At the huge tourism trade event, Pow Wow, I recently met a dapper gent who manages a handful of hotel properties such as The Mayfair Hotel, an historic downtown Los Angeles presence. While my search of this hotel’s offerings and amenities will require further investigation, what caught my interest was his mention of a project he is involved in near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Attracting the elite tycoons and entrepreneurs from around the globe, the destination lacks ample runway facilities for a high demand crowd of jetsetters who love Cabo. Be on the look out for a hotel with 5 to 6 diamond offerings, private chef preparing meal requests individually (upon demand) and of course, the landing strip right on premise. If you want to travel in style, this luxury resort is expected to come online in the 2008 - 2009 range.
Have a cocktail and hotel. Loews hotel destinations invite you to stay and taste your way through the hotel chain’s popular flavors. When in Santa Monica, a Raspberry Mojito will whet your whistle. This signature Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel designer drink blends the beach atmosphere with some tasty ingredients to cool your hot summer nights. Ingredients include: 10 Cane Rum, Lime Juice, Brown Sugar, Topped with Sprite and a Float of Chambord Liqueur Royal. Add mint leave and some ice for a colorful, designer cocktail that’s Oh, So Santa Monica! 16 Loews hotels from South Miami Beach to Coronado, CA, offer their own tasteful twists to destination drinking.
It doesn’t take long for the word to get out about the new kid on the block. So when the Holiday Inn transformed itself into something called Hotel Ménage (translated as people living together as a unit in a hotel), we began noticing people booking rooms from our website. It must be worth a closer look, we thought, so we sent one of the reporters on assignment to investigate. They never came back! Maybe it’s because there’s an acre of space to host a nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights. Or maybe someone is eating on the job at the award-winning k’ya restaurant. It cost $20 million to renovate the Holiday Inn into this sweet boutique hotel and resort. There’s a candle-lit lobby bar and lounge; mist pool bar; Red Room, a business center with a twist; and 4,700 square feet of conference and special event space. Whatever is going on must be pretty special. We’ll get back to you after we find out what. If you need to see a couple small pictures of the place and check out prices, take a look here.
We recently wrote about a trend in California hotel and destination thinking. What if you could teach tourists something and help the environment, to boot? With the recent publicity about global warming, ecology has never been a hotter topic and one that you’ll be reminded of as you stay in hotels that ask if you really want to waste water by getting a new set of sheets for your bed each day during a stay. We’ve actually had to go looking for maid service at some hotels to get a clean towel. We’re reading up on opportunities to lessen our “footprint” as we wear those eco-shoes in places such as San Francisco and Santa Barbara, a Central Coast beach destination, where a new website and program introduces vacationers to some tools for enhanced travel.
Mammoth Lakes gets luxury digs! Mammoth Lakes has long been known for its action sports and a rugged crowd ready for some action on those mountain slopes, be it biking, hiking, climbing or skiing. With a new Westin Monache Mammoth resort set to open in the Fall 2007 at Mammoth Lakes, the rugged, mountain community will open its doors to an upscale clientele. A 230-unit condominium with full service resort amenities will offer ski valet, panoramic views from suites, 24 hour service at guests’ beckoning, underground parking, meeting facilities and a location next to the 15 passenger express gondola. Talk about nice! Developed by Westin Hotels and Intrawest, this hotel property will be the shining star and flagship hotel for the region.
Monterey, Calif. — Hyatt Regency Monterey is getting a new full service spa, signature restaurant, room and suite furnishings and many upgrades. Spending over $40 million on this fantastic hotel property not far from the bay, the resort has always enjoyed amenities such as many hotel rooms overlooking the golf course. The public course, DelMonte Golf Course, is one of dozens of world class public golf experiences in the Monterey Bay region. The hotel itself is surrounded by stunning Monterey pine trees and enjoys meetings facilities and a convenient layout for easy access to meeting space. Renovation began recently and should be completed in 2008. We’ve always loved this hotel and will love it even more as it continues to improve with age. While this is a hotel that accepts pets, (which often means fleas in rooms), I have never had an issue with fleas here, unlike Le Merigot in Santa Monica where I got bit. In fact, though hotels say they keep the rooms clean, hotels that accept pets have a difficult time with fleas.
Hotels, resorts and other lodging accommodations are stepping up to the challenge of providing guests with the amenities they seek most such as gyms. When Lieberman Research Worldwide interviewed businesses travelers, they discovered that hotel fitness rooms disappoint guests approx. 64% percent of the time. Inconsistency in quality of workout equipment and rooms, lack of appropriate ventilation and gym machines in various states of disrepair are some of the complaints expressed in a questionnaire. With well over 50% of travelers stating they seek gym facilities and would select a hotel based on such amenities as a good workout room, hotels are taking note. In fact, places such as JW Marriott’s Le Merigot in Santa Monica have programs allowing local residents to become members of the in-house gym facilities available to resort guests.
The huge dirt lot on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach will soon transform into a luxury residential, hotel and commercial mixed use project that may include a large outdoor plaza, shopping boutiques and many residences with ocean views. Planned with an elevation for better views, the project being built by Makar Properties, LLC (Newport Beach), will offer up to 200 hotel rooms across the street from Huntington City Beach near Main Street and the Huntington Beach Pier. Even closer to the the core and anchors of downtown than the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and the Hilton Waterfront Resort, both owned by RJ Mayer of Newport Beach, this hotel will bring to the downtown area a total of approx. 1,000 hotel rooms. While the sum is rather limited for large meetings, the summer tourist crowd and corporate travelers frequent these ocean-close hotels featuring four diamond quality ratings. The eyes are on the prize. Discussion about an entertainment venue to rival the Golden Bear, which once sat near this new development, has not yielded solid plans to date. Stay tuned and read more about this new hotel project.
KTGY Group Pacific City retail, entertainment, office and residential project with ocean views recently announced plans for its large parcel of land fronting Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, California. Located between Huntington Street and 2nd Street, the property is slated to successfully integrate hospitality, gathering places, open spaces, public art, green belts and a central park. Situated on one of the few remaining developable parcels along PCH in Southern California, Pacific City will feature 161,000 square feet of specialty retail, high-end boutiques, designer shops, fine dining, sidewalk cafes and entertainment plus 30,000 square feet of premium office space. The independently designed boutique hotel, which will be comprised of approximately 200 hotel rooms and potentially 16 fractional ownership residences, will complement KTGY’s plans for Pacific City.
Pacific City will also include approximately 516 upscale residences and two-acres of green belts and oceanfront areas where people can gather to relax and watch the waves and sunset. The project will link Huntington Beach’s two luxury resorts, the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa and the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, with the existing downtown district’s Main Street.
A hotel with upscale residential collections for resort living may include a night club or live entertainment venues, open plazas, interactive fountains and landscaped gardens with panoramic beach and ocean vistas. Restaurants will occupy the prime viewing areas located on the second level along the retail promenade. Each will feature outdoor dining terraces with unobstructed views over Pacific Coast Highway to the soothing surf beyond. Plazas along the promenade will reach toward the ocean, opening up places for “hanging out,” people watching and socializing, and where shoppers can rest and gaze out at the surf. The office plaza, located in the floors above the retail level, will offer premium office space with highly coveted ocean views.
A residential village, totaling 17.2 acres, will feature over nine acres of common green space with a variety of condominium homes in intimate neighborhoods. A tree-lined village drive will wind through the residential village and provide easy access for pedestrians, who can stroll to the great restaurants, gourmet market, unique shops and entertainment venues of Pacific City.