February 27, 2008
Coming in 2009 to Park City, Utah, is a new addition to the
Waldorf=Astoria Collection. Part of the Canyons Resort, the
197-room Dakota Mountain Lodge, Waldorf=Astoria Collection, will
feature a 20,000-square-foot Golden Door Spa, 15,000 square feet of
meeting space and several screening rooms to attract showings
during the Sundance Film Festival. A second phase, scheduled to
begin later this year, will add another 137 rooms in 65
condominiums. Construction on a golf course surrounding the
property starts this summer.
A W Hotel is being built in Marrakech, Morocco. To open by
mid-2010, the W Marrakech will have 150 rooms and 68 villas. The
property will be part of the Al Maaden Resort, a mixed-use luxury
development that, when finished, will offer an 18-hole golf course,
among other diversions. The first W in North Africa, the hotel will
have more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space, indoor and
outdoor swimming pools, a fitness center and a spa.
Harcourt Developments, which owns the shuttered,
hurricane-damaged Royal Oasis Resort on Grand Bahama Island, has
finalized a management deal with casino operator Foxwoods
Development Co., an arm of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
and owner of the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. The Royal
Oasis has been closed since September 2004 after being hit by
hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. Though renovations have not yet
begun and no timetable has yet been set, there are plans to
refurbish and expand the property into a 650-room hotel with a
casino, an unspecified amount of meeting space, a spa, a fitness
center, restaurants and more. The resort's two golf courses also
will be redone.
Palms Place, a Las Vegas hotel, condo and spa, opens this
Friday. The 599 suites feature 42-inch plasma televisions, jetted
tubs, fully equipped kitchens, and private balconies with skyline
and mountain views. The 50,000-square-foot spa will include the
first hammam (a Turkish-style bathhouse) in Las Vegas.
Also on site will be a restaurant and lounge by restaurateur Kerry
Simon; a salon; a business center; and an enclosed, moving walkway
connected to the Palms Casino Resort.
Tim Zagat, publisher of the numerous Zagat Survey guides, has
been named interim chairman of NYC & Company, New York City's
convention and visitors bureau, following last week's resignation
of Jonathan Tisch. A search for a permanent replacement is under
way; a candidate will be selected in May during the bureau's annual
board meeting.
The 252-room Princeville Resort on the Hawaiian island of Kauai
will close on Sept. 19 for a multimillion-dollar renovation. The
resort will reopen on April 19, 2009, as the St. Regis Resort,
Princeville, Hawaii's first property to bear the St. Regis name.
Guests with reservations at the property during the renovation will
be relocated to a sister property in Starwood's Hawaii
collection.
A $30 million renovation has begun at the 1,010-room Parc 55
Hotel San Francisco. All guest rooms, the lobby area and Club Level
facilities (occupying the hotel's top six floors) will be redone
during the project, and the property's meeting and event space will
be increased to nearly 30,000 square feet. Completion is expected
later this year. Also in the city, the 550-room InterContinental
San Francisco opens tomorrow adjacent to the 300,000-square-foot
Moscone West Convention Center. Amenities include a 10-room spa, an
indoor heated pool, a fitness center, and two dining options, the
Luce Restaurant and Bar 888. The hotel's 43,000 square feet of
function space includes two ballrooms and 21 meeting rooms, ranging
from 400 to 1,600 square feet.