Historic Building Becomes Luxury Hotel, Spa

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 7/1/2002

Historic Building Becomes Luxury Hotel, Spa

The Westmark will be an upscale luxury hotel and

European-style spa and fitness center located in the historic L. Frank

Saddlery building directly across the River Walk from La Mansión

del Rio Hotel.

Completion and opening of the hotel is scheduled

for November 1, 2003. The developer and owner of The Westmark is La

Mansión Ltd. The

hotel will be managed by La Mansión del Rio Inc.

The 99-room Westmark will be a new, seven-story

structure, which incorporates an adaptive restoration of the existing

four-story façade. Great

care has been taken in the design of the hotel to complement and enhance

the building’s architectural design.

The 99 luxury guestrooms and suites will range in size from 400 sq.

ft. to 600 sq. ft. (37 sq.m to 56 sq.m). All will have high ceilings

and marble bathrooms, separate water closets, showers and Jacuzzi baths.

The hotel also will include 4,500 sq.ft. (418 sq.m) of meeting space.

The project design team includes architect HKS, Dallas; contracter Lyda

Constructors, San Antonio; and interior designer Hirsch Bedner Associates,

Santa Monica, California.

A key feature of the hotel is the 16,000-sq.ft. (1,486-sq.m) European-style

spa and fitness center. The spa occupies two floors of the hotel and

will provide a relaxing environment with 20 individual massage therapy

rooms and state-of-the-art hydrotherapy facilities.

The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas Opens In 2003

The 350-room Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas will

be located in a secluded oasis of natural beauty offering guests a

wonderful new experience in a picturesque mountain retreat near Las

Vegas in Henderson, Nevada, The hotel combines the grand elegance

of old Europe’s famed casinos

with the dramatic natural beauty of the American West.

The resort will open in 2003.

The resort will feature 36 holes of championship golf, lake activities,

an exciting 40,000 sq.ft. (3,716 sq.m) casino, a luxurious 30,000-sq.ft.

(2,787-sq.m) spa and fitness center and two heated swimming pools. Other

amenities include two restaurants, a lobby lounge and pool bar and grill.

Guestrooms feature marble baths, European toiletries,

lighted makeup mirror, hair dryer, scale, computer and fax hookups

and an in-room safe. The hotel also provides 25,200 sq.ft. (2,341

sq.m) of elegantly decorated meeting space. The architect of the Mediterranean-style

resort is Wimberly, Allison Tong & Goo, Honolulu; interior designer is Texeira Interior

Architectural & Design, Los Angeles; and Perini Building Company,

Las Vegas, is the construction company.

Allson Builds 4-Star Hotel In Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur Malaysian-based Allson International

Hotels & Resorts

has announced plans to construct the 4-star Sunway Pyramid

Hotel. The 562-room hotel and apartment complex will adjoin the 5-star,

439-room Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, Sunway Pyramid Convention Center,

Sunway Lagoon Theme Park and the premier Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall.

The hotel will offer three choices in accommodations with 280 apartments,

of which 266 are studio units and 14 are duplex units. The hotel will

target international and domestic business travelers and convention

groups, as well as leisure travelers looking for a competitively, mid-priced

hotel product. The completion of the hotel is slated for the end of

2004.

“The Sunway Pyramid Hotel will feature an alternative to traditional

hotel accommodations by providing apartment-style living suitable for

large convention groups, families and for those business travelers who

enjoy a spacious alternative accommodation at an affordable price,” says

Jalifah Fenner, Allson’s director of sales and marketing.

Allson International Hotels & Resorts manages

both Allson and Sunway Hotels under its corporate umbrella, and presently

operates 10 hotels in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and

Vietnam. Allson provides management and franchise agreements as well

as hotel marketing affiliation services. Allson aims to further develop

its 5-tier product line within the Asia Pacific Rim and expand into

Europe and the Americas.

Hilton Manages Second Hotel In Spain

Hilton International, Watford, England, has signed

an agreement to manage its second hotel in Spain, the new Hilton Valencia,

on behalf of its owners Hotel Palacio de Congresos, S.L., a subsidiary

of Residencial Siglo XXI, S.L. Andersen’s Real Estate Services Division in Spain.

J&A Garrigues has provided advisory services to the development

company and Incias is the technical and architectural

company.

The 307-room Hilton Valencia, together with its twin residential development,

will form the gateway to Valencia and have excellent connectivity to

the city center. Scheduled to open at the end of 2004, the hotel forms

part of a new development consisting of two towers, one featuring 30

floors and the other 15, and a large common ground floor. Hotel facilities

include five executive floors with an exclusive executive lounge, 18

meeting rooms and a ballroom for up to 1,200 guests. Leisure facilities

will encompass two restaurants, bars and a health and fitness center

with a swimming pool.

“We are delighted to be adding a second Spanish hotel to our

portfolio in a city of increasing importance as both a business and

leisure destination,” says Anthony

Harris, chief executive, Hilton International. “Valencia

is now one of the most important trade fair destinations in Spain

with 250 fair days per year and an increasing number of international

events being held each year.”

Six Continents Continues Expansion In Western USA

When the new full-service, upscale Inter-Continental

Hotel in Seattle opens in early 2005, it will be the first North American

Inter-Continental hotel to be a part of a mixed-use development incorporating

condominiums. It also will be Six Continents’ first hotel in

Seattle. Aspen Murray, LLC is developing the 24-story building, which

will feature 113 guestrooms, three suites and 38 luxury condominiums.

“Developing this new Inter-Continental hotel supports Six Continents’ strategy

of developing and acquiring properties in key markets and locations,” says

Jon Kurnit, senior vice president of franchise and real estate development,

Americas, Six Continents Hotels. “Expanding the number of U.S.-based

properties, especially in the West, is key for us, as is providing a

gateway to the Asia Pacific region that will help us meet our customers’ needs.”

The hotel will offer guests spacious guestrooms with an array of amenities

that include voice mail, desk with ergonomic chair, alarm clock, coffee

maker, video- on-demand, and iron and ironing board. The hotel will

be designed with an urban-lodge atmosphere to evoke the surroundings

of the great Northwest. It will offer 1,450 sq. ft. (135 sq.m) of meeting

space, including an executive boardroom equipped with state-of-the-art

technology. In addition, there will be a 4,000-sq.ft. (372-sq.m) restaurant

and exercise facility.

Ramada Inn Converts To GuestHouse International

Denver/Stapleton, Colorado The Ramada Inn Denver

Airport will take on a new name and a million-dollar facelift. The

Ramada Inn will become the GuestHouse International Hotel Denver/Stapleton

and undergo dramatic improvements to the exterior façade, lobby

and guestrooms. The reflagging of the hotel was arranged through an

agreement between VenQuest, Irvine, California, and GuestHouse International

Franchise Systems, Atlanta, Georgia.

The hotel has 146 guestrooms, spacious meeting rooms that accommodate

up to 50 participants, valet service, gift shop, guest laundry room,

outdoor heated swimming pool and exercise facility, as well as La Mariposa

restaurant and the Cantina Mariposa lounge.

Commenting on the reflagging, Kevin Lewis, president

of GuestHouse International says, “We are pleased to welcome a second VenQuest

property to our family of hotels, and the second GuestHouse property

in Colorado.” In March, the company opened a GuestHouse International

Inn in Keystone, Colorado.

Boutique Hotel Joins Acclaimed Galleria

The full-service architectural design firm, Arrowstreet Inc., Somerville,

Massachusetts, which won worldwide acclaim for its design of the CambridgeSide

Galleria, is also the project architect of the eight-story, 236-room

luxury boutique CambridgeSide Hotel. The hotel will be connected to

the CambridgeSide Galleria, providing guests with easy access to the

700,000-sq.ft. (65,000-sq.m) shopping facility. Atlanta-based Hardin

Capital is the developer of the US$61 million project, which is scheduled

for completion in March 2003. The Cambridge Hotel LLC, a Connecticut-based

commercial real estate investment management company, will own the hotel.

The entrance of the hotel will feature a circular,

European-style courtyard, and the exterior will echo the Cambridge

architectural theme of red bricks and cast stone. Rooms overlook the

Lechmere Canal, the Charles River and the Esplanade. “The hotel is an excellent fit with both

the mall and the neighborhood,” says Jim Flajnik, architect and

Arrowstreet principal. “Its restaurant can be accessed from the

street, and it will be a destination for the general public, not just

hotel patrons” In addition, the second-floor conference facilities,

which are elegant and refined, are intended to serve

the many technology businesses of East Cambridge.

The Kimpton Group, San Francisco, California, will manage

the hotel and restaurant.