What’s Hot Around The World

Several landmark and anticipated branded hotels have recently opened for business, ranging from the very first aloft in Montréal to the renovated One Ocean, Remington Hotels’ first Gallery Collection property in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Iconic openings include the Hotel Excelsior in Dubrovnik and the Four Seasons Florence.

-- Hotels, 7/1/2008

ATLANTIC BEACH, FLORIDA One Ocean Resort Hotel and Spa, the first property developed under Remington Hotels’ new The Gallery Collection, recently opened with 193 rooms on the ocean in Florida. The hotel features a signature Gallery showcasing original works by celebrated American photographer Greg Whitaker; a spa with eight oceanfront treatment rooms; gourmet dining by Executive Chef Ted Peters at Azuréa; and 10,000 sq. ft. (929 sq. m) of flexible indoor/out-door meeting space. The resort’s guest services and amenities include a staff of docents, or personal concierges, who guide guests through their arrival and dis-covery, matching experiences to interests.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA Adriatic Luxury Hotels of Croatia has re-launched the Hotel Excelsior after an extensive €22 million refur-bishments. Situated amid the UNESCO Dubrovnik Old Town and overlooking the Adriatic Sea, designer Renata Strok complements the hotel’s location and honors its historic heritage by mixing con-temporary elements with references to the hotel’s 1950s origins. The 158-room hotel has a completely new reception, restaurants, indoor pool and improved spa and wellness facilities. The guest-rooms are designed with details such as the handmade linen with local ethnic embroidery.

DALLAS The cantilevered pool that juts over the side of the building is what makes the Adam Tihany-designed Joule, a Luxury Collection hotel from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the hot spot in Dallas. The 129-room boutique hotel features a Charlie Palmer restaurant to go along with the sky-high pool. The 16-story 1920’s Dallas National Bank building is located next to the iconic Neiman Marcus flagship store downtown.



MONTRÉAL aloft has finally taken flight with its first hotel opening in early June in Montréal. Developed and owned by the joint venture between Silver Hotel Groupand Northampton Group Inc., the 136-room hotel offers intuitive technologies, atmospheric public spaces and guest-rooms featuring loft-like 9-ft. (2.7-m) ceil-ings and oversized windows. This hotel is located at the entrance of Trudeau Inter-national Airport. Several more alofts will follow shortly, including near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport; Minneapo-lis; Philadelphia International Airport; Lexington, Massachusetts; Ontario-Ran-cho Cucamonga, California; as well as Beijing and Brooklyn, New York, in 2009.

FLORENCE Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts just opened its 77th and 78th hotels in Istanbul and Florence. After seven years of restoration, the 117-room Four Seasons Hotel Florence has opened as an historic landmark property situated within the restored 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca and early 16th-century Palazzo Coven-tino. It is nestled in an 11-acre (4.5-ha) garden—the largest private garden in Florence. The hotel comprises two Renaissance palaces, whose previous residents included a pope, an order of nuns, Italy’s first railway company, five centuries of Florentine nobil-ity and a viceroy of Egypt (who sold it when his harem was barred from moving in).