Inter-Continental Opens First Hotel In Boston

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 3/1/2002

Inter-Continental Opens First Hotel In Boston
Boston Six Continents Hotels plc announces plans to open its first Inter-Continental hotel in Boston. The 420-room Inter-Continental Boston hotel will be part of a mixed-use project that includes luxury condominiums, ground floor retail and restaurant space. It is located in the heart of the city’s financial district, ideally situated for business and leisure travelers as well as group meetings. “We have secured an ideal site in Boston, an area that will directly benefit the city’s significant investment in revitalizing the waterfront,” says Tim Clarke, chief executive, Six Continents Hotels plc. “The development of this new Inter-Continental hotel supports our strategy of acquiring large properties in key markets and locations around the world.” The developer of the hotel is Intell Boston Harbor LLC, a real estate development company. The architect is Howard Elkus, Elkus/Manfredi, Boston, and the interior designer is BBGM/Interiors, New York. Six Continents Hotels plc will manage the property when it opens in late 2004.

Outrigger Continues Expansion In Australia
Brisbane (Hervey Bay) Australia Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Honolulu, Hawaii, has secured its sixth Queensland property in Australia and is planning to develop a 160-unit, marina-front hotel at Hervey Bay, 180 miles north of the state capital, Brisbane.

The US$13.3 million Outrigger Hervey Bay resort will be built on the waterfront and is scheduled to open by late 2002 or early 2003. When completed, the hotel will be the largest resort in the area, featuring a mix of one-, two-, three-bedroom and dual-key apartments, across two six-level complexes. Other features will include a 200-seat conference center, lagoon swimming pool, retail and restaurant facilities and fully landscaped grounds.

“We are very pleased with the momentum that Outrigger continues to build in Australia and throughout the Pacific,” says Bill Henderson, vice president of business development, Outrigger. “Our expansion in the Southern Hemisphere is key to the geographic diversification that we want to balance Outrigger’s presence in the international market.”

Since entering the Australian market in 1998, Outrigger has secured properties in Queensland’s leading tourism centers of Cairns, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

400-room Holiday Inn at Disneyland Paris
Six Continents Hotels plc, London, and Euro Disney SCA announce plans to build a 400-room Holiday Inn at Disneyland Paris. When it opens in early 2003, the Holiday Inn will provide guestrooms for up to four people, a swimming pool, a fitness center, restaurant and extensive children’s facilities. Guests will have shuttle bus access to Disneylandw Paris and to the new Walt Disney Studios (opening in spring 2002). “The Holiday Inn at the Disneylandw Paris Resort will be a flagship property for us and I am delighted that we are the first international hotel group to invest in this new development,” says David Bland, managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Six Continents Hotels plc. “That investment is part of a major expansion drive in which we see the potential to double the number of rooms in EMEA in the next five years.”

The Holiday Inn will be located in the new hotel district named Val de France. This new hotel district will eventually offer 2,200 guestrooms and will follow a tourist-oriented architecture inspired from regional themes such as the castles, manors and handsome farms of the Ile-de-France. Other companies planning hotels here are the French-based Groupe Envergure, which will open a 300-room Kyriad Disney hotel, and UK-based Mytravel Group plc (formerly Airtours plc), which is scheduled to open a 394-room Explorers Hotel in early 2003.

Ritz-Carlton Plans 9th Hotel In Florida
Orlando, Florida The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, is opening an exclusive spa and golf destination resort in the summer of 2003. The 5-star, 584-room The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes Resort is located amidst more than 500 acres (202 ha) of lushly landscaped grounds and lakes. The Ritz-Carlton Orlando will blend elements of Venetian and Italian architecture and the interior design will include original works of art from galleries and private collections.

Guestrooms and suites offer balconies that overlook tropical gardens or the natural woodlands and wetlands surrounding the walkout, 18-hole Greg Norman championship golf course.

A 40,000-sq. ft. (3,716-sq.m) spa on three levels will offer 40 treatment rooms, a lap pool, beauty saloon, spa café and fitness center. Meeting facilities include 35,000 sq. ft. (3,251 sq.m), with outdoor space totaling more than 52,000 sq. ft. (4,830 sq.m) that accommodates 1,800 people. Dining at the hotel will offer options from innovative to informal.

The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes Resort is part of a recreational estate that also includes the 1,000-room JW Marriott. Guests at both resorts will share the full range of resort spa, golf and dining facilities available.

Asia / Pacific
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, Japan (part of the Pacific Century Marunouchi complex); 57 rooms to open late 2002; developer: Pacific Century Group, Hong Kong; management and contact: Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Formule 1, Numazu, Japan; 92 rooms open in mid-2002; contact: Accor SA.

Park Hyatt Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 166 rooms open in mid-2003; contact: Hyatt International Hotels.

Caribbean
Bucanero II, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba; 364 rooms open late 2003; contact: Grupo Hotelero Gran Caribe S.A.

JW Marriott Resort Dos Mares, Fajardo, Puerto Rico; 350 rooms open late 2004; architect is SCF International, Puerto Rico, and the owner is Dos Mares, S.E.; management and contact: Marriott International.

San Juan Courtyard by Marriott, Puerto Rico; 331 rooms open in 2003; architect is Langdon S.A., Madrid, Spain, and Gutierrez & Gutierrez, San Juan; owner is Carolina Land Development; management and contact: Marriott International.

Central/S. America
Four Seasons Resort, Guanacaste, Papagayo Peninsula, Costa Rica; 170 rooms open late 2003; architect is Walsh Bishop Associates & Zurcher Architects, and the interior designer is Brayton & Hughes Interior Designers; developer: Cuzar; management and contact: Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Europe
Radisson SAS, London (Stansted Airport), England; 350 rooms open in 2003; developer is BAA Lynton; contact Rezidor SAS Hospitality.

Inter-Continental Hotel, Düsseldorf, Germany; 286 rooms open in 2004; contact: Six Continents Hotels plc.

San Clemente Palace, Venice, Italy; 207 rooms open early 2003; contact: Turin Hotels International.

Radisson SAS, Krakow, Poland; 200 rooms open 2003; contact Rezidor SAS Hospitality.

Meliá PGA Vichy Catalan, Caldes de Malavella, Girona, Spain; 150 rooms open in 2004; management and contact: Sol Meliá.

NH Express Hotel, Parla (near Madrid), Spain; 88 rooms open early 2004 at a cost of US$4 million (E4.5 million); contact: NH Hoteles SA.

Radisson SAS, Kiev, Ukraine; 271 rooms to open early 2003 at a cost of US$41.6 million (E47.5 million); contact: Rezidor SAS Hospitality.

North America
Sofitel, Cancun, Mexico; 402 rooms open late 2002 at a cost of US$62 million; interior designer is Issac Abadie; contact: Accor SA.

Ibis Hotel, Guadalajara, Mexico; 191 rooms to open late 2002 at a cost of US$9 million; contact: Accor SA.

The Mountain View Grand Hotel, Whitefield, New Hampshire; 146 rooms; a complete renovation of the hotel at a cost of US$20 million to be completed mid-2002; interior designer is Kentco Corporation, Hingham, Massachusetts; owner and contact: Kevin Craffey at Mountain View Grand Hotel.

Spring Hill Suites, Denver South, Colorado; 102 rooms to open mid-2002; management and contact: White Lodging Services Corporation.

Hilton Americas Hotel, Houston, Texas; 1,200 rooms open late 2003; contact: Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Courtyard by Marriott (at University of Delaware), Newark, Delaware; 125 rooms open late 2002; management and contact: Shaner Hotel Group.