Sheraton Hsinchu in Zhubei City, known as the Silicon Valley of Taiwan … In Europe, Hilton’s Hampton Hotels opened three new properties in the U.K., located in Birmingham, Braintree and Shrewsbury … London’s East End is the home of a new ‘design hotel’ called the Town Hall Hotel and Apartments … A former Tulip Inn property in Dresden, Germany near the Saxony Ministry of Finance is now the Park Inn Dresden, a member of Rezidor Hotels … In Scandinavia, an April opening is planned for the region’s first Doubletree by Hilton; it’s in the city center of Oslo, Norway … France’s Accor Group has opened the moderately-priced Mercure Brussels Center Louise in the heart of the Belgian capital city.
In news of hotel openings this month, a March 29 opening is scheduled for Fairmont Hotels’ entry to Pittsburgh. The 185-room Fairmont Pittsburgh will be a part of Three PNC Plaza, a mixed-use complex that is expecting LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Guest rooms overlook PNC Park on one side, Mt. Washington and the city’s historic downtown on the other … In New England, there’s a new Residence Inn by Marriott in North Conway, N.H. … Farther south, the Embassy Suites Savannah Airport has opened its doors in Savannah, Ga. … Another Residence Inn by Marriott has made its debut in Florida’s Pompano Beach, 20 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale Airport … Not far away, Choice Hotels has a brand-new Cambria Suites hotel in Ft. Lauderdale/Dania Beach … Hyatt has opened a new Summerfield Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport South, 2.5 miles from the airport and next to a new Hyatt Place that opened a month ago … In the Orlando area, the Orlando Vista Hotel at Lake Buena Vista has joined Choice Hotels International’s Ascend Collection … There’s a new Four Points by Sheraton in Biloxi, Miss. … Kimpton Group is adding another hotel in downtown Chicago later this month: The 261-room Hotel Palomar Chicago is in the River North district, near the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue … The newest Doubletree Hotel in the Midwest is the Doubletree Libertyville-Mundelein in northern Illinois, about an hour from both Chicago and Milwaukee …. InterContinental Hotels Group has opened a new Candlewood Suites near Kansas City International Airport … In Texas, Starwood has cut the ribbon on The Westin Austin at The Domain, in the heart of a major retail, dining and entertainment area; it’s also close to Dell, IBM, Apple and Advanced Micro Devices … InterContinental is on a tear in Texas with new Candlewood Suites properties: It recently opened two in San Antonio, one in Austin and three in the Houston area, with plans to add several more in the state by this summer … There’s a new Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in central Tucson, just off I-10 near the University of Arizona … In California, Handlery Hotels has reopened the Handlery Hotel & Resort (formerly the Stardust Hotel) in San Diego after a three-month renovation … Opening this month in downtown Seattle is The Maxwell, an independent hotel at the base of Queen Anne Hill next to the Seattle Center … And in Canada, Fairmont Hotels has opened the Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver, at the edge of Coal Harbour in the financial district.
Overseas, the first of several new hotels to be designed by the renowned Georgio Armani has opened; it’s located in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai Tower in Dubai … Elsewhere in Dubai, the Grosvenor House at Dubai Marina has become a member of Starwood Hotels’ Luxury Collection … Starwood’s W Hotels has cut the ribbon in its first location in the Mideast, the W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar … China’s newest hotel is the 501-room Shanghai Marriott Hotel Changfeng Park; it overlooks the Suzhou River and faces Changfeng Park, 15 minutes from Hongqiao Airport … Also opening in China this month is the Mercure Beijing Downtown, close to the China World Trade Center … France’s Accor Group opened another hotel in Vietnam, the Mercure Hue Gerbera in the old imperial capital city … Hilton added a new property in India, the Hilton New Delhi/Janakpuri, half an hour from central Delhi near the international and domestic airports at the Janakpuri West Metro station … There’s also a new Courtyard by Marriott in India near the capital, located in Guragon’s Cyber City near Indira Ghandi Airport …Best Western has taken on its first property in the Ukraine, the 106-room Best Western Sevastopol, in the city’s historical center … Marriott has opened two new Courtyard by Marriott properties in Europe: The second Swiss member of the group opened its doors in Basel, five miles from the airport; and the first Scandinavian Courtyard had its debut in Sweden, the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen … In Germany, JAL Hotels finished work on the addition of 42 executive rooms to the Hotel Nikko Dusseldorf, making it the city’s largest downtown hotel … On March 29, a new four-star Novotel is slated to debut in Barcelona, close to Plaza Glories … The Slovak Republic’s newest hotel is the Sheraton Bratislava, located in the Eurovea development along the Danube … In Latin America, InterContinental has opened four new Holiday Inn properties – two in Brazil (Manaus and Sao Luis do Maranhao); one in Honduras (San Pedro Sula); and one in Argentina (Rosario) … There’s a new 126-room Sonesta hotel opening this month in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Outside the U.S., a soft opening was expected in the U.K. this month for a huge new hotel in London – Park Plaza Hotels has built a 1,021-room property on the south bank of the Thames, the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge … In Liverpool, England, Hilton has cut the ribbon on the 215-room Hilton Liverpool, overlooking Albert Dock … Elsewhere in Europe, InterContinental Hotels Group has opened its first property in Denmark, the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, with 366 rooms close to the airport … Not far from Copenhagen, InterContinental has opened Sweden’s 128-room Renaissance Malmo, located in the heart of that city near the central rail station … In Slovakia, Starwood’s Sheraton Bratislava has opened its doors … And in Spain, Radisson affiliate Rezidor Hotels has cut the ribbon on its first property in the Spanish capital city, the Radisson Blu Madrid Prado; the small (54 rooms) hotel is located across the street from that famous museum … In Hong Kong, the Harbour Plaza Hong Kong has been renamed the Harbour Grand Kowloon and has rejoined the Worldhotels group … Latin America’s newest luxury hotel is Mexico City’s Las Alcobas, a 35-room hotel in the city’s exclusive Polanco district; it will offer a spa and two restaurants, and has special rates starting at $250 through March.
Hyatt’s fledgling Andaz brand comes to New York City this month with the opening of the Andaz Wall Street in the financial district; located at the corner of Wall and Water streets, the new Andaz has a fitness center, spa, and guest rooms with 345 square feet of space … Outside New York in Garden City, Long Island, there’s a new Hyatt Place near the Roosevelt Field Mall … Over in New Jersey, Starwood cut the ribbon on its latest Element hotel in Ewing/Hopewell, 10 minutes from Princeton … Another Hyatt Place has opened in Uncasville, Conn. … Carlson has opened a Country Inns & Suites in Washington, Pa., outside Pittsburgh … In Florida, the former Sheraton in Orlando’s business district has become the Sonesta Hotel Orlando Downtown … The former Holiday Inn at Jacksonville Airport has been renovated and converted into a Crowne Plaza … In Dade County, January marks the debut of the Hotel Urbano near downtown Miami’s financial district; it’s an independent boutique property … Later this month, Starwood will open a Four Points by Sheraton in Biloxi, Miss. … Along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the former Avenue Hotel, a 40-story property renovated in 2008, has become the Avenue Crowne Plaza Chicago … In Chicago’s northwest suburbs, the poor business environment has claimed two properties that shut down – the Wyndham O’Hare in Rosemont, and the Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights … InterContinental Hotel Group has cut the ribbon on the new Holiday Inn Las Vegas, located three miles from the airport and a mile and a half from the convention center … In California, a January 28 debut is planned for Starwood’s new W Hollywood, at the iconic intersection of Hollywood & Vine … New hotels in Canada include a boutique property in Calgary, Hotel Le Germain; a new Four Points by Sheraton at Calgary Airport; and the Westin Wall Centre, Vancouver Airport.
Overseas, Hong Kong’s Swire Group is due to open its newest hotel this month, called East; the 345-room property is located on Island East in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay district, the home to more than 300 multinational corporations … On China’s mainland, January marks the debut of the 680-room Gran Melia Shanghai in the Pudong district, operated by Spain’s Sol Melia group … In Suzhou, China, there’s a new Suzhou Marriott Hotel close to the city’s high-tech development zone; and the former Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Suzhou is now the Pan Pacific Suzhou … Newly opened Starwood properties in China this month include Le Meridien Xiamen; a Four Points by Sheraton in Tianjin; and the Westin Shenzen Nanshan … India has its first Hilton Garden Inn, in New Delhi’s Saket district 30 minutes from the airport … Also new in India is the 285-room The Park, Hyderabad, which says it is the country’s first hotel with all non-smoking rooms … New Zealand’s newest hotel is the Novotel Christchurch, in Cathedral Square … In Europe, InterContinental has added the InterContinental Paris Avenue Marceau, a 55-room property that was formerly the Crown Plaza Paris Champs Elysees … Also new in Paris is the Villa & Majestic Hotel, located off the Champs-Elysees; rooms have kitchens, so it’s good for extended stays … In the Netherlands, the Apollo Hotel Amsterdam has joined the Wyndham Hotel Group; it’s now called the Wyndham Apollo Amsterdam … Visitors to Venice looking for an exclusive lodging experience can check out the newly opened Palazzina Grassi – a 16-room, five-star property in a 16th-century private residence; a member of Design Hotels, it was decorated by renowned designer Philippe Starck … In South America, Sonesta has opened a 127-room business hotel in Cusco, Peru.
In news of hotel openings and rebrandings this month, that gigantic CityCenter project in Las Vegas has finally started to open for business. The $9 billion, 67-acre development includes three new hotels, all due to open in December: a 400-room Mandarin Oriental hotel and spa; a 1,495-suite condo hotel called Vdara; and the 61-story, 4,004-room Aria, a casino hotel. The project also includes a glittering new retail area and a number of new restaurants … As if Las Vegas didn’t have enough new rooms, the city’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this month is due to open a new tower with 359 suites … In California, a 208-room property called the Miyako Hybrid Hotel has opened in Torrance, 15 minutes south of LAX; it’s close to the U.S. headquarters of Toyota and Honda … In Tucson, meanwhile, there’s a new Ritz-Carlton resort and spa, with a 250-room hotel and two Jack Nicklaus 18-hole golf courses … Ritz-Carlton opened another new 170-room resort hotel this month at Lake Tahoe … Oregon has its first Hyatt property: the new Hyatt Place Portland Airport/Cascade Station … In Texas, there’s a new Embassy Suites Houston-Energy Corridor, off Interstate 10 at the gateway to the Energy Corridor … Starwood plans a late December opening for its new Aloft Milwaukee Downtown, close to the Milwaukee Riverwalk … Hilton cut the ribbon on a new Homewood Suites hotel just west of Ft. Lauderdale Airport … In Atlanta, the former Buckhead Hotel Atlanta is now the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center …There’s a newly opened, full-service Hilton in Virgina, 20 minutes from Richmond Airport; it’s the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa at Short Pump Town Center … In New York City, the newest property of the moderately-priced Apple Core Hotels group is called The Hotel @ Times Square, with nightly rates as low as $119 … And in Puerto Rico, the former Holiday Inn San Juan has reopened as the independent Verdanza Hotel.
Outside the U.S., Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has cut the ribbon in its newest European property, the small (98 rooms), luxurious Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona; located on the upscale Passeig de Gracia, the Mandarin is offering a third night free through March 31, 2010 … In Italy, the former Hotel Central Park in Rome has been converted into a Courtyard by Marriott; it’s near the city’s Olympic Stadium … Russia’s newest hotel is the Radisson Royal Hotel Moscow, a renovation of the former Hotel Ukrania, located along the Moscow River near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs … Starwood is due to add a new German property, the Arabella Sheraton Wurzburg, by the end of December … In the Mideast, a December opening is expected for the Four Seasons Hotel Beirut, 15 minutes from the city’s airport … In South Africa, Taj Hotels & Resorts this month is due to cut the ribbon on the Taj Cape Town, on St. George’s Mall in the heart of the city … Starwood keeps growing in India; this month, it opened two new Westins there – the Westin Pune Koregaon Park, and the Westin Mumbai Garden City, minutes from the airport … In China, the doors have opened at the new Grand Hyatt Shenzen, part of the City Crossing complex in Shenzen’s Luohu District, the financial center … In Chongqing, China, Starwood has opened a new Le Meridien, part of the Chongqing Wanda Plaza complex … Beijing’s newest hotel is the immodestly-named Pangu 7 Star Hotel; of its 234 rooms, 140 are suites; it’s located near the 2008 Olympic Park … In The Philippines, Marriott has opened the Manila Marriott, in Newport City across from the international airport … In Mexico, the former Sheraton Centro Historico in Mexico City has been rebranded as the Hilton Mexico City Reforma … In the old town of Cartagena, Colombia is the new Tcherassi Hotel & Spa, a small boutique property that can be rented out in its entirety for executive retreats.
Philadelphia has two new hotels in the heart of downtown: Starwood has cut the ribbon on Le Meridien Philadelphia, a 202-room property less than a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center; it occupies a 10-story Georgian revival building that used to be a YMCA. And San Francisco-based boutique specialist Kimpton Hotels has opened a new Hotel Palomar, occupying a structure formerly known as the Architects Building before its interior was gutted and rebuilt into hotel … New York City’s Chelsea district has a new Hotel Indigo from InterContinental Hotels Group, on West 28th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues; its Blu restaurant is headed by Chef Roberto Bellissimo, formerly of Le Cirque … Down near the nation’s capital, there’s a new Westin just a mile from Washington Dulles Airport, in the Dulles Technology Corridor ... In between Raleigh and North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park is the new Sheraton Raleigh-Cary, in Cary, N.C. … Asheville, N.C. is the home of a new 13-story Hotel Indigo … The 1,242-room Hilton Atlanta has finished a multi-million dollar renovation that included the construction of a “sky bridge” linking the Hilton to the neighboring Marriott Marquis, so that meeting attendees can walk between the two hotels without going outside … In suburban Atlanta, The Embassy Suites Atlanta-Kenesaw Town Center has opened, close to I-75 and I-575 … Openings in Florida include the world’s largest Doubletree hotel, the 1,094-room Doubletree Resort Orlando-International Drive … There’s also a new Westin in central Florida – the Westin Lake Mary, Orlando North, in the state’s high-tech corridor … And Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Place Fort Myers/At the Forum, in a mixed-use development 13 miles from Southwest Florida Airport … In the Midwest, Hilton’s Doubletree brand has a new hotel at the entrance to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport … There’s a new Marriott Bloomington-Normal Hotel & Conference Center in Normal, Ill. … In Bloomington, Minn., Le Bourget Aero Suites Hotel has joined the Ascend Collection of Choice Hotels … The newest Staybridge Suites hotel from InterContinental Hotels Group has opened in Wichita, Kans. … Albuquerque Airport has a new 276-room Sheraton Hotel … There’s lots of lodging activity in Texas, including the new Aloft Austin at The Domain; a new Hotel Indigo on San Antonio’s Riverwalk; a new Doubletree Hotel 15 miles north of Dallas in Richardson, in the midst of hundreds of tech and telecom companies; and a new Best Western Atrea in Denton, Tex. … In Hawaii, a November opening was expected for the Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach in Honolulu … And in San Juan, Starwood has opened the 503-room Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center.
Outside the U.S., three new properties have opened in Hong Kong: InterContinental Hotels Group has cut the ribbon on the Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Causeway Bay, on Leighton Road near Times Square and Happy Valley Racecourse; a 702-room property (with 104 suites) called the Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees has opened near Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport; and a boutique hotel known as Le Rivage has debuted along the waterfront in the Western District of Hong Kong, with furnished 1,000-square-foot rental apartments available on a daily or monthly basis… Across the water from Hong Kong in Macau, there’s a new Grand Hyatt on the Cotai Strip in the City of Dreams development … In mainland China, Starwood has a new Le Meridien hotel in the Shi Bei district of Qingdao, opening at the end of November … Novotel has opened its first hotel in Taiwan, at Taipei’s international airport … Vietnam has a new five-star hotel, the Celadon Palace, in the old imperial capital of Hue … France’s Accor Group has cut the ribbon on a new Pullman Hotel in Kuching, Malaysia … In India, Starwood has a new Luxury Collection property – the ITC Royal Gardenia Hotel in Bengaluru … In the Mideast, the new Address Dubai Marina in Dubai has 200 hotel rooms and 442 serviced rental apartments … Abu Dhabi has three new hotels, including an Aloft from Starwood that’s linked to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre; and a pair of properties on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island from InterContinental Hotels Group – a Staybridge Suites and a Crowne Plaza … In the U.K., London’s newest hotel is the Apex London Wall Hotel, from Apex Hotels; it’s a luxury boutique property in The City, close to the Bank of England and St. Paul’s Cathedral … Also in London, The Royal Horseguards Hotel along the Thames on Whitehall Court has reopened after a $27 million renovation … Two properties have opened near Liverpool, England’s John Lennon Airport, including a Novotel and a Hampton Inn … In Germany, Adina Apartment Hotels has opened a 139-unit property near Berlin’s main railway station with one- and two-bedroom apartment rentals … and in Hamburg, Rezidor Hotels has reopened the 556-room Radisson Blu Hamburg after an extensive overhaul.
October 2009
In the latest news of hotel openings and rebrandings, the long-awaited Ritz-Carlton has debuted in North Carolina’s banking capital of Charlotte. Offering a 13,000-square-foot ‘Wellness Center’ and lots of meeting space, the 146-room Ritz-Carlton is in the city’s Uptown district … Also newly opened in Charlotte is Starwood’s Aloft Charlotte Ballantyne, near the Ballantyne Corporate Park … Elsewhere in North Carolina, there’s a new Four Points by Sheraton at Raleigh Durham Airport … Hilton has been busy in Central Florida – after opening the huge Hilton Orlando last month, it has now cut the ribbon on two more properties there: the 1,000-room Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and the smaller, upscale Waldorf Astoria Orlando, with an 18-hole championship golf course; they’re surrounded by Walt Disney World on three sides … There’s also a new Comfort Suites at Orlando Airport … Up in Boston, October marks the opening of the 235-room W Boston, located in the Theater District in Midtown … Also due for an October debut in Boston is The Ames, a luxury boutique property near Faneuil Hall in a turn-of-the-century skyscraper; it’s the latest effort from Morgans Hotel Group … In New York City, The Surrey at 76th Street and Fifth Avenue is reborn as a luxury property under the Affinia Hotels banner… Elsewhere in Manhattan, The Strand Hotel has opened its doors on West 37th Street off Fifth Avenue; its rooftop bar has a retractable roof … Starwood cut the ribbon this month on a new Aloft hotel in Mount Laurel, N.J., 12 miles from Philadelphia … In the Midwest, the former Radisson Plaza in Rochester, Minn. – home of the Mayo Clinic – is now a member of Hilton’s Doubletree brand … The Wyndham Indianapolis West has opened in Indiana’s capital, minutes from the airport … There’s a new Aloft Hotel in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Ill. … Kentucky’s Lexington Downtown Hotel & Conference Center is now the Hilton Lexington Downtown … In Texas, what used to be the Hampton Inn Dallas-West End at the convention center is now the Crowne Plaza Dallas Downtown … Marriott has opened a new Courtyard and a Residence Inn in northwest San Antonio … Loveland, Colorado is the home of a new Embassy Suites … Marriott had a double debut in the Phoenix area, with a new Courtyard and a Fairfield Inn at Chandler’s Arizona Fashion Center … And Starwood opened an Aloft property at Phoenix Airport.
Outside the U.S., the big opening in China this month is the five-star Peninsula Shanghai, a 235-room hotel right on the Bund – the only new construction along an avenue of colonial-era structures; it has five restaurants and bars, a luxury shopping arcade, spa, and a helicopter lounge … Elsewhere in mainland China, Fairmont Hotels has opened the Fairmont Yangcheng Lake Hotel at Kunshan, within the Yangtze River Delta in Jiangsu Province … In Hong Kong, the Hyatt Regency on Nathan Road that closed in 2006 has been replaced with a new Hyatt Regency Hong Kong in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, in the new K11 multi-use development … Elsewhere in Hong Kong, the Swire Group has opened The Upper House, a luxury 117-room hotel in the Pacific Place development on Hong Kong Island, with views of Victoria Harbor; room sizes start at 730 square feet … In Korea, there’s a newly opened Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Times Square in the capital city’s Yeongdeungpo district … There’s lots of activity in India this month: In Hyderabad, Starwood cut the ribbon on a new Westin with the trippy name The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace; there’s a new Four Points by Sheraton in the center of Jaipur; and Ibis Hotels opens an economy property in Pune, five minutes from the airport … Starwood will open a new Aloft hotel in Abu Dhabi this month, located at the National Exhibition Centre … Also opening in Abu Dhabi is Fairmont Hotels’ first UAE location, the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr … In Oman, Ibis Hotels has opened a 171-room property in Muscat … The Egyptian capital of Cairo is home to the new 567-room Fairmont Nile City, in the Nile City corporate complex … In Europe, luxury furnished rental apartments are available for visitors to Frankfurt at the new Adina Apartment Hotel Frankfurt Neue Oper, along the banks of the Main close to the city center … The former tax office in the center of Hamburg has been converted into the new Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre … In Paris, Choice Hotels has opened the 30-room Clarion Collection Opera Pavilion Hotel near the St. Lazare Station … The newest Starwood W hotel in Europe is the W Barcelona, near one end of the city’s famous Barceloneta beach boardwalk … Glasgow, Scotland’s former Royal Scottish Automobile Club headquarters building in the city center has been transformed into Blythswood Square, a 100-room luxury hotel … The historic Dunblane Hydro Hotel in Dunblane, Scotland, is now a Doubletree by Hilton … In Mexico, there’s a new Holiday Inn Express Guadalajara Expo in Guadalajara … and the Dominican Republic’s first Holiday Inn has opened in Santo Domingo.
September 2009
In this month’s business hotel news, the iconic Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles will close its doors at the end of September to undergo a major renovation that is expected to take at least two years; work will include upgrading all 91 guest rooms, plus the addition of a spa and 12 new villas … Elsewhere in L.A., a former Howard Johnson on Airport Blvd. is now the Holiday Inn Express Los Angeles-LAX Airport; later this month, another Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites is due to open near LAX on Hawthorne Blvd. … In northern California, the former Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport, along San Francisco Bay three miles south of SFO, is now the Hilton San Francisco Airport …In Texas, Starwood has cut the ribbon on the Aloft Dallas Downtown, the transformation of a railroad freight terminal built in 1924, located close to City Hall … Another Starwood property, the Element DFW Airport North, is slated to open this month in Irving, Tex. … Later this month, Starwood will open the new Element Denver Park Meadows in the southeastern suburb of Lone Tree, Colo. … Hilton this month will cut the ribbon on the huge (1,400 rooms) Hilton Orlando, at I-4 and International Drive in the heart of all the area attractions … Down in Palm Beach, Fla., there’s a new independent beachfront property – the 134-room Omphoy Ocean Resort, with an Exhale Spa and a restaurant from celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein … InterContinental Hotels Group has opened a boutique property, the Hotel Indigo Durham-Research Triangle Park, in Durham, N.C. … Historic downtown Bethlehem, Pa. is the site of a new Hyatt Place hotel … In New York City, a late September debut is planned for the Crosby Hotel, a boutique, high-style property in the Soho district operated by the U.K.’s Firmdale Hotels … Also in New York, the former VU Hotel at 11th Ave. and 48th Street in Hell’s Kitchen has been taken over by Kimpton Hotels; it’s now called Ink48 … A block from the convention center on L Street in downtown Washington D.C. is The Eldon Luxury Suites, a new all-suite property with guest units ranging from 600 to 1,500 square feet … Starwood brings two new Four Points by Sheraton hotels to Canada this month – one in south Winnipeg, and the other in Cambridge, Ontario.
Overseas, the InterContinental Asiana Saigon has opened its doors in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), as a part of the Kumho Asiana Plaza commercial complex, close to Notre Dame Cathedral and Reunification Palace … Also in Vietnam, there’s a new Mercure Hotel Hanoi La Gare in Hanoi, next to the central railway station … As usual, there are more new hotels in China this month, including a Sheraton in Jinan; the Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou, Dongpu (in a regional center of East Guangzhou); and in the capital city, The Sandalwood Beijing – Marriott Executive Apartments, with 168 one-, two- and three-bedroom fully serviced rental units … A mid-September grand opening is set for The Mira Hong Kong, a 429-room property on Nathan Road in Tsimshatsui that bills itself as “an upscale business-***-lifestyle hotel” with a focus on guest technology … Ibis Hotels has opened a new property in Pune, India, five minutes from the airport … There’s also a new Ibis in the capital of Russia – the Ibis Moscow Paveletskaya Hotel, in the heart of the city’s business district … Elsewhere in Moscow, the historic Hotel National has undergone an extensive renovation and has joined Starwood’s Luxury Collection … The InterContinental Kiev has opened in the capital of the Ukraine, located in the center of town … In London, the Royal Lancaster Hotel has changed its name to the Lancaster London … Morocco’s historic La Mamounia in Marrakech will reopen by the end of September after an extensive renovation gave it a spa, new suites and villas, and a trio of restaurants from Michelin-starred chefs … In South America, Marriott has cut the ribbon on the Bogota Marriott in Colombia, located 10 minutes from the airport … And in Buenos Aires, a new Novotel opens this month on Avenida Corrientes, near the Tribunales district.
After closing down two and a half years ago for a major renovation under new ownership, Washington D.C.’s historic Jefferson Hotel reopens this month. Located at 16th and M streets, the new Jefferson has 99 rooms – including 20 suites – as well as a spa and a gourmet restaurant called Plume run by chef Damon Gordon … In New York City, InterContinental Hotels Group has opened Manhattan’s first extended-stay Candlewood Suites on West 39th Street near Times Square … In Baltimore, the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad headquarters building has been transformed into a new Hotel Monaco, operated by Kimpton Hotels … Hyatt cut the ribbon on a new Hyatt Place property in Germantown, Tenn., close to Federal Express headquarters … Also in Tennessee, there’s a new Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Memphis-Wolfchase Galleries … The newest Crowne Plaza hotel has opened on South 13th Street in Milwaukee, two and a half miles from the airport … The north Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove, Minn., is the site of a new Cambria Suites Hotel … There’s another new Cambria Suites in Madison, Wis. … Starwood is adding a number of new properties in its Aloft brand this month, including airport hotels at Phoenix, Jacksonville, and Baltimore/Washington; an Aloft in Houston’s Uptown District; one in Leawood, Kans., outside Kansas City; and the Aloft Richmond West in Glen Allen, Va. … The Roosevelt New Orleans has reopened after a post-Katrina $145 million restoration; it’s now a member of Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Collection … In Savannah, Ga., a luxury boutique property called the Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront has opened its doors … The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas has added a new 490-room tower … InterContinental has opened a new Hotel Indigo in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
Outside the U.S., Starwood has opened a new St. Regis luxury property in Mexico City, on the Paseo de la Reforma close to the financial district and the city’s historic center. The St. Regis Mexico City has 189 rooms and suites, a spa and three restaurants … Other newly opened Starwood properties in Latin America include Le Meridien Panama, along the Bay of Panama in Panama City; and the Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles – in Los Angeles, Chile … In China, the former Sofitel Plaza Xiamen has been rebranded as the Pan Pacific Xiamen … Also in China, there’s a new Doubletree by Hilton in Qingdao/Chanyang, about five miles from Qingdao International Airport … Shangri-La this month is due to open a luxury hotel in Ningbo, China … A moderately priced Hotel Ibis has opened near Beijing Capital Airport … Starwood has cut the ribbon on a new Sheraton Hotel in Shunde, China, in the Pearl River Delta … Another new Sheraton has opened at Songdo City, Korea, in the heart of the Incheon Free Economic Zone … In Israel, there’s a new luxury property called the Mamilla Hotel in central Jerusalem …And in Jordan, the Ibis Amman has opened in the capital city’s Tala’a Al Ali district near Jordan University.
August 2010
NYC gets three new hotels; Fairmont opens in Shanghai
In China, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has opened the Fairmont Peace Hotel on Shanghai’s Bund – it’s a restoration of the earlier Peace Hotel, dating from 1929, that was the city’s most luxurious lodging in its day; besides modernizing the old building, Fairmont built an addition with a pool and spa … France’s Accor Group also marked an opening in Shanghai, the Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, located at the South Square of Shanghai Railway Station … A third new hotel in Shanghai this month is the 25-story Hotel Nikko Shanghai in the Hongqiao Development Zone, a property of JAL Hotels Co. … Travelers who use the Beijing Airport have a pair of new luxury properties to choose from. The new 320-room Hilton Beijing Capital Airport is a few minutes from BCA’s Terminal 3 by free shuttle bus, close to the Express Rail station … And Langham Hotels opened the Langham Place, Beijing Capital Airport adjacent to Terminal 3, with 372 rooms including Club-level floors with a 24-hour lounge … Elsewhere in China, there’s a new Sheraton in Zhongshan and another one in Wuxi … Newly opened in Hong Kong is the Cosmo Kowloon Hotel, a boutique property with free shuttles to the airport and an Italian restaurant … In Japan, Starwood opened a new Westin in Sendai … Due to open this month in Thailand is the Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit … Singapore’s newest boutique hotel, the Quincy, near Orchard Road, has inclusive pricing that covers airport transfers, all meals, evening cocktails, minibar amenities and Internet … Hilton Worldwide opened its first Doubletree property in Southeast Asia, the Doubletree Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, just northeast of KL City Centre … Best Western has cut the ribbon on two new hotels in Africa – one at Accra, Ghana’s airport and one in Lagos, Nigeria on Victoria Island’s Bar Beach … In Russia, the Rezidor Group has rebranded the Beresta Palace Hotel in Novgorod as the Park Inn Veliky Novgorod … Bremen, Germany is home to a new Courtyard by Marriott, close to Bremen Main Station … In England, the recently opened Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa is the first five-star property in York, a conversion of the North Eastern Railways headquarters building … The Seven Hotel, newly opened in Paris’ Latin Quarter, is a ‘design hotel’ with spectacular decorative elements in public areas and guest rooms … In South America, Marriott has cut the ribbon on a JW Marriott luxury hotel in Bogota, Colombia – not to be confused with the Bogota Marriott Hotel that opened there last year …. And Hilton opened its second Embassy Suites property in Venezuela, this one in the city of Valencia.
July 2010
New InterContinental, Andaz in NYC; Indigo adds London hotel
In news of newly opened or rebranded hotels this month, New York City is once again the site of multiple openings. The 607-room InterContinental New York Times Square – a 36-story property on 44th Street just west of Times Square – is now open. Rooms average 350 square feet with floor-to-ceiling windows for city views, and oversized bathrooms have walk-in rain showers. There’s a French bistro-type restaurant, Ca Va, designed by celebrity chef Todd English … Over on Fifth Avenue, across the street from the New York Public Library, Hyatt has cut the ribbon on its second Andaz luxury boutique property in New York. The 184-room Andaz Fifth Avenue has guest rooms of 322 square feet and larger, with 12-foot ceilings … Down in the Financial District, there’s a new Holiday Inn Express Wall Street, at the corner of Water and Wall streets, two blocks from the New York Stock Exchange … Over in Brooklyn, the Best Western Arena Hotel has opened near the Atlantic Terminal … Less than 10 minutes from Washington Dulles Airport is the new Doubletree Hotel Dulles Airport-Sterling, in Sterling, Va. … In Florida, the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee has become a member of Marriot’s Autograph Collection of independent boutique properties …There’s a new Doubletree in the Akron, Ohio suburb of Fairlawn; it used to be a Four Points by Sheraton … An 81-room Candlewood Suites Indianapolis East has opened in Indiana, near the intersection of I-465 and I-70 … In Colorado, Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Summerfield Suites Boulder/Broomfield just northwest of Denver … In San Antonio, Tex., the former Radisson Downtown Market Square Hotel is now the Doubletree San Antonio Downtown … In California, the Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, is now the Park Hyatt Aviara … Marriott has added five properties in San Francisco’s Urban Suites Collection to its Marriott ExecuStay group of furnished corporate apartments, all offering free high-speed Internet and Marriott Rewards points … The Hotel Keen is a new upscale boutique property in downtown Palo Alto, Calif. … In Canada, Toronto’s Central King West Village is the site of the new 16-story, 201-room Thompson Toronto … in the Caribbean, Wyndham Hotels has opened the 303-room Wyndham Kingston in Jamaica.
Overseas, InterContinental Hotels Group has added a second Indigo property in London. The small (44 rooms and two suites) Hotel Indigo London Tower Hill, a makeover of a former office building, is in the City of London, close to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London … Hilton Hotels has added two properties in Europe: In the Netherlands, Hilton The Hague is set inside the former Royal Dutch Telecom headquarters in the capital city; and in Poland, the new Hilton Gdansk occupies a waterfront location in the heart of the old town … Hilton’s Doubletree brand has added its first property on the Italian island of Sardinia – the Doubletree by Hilton, Olbia, located close to that town’s city center and harbor … Hilton is due to add its fourth property in Cairo, Egypt this month -- the Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo, a conversion located on Zamalek Island in the Nile; it has 88 rooms and 76 suites … Starwood this month opens a new Aloft hotel in Chennai, India, located along the city’s growing IT corridor on Old Mahabalipuram Road … In Japan, the ANA Holiday Inn Sendai has opened in Sendai, near the city’s train station; and there’s a new Best Western in Osaka, near the Bullet Train station … In China, the five-star Sofitel Dongguan Humen Oriental has opened its doors in Dongguan, Guangdong Province … Singapore has added two new boutique hotels. Studio M, a property of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels “for trendy and savvy travelers,” is in the Robertson Quay district; and the Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore is along the waterfront in the Marina Bay area.
June 2010
Marriott adds two ‘Autographs;’ Shanghai gets a second Ritz-Carlton
In news of hotel openings and rebrandings this month, Marriott has bolstered its new Autograph Collection of Marriott-affiliated independent properties with two additions: the former Ritz-Carlton Dearborn just outside Detroit, and the Hotel Minneapolis in downtown Minneapolis. The former Ritz-Carlton has been rebranded as The Henry; it is under new ownership and management. The two-year-old Hotel Minneapolis, formerly a Doubletree, is also under new management. Membership in Marriott’s Autograph Collection means Marriott Rewards members will be able to earn and spend points at the two hotels … The first full-service hotel to open in Brooklyn, N.Y. in a dozen years is the new Sheraton Brooklyn, located in the MetroTech Center on Duffield Street, near the U.S. District Court … In Florida, the former Marriott at 400 W. Livingston in Orlando has been reflagged as the Sheraton Orlando Downtown … Starwood has opened a new Aloft Hotel in Winchester, Va. …Choice Hotels cut the ribbon on a new Cambria Suites property in Roanoke, Va. …There’s a newly opened Doubletree three miles from downtown Lancaster, Pa., and another one in Gatlinburg, Tenn. … Hyatt has cut the ribbon on a pair of new properties – a Hyatt Place and a Summerfield Suites – in Warrenville, Ill., located 31 miles from downtown Chicago in suburban DuPage County … In the state capital of Springfield, Ill., The State House Inn has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection … The former Days Hotel Houston, at 500 N. Sam Houston Pkwy East, is now a Park Inn, part of Carlson Hotels; it’s near Bush Intercontinental Airport … Hyatt has opened a new Hyatt Place in Santa Fe, N.M., five miles from both the airport and downtown … There’s also a newly opened Hyatt Place in downtown Seattle … Marriott has cut the ribbon on a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Redding, Calif. … And in Sacramento, Calif., the Inn Off Capitol Park has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection.
Overseas, Ritz-Carlton is due to start taking guests June 21 at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, located in the upper floors of a 58-story tower in the Lujiazui financial/trade zone on Century Boulevard; it’s close to the Shanghai New International Expo Center. It’s the luxury chain’s second property in Shanghai after the Portman Ritz-Carlton …Also newly opened in Shanghai is the Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, a more moderately priced hotel in the Zhabei District 10 minutes from the Bund … Due to open later this month in China is the Four Points by Sheraton Taicang, a city 40 miles northwest of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province … Kempinski Hotels is slated to cut the ribbon this month on the Siam Hotel Kempinski Bangkok, a “city resort” in the heart of town … In Japan, a former JAL Hotels property in Fukuoka has been reflagged as the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk; with 1,052 rooms, it’s the largest Hilton in the Asia Pacific region … Courtyard by Marriott has two newly opened hotels in Europe. In Russia is the Courtyard St. Petersburg Center West/Pushkin Hotel, within a 10-minute walk of the Hermitage. And in Hungary is the Courtyard Budapest City Center, on Blaha Luiza Square in the Pest section … Also newly opened in Budapest is the Alta Moda Fashion Hotel, a four-star property in the shell of a 153-year-old neo-Renaissance building … A new boutique property in Brussels is the Pantone Hotel, with 59 rooms in the Avenue Louise area; it’s owned by the Pantone Universe consumer products company … Along the banks of the Danube, a short walk from the old town in Bratislava, Slovakia, Kempinski has opened the Kempinski Hotel River Park Batislava.
May 2010
Ritz-Carlton loses two U.S. hotels; Shanghai adds an Indigo, Renaissance
In U.S. hotel news this month, Marriott’s luxury Ritz-Carlton brand is losing two properties: In Nevada, the seven-year-old Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, located 17 miles from The Strip, has closed its doors, a victim of the economic turndown. Meanwhile, Ritz-Carlton is also taking its flag off the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn; the Detroit-area property, a mainstay for movers and shakers in the auto industry, is the only Ritz-Carlton in Michigan. It’s been sold to new owners, who named Greenwood Hospitality Group to manage it; a new brand affiliation is likely to be announced soon, along with a major renovation … In New York City, Kimpton Hotels has cut the ribbon on Eventi, its fourth Manhattan property; it’s on Sixth Avenue between 29th and 30th streets, a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden and Penn Station … Also in New York, Starwood has sold a pair of W hotels – W New York-The Court and W New York-The Tuscany, both on East 29th Street near Lexington Ave.; they’re now part of the U.K.-based St. Giles Hotels group … In Philadelphia, Starwood has opened the 202-room Le Meridien Philadelphia, a makeover of the city’s historic YMCA building a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and next door to the Academy of Fine Arts… Waldorf, Maryland has a new Hilton Garden Inn in St. Charles’ Westlake Village … There’s a new Doubletree hotel in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, Pa. … In the Midwest, the historic Orrington Hotel in downtown Evanston, Ill., just north of Chicago, is now the Hilton Orrington/Evanston … Hyatt has cut the ribbon on its first hotel in Madison, Wis., the Hyatt Place Madison/Downtown … Seven miles south of downtown Cleveland is the Crowne Plaza Cleveland South-Independence, a remake of a former Four Points by Sheraton … In South Florida, Wyndham has opened the Wyndham Garden Hotel Miami South Beach, a short walk from the Miami Beach convention center … The D’Iberville Courtyard by Marriott has opened in Biloxi, Mississippi’s Lakeview Village development … In Oklahoma, Starwood has opened the Four Points by Sheraton Oklahoma City-Quail Springs … In Colorado, the newly opened Hyatt Summerfield Suites Denver Airport, on E. 71st Ave. just off Tower Road, claims to be the closest hotel to the airport terminals … Arizona has a new Aloft Hotel in Glendale, just northwest of Phoenix …There’s a new Hyatt Place in Texas – the Hyatt Place San Antonio-North/Stone Oak, close to the University of Texas-San Antonio campus … Marriott this month is due to open a new Courtyard by Marriott property in downtown Seattle’s 106-year-old Alaska Building on Second Avenue … In Canada, a May opening is scheduled for the Thompson Toronto on Wellington Street West; it’s the first property outside the U.S. for the design-focused Thompson Hotels.
Overseas, Shanghai is adding two new hotels this month, just in time for its World Expo – InterContinental Hotel Group cut the ribbon on its first Hotel Indigo in the Asia/Pacific region, located at Shiliupu Dock at the southern end of The Bund; and Marriott has added the Renaissance Shanghai Putuo, in the city’s Putuo district … Elsewhere in China, Starwood has a new 446-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Taicang, a coastal city 40 miles northwest of Shanghai … There’s another new Four Points by Sheraton in Lianyungang, China, a coastal city in Jiangsu Province … Got business in Inner Mongolia? There’s a new Sheraton there in downtown Hohhot, close to the train station … In India, Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Palace & Tower has reopened its newly restored Heritage Wing and the wing’s three restaurants; all the rooms and suites have butler service … And at Mumbai’s international airport, there’s a newly opened Courtyard by Marriott … Swissotel this month cuts the ribbon on its first hotel in India, the Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista; Kolkata, in eastern India’s state of West Bengal, is the nation’s third-largest city … In Europe, Moscow has a pair of new hotels this month – the Renaissance Moscow Monarch Center; and the Radisson Royal Hotel, a remake of the city’s Hotel Ukrania, located on a bend in the Moskva River and close to the Russian White House … Novotel has opened a new property at Germany’s Munich Airport, right on the airport premises … And Stuttgart Airport is due to get a new Hotel Ibis, opening May 31 … Rezidor has opened a new Radisson Blu hotel in Milan, in the city’s northern Bosiva district near the venue for international trade fairs … Off the coast of Italy on the island of Sardinia is the new Hilton Olbia-Sardinia Hotel, in the port city of Olbia … In Egypt, a May opening is scheduled for the Kempinski Nile Hotel Garden City Cairo, a luxury boutique property … Openings in South Africa this month include the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel, Sandton Johannesburg; and the Holiday Inn Rosebank, also close to Jo-burg’s Sandton business district … Australia’s newest hotel is the 658-room Crown Metropol in Melbourne, with an unusual wave-shaped design and two restaurants from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay … Downtown Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, is the home of the new Radisson Brunei Darussalam … In Central America, InterContinental Hotel Group has converted the former Hotel El Salvador in San Salvador into the Crowne Plaza San Salvador.
April 2010
New York gets four new hotels; Taj opens in Cape Town
New York City dominates North American hotel news this month, with four openings slated for April. The Trump Hotel Collection has opened a luxury property with 391 rooms and suites in Soho, at 246 Spring Street; it’s in a 46-story building and boasts a gourmet Italian restaurant and a spa … Got business in the Garment District? Fashion 26-A Wyndham Hotel is due to open April 15 at 152 W. 26th Street with free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour fitness center and a rooftop bar … InterContinental Hotels Group this month adds a new Holiday Inn in the financial district; the Holiday Inn Wall Street, at 51 Nassau St., is a conversion of the former Hotel Reserve … InterContinental also debuts a Staybridge Suites in Manhattan this month; the new Staybridge Suites Times Square has 310 studio units, a free fitness center, and 24-hour business center … Also in New York City, the former Tudor Hotel at Second Ave. and 42nd Street is now the Hilton Manhattan East … and the Solita Soho Hotel has joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Collection … In Asheville, N.C., the Grand Bohemian Hotel has become a member of Marriott’s new Autograph Collection … There’s a new Aloft hotel in Chapel Hill, N.C. … South Carolina has a new Hyatt Place Charleston Airport/Convention Center less than two miles from that city’s airport … April marks the opening of a 414-room Loews Hotel in Atlanta; it’s part of the 12th & Midtown development, the city’s new business, cultural, retail and dining hotspot … In the midst of golf course country at Doral, Fla., Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Miami at the Blue; each of its 15 three-story villas has 16 hotel suites, ranging from 700-sq. ft. studios to three-bedroom units … There’s a new Country Inn & Suites by Carlson near Florida’s Tampa International Airport … The Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, Fla., has joined Marriott’s Autograph Collection … Embassy Suites opened its second hotel in the Birmingham, Ala. area, on John Hawkins Parkway in the Hoover Riverchase district just off I-459 … There’s a newly opened Hotel Indigo from InterContinental in downtown Nashville … Due to open in San Antonio this month is The Watermark Hotel & Spa, the first member of Omni Hotels’ new luxury brand, Mokara … The Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport opens this month between Phoenix and Tempe, Ariz. … Wyndham Hotels breaks into the San Francisco market this month with the rebranding of the Parc 55 Hotel near Union Square as a Wyndham … There’s a new Hyatt Place hotel on the campus of California’s UC Davis … In Canada, Hilton opened a combined Homewood Suites/Hampton Hotel near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport … And an April 29 opening is slated for a Four Points by Sheraton at Calgary Airport.
Overseas, there’s a new luxury property in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa. The Taj Cape Town, part of India-based Taj Hotels, is a conversion of the 100-year-old South African Reserve Bank and Temple Chambers/Board of Executioners buildings. Each guest room has a wireless media hub that lets laptops interface with the TV, and the hotel is offering a third night free through May 31 … There’s a new Holiday Inn Express at Dubai Airport … India’s Oberoi Group has set an April 24 reopening for The Oberoi, Mumbai after an extensive restoration and renovation project … Pan Pacific Hotels has cut the ribbon on a new Pan Pacific Serviced Suites property in Bangkok’s Thonglor district; it has 148 luxury units ranging from studios to three bedrooms …Opening in Shanghai this month is Les Suites Orient on the Bund, an art deco-style boutique property; it’s a member of Preferred Hotels … In China, Sofitel this month will open the Sofitel Dongguan Humen Oriental, a luxury property in Guangdong Province; it’s half an hour from Shenzen Airport … Taipei has a new “boutique art hotel” called Hotel Eclat in the city’s Da-An district … Also new in Taiwan is the Sheraton Hsinchu in Zhubei City, known as the Silicon Valley of Taiwan … In Europe, Hilton’s Hampton Hotels opened three new properties in the U.K., located in Birmingham, Braintree and Shrewsbury … London’s East End is the home of a new ‘design hotel’ called the Town Hall Hotel and Apartments … A former Tulip Inn property in Dresden, Germany near the Saxony Ministry of Finance is now the Park Inn Dresden, a member of Rezidor Hotels … In Scandinavia, an April opening is planned for the region’s first Doubletree by Hilton; it’s in the city center of Oslo, Norway … France’s Accor Group has opened the moderately-priced Mercure Brussels Center Louise in the heart of the Belgian capital city.
March 2010
Fairmont opens in Pittsburgh; Armani debuts in Dubai
In news of hotel openings this month, a March 29 opening is scheduled for Fairmont Hotels’ entry to Pittsburgh. The 185-room Fairmont Pittsburgh will be a part of Three PNC Plaza, a mixed-use complex that is expecting LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Guest rooms overlook PNC Park on one side, Mt. Washington and the city’s historic downtown on the other … In New England, there’s a new Residence Inn by Marriott in North Conway, N.H. … Farther south, the Embassy Suites Savannah Airport has opened its doors in Savannah, Ga. … Another Residence Inn by Marriott has made its debut in Florida’s Pompano Beach, 20 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale Airport … Not far away, Choice Hotels has a brand-new Cambria Suites hotel in Ft. Lauderdale/Dania Beach … Hyatt has opened a new Summerfield Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport South, 2.5 miles from the airport and next to a new Hyatt Place that opened a month ago … In the Orlando area, the Orlando Vista Hotel at Lake Buena Vista has joined Choice Hotels International’s Ascend Collection … There’s a new Four Points by Sheraton in Biloxi, Miss. … Kimpton Group is adding another hotel in downtown Chicago later this month: The 261-room Hotel Palomar Chicago is in the River North district, near the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue … The newest Doubletree Hotel in the Midwest is the Doubletree Libertyville-Mundelein in northern Illinois, about an hour from both Chicago and Milwaukee …. InterContinental Hotels Group has opened a new Candlewood Suites near Kansas City International Airport … In Texas, Starwood has cut the ribbon on The Westin Austin at The Domain, in the heart of a major retail, dining and entertainment area; it’s also close to Dell, IBM, Apple and Advanced Micro Devices … InterContinental is on a tear in Texas with new Candlewood Suites properties: It recently opened two in San Antonio, one in Austin and three in the Houston area, with plans to add several more in the state by this summer … There’s a new Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in central Tucson, just off I-10 near the University of Arizona … In California, Handlery Hotels has reopened the Handlery Hotel & Resort (formerly the Stardust Hotel) in San Diego after a three-month renovation … Opening this month in downtown Seattle is The Maxwell, an independent hotel at the base of Queen Anne Hill next to the Seattle Center … And in Canada, Fairmont Hotels has opened the Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver, at the edge of Coal Harbour in the financial district.
Overseas, the first of several new hotels to be designed by the renowned Georgio Armani has opened; it’s located in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai Tower in Dubai … Elsewhere in Dubai, the Grosvenor House at Dubai Marina has become a member of Starwood Hotels’ Luxury Collection … Starwood’s W Hotels has cut the ribbon in its first location in the Mideast, the W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar … China’s newest hotel is the 501-room Shanghai Marriott Hotel Changfeng Park; it overlooks the Suzhou River and faces Changfeng Park, 15 minutes from Hongqiao Airport … Also opening in China this month is the Mercure Beijing Downtown, close to the China World Trade Center … France’s Accor Group opened another hotel in Vietnam, the Mercure Hue Gerbera in the old imperial capital city … Hilton added a new property in India, the Hilton New Delhi/Janakpuri, half an hour from central Delhi near the international and domestic airports at the Janakpuri West Metro station … There’s also a new Courtyard by Marriott in India near the capital, located in Guragon’s Cyber City near Indira Ghandi Airport …Best Western has taken on its first property in the Ukraine, the 106-room Best Western Sevastopol, in the city’s historical center … Marriott has opened two new Courtyard by Marriott properties in Europe: The second Swiss member of the group opened its doors in Basel, five miles from the airport; and the first Scandinavian Courtyard had its debut in Sweden, the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen … In Germany, JAL Hotels finished work on the addition of 42 executive rooms to the Hotel Nikko Dusseldorf, making it the city’s largest downtown hotel … On March 29, a new four-star Novotel is slated to debut in Barcelona, close to Plaza Glories … The Slovak Republic’s newest hotel is the Sheraton Bratislava, located in the Eurovea development along the Danube … In Latin America, InterContinental has opened four new Holiday Inn properties – two in Brazil (Manaus and Sao Luis do Maranhao); one in Honduras (San Pedro Sula); and one in Argentina (Rosario) … There’s a new 126-room Sonesta hotel opening this month in Barranquilla, Colombia.
February 2010
New Ritz-Carlton in L.A.; London gets a 1,000-room hotel
Marriott is in the habit of offering different brands in the same general location, and in Los Angeles, it’s due to cut the ribbon on two hotels in one building. A new 54-story tower in downtown L.A. will include both a 123-room Ritz-Carlton property and an 878-room JW Marriott hotel, along with a huge amount of meeting space. It’s located near the LA Convention Center and an entertainment complex that includes the Staples Center, Nokia Theatre LA Live, Regal Cinemas and restaurants … Elsewhere in California, the former Ivy Hotel in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter has been converted into the newest property in Hyatt’s Andaz portfolio; it’s now called the Andaz San Diego … There’s a new Embassy Suites Palmdale just off I-14 in California’s Antelope Valley … In northern California, there’s a new Four Points by Sheraton in downtown San Jose, and the new Hyatt Place Sacramento/Roseville has opened in the Placer Valley near the corporate offices of Adventist Health, Kaiser Permanente and Hewlett Packard … The Seattle suburb of Mukilteo, Wash., is the home of InterContinental’s new Staybridge Suites Seattle North-Everett, close to the Boeing assembly plant … Denver’s Hotel Curtis, located downtown near the city’s performing arts complex, is now a member of Hilton’s Doubletree group … Oklahoma City is the site of a new Cambria Suites hotel from Choice International … In Texas, InterContinental has a new Hotel Indigo set on San Antonio’s Alamo Plaza; and Marriott opened the 1,002-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa 20 minutes from the city’s airport … In the Midwest, the 60-room, arts-themed Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis has joined Starwood and is now called Le Meridien Chambers … Indiana’s Indianapolis Marriott Downtown is being joined by some sister properties this month as part of the new Marriott Place complex; they include a Fairfield Inn & Suites, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, and a SpringHill Suites by Marriott … The former Clarion Hotel three miles from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has been rebranded as the Wyndham Garden Atlanta Airport South … New hotels in Florida include the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa on the west coast; the Hyatt Place Ft. Lauderdale Airport-South off I-95 and Sterling Road (to be followed next month by an adjacent Summerfield Suites property); and the Crowne Plaza Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruise, located half a mile from the airport … Up in New York City, the doors have opened at the 155-room Distrikt Hotel (that’s how they spell it) at 342 West 40th Street, a member of Choice Hotels’ upscale Ascend Collection … In Canada, there’s a new Holiday Inn in Surrey, B.C., close to the U.S. border and Vancouver’s airport … And in Hamilton, Ontario, the former Ramada Plaza is now the Crowne Plaza Hamilton.Outside the U.S., a soft opening was expected in the U.K. this month for a huge new hotel in London – Park Plaza Hotels has built a 1,021-room property on the south bank of the Thames, the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge … In Liverpool, England, Hilton has cut the ribbon on the 215-room Hilton Liverpool, overlooking Albert Dock … Elsewhere in Europe, InterContinental Hotels Group has opened its first property in Denmark, the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, with 366 rooms close to the airport … Not far from Copenhagen, InterContinental has opened Sweden’s 128-room Renaissance Malmo, located in the heart of that city near the central rail station … In Slovakia, Starwood’s Sheraton Bratislava has opened its doors … And in Spain, Radisson affiliate Rezidor Hotels has cut the ribbon on its first property in the Spanish capital city, the Radisson Blu Madrid Prado; the small (54 rooms) hotel is located across the street from that famous museum … In Hong Kong, the Harbour Plaza Hong Kong has been renamed the Harbour Grand Kowloon and has rejoined the Worldhotels group … Latin America’s newest luxury hotel is Mexico City’s Las Alcobas, a 35-room hotel in the city’s exclusive Polanco district; it will offer a spa and two restaurants, and has special rates starting at $250 through March.
January 2010
Hyatt’s Andaz comes to Wall Street; new Swire hotel in Hong Kong
Hyatt’s fledgling Andaz brand comes to New York City this month with the opening of the Andaz Wall Street in the financial district; located at the corner of Wall and Water streets, the new Andaz has a fitness center, spa, and guest rooms with 345 square feet of space … Outside New York in Garden City, Long Island, there’s a new Hyatt Place near the Roosevelt Field Mall … Over in New Jersey, Starwood cut the ribbon on its latest Element hotel in Ewing/Hopewell, 10 minutes from Princeton … Another Hyatt Place has opened in Uncasville, Conn. … Carlson has opened a Country Inns & Suites in Washington, Pa., outside Pittsburgh … In Florida, the former Sheraton in Orlando’s business district has become the Sonesta Hotel Orlando Downtown … The former Holiday Inn at Jacksonville Airport has been renovated and converted into a Crowne Plaza … In Dade County, January marks the debut of the Hotel Urbano near downtown Miami’s financial district; it’s an independent boutique property … Later this month, Starwood will open a Four Points by Sheraton in Biloxi, Miss. … Along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the former Avenue Hotel, a 40-story property renovated in 2008, has become the Avenue Crowne Plaza Chicago … In Chicago’s northwest suburbs, the poor business environment has claimed two properties that shut down – the Wyndham O’Hare in Rosemont, and the Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights … InterContinental Hotel Group has cut the ribbon on the new Holiday Inn Las Vegas, located three miles from the airport and a mile and a half from the convention center … In California, a January 28 debut is planned for Starwood’s new W Hollywood, at the iconic intersection of Hollywood & Vine … New hotels in Canada include a boutique property in Calgary, Hotel Le Germain; a new Four Points by Sheraton at Calgary Airport; and the Westin Wall Centre, Vancouver Airport.
Overseas, Hong Kong’s Swire Group is due to open its newest hotel this month, called East; the 345-room property is located on Island East in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay district, the home to more than 300 multinational corporations … On China’s mainland, January marks the debut of the 680-room Gran Melia Shanghai in the Pudong district, operated by Spain’s Sol Melia group … In Suzhou, China, there’s a new Suzhou Marriott Hotel close to the city’s high-tech development zone; and the former Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Suzhou is now the Pan Pacific Suzhou … Newly opened Starwood properties in China this month include Le Meridien Xiamen; a Four Points by Sheraton in Tianjin; and the Westin Shenzen Nanshan … India has its first Hilton Garden Inn, in New Delhi’s Saket district 30 minutes from the airport … Also new in India is the 285-room The Park, Hyderabad, which says it is the country’s first hotel with all non-smoking rooms … New Zealand’s newest hotel is the Novotel Christchurch, in Cathedral Square … In Europe, InterContinental has added the InterContinental Paris Avenue Marceau, a 55-room property that was formerly the Crown Plaza Paris Champs Elysees … Also new in Paris is the Villa & Majestic Hotel, located off the Champs-Elysees; rooms have kitchens, so it’s good for extended stays … In the Netherlands, the Apollo Hotel Amsterdam has joined the Wyndham Hotel Group; it’s now called the Wyndham Apollo Amsterdam … Visitors to Venice looking for an exclusive lodging experience can check out the newly opened Palazzina Grassi – a 16-room, five-star property in a 16th-century private residence; a member of Design Hotels, it was decorated by renowned designer Philippe Starck … In South America, Sonesta has opened a 127-room business hotel in Cusco, Peru.
December 2009
Room boom in Las Vegas; Mandarin debuts in Barcelona
In news of hotel openings and rebrandings this month, that gigantic CityCenter project in Las Vegas has finally started to open for business. The $9 billion, 67-acre development includes three new hotels, all due to open in December: a 400-room Mandarin Oriental hotel and spa; a 1,495-suite condo hotel called Vdara; and the 61-story, 4,004-room Aria, a casino hotel. The project also includes a glittering new retail area and a number of new restaurants … As if Las Vegas didn’t have enough new rooms, the city’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this month is due to open a new tower with 359 suites … In California, a 208-room property called the Miyako Hybrid Hotel has opened in Torrance, 15 minutes south of LAX; it’s close to the U.S. headquarters of Toyota and Honda … In Tucson, meanwhile, there’s a new Ritz-Carlton resort and spa, with a 250-room hotel and two Jack Nicklaus 18-hole golf courses … Ritz-Carlton opened another new 170-room resort hotel this month at Lake Tahoe … Oregon has its first Hyatt property: the new Hyatt Place Portland Airport/Cascade Station … In Texas, there’s a new Embassy Suites Houston-Energy Corridor, off Interstate 10 at the gateway to the Energy Corridor … Starwood plans a late December opening for its new Aloft Milwaukee Downtown, close to the Milwaukee Riverwalk … Hilton cut the ribbon on a new Homewood Suites hotel just west of Ft. Lauderdale Airport … In Atlanta, the former Buckhead Hotel Atlanta is now the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center …There’s a newly opened, full-service Hilton in Virgina, 20 minutes from Richmond Airport; it’s the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa at Short Pump Town Center … In New York City, the newest property of the moderately-priced Apple Core Hotels group is called The Hotel @ Times Square, with nightly rates as low as $119 … And in Puerto Rico, the former Holiday Inn San Juan has reopened as the independent Verdanza Hotel.
Outside the U.S., Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has cut the ribbon in its newest European property, the small (98 rooms), luxurious Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona; located on the upscale Passeig de Gracia, the Mandarin is offering a third night free through March 31, 2010 … In Italy, the former Hotel Central Park in Rome has been converted into a Courtyard by Marriott; it’s near the city’s Olympic Stadium … Russia’s newest hotel is the Radisson Royal Hotel Moscow, a renovation of the former Hotel Ukrania, located along the Moscow River near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs … Starwood is due to add a new German property, the Arabella Sheraton Wurzburg, by the end of December … In the Mideast, a December opening is expected for the Four Seasons Hotel Beirut, 15 minutes from the city’s airport … In South Africa, Taj Hotels & Resorts this month is due to cut the ribbon on the Taj Cape Town, on St. George’s Mall in the heart of the city … Starwood keeps growing in India; this month, it opened two new Westins there – the Westin Pune Koregaon Park, and the Westin Mumbai Garden City, minutes from the airport … In China, the doors have opened at the new Grand Hyatt Shenzen, part of the City Crossing complex in Shenzen’s Luohu District, the financial center … In Chongqing, China, Starwood has opened a new Le Meridien, part of the Chongqing Wanda Plaza complex … Beijing’s newest hotel is the immodestly-named Pangu 7 Star Hotel; of its 234 rooms, 140 are suites; it’s located near the 2008 Olympic Park … In The Philippines, Marriott has opened the Manila Marriott, in Newport City across from the international airport … In Mexico, the former Sheraton Centro Historico in Mexico City has been rebranded as the Hilton Mexico City Reforma … In the old town of Cartagena, Colombia is the new Tcherassi Hotel & Spa, a small boutique property that can be rented out in its entirety for executive retreats.
November 2009
Philadelphia gets two new hotels; Hong Kong gets three
Philadelphia has two new hotels in the heart of downtown: Starwood has cut the ribbon on Le Meridien Philadelphia, a 202-room property less than a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center; it occupies a 10-story Georgian revival building that used to be a YMCA. And San Francisco-based boutique specialist Kimpton Hotels has opened a new Hotel Palomar, occupying a structure formerly known as the Architects Building before its interior was gutted and rebuilt into hotel … New York City’s Chelsea district has a new Hotel Indigo from InterContinental Hotels Group, on West 28th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues; its Blu restaurant is headed by Chef Roberto Bellissimo, formerly of Le Cirque … Down near the nation’s capital, there’s a new Westin just a mile from Washington Dulles Airport, in the Dulles Technology Corridor ... In between Raleigh and North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park is the new Sheraton Raleigh-Cary, in Cary, N.C. … Asheville, N.C. is the home of a new 13-story Hotel Indigo … The 1,242-room Hilton Atlanta has finished a multi-million dollar renovation that included the construction of a “sky bridge” linking the Hilton to the neighboring Marriott Marquis, so that meeting attendees can walk between the two hotels without going outside … In suburban Atlanta, The Embassy Suites Atlanta-Kenesaw Town Center has opened, close to I-75 and I-575 … Openings in Florida include the world’s largest Doubletree hotel, the 1,094-room Doubletree Resort Orlando-International Drive … There’s also a new Westin in central Florida – the Westin Lake Mary, Orlando North, in the state’s high-tech corridor … And Hyatt has cut the ribbon on the Hyatt Place Fort Myers/At the Forum, in a mixed-use development 13 miles from Southwest Florida Airport … In the Midwest, Hilton’s Doubletree brand has a new hotel at the entrance to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport … There’s a new Marriott Bloomington-Normal Hotel & Conference Center in Normal, Ill. … In Bloomington, Minn., Le Bourget Aero Suites Hotel has joined the Ascend Collection of Choice Hotels … The newest Staybridge Suites hotel from InterContinental Hotels Group has opened in Wichita, Kans. … Albuquerque Airport has a new 276-room Sheraton Hotel … There’s lots of lodging activity in Texas, including the new Aloft Austin at The Domain; a new Hotel Indigo on San Antonio’s Riverwalk; a new Doubletree Hotel 15 miles north of Dallas in Richardson, in the midst of hundreds of tech and telecom companies; and a new Best Western Atrea in Denton, Tex. … In Hawaii, a November opening was expected for the Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach in Honolulu … And in San Juan, Starwood has opened the 503-room Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center.
Outside the U.S., three new properties have opened in Hong Kong: InterContinental Hotels Group has cut the ribbon on the Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Causeway Bay, on Leighton Road near Times Square and Happy Valley Racecourse; a 702-room property (with 104 suites) called the Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees has opened near Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport; and a boutique hotel known as Le Rivage has debuted along the waterfront in the Western District of Hong Kong, with furnished 1,000-square-foot rental apartments available on a daily or monthly basis… Across the water from Hong Kong in Macau, there’s a new Grand Hyatt on the Cotai Strip in the City of Dreams development … In mainland China, Starwood has a new Le Meridien hotel in the Shi Bei district of Qingdao, opening at the end of November … Novotel has opened its first hotel in Taiwan, at Taipei’s international airport … Vietnam has a new five-star hotel, the Celadon Palace, in the old imperial capital of Hue … France’s Accor Group has cut the ribbon on a new Pullman Hotel in Kuching, Malaysia … In India, Starwood has a new Luxury Collection property – the ITC Royal Gardenia Hotel in Bengaluru … In the Mideast, the new Address Dubai Marina in Dubai has 200 hotel rooms and 442 serviced rental apartments … Abu Dhabi has three new hotels, including an Aloft from Starwood that’s linked to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre; and a pair of properties on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island from InterContinental Hotels Group – a Staybridge Suites and a Crowne Plaza … In the U.K., London’s newest hotel is the Apex London Wall Hotel, from Apex Hotels; it’s a luxury boutique property in The City, close to the Bank of England and St. Paul’s Cathedral … Also in London, The Royal Horseguards Hotel along the Thames on Whitehall Court has reopened after a $27 million renovation … Two properties have opened near Liverpool, England’s John Lennon Airport, including a Novotel and a Hampton Inn … In Germany, Adina Apartment Hotels has opened a 139-unit property near Berlin’s main railway station with one- and two-bedroom apartment rentals … and in Hamburg, Rezidor Hotels has reopened the 556-room Radisson Blu Hamburg after an extensive overhaul.
October 2009
Ritz-Carlton debuts in Charlotte, Peninsula in Shanghai
In the latest news of hotel openings and rebrandings, the long-awaited Ritz-Carlton has debuted in North Carolina’s banking capital of Charlotte. Offering a 13,000-square-foot ‘Wellness Center’ and lots of meeting space, the 146-room Ritz-Carlton is in the city’s Uptown district … Also newly opened in Charlotte is Starwood’s Aloft Charlotte Ballantyne, near the Ballantyne Corporate Park … Elsewhere in North Carolina, there’s a new Four Points by Sheraton at Raleigh Durham Airport … Hilton has been busy in Central Florida – after opening the huge Hilton Orlando last month, it has now cut the ribbon on two more properties there: the 1,000-room Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and the smaller, upscale Waldorf Astoria Orlando, with an 18-hole championship golf course; they’re surrounded by Walt Disney World on three sides … There’s also a new Comfort Suites at Orlando Airport … Up in Boston, October marks the opening of the 235-room W Boston, located in the Theater District in Midtown … Also due for an October debut in Boston is The Ames, a luxury boutique property near Faneuil Hall in a turn-of-the-century skyscraper; it’s the latest effort from Morgans Hotel Group … In New York City, The Surrey at 76th Street and Fifth Avenue is reborn as a luxury property under the Affinia Hotels banner… Elsewhere in Manhattan, The Strand Hotel has opened its doors on West 37th Street off Fifth Avenue; its rooftop bar has a retractable roof … Starwood cut the ribbon this month on a new Aloft hotel in Mount Laurel, N.J., 12 miles from Philadelphia … In the Midwest, the former Radisson Plaza in Rochester, Minn. – home of the Mayo Clinic – is now a member of Hilton’s Doubletree brand … The Wyndham Indianapolis West has opened in Indiana’s capital, minutes from the airport … There’s a new Aloft Hotel in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Ill. … Kentucky’s Lexington Downtown Hotel & Conference Center is now the Hilton Lexington Downtown … In Texas, what used to be the Hampton Inn Dallas-West End at the convention center is now the Crowne Plaza Dallas Downtown … Marriott has opened a new Courtyard and a Residence Inn in northwest San Antonio … Loveland, Colorado is the home of a new Embassy Suites … Marriott had a double debut in the Phoenix area, with a new Courtyard and a Fairfield Inn at Chandler’s Arizona Fashion Center … And Starwood opened an Aloft property at Phoenix Airport.
Outside the U.S., the big opening in China this month is the five-star Peninsula Shanghai, a 235-room hotel right on the Bund – the only new construction along an avenue of colonial-era structures; it has five restaurants and bars, a luxury shopping arcade, spa, and a helicopter lounge … Elsewhere in mainland China, Fairmont Hotels has opened the Fairmont Yangcheng Lake Hotel at Kunshan, within the Yangtze River Delta in Jiangsu Province … In Hong Kong, the Hyatt Regency on Nathan Road that closed in 2006 has been replaced with a new Hyatt Regency Hong Kong in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, in the new K11 multi-use development … Elsewhere in Hong Kong, the Swire Group has opened The Upper House, a luxury 117-room hotel in the Pacific Place development on Hong Kong Island, with views of Victoria Harbor; room sizes start at 730 square feet … In Korea, there’s a newly opened Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Times Square in the capital city’s Yeongdeungpo district … There’s lots of activity in India this month: In Hyderabad, Starwood cut the ribbon on a new Westin with the trippy name The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace; there’s a new Four Points by Sheraton in the center of Jaipur; and Ibis Hotels opens an economy property in Pune, five minutes from the airport … Starwood will open a new Aloft hotel in Abu Dhabi this month, located at the National Exhibition Centre … Also opening in Abu Dhabi is Fairmont Hotels’ first UAE location, the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr … In Oman, Ibis Hotels has opened a 171-room property in Muscat … The Egyptian capital of Cairo is home to the new 567-room Fairmont Nile City, in the Nile City corporate complex … In Europe, luxury furnished rental apartments are available for visitors to Frankfurt at the new Adina Apartment Hotel Frankfurt Neue Oper, along the banks of the Main close to the city center … The former tax office in the center of Hamburg has been converted into the new Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre … In Paris, Choice Hotels has opened the 30-room Clarion Collection Opera Pavilion Hotel near the St. Lazare Station … The newest Starwood W hotel in Europe is the W Barcelona, near one end of the city’s famous Barceloneta beach boardwalk … Glasgow, Scotland’s former Royal Scottish Automobile Club headquarters building in the city center has been transformed into Blythswood Square, a 100-room luxury hotel … The historic Dunblane Hydro Hotel in Dunblane, Scotland, is now a Doubletree by Hilton … In Mexico, there’s a new Holiday Inn Express Guadalajara Expo in Guadalajara … and the Dominican Republic’s first Holiday Inn has opened in Santo Domingo.
September 2009
LA’s Bel-Air to close; InterContinental comes to Saigon
In this month’s business hotel news, the iconic Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles will close its doors at the end of September to undergo a major renovation that is expected to take at least two years; work will include upgrading all 91 guest rooms, plus the addition of a spa and 12 new villas … Elsewhere in L.A., a former Howard Johnson on Airport Blvd. is now the Holiday Inn Express Los Angeles-LAX Airport; later this month, another Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites is due to open near LAX on Hawthorne Blvd. … In northern California, the former Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport, along San Francisco Bay three miles south of SFO, is now the Hilton San Francisco Airport …In Texas, Starwood has cut the ribbon on the Aloft Dallas Downtown, the transformation of a railroad freight terminal built in 1924, located close to City Hall … Another Starwood property, the Element DFW Airport North, is slated to open this month in Irving, Tex. … Later this month, Starwood will open the new Element Denver Park Meadows in the southeastern suburb of Lone Tree, Colo. … Hilton this month will cut the ribbon on the huge (1,400 rooms) Hilton Orlando, at I-4 and International Drive in the heart of all the area attractions … Down in Palm Beach, Fla., there’s a new independent beachfront property – the 134-room Omphoy Ocean Resort, with an Exhale Spa and a restaurant from celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein … InterContinental Hotels Group has opened a boutique property, the Hotel Indigo Durham-Research Triangle Park, in Durham, N.C. … Historic downtown Bethlehem, Pa. is the site of a new Hyatt Place hotel … In New York City, a late September debut is planned for the Crosby Hotel, a boutique, high-style property in the Soho district operated by the U.K.’s Firmdale Hotels … Also in New York, the former VU Hotel at 11th Ave. and 48th Street in Hell’s Kitchen has been taken over by Kimpton Hotels; it’s now called Ink48 … A block from the convention center on L Street in downtown Washington D.C. is The Eldon Luxury Suites, a new all-suite property with guest units ranging from 600 to 1,500 square feet … Starwood brings two new Four Points by Sheraton hotels to Canada this month – one in south Winnipeg, and the other in Cambridge, Ontario.
Overseas, the InterContinental Asiana Saigon has opened its doors in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), as a part of the Kumho Asiana Plaza commercial complex, close to Notre Dame Cathedral and Reunification Palace … Also in Vietnam, there’s a new Mercure Hotel Hanoi La Gare in Hanoi, next to the central railway station … As usual, there are more new hotels in China this month, including a Sheraton in Jinan; the Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou, Dongpu (in a regional center of East Guangzhou); and in the capital city, The Sandalwood Beijing – Marriott Executive Apartments, with 168 one-, two- and three-bedroom fully serviced rental units … A mid-September grand opening is set for The Mira Hong Kong, a 429-room property on Nathan Road in Tsimshatsui that bills itself as “an upscale business-***-lifestyle hotel” with a focus on guest technology … Ibis Hotels has opened a new property in Pune, India, five minutes from the airport … There’s also a new Ibis in the capital of Russia – the Ibis Moscow Paveletskaya Hotel, in the heart of the city’s business district … Elsewhere in Moscow, the historic Hotel National has undergone an extensive renovation and has joined Starwood’s Luxury Collection … The InterContinental Kiev has opened in the capital of the Ukraine, located in the center of town … In London, the Royal Lancaster Hotel has changed its name to the Lancaster London … Morocco’s historic La Mamounia in Marrakech will reopen by the end of September after an extensive renovation gave it a spa, new suites and villas, and a trio of restaurants from Michelin-starred chefs … In South America, Marriott has cut the ribbon on the Bogota Marriott in Colombia, located 10 minutes from the airport … And in Buenos Aires, a new Novotel opens this month on Avenida Corrientes, near the Tribunales district.
August 2009
D.C.’s Jefferson reopens; St. Regis debuts in Mexico City
After closing down two and a half years ago for a major renovation under new ownership, Washington D.C.’s historic Jefferson Hotel reopens this month. Located at 16th and M streets, the new Jefferson has 99 rooms – including 20 suites – as well as a spa and a gourmet restaurant called Plume run by chef Damon Gordon … In New York City, InterContinental Hotels Group has opened Manhattan’s first extended-stay Candlewood Suites on West 39th Street near Times Square … In Baltimore, the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad headquarters building has been transformed into a new Hotel Monaco, operated by Kimpton Hotels … Hyatt cut the ribbon on a new Hyatt Place property in Germantown, Tenn., close to Federal Express headquarters … Also in Tennessee, there’s a new Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Memphis-Wolfchase Galleries … The newest Crowne Plaza hotel has opened on South 13th Street in Milwaukee, two and a half miles from the airport … The north Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove, Minn., is the site of a new Cambria Suites Hotel … There’s another new Cambria Suites in Madison, Wis. … Starwood is adding a number of new properties in its Aloft brand this month, including airport hotels at Phoenix, Jacksonville, and Baltimore/Washington; an Aloft in Houston’s Uptown District; one in Leawood, Kans., outside Kansas City; and the Aloft Richmond West in Glen Allen, Va. … The Roosevelt New Orleans has reopened after a post-Katrina $145 million restoration; it’s now a member of Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Collection … In Savannah, Ga., a luxury boutique property called the Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront has opened its doors … The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas has added a new 490-room tower … InterContinental has opened a new Hotel Indigo in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
Outside the U.S., Starwood has opened a new St. Regis luxury property in Mexico City, on the Paseo de la Reforma close to the financial district and the city’s historic center. The St. Regis Mexico City has 189 rooms and suites, a spa and three restaurants … Other newly opened Starwood properties in Latin America include Le Meridien Panama, along the Bay of Panama in Panama City; and the Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles – in Los Angeles, Chile … In China, the former Sofitel Plaza Xiamen has been rebranded as the Pan Pacific Xiamen … Also in China, there’s a new Doubletree by Hilton in Qingdao/Chanyang, about five miles from Qingdao International Airport … Shangri-La this month is due to open a luxury hotel in Ningbo, China … A moderately priced Hotel Ibis has opened near Beijing Capital Airport … Starwood has cut the ribbon on a new Sheraton Hotel in Shunde, China, in the Pearl River Delta … Another new Sheraton has opened at Songdo City, Korea, in the heart of the Incheon Free Economic Zone … In Israel, there’s a new luxury property called the Mamilla Hotel in central Jerusalem …And in Jordan, the Ibis Amman has opened in the capital city’s Tala’a Al Ali district near Jordan University.
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| Anonymous | Hotel corbiski eco lodge | 0 | Feb 8 2009, 10:56 AM EST by Anonymous | ||
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Thread started: Feb 8 2009, 10:56 AM EST
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contact eliasperezmartinez@yahoo.com hospedajecorbiskikunayala.blogspot.com (507) 67085254 Elias Perez |
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