starwood

Take a Tour of the New W Istanbul

As my colleague Deidre Woollard noted the other day, Istanbul has become something of a hotspot for foriegn brands. In addition to the Christian Dior boutique she wrote about, Marc Jacobs, Chloé, Bottega Veneta and Jimmy Choo have all recently opened shops in the Besiktas district, aka the SoHo of Istanbul. The centerpiece of the neighborhood is undoubtedly Starwood's new W Istanbul (which she mentioned as well). This is the first European outpost for W, the fastest growing luxury hotel brand in the world with 22 properties and 18 more in development. Here's a tour of the hip new hotel which W constructed out of a row of beautiful 1870s townhouses. The W Istanbul features 134 luxurious guest rooms including 26 suites -- many with their own private gardens, terraces and cabanas -- a branch of chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's New York hotspot Spice Market, a sexy Sip Lounge bar, and a signature spa. It also boasts spectacular views of the Bosphorus, the renowned waterway between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

[via UrbanDaddy]

Gallery: The W Istanbul

Source

Tags: Bottega Veneta, BottegaVeneta, Chloe, Istanbul, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Jean-georgesVongerichten, Jimmy Choo, JimmyChoo, Marc Jacobs, MarcJacobs, Spice Market, SpiceMarket, Starwood, Turkey, UrbanDaddy, W Hotel, W Hotels, WHotel, WHotels

St. Regis Singapore Pampers With a Team of Butlers

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Visitors to Singapore have a new place to stay. The St. Regis Singapore is said to be the first new internationally branded luxury hotel to open in Singapore in 11 years. The 20-story hotel is next to the St. Regis Singapore residences which will be in two 23-story towers still under construction. The towers will be home to 173 residences, 92% of which have already been sold at some of the highest prices Singapore has seen. The hotel has 299 rooms and suites and has a ballroom, spa and a fleet of customized Bentleys.

The Singapore St. Regis has 34 butlers who provide personalized service. No self-service coffee bar here, the butlers will prepare drinks and serve them to guests. They will also coordinate courses for room service, offering restaurant-like service in the privacy of your room. The butler service is available to all guests and several butlers are stationed on each floor who are available at the touch of a button. Room rates start at 680 Singapore dollars, which works out to around $465.

[via NY Times]

Source

Tags: butlers, hotel, singapore, st regis, starwood

Hotel Points Programs Offer More Than a Free Room

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

With airline miles the rewards are pretty clear, more miles generally equals free trips or the highly desirable first class upgrades, but what do you get for hotel reward points? The answer is more complex than you might think. The Wall Street Journal recently chronicled some of the more extravagant offers available to those with a large amount of hotel points. For example, Michael and Georgia Soares used their huge amount of Starwood Hotels & Resorts points to spend one night with John Travolta and the cast of the movie "Hairspray" at the film's New York premiere.

Loyal hotel chain customers sitting on a stack of points are in a good position as major hotel companies such as Starwood, Global Hyatt Corp., Hilton Hotels Corp., and InterContinental Hotels Group now offer customers enrolled in their loyalty programs the option to spend their points on "unique experiences" rather than just getting free nights or room upgrades.

Why are hotels offering these types of programs? One reason is that they want to create more loyalty and good publicity for their programs. Another reason may be that these once-in-a-lifetime offers often use up a lot of points. As customers rack up more points. hotels lose more money on points programs. As the WSJ article explains it, hotel companies often don't own many of their own properties, an independent party owns the building and manages the property under the hotel brand. The independent party must be paid for all of those free nights . A special fund is set up to pay the costs of potential redemptions of points and a hotel brand must make sure that the fund has enough money if all points get cashed in. Of course the VIP experiences also cost the hotels money.

The Starwood program is unique in that they have an online auction system that lets members to bid for experiences in online auctions. It's a pretty clever gimmick since it combines the "something for nothing" feeling of redeeming points along with the competitive thrill of online bidding. These types of experience trips also may help lure the traveler who earns his points on business travel into spending his points and his vacation time with the same hotel chain.

Source

Tags: busines travel, hilton, hotels, marriott, points, rewards programs, starwood, travel

1 Hotels Announced For Streets of Buckhead Project

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Green

We covered the first 1 Hotel and Residences project in Seattle, now a second 1 has been announced, for the Buckhead area of Atlanta. Barry Hotel Partners and Starwood Capital Group Global LLC will be developing the 1 Hotel & Residences which will be part of The Streets of Buckhead, Ben Carter Properties's plans to turn eight acres of Buckhead Village into a luxury mixed-use district. The 1 hotel will be two towers with a spa in the middle and will be going for an LEED green certification. One tower will hold 175 hotel rooms and 48 condos and the other will have 50 condos. The Streets of Buckhead will also feature over 500,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, additional hotels and office space all arranged in a walkable cityscape area. The entire project is set to open in Fall 2009.

Source

Tags: 1 hotel and residences, atlanta, buckhead, condo projects, condominiums, starwood, streets of buckhead

W Hotels In At The Palm Jumeirah

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Palm Jumeirah gets yet another hotel. Starwood Hotels have announced that there will be a W Hotel on the The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. The hotel is scheduled to open in late 2009, and is W's second hotel in Dubai. The hotels will have 400 rooms and have beach frontage and views of The Palm, the Arabian Gulf and the Dubai skyline (as will all the other hotels on this crowded manmade creation).

Other hotels headed for the Palm include:
The recently announced Kingdom of Sheba
Donald Trump's hotel
Taj Exotica Resort & Spa and Grandeur Residences

Source

Tags: dubai, palm jumeirah, starwood, w hotels

Starwood Hotels Want You To Stay A Long, Long Time

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Last year, Starwood Hotels launched "aloft," their new hotel brand. Now they have a new brand, Project ESW. Project ESW will be an extended stay version of the Westin Hotel and will include Westin features like the Heavenly Bed and the Westin Workout rooms. The hotels will be contemporary new builds with studios and one-bedroom suites. The kitchens will have stainless steel appliances and there will be gourmet pantries stocked with food and wine. Common areas include large lobbies, cafe areas, terraces and pools. Starwood plans 150 markets for Project ESW and the first one will open in Lexington, Massachusetts in late 2007.

Source

Tags: extended stay, hotel, project esw, starwood, travel, westin

St. Regis Resort in Costa Rica Underway

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Starwood Hotels and Resorts has reached a deal with the Costa Rican development firm Genesis to build a new luxury resort in the country. The ultra-luxury hotel will be under the St. Regis Brand, located on a 250-acre site in Playa Coyol. The hotel will feature 133 guestrooms, all with outdoor terraces, showers and day beds. There will be four spa suites for guests wanting the most private, pampered stay, in addition to an 11,000-square foot spa and fitness center elsewhere on the grounds. There will also be a world-class golf course. The Presidential Suite may rival the top rooms at other luxury resorts with a cliff-top location, private pool and three bedrooms. On the grounds, there will also be 49 condominium/hotel residences, 42 private villas and 9 large estates. They will be built primarily with indigenous material, making them environmentally friendly as well as luxurious.

The St. Regis Resort, Costa Rica is slated to open in 2008.

Source

Tags: 2008, costa rica, destination, hotel, luxury, new, resort, st regis, starwood, StRegis, travel

Westin's Latest Sense Offering Will Be Music

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

First, there was the scent, that pervasive white tea scent strip wafting out of magazines to promote Westin Hotels. Now, get ready for the sound. Westin has partnered up with eMusic.com to create a "digital music offering" that will be played in lobbies and offered as part of the in-room entertainment. The music is described as being global contemporary with an "ambient, melodic, rhythmic and energizing feel." Luckily magazines don't have audio chips so you won't be subjected to this unless you go to the Westin Hotels. It makes me wonder which sense they will tackle next.

Source

Tags: ambient music, emusic, hotels, sound, starwood, westin, white tea scent

W Hotels Head to Dubai

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The W Hotel chain will become part of the Dubai hotel boom. The W Dubai Festival City will be a 350-room luxury hotel at Dubai Festival City, the 'city-within-a-city' being built on the banks of Dubai Creek. It will be the first W hotel in the Middle East. Dubai Festival City is an area that will include waterfront homes, office, cafes, clubs and restaurants. The hotel will have loft suites, restaurants, and a Bliss spa. The W Dubai Festival City is scheduled to open in 2008 and will be at the heart of the 'Marsa al Khor' (Harbour of the Creek) development.

[via Hotel Chatter]

Source

Tags: dubai, hotel news, middle east developments, new hotels, starwood, w hotel, WHotel

Former Starwood CEO Launches New Hotel Brand

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Another luxury hotel group has been launched. This one comes from the Starwood Capital Group (not part of Starwood hotels) and will be called the Crillon. Like the Waldorf-Astoria brand we talked about last week, the Crillon takes its name from a landmark hotel, the Hotel de Crillon in Paris. Target areas for new hotels include London, Rome, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai and Qatar. And resort destinations may follow. The Crillon hotels will have shopping and dining options, spa and fitness facilities, and some of them will be co-tels. The new brand is headed by Barry Sternlicht, former CEO of Starwood hotels.

Source

Tags: crillon hotel, CrillonHotel, destination, hotel, resort, starwood, vacation

← Previous Page