le meridien

Le Meridien Grows into 2011 with the Creative Class

It was a mere five years ago that Starwood took over Le Meridien, taking on a new direction for the global hotel leader, which today boasts 105 properties in 50 countries. After exiting 45 properties that weren't up to par with the brand, Le Meridien now boasts double digit growth each year, and added 20 new properties in locations like Panama City, Bangkok and Taipei. But it was in Philadelphia, in a former YMCA building that Le Meridien recently celebrated their big anniversary, at the flagship hotel that encompasses the brand's new mantra of old and new.

"It's a design led lifestyle," Eva Ziegler, Global brand leader of Le Meridien tells Luxist of the new direction. From the lobby's historical oak walls to the contemporary art hovering over the mantels, it was a scene taken straight from Paris, a city that has perfected the idea of aligning old with new. "We were going for the same elements that you find in the Louvre, for example, this very heritage foundation surrounded by a very modern element. It's a foundation of our design, having a wonderful historical building juxtaposed with a wonderful new design style." The landmark Philadelphia hotel marks just the beginning for where Ziegler and her team are taking the Le Meridien brand in the future.

2011 marks the triumph of a very successful social experiment in building a travel hub for the creative class. With Paris as her guide, Ziegler is continuing to focus Le Meridien properties everywhere on targeting creative minds and their cohorts and opening them up to a new experience through the lens of arts and cuisine.

This strategy began in 2006 when Le Meridien hired mastermind Jerome Sans as Global Cultural Curator, aligning an authentic cultural inventor to the brand. Out of that relationship grew LM100, a carefully chosen family of cultural innovators who work together to create interactive experiences unique to the hotel. The LM100 are filling Le Meridien's worldwide with a singular creative portfolio from food to drink to art to fragrance to set the new look and atmosphere of the brand against the more traditional landmark buildings they're housed in. The brand is currently working with 24 artists, including sommelier Linda Grabe, video artist Marcus Kreiss, master barista Fritz Storm, chef Jean Georges Vongerichten, artist An Xiaotong, and perfume designers Le Labo.

Gallery: Le Meridien Philadelphia

Tags: le meridien, philadelphia hotels

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Le Meridien San Francisco Sold

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The end of the year hotel buy up continues. Chesapeake Lodging Trust announced today that it is buying the 360-room Le Meridien San Francisco for $143 million, or approximately $397,000 per room. A press release states that the company intends to fund the acquisition with a $60 million term loan secured by the hotel that is expected to be funded at the closing of the acquisition, a $45 million borrowing under its revolving credit facility, and remaining proceeds from its recent equity offering. The deal should be wrapped up by the end of the year and the new owner plans to enter into an agreement with a subsidiary of HEI Hotels and Resorts, the hotel's current operator, to manage the hotel under its current franchise flag, so guests won't notice a thing. The recently renovated hotel is one of the top Starwood-branded hotels in San Francisco and the 29-story building has great views of the city and the San Francisco Bay. The hotel also includes Bar 333 & Bistro on the lobby floor and the Park Grill restaurant and lounge on the third floor.

Chesapeake Lodging Trust was started in 2009 and now owns four other hotel properties: the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hilton Checkers Los Angeles, Courtyard Anaheim at Disneyland Resort and Boston Marriott Newton.

Tags: chesapeake lodging trust, le meridien, le meridien san francisco, starwood hotels

Foreclosed Dallas Hotel Gets New Owner

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Le Meridien Dallas North Hotel has a new owner. The Dallas Morning News reports that HEI Hotels & Resorts of Connecticut bought the hotel last week at a foreclosure auction. The luxury hotel has remained open during the transition. It was listed for foreclosure for several months. The former owner APHM-ND LP of California defaulted on original $32 million loan. The new owners bid $17 million for the property.

The 258-room hotel has been designed with a chic and contemporary decor. Each room has a 42" HDTV, iPod docking station and Jack Pack, providing you the ability to view your laptop screen from your 42" TV. All rooms feature wireless and hardwire internet access and laptop-sized safes with electricity. The Le Méridien signature beds are outfitted with Frette sheets and rooms offer full size sofas and sitting areas. The hotel has a 24-hour business center, fitness center, indoor heated swimming pool/whirlpool, fine dining restaurant, atrium bar and concierge services.

HEI Hotels & Resorts of Connecticut has picked up a total of four hotels in 2010 and owns a large portfolio of properties managed by Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Embassy Suites and Hilton.

Tags: dallas, foreclosure, hei hotels, hotel foreclosure, hotel foreclosures, hotels, le meridien

Senegal Puts Five-Star Hotel Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The African country of Senegal may have to sell its biggest hotel complex in order to pay debts. The five-star hotel was originally built and financed by the Saudi monarch King Fahd for the Islamic Conference summit in 1993 but is now operated as part of Starwood's Meridien brand. The hotel hosted a second Islamic Conference summit last year. After that summit the government found $147 million in unbudgeted spending and that it owed millions of dollars worth of debts to local businesses. Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade promised last fall to repay those debts by the end of January but many are still outstanding. Reuters reports that France agreed to lend Senegal 125 million euros to help pay off the debts and the International Monetary Fund offered a $75.6 million, one-year funding deal from its Exogenous Shocks Facility to help offset the rise in energy and food prices. It seems to have not been enough, a public tender published in Senegalese newspapers yesterday offered up the hotel complex to local or foreign investors.

The hotel is said to be one of the finest hotels in West Africa. It is perched on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and offers water sports, deep-sea fishing, golf and tennis. Rates start around 200 euros a night.

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Tags: africa, hotel, le meridien, LeMeridien, senegal

Le Meridien's LM100

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Hotel chain, Le Méridien, is trying to up their hip quotient with a program called the LM100. The hotel plans to sign up 100 design experts as consultants by 2012. The goal of the program, besides being an intriguing marketing hook, is to create distinctive amenities for the hotel chain that will help it stand out in an increasingly crowded field of upscale hotel brands.

The head of the program is a French contemporary art guru, Jérôme Sans, who will serves as the cultural curator. He will be responsible for advising, finding and enrolling new members who can advise Le Méridien and help transform the hotels into more creative spaces. The first 12 members of the LM100 are Sans, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, wine advisor Linda Grabe, artist Michael Lin, photographer Ralph Gibson, film maker Kiki Allgeier, musician and composer Henri Scars Struck, desiger Nick Dine, artist Sam Samore, artist Hisham Bharoocha, perfumers Eddie Roschi and Fabrice Penot, and Andrea Illy, shown at right, from the Illy coffee company.

LM100 design initiatives include art-themed key cards, a signature scent, coffee and wine tastings, a newly designed bed, distinctive music for the lobbies and elevators, and from Sam Samore, a book of fairytales, specifically written for Le Méridien, which was launched during the ONE NIGHT Miami event on December 2, 2007.

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Tags: design, expire-images:2008-12-5, hotel chain, hotels, le meridien, lm100

Le Meridien Opens First Hotel In Croatia

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

I've written before about the burgeoning travel opportunities in Croatia, now a big hotel name, Le Méridien, is making it's home in Split, a scenic town along the Croatian coast. The Le Méridien Lav is taking over the resort previously known as the Hotel Lav, giving it a $150 million renovation. The resort has 364 guestrooms with 17 suites and a comparatively small (394 square feet) Presidential Suite. The beach-front resort has seven bars and dining areas including a fine-dining restaurant, The Spalatum, a brasserie and a casual pub. The hotel also has a tennis academy, private yacht marina, a casino and indoor and outdoor pools. The hotel has a a special opening rate of 122 euros per double room per night which includes daily buffet breakfast and one dinner for 2 which is available from now until February 28.

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Tags: croatia, hotel, le meridien, LeMeridien, split, tourism, vacation

Starck Joins New Hotel Brand

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

New hotel chains are popping up as fast as condo projects lately. Philippe Starck, the ubiquitous designer who is no stranger to hotel design, has been selected by SBE Hotel Group to create the look for a new unnamed hotel brand. SBE is owned by Los Angeles club god Sam Nazarian and the first property will be on the site of the Le Meridien in Beverly Hills which is set to open in 2008.

SBE managed to tied Starck down to a 15-year exclusive deal (so much for his claim in an interview last year that he'd be retiring in three years). The new boutique brand will be hitting all the hot spots including New York, Miami and the Caribbean but instead of creating new hotels, these will all be conversions. Starck will also remodel the Ritz Plaza in Miami but it will not be part of the new brand. He will also design restaurants and lounges including a new Brentwood restaurant set to launch in May.

SBE seems to have learned from the drama involving the Roosevelt hotel and Amanda Scheer Demme, who blocked hotel guests from her exclusive clubs. In an article in Travel Weekly, Michael Doneff, SBE Entertainment Group’s vice president of marketing promises that "if you stay at our hotels, you will have preferred access to our nightclubs.” It's a smart move to make the guests feel like they pare part of an exclusive group rather than feeling alienated in their own hotel.

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Tags: boutique hotels, hotels, le meridien, philippe starck, PhilippeStarck, Ritz plaza, RitzPlaza, sam nazarian, sbe, starck, travel