Saunders Plans Boutique Hotel

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 7/1/2001

BOSTON Saunders Hotel Group has announced what

it is calls Boston's first truly unique boutique hotel. The property

is being developed out of the former police headquarters building

on Berkeley Street in Boston's Back Bay. Jeffrey Saunders, president

and CEO of Saunders Hotel Group, says the hotel will be a "preservation" project,

combining eclectic detail with grand public spaces in one of Boston's

most beautiful early 20th-century buildings.

Saunders promises the 200-room hotel will offer world-class cuisine,

a cutting-edge bar scene and theatrical elements designed to evoke a

new level of energy, style and cool sophistication. The property will

add needed inventory to the downtown Boston market and provide consumers

with a sought-after alternative to the traditional Boston lodging experience.

The hotel is expected to open in early 2003.

Asia / Pacific

Novotel Century Hong Kong Hotel, Hong Kong; 516 rooms

to open late 2001; contact Century International

Hotels.

Park Hyatt Saigon, Vietnam; 264 rooms to open late 2002; contact Hyatt

International Hotels.

Australia

Stamford Plaza Hotel, Perth; 250 rooms to open

in 2003 at a cost of US$55 million; management and contact: Stamford

Hotels & Resorts.

Caribbean

Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Grand Cayman, British West Indies;

366-room resort and 71-room condominium facility

to open mid-2003; developer and owner is MRG International, Puerto Rico;

management and contact: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

L.L.C.

Westin Casuarina Resort, Grand Cayman, British

West Indies; 343 rooms, adding a new spa to be completed by late 2001;

contact Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Hotel Kurá Hulanda, Curaçao, The Netherlands Antilles;

150 rooms to open late 2001; interior designer is Leo Helms; owners,

management and contact: Kurá Hulanda Properties.

Central/South America

Blue Tree Park Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;

315 rooms to open late 2001; contact Blue Tree Hotels.

Europe

Radisson SAS Carlton Hotel, Bratislava, Slovakia; 167

rooms to open late 2001; contact Radisson SAS Hotels.

Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, St. Petersburg, Russia; 166 rooms to open

late 2001; contact Radisson SAS Hotels.

Campanile, Padova, Italy; 112 rooms to open late

2001; contact Groupe Envergure, a subsidiary of Société du

Louvre.

Middle East

Al Bustan Palace Inter-Continental Hotel, Muscat,

Sultanate of Oman; 250 rooms and suites; renovation to be completed

late 2001 (hotel closed during renovation); owner is

the Government of the Sultanate of Oman; management and

contact: Bass Hotels & Resorts.

Corinthia Tripoli Hotel, Tripoli, Libya; 300 rooms to open late 2002

at a cost of US$100 million; management and contact: Corinthia Hotels

International.

North America

Wyndham Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; 506 rooms to

open in 2003; developer is Peebles Atlantic Development Company;

management and contact: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort, Honolulu, Hawaii; 1,308 rooms; renovation

of hotel at a cost of US$60 million to be completed early to mid- 2002;

interior designer is Leo Daly, Washington, D.C., and the architect is

Shimokawa Architects, Honolulu; management and contact: Marriott International.

Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida; 269 rooms to open late 2001;

developer is Core Development; management and contact: The Ritz-Carlton

Hotel Company L.L.C.

Ritz-Carlton, Downtown New York; 298 rooms to open late 2001; management

and contact: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C.

Hilton Garden Inn, Highland Oaks (Tampa), Florida; 150 rooms to open

in early 2002 and will be part of the Duke-Weeks office park; a strategic

alliance between Winston Hotels, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Noble

Investment Group, Atlanta; owner, management and contact: Noble Investment

Group.

Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, Halifax, Canada;

178 rooms to open late 2001; owner is Fortis Properties Corporation

under a franchise agreement with Starwood; contact Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Worldwide.

Baymont Inn & Suites, Northlake-Alliance Airport

(near Fort Worth) Texas; 86 rooms open early 2002; owner is SJH Inns,

Texas; contact Marcus Corporation.

The Inn at Fox Hollow and Conference Center, Woodbury, New York; 145

rooms to open early 2002; contact Scotto Brothers Enterprises, New York.

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; addition of 29-story hotel tower with more

than 900 suites and mini-suites at a cost of US$450 to $475 million

to open in 2004; contact Park Place Entertainment Corporation.

Hyatt Slated To Open Two Convention Hotels

CHICAGO Hyatt Hotels Corp. plans to begin construction

on two convention properties-one in Denver, Colorado,

and the other in Orlando, Florida.

The US$220 million, 1,100-room convention hotel in Denver will be located

across from the newly expanded Colorado Convention Center. It will have

a 30,000-sq.ft. (2,787-sq.m) grand ballroom with 15,000 sq.ft. (1,394

sq.m) of pre-function space, the largest in the state. It will also

include a 15,000-sq.ft. (1,394-sq.m) junior ballroom and an additional

25,000 sq.ft. (2,323 sq.m) of meeting space. This will include banquet

rooms, three meeting rooms and two boardrooms. Hyatt plans to open the

hotel in early 2004.

The second property, the 1,500-room Hyatt in Orlando, will be connected

via skyway to the Orlando Convention Center expansion. This property

is expected to be Hyatt's largest hotel and will offer a 43,000-sq.ft.

(3.995-sq.m) grand ballroom with 14,000 sq.ft. (1,208 sq.m) of pre-function

space. The hotel will also offer a variety of conference rooms, meeting

rooms and boardrooms, as well as a 50,000-sq.ft. (4,645-sq.m) multi-purpose

exhibit hall, divisible into four 10,000-sq.ft. (929-sq.m) rooms. The

hotel is slated to open in 2004.

Marriott Resort And Casino To Open In St. Kitts

ST. KITTS, NEVIS Marriott International has signed a

40-year management contract with Toronto-based hotel

developer Technologies Limited to manage the US$200

million, 471-room Marriott Royal St. Kitts Beach Resort. The resort

is situated on 37 acres (15 ha) of beachfront and is made up of a 237-room,

five-story main building and a series of three-story garden villas.

The villas will comprise 234 rooms. The property has the flexibility

to expand by 386 rooms.

The resort plan features two swimming pools, four specialty restaurants,

including a steak house and beach club grill, lobby bar, piano bar,

disco/nightclub and beach club bar. Other amenities include an 8,000-sq.ft.

(743-sq.m) ballroom, a 20,000-sq.ft. (1,858-sq.m) casino, a fitness

facility and conference and business center. Marriott International

is scheduled to open and manage the property starting in 2003.

La Jolla, California

The Lodge at Torrey Pines has begun a complete reconstruction

that includes a new four-level, U-shaped addition

with 175 guestrooms encompassing 175,000 sq.ft. (16,358 sq.m); a separate

two-story building for presidential and governor luxury

suites and spa; a courtyard; a grand terrace overlooking the Torrey

Pines golf course; and a three-level parking structure. Renovation of

public spaces will include the porte-cochere, pool, lobby, restaurant,

kitchen, meeting rooms and a new ballroom.

Capturing a design reminiscent of the Greene & Greene

craftsman style prevalent in the early 1900s, the project is being

developed by Evans Hotels, San Diego, California. The project designer

is Wimberly, Allison, Tong and Goo Architects, Newport Beach, California;

the interior designer is Kristine Smith Design Studio Interiors, San

Diego; and the construction company is McCarthy Building Companies,

San Diego. The project is scheduled for an early 2002 completion.

Wyndham Manages Vancouver Hotel

VANCOUVER, CANADA Wyndham International, Dallas, has

signed an agreement to manage a full-service, upscale

hotel in downtown Vancouver. The Amacon Group of Companies, a Vancouver-based

development company, is developing the project, which is expected to

open in 2004.

"Vancouver is one of the most exciting business and leisure travel

markets in North America, and we are excited to be a part of this planned

mixed-use development," says Fred J. Kleisner, chairman and CEO

of Wyndham. "Our investment in the management contract is a measure

of our commitment to this new hotel and market."

The new Wyndham hotel will include approximately 300 guestrooms and

feature more than 16,000 sq.ft. (1,486 sq.m) of meeting space, including

an 8,000-sq.ft. (836-sq.m) ballroom. Other features include a 121-seat

restaurant, a 60-seat lobby bar, a business center, a gift shop and

an outdoor swimming pool. The remainder of the building will comprise

residential condominiums situated above the hotel.

Largest Budget Hotel Is Developed At Heathrow Airport

LONDON Acting on behalf of private trustees, Jones Lang

LaSalle Hotels and Ashwell Rogers have arranged a

long-term ground lease of a prime 6.5 acre (3 ha) site near Heathrow

Airport to UK-based Whitbread Hotel Company.

The 624-room Travel Inn Capital will be the largest budget hotel in

the United Kingdom. It will offer 250 parking spaces, a 24-hour restaurant,

a Bureau de Change and meeting space. The Travel Inn Capital will provide

a great value for its target guest mix of business, family and leisure

travelers. Whitbread says the hotel will be ready to open by the summer

of 2002.

The Heathrow hotel market is one of Europe's most

buoyant airport markets and has benefited from the strong increases

in passenger numbers over the past decade, reaching 64.3 million in

2000. "The

Heathrow market currently lacks mid-market properties and Whitbread

should be able to capitalize on the gap in the market," says Tom

Oakden, vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. "The development

of an additional terminal (Terminal 5) will serve to

boost passenger numbers over the longer term."