Meritus Plans 240-Villa Resort In Malaysia

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 8/1/2002

• Meritus Plans 240-Villa Resort In Malaysia
• Marriott Vacation Club, Euro Disney Develop New Property
• Eden Roc Renaissance Launches US$14 Million Renovation
• A US $110 Million Resort Planned In South Carolina
• World's Largest Indoor Waterpark Under Development In Kansas City
• Luxury Resort Community To Open In Laguna Beach
• Park Hyatt Zurich To Be First Luxury Hotel To Open In 20 Years

Meritus Plans 240-Villa Resort In Malaysia

Meritus Hotels & Resorts, Singapore, has signed

an agreement with Wudani Bay Resort Sdn Bhd to manage a 240-villa

resort in Rompin, Pahang, on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

The Meritus Wudani Resort is scheduled to open in late 2003.

“The architecture, the design layout and operation details will

all be carefully planned to evolve around the concept of an ideal getaway

for the young and upwardly mobile,” says Michael Ow, president

of Meritus Hotels & Resorts. “Their fast-paced lifestyles

demand that they have a getaway in a close destination

where they can escape to quickly unwind and be rejuvenated. Rompin,

being just over 3 1/2 hours from either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, proves

such a destination.”

The resort is located near Lake Chini and the

Endau-Rompin State Park, one of the world’s oldest tropical

rainforests. It also will offer such attractions as rejuvenating spa

programs, water sports, ecological trails and golf to harmonize with

the nature that surrounds it.

Marriott Vacation Club, Euro Disney Develop New Property

Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI), Orlando,

Florida, and Euro Disney SCA, Marne La Vallée, France, have announced the

development of a new property near Paris, France, and neighboring Disneyland

Paris. Marriott’s Village d’lle-de-France at the Disneyland

Resort Paris is the first MVCI project in France and

is scheduled to open in mid-2003.

“The alliance with Marriott Vacation Club International and Euro

Disney is an excellent collaboration,” says Stephen P. Weisz,

president, MVCI. “In our pursuit to provide world-class resort

options to our vacation owners, we are excited to announce

this addition to our portfolio of 52 resorts around the globe.”

Marriott’s Village d’lle-de-France will consist of 275

two-bedroom/two-bath villas (proposed) providing 1,250 sq. ft. (116

sq.m) of living space. The property will have access to the Disneyland

Paris 27-hole golf course, and will offer guests two outdoor pools,

one indoor lap pool, two children’s pools and three whirlpool

spas. Other amenities include a game room, activity room

and outdoor playground for children, a restaurant featuring local cuisine,

lobby lounge for owners and guests, and a convenience store and deli.

Eden Roc Renaissance Launches US$14 Million Renovation

The 349-room Eden Roc Renaissance Resort & Spa, a Miami Beach landmark,

has begun a US$14 million renovation program that will include the redesign

of the resort’s meeting space, fine-dining and casual-dining restaurants

and pool areas.

New soft goods are planned for the Cotillion and Mona Lisa ballrooms

and reconfiguration of the lower conference center level meeting space

will create five new meeting rooms, a group office, and several new

seating areas for pre- or post-meeting networking or relaxing.

The main pool area will receive a dramatic facelift, including new

pool decking, two new oceanfront Jacuzzis and upgraded event space.

A new sound system and T-1 phone lines will enable groups to host exciting

events at poolside with full multimedia support.

The resort’s new beachside restaurant will

offer a casual lunch menu and regional specialties with the addition

of steak and seafood dishes on the dinner menu.

The renovation, which is slated for a December 2002 completion, is

under the direction of Spillis Candela DMJM, the architectural firm

that collaborated with Morris Lapidus in 1999 to restore his vision

of this legendary property.

A US$110 Million Resort Planned In South Carolina

A new luxury oceanfront hotel and spa is being

planned by Kiawah Island Resorts, which promises to be the finest

hotel built on the East Coast during the past 20 years. “The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island will

become known as the next great American resort hotel,” says Prem

Devadas, managing director of Kiawah Island Resorts. “We have

paid particular attention to the design of the hotel,

which we hope will create a timeless and elegant experience. The name

that we have chosen is a fitting tribute to the extraordinary natural

beauty for which Kiawah is known.”

With 255 guestrooms and suites, but only four

stories high, the hotel has been designed to respect the environmentally

sensitive and spectacular oceanfront location. Each of the hotel’s

guestrooms will feature luxurious, five-fixture baths, large marble

showers, dual vanities, private water closets, shuttered bathroom

windows and ocean view balconies.

The Sanctuary also will offer a nature-based, luxury spa with 13 treatment

rooms. An indoor pool and Jacuzzi complement the spa, along with a beauty

and fitness center. Dining amenities include a 110-seat fine-dining

room with a private wine room, a 160-seat elegant restaurant with an

outdoor terrace for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition the Sanctuary

includes a grand lobby bar, a cigar and martini bar, and an oceanfront

poolside grill and bar.

The hotel’s architects are Cooper Carry, Atlanta, and Eddie Smith

of Smith McLaine Architects, Richmond, Virginia. The interior design

firm is Hirsch Bedner & Associates, Atlanta, and the general contractor

is Beers Skanska, also from Atlanta. The hotel opens

in early 2004.

World’s Largest Indoor Waterpark Under Development

In Kansas City

The Great Lakes Companies, Madison, Wisconsin,

is planning to open one of the world’s largest indoor waterpark

resorts in Kansas City in early 2003. The US$51.5 million resort is

being built in Village West, a new tourism district in Kansas City.

“What we’re building will be a destination itself,” explained

Eric Lund, principal and senior vice president of sales and marketing

at The Great Lakes Companies. “The combination of a unique lodging

experience with exciting indoor and outdoor water attractions

will be unlike anything else in the state of Kansas. We are confident

that travelers, as well as the local community will respond with enthusiasm

to our first-class, year-round resort.”

The Great Wolf Lodge provides a comprehensive package of destination

amenities, including 281 family-sized suites, a 38,000-sq.ft. (3,530-sq.m)

indoor waterpark, a spacious pool, two 150-seat fun family restaurants,

a gift shop, spa and two large arcades.

The indoor waterpark is one of the world’s

largest, including eight waterslides, five pools, two whirlpools and

a US$1 million interactive Treehouse Water Fort, all serviced by 200,000

gal. (757,000 l) of heated water.

This will be the fourth Great Lodge Family Resorte hotel development

in the United States. Great Lakes has one resort in Wisconsin Dells,

Wisconsin; one in Sandusky, Ohio; and a third is under construction

in Traverse City, Michigan, which also is scheduled to open in early

2003.

Luxury Resort Community To Open In Laguna Beach

The 260-room Montage at Laguna Beach Colony Hotel is part of a luxury

resort community that is being developed at a cost in excess of US$80

million. The project is a joint venture between Laguna Beach Resorts

LLC, Montage Hotels and Resorts, The Athens Group, Phoenix and private

investors. When completed in early 2003, the 371,707-sq. ft. (34,533-sq.m)

resort community also will offer 14 condominiums, 14 custom residential

lots and a public park.

The Wentz Group, San Carlos, California, a premier general contracting

firm, is constructing the hotel to stringent 5-star standards. Despite

design modifications, Wentz has maintained a complex project construction

schedule. To preserve the spectacular ocean views from hotel guestrooms

and neighboring properties, the five original one- and two-story bungalow

buildings were redesigned to create four buildings. Working with the

architect and developer, Wentz accomplished approximately US$6 million

in value engineering.

The hotel will feature an ocean view restaurant, a bluff-top specialty

restaurant, ballrooms, meeting rooms, a luxury spa, swimming pools,

hot tubs and a 7-acre (3-ha) public park with pedestrian pathways.

Situated on a 30-acre (12-ha) site featuring a coastal mesa, bluffs

and beaches, the development was designed by Hill Glazier Architects,

Palo Alto, California, as a craftsman-style, Southern California hotel

and bungalows.

Park Hyatt Zurich To Be First Luxury Hotel To Open In 20 Years

Hyatt International, Chicago, has announced its plan to open a 5-star

hotel in Zurich, Switzerland by early 2005.

The 142-room Park Hyatt Zurich will be located

in the city’s

prestigious financial and commercial district, across

from the Zurich Congress Centre and near the fashionable Bahnhofstrasse.

The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development. Guests will have

access to a mini urban spa fitted with a high-tech gym, a 100-seat restaurant,

and a bar offering beverages and cigars. Conference and meeting spaces

also will be available.

The Zurich-based firm of Meili & Peter Architekten

will meld transparent elements like glass with external

greenery and an abundance of natural light to create a fusion of indoor

and outdoor, urban and natural. Landscape consultants Kienast Vogt Partners,

will be responsible for taking the outdoors into the building and ensuring

a strong commitment to ecology and conservation issues.

The general contractor is Zurich-based Karl Steiner AG