To Keep Up with Demand, Starwood Hotel’s “Style at a Steal” Brand Makes Conversions a Big Part of Expansion Plans.

A pair of Aloft hotels opening this month will have more in common than bold design and a buzzing social atmosphere; both are conversions of existing hotels, and highlight an exciting new growth channel for Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ ‘style at a steal’ brand. The Aloft brand, which provided a new alternative in the select serve segment when it launched in 2008, is turning to conversions to keep up with global demand.

“Since its 2008 debut, Aloft has introduced an affordable, design-driven hotel option, growing to more than 60 properties worldwide,” said Starwood’s President and CEO Frits van Paasschen. “We continue to see a lot of demand for this brand around the globe and look forward to opening many more Aloft hotels in the years ahead.”

“Growing Aloft through conversions is the right strategy at the right time for the right brand,” said Simon Turner, Starwood’s President of Global Development. “We’ve developed a conversion-friendly strategy for existing hotels to meet owner and guest demand for Aloft while staying true to the brand’s positioning and helping our partners reposition existing assets in a cost-effective manner.”

Mr. Turner continued: “We see two types of opportunities as ideal candidates for an Aloft conversion: older hotels in need of a major renovation or unique, independent boutique hotels seeking a stronger brand point of view and the ability to utilize Starwood systems. The upcoming openings of Aloft San Francisco Airport and Aloft Nashville West End are perfect examples of these two conversion opportunities.”

Aloft San Francisco Airport has opened its doors last week after 14 months of extensive renovations. The 253-room hotel marked a milestone as the first external conversion project undertaken by Aloft in 2011. The property, owned by Starwood, brings the in-demand Aloft brand to the Bay Area for the first time.

Aloft Nashville Music Row also opened this month. The 139-room hotel will mark Aloft Hotel’s debut in Nashville, and replaces the Hotel Indigo Nashville West End. The property itself is an adaptive reuse of an office building originally constructed in 1970.

“The short turnaround of the Aloft Nashville conversion in less than one month highlights the agility of Starwood’s team to quickly and efficiently convert hotels to join our system,” said Mr. Turner. “Many well-located, but under-branded, hotels represent enormous untapped repositioning potential that will benefit from Aloft Hotels’s ever-growing guest loyalty with the right capital investment and the backing of Starwood’s powerful platforms.”

Conversion or adaptive-reuse projects are also underway for Aloft in Tucson, Calgary and Atlanta. For guests, who have made Aloft one of the world’s most prized hospitality brands, conversions mean access to their favorite hotel at more key locations.

“Aloft has developed a fiercely loyal following. Once travelers experience Aloft, they begin seeking it out wherever they travel. And they constantly ask us to bring the brand to more cities,” said Brian McGuinness, Starwood’s Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands. “Conversions like Aloft San Francisco Airport and Aloft Nashville West End are exciting from a brand standpoint because they allow us to bring the Aloft experience to new markets more quickly, which can only enhance the brand’s already powerful growth.”

Pioneering initiatives in music, design, and technology have positioned Aloft as a must-have brand for the next generation of travelers. Aloft has reported consistently high guest satisfaction scores since launch, reflecting the success of its modern and vibrant design at an affordable price point. Aloft’s social guest experience, with the buzzing re:mixSM lounge and w xyz® bar, has also earned select hotels within the portfolio designations in TripAdvisor’s 2012 “Top 25 Trendiest Hotels in the US” rankings.

The opening of Aloft SFO crowns an extensive, 14-month transformation of a onetime Clarion property. Aloft SFO’s strategic location, along with proximity to mass-transit options into San Francisco, made it an ideal choice for a conversion for Starwood.

The 253-room Aloft SFO boasts a 5,102-sq-ft lobby designed for socializing, with the brand’s signature w xyz bar and re:fuel by Aloft® grab-n-go pantry. Signature tactic rooms include 672 square feet of meeting space. And splash is Aloft SFO’s cool pool, where guests can refresh or just relax. The entire property also features free Wi-Fi.

Aloft SFO will also give guests an enviable location next to one of the world’s major air-travel hubs. The hotel is located at 401 E. Millbrae Avenue in Millbrae, about two miles from San Francisco International Airport, and less than a mile from the Millbrae Caltrain commuter rail station. San Francisco is an easy 14-mile drive from the front door – or a quick ride on one of many mass-transit options nearby. For business travelers, Aloft SFO offers access to major corporate headquarters like the California Teachers’ Association, Genentech, and Walmart, all less than 10 miles away.

Aloft SFO will become the third Starwood property adjacent to San Francisco International Airport, joining The Westin San Francisco Airport and Four Points by Sheraton Hotel & Suites San Francisco Airport.

Aloft Nashville’s Rapid Transformation Highlights Advantages of Conversion The opening of Aloft Nashville Music Row is the brand’s first conversion from an existing select-serve or boutique hotel. The hotel will also become the first non-Starwood-owned Aloft conversion hotel to open.

The hotel’s exceptional location, just blocks from Nashville’s historic Music Row, situates guests near Vanderbilt University, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Tennessee State Capitol. Aloft Nashville Music Row, at 1719 West End Avenue, is also just 12 blocks from the soon-to-open Music City Convention Center. Nearby attractions include the legendary Grand Ole Opry, Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville Super Speedway, Bridgestone Arena, and LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.

Along with Aloft’s signature w xyz bar and re:fuel by Aloft grab-n-go pantry, the hotel offers an 832-square-foot re:charge® fitness center and four smart tactic rooms with 2,470 square feet of meeting space.

Bloc Hotels is set to transform an office building at London Gatwick airport in to a 245-room budget boutique hotel. This will be the second property for the company, which opened its first hotel in Birmingham. It has been granted planning permission to refurbish Norfolk House, an existing four-storey office building located over the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport, including full replacement of the building. The resulting 245-bedroom hotel will have direct access to the South Terminal. Work is expected to start on-site in mid-October 2012, with an expected opening in Autumn 2013. Will Duffey, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, which advised on Bloc’s acquisition of the building, said: “The opportunity received interest from a number of investors and hotel operators across the globe wanting to gain representation at Gatwick Airport. This is a great opportunity for Bloc hotels to increase their exposure to the UK market and grow their brand.”

Milwaukee developer Tim Dixon has joined with the former executives of a top Chicago hotel to manage and develop boutique hotels across the US. Aparium Hotel Group will manage Dixon’s Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee and is looking to manage other hotels. A second company, Aparium Development Company, will develop boutique hotels. Dixon, who will take the role of CEO at Aparium Development Company, is working with partners Mario Tricoci, former managing partner of the 188-room Elysian Hotel in Chicago, and Kevin Robinson, former chief operating officer of Elysian Hotel Company. Tricoci and Robinson will be CEO and COO of Aparium Hotel Group respectively.

The 47-room Mercy Hotel opened yesterday on Lisbon’s Rua da Miscórdia. The seven-storey building has been refurbished, with designs by architect Miguel Saraiva. The façade is a fusion of traditional Pombaline (a style popular in Lisbon following the 1755 earthquake) with contemporary materials. A rooftop terrace offers fine views of the city and beyond, while guestrooms feature two twin or one queen size bed, with dual seating, 37″ LCD TV and free wireless internet. Two suites, called Stars of the Sky and Moon River, each have private terraces. The Mercy restaurant on the ground floor serves Portuguese cuisine, while the Mercy Bar serves cocktails and Portuguese wines.

A company affiliated with Azimut Hotels bought the 362-room Metropol, located in Moscow, from the city government for 8.874 billion rubles (US$273 million) in an auction on Thursday. Okhotny Ryad Deluxe, a subsidiary of the luxury hotel’s current management company Metropol paid slightly more than the auction’s starting price of 8.7 billion rubles (US$267 million) for the property. Metropol is controlled by Alexander Klyachin, Azimut’s founder and chairman. A representative of Klyachin said it is too early to say whether or not the hotel will be rebranded or switch management companies.

IHG has announced its third property in China under the Hotel Indigo lifestyle brand which will open next month in the port of Tianjin. The property – formerly the German consulate – will open on September 15. It features 11 villas built in a German architectural style, arranged around a triangular courtyard. It has a total of 96 guestrooms, including 10 suites, and follows openings in Shanghai in 2010 and Xiamen earlier this year. The site is 27 minutes by bullet train from the Chinese capital Beijing. Design firm Silverfox has created interiors designed to reflect “Tianjin’s eclectic Orient-meets-European heritage and proximity to the Haihe riverfront”.

The former Hotel Ambassadeur, located in the heart of Juan-les-Pins, French Riviera, has been re-branded an AC Hotel by Marriott hotel, following ambitious growth plans for the AC by Marriott brand announced last year. Following renovation, the AC Hotel Ambassadeur Antibes-Juan Les Pins exudes the modern comfort and urban style associated with the AC Hotels by Marriott brand. Blending quality, comfort, design and technology, the hotel features fresh new designs to its reception and lobby, including a signature AC Lounge with zones to relax, work or unwind. The hotel’s 221 guestrooms and suites boast smart, contemporary furnishings, natural driftwood floors and a warm and sophisticated color palette. Located in a lush and tranquil setting, the AC Hotel Ambassadeur Antibes-Juan Les Pins offers both indoor and outdoor pools, a pool-side grill and is located a short 200 meter walk from the hotel’s idyllic private sandy beach. Provençal cuisine with a unique twist can be sampled at the AC Ambassadeur Restaurant where fresh, natural ingredients are transformed into memorable culinary experiences.

Hotels giant Hilton has lost control of its only site in the centre of Paris, the four-star Hilton Arc de Triomphe, after a court battle with the owners. 

Property owner Société Immobilière et Hôtelière du Parc Monceau had complained that Hilton had “changed commercial strategy, leading to serious breaches of its obligations”. A court agreed that this was enough to strip Hilton of its rights to manage the hotel, which it had controlled since 2004. 

That means there will be no more Paris Hilton as the giant, which runs nearly 3,800 hotels worldwide, has been given three months to strip all Hilton branding from the 500-bed hotel in Rue de Courcelles in the VIII arrondissement. 

Sited just “few minutes from the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Élysées and the boutiques of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré”, it was Hilton’s only hotel within the Paris “walls” and the company has announced that it is to appeal against the tribunal ruling. 

SIHPM and its owner Albert Cohen said that Hilton’s marketing strategy had failed to exploit the Hilton Arc de Triomphe correctly – and that it should have been a five-star hotel. SIHPM is also claiming €60 million in damages.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a franchise agreement with LFPI Hotels Management Germany that will mark the entry of the group’s boutique Hotel Indigo brand in Düsseldorf. The Lindner Rhein Residence on Kaiserswerther Strasse in Düsseldorf, in the west of Germany, is to be converted into the Hotel Indigo Düsseldorf-Victoriaplatz. When it opens in 2013, the 126-room hotel will become the third Hotel Indigo in Germany (two are already in operation in Berlin).

American company Morgans Hotel Group has signed a 20-year management agreement with Moscow-based real estate developer Capital Group for its first property in Russia. The Delano Moscow will be part of Capital Group’s OKO project, which is being developed within the Moscow City mixed-used complex. When it opens in 2015, the 160-room hotel will be the first hotel to operate in the Moscow City development and it will become the third Delano property outside of the USA. The brand will be making its international debut next month when the 71-room Delano Marrakech opens in Morocco, North Africa, followed by the Delano Cesme, in Turkey, which is also expected to open in 2015.

Marriott International plans to make its first appearance in Ukraine in mid 2013. The group has signed a management agreement

with Subsidiary Enterprise Grand Plaza for the 173-room Renaissance Kiev Hotel. The hotel will be developed in an existing historic building in Kiev city centre, once the Leipzig Hotel, which is to undergo a renovation and extension.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts confirmed on Friday that it bought the Jumeirah Essex House, located in New York City, and will rebrand it as the JW Marriott Essex House New York. Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Chicago, bought the property from Dubai Investment Group for

US$362.3 million. In light of the US$10 billion in debt it is looking to refinance, Dubai Group, the parent company of Dubai Investment Group, revealed that it was seeking a buyer for the property in March. The purchase price includes 509 guestrooms and nine condominium units.

The May Fair Hotel in London officially opens its Cigar Room this month. Graham Cox and the property’s design team are behind the space, which has swing chairs, day beds, chain-mesh walls, and live fireplaces. The humidor offers forty varieties of cigars, including some lighter, more feminine options. Sophia Christoforidou leads the team of cigar sommeliers.

San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hotels has added the Coconut Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu to its portfolio. The 81-room property, three blocks from Waikiki Beach, aims to offers guests a colorful, contemporary twist on classic Waikiki style with an art deco-inspired design. Guestrooms feature free Wi-Fi, a private lanai and views of the Koolau Mountains or Waikiki. The hotel also boasts a pool area with a wraparound deck, a business center and a 24-hour fitness center.

8Hotels has taken over management of the 81-room Albany Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Australia. Shabby chic meets rock star glam and a bit of French boarding house with refreshingly good service is just a hint of what to expect before stepping foot through the Manhattanesque front entrance. Uber comfortable beds, black and white mural posters plus bursts of red and lime will turn an average sleepover in Melbourne to a fun and fashionable stay.

King & Grove Hotels have been on an acquisition spree since the beginning of the year, picking up the Hotel Williamsburg and The Hotel Chelsea in New York as well as planning two hotels for downtown Los Angeles. Plus rumors that they are taking over a second Miami Beach property, The Versailles. Now King & Grove has added another NYC hotel to their stylish portfolio: Hotel Lola on 29th and Madison. The Lola is renamed King & Grove New York.

Yotel has secured $ 250 million in equity to expand it offerings in North America beyond it’s first New York massive 669-key operation. At the moment it is viewing possible locations in Boston and Chicago. Yotel, famous for its chic ‘cabin’ style rooms started with small in-terminal hotels at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol airports.

Following a public tender in November 2011 developer COD got chosen out of 13 applicants for a hotel developent site opposite the RAI Fair & Congress Centre in Amsterdam. COD will sign a 25 year lease with German group Motel One when the hotel will be finished in 2015. The Motel One will have approximately 280 rooms, a lively two-layer ground floor for the hotel lobby, shops, catering establishments and a flexible work area. A two-storey car park will be built underneath the building. Construction commences in the first half of 2013. Motel One already has its UK debut planned for the end of this year in Edinburgh, Scotland, as it has two hotels under development in the city. Now the Munich-based operator is also bringing its budget design brand to the northeast of England. Motel One has reportedly agreed lease terms with Lugano Property Group for a 222-room hotel in the city of Newcastle. Subject to planning approval, construction is due to start on the property in October and it is expected to open in spring 2014.

Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency has sold the 141-room Morrison Hotel in Dublin to Russian millionaire Yelena Baturina for €22 million. The hotel opened in 1999 and was previously owned by Irish hotelier and developer Hugh O’Regan before it fell into administration in 2010. Yelena, whose other investments include hotels in Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic, outbid 70 other interested parties for the hotel. The sale marks her entry into the Irish property market.

Palma is positioning itself as

an urban destination: Majorca’s capital wants to differentiate itself from the rest of the island and the typical beach holiday destination image. The marketing plan for Palma for 2012 and 2013 includes the positioning of the city as “The Urban Beach City”. Palma at least has a large range of urban style & design hotels.

The previously announced The James Hotel in Miami Beach is set to open on October 1, 2012. For $299 a night you will get a 275-sq.ft. (25m2) room with a king bed, views of the Miami cityscape and Biscayne Bay, a cocktail and snack bar, a 42-inch plasma TV, free WiFi, a private work/dining niche, nightly turndown, custom robes and slippers and Intelligent Nutrients bath amenities. Bigger rooms with partial ocean views are also available for $379 a night.

Husband and wife team Kit and Tim Kemp of Firmdale Hotels reopen their first hotel on June 18, in time for the Olympics.

Back in 1985 the Kemp’s acquired their first hotel, the Dorset Square Hotel, which was going to be the start of their succesful Firmdale chain, which now has seven hotels in London and one ‘across the pond’ in New York City. All are members of marketing consortium Design Hotels™  In 2002 the Kemp’s sold the Dorset Square Hotel only to acquire it back again last year.

“Always in their heart” the hotel since then has gotten an overhaul by Kit, famous for her signature style which includes bold, contrasting, colours and textures and being filled with bespoke and one-off pieces and

original art collected from around the globe. The property itself is a beautiful Regency townhouse with 38 bedrooms, many of which look onto the leafy private garden square which was originally the site of Thomas Lord’s first cricket ground. Each bedroom is being individually designed to feature WiFi, flat widescreen TVs and iPod docks while bathrooms are of marble and oak, have freestanding showers and luxurious Miller Harris bath products. There will also feature a sumptuous guest drawing room with a fireplace and a fun all-day bar and restaurant.

The Dorset Square Hotel is situated in the north of Marylebone, just doorsteps away from the Regent’s Park and Marylebone Station. Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London. The neighborhood has recently become one of London’s most urbane and exciting residential areas, with fashionable shops, cafés and restaurants lined up as well as world-class galleries, all within easy reach of London’s theatre-land and financial district.

Sheraton Hotels will be opening 20 new hotels, 12 in China alone, this year. The iconic brand will mark a milestone later this year with the opening of the nearly 4,000-room Sheraton Macao, which will be the largest Sheraton, as well as the largest Starwood hotel in the world. Offering three restaurants with poolside cafes, 140,000 square feet of meeting space and two outdoor swimming pools, Sheraton Macao is a highly anticipated addition to Cotai Strip, also known as the “Las Vegas of Asia.”

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and Edwardian Group Limited, announced they will rebrand all Radisson Edwardian Hotels, a portfolio of 13 hotels in the United Kingdom and Manchester, to the Radisson Blu brand by the second half of the year.

Lonrho plc, London signed a 10-year agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to manage and renovate 450-room Grand Hotel Kinshasa, located in the country’s capital.

The Grand Hotel Kinshasa, formerly the InterContinental Hotel, has 450 guestrooms, of which 238 are currently operational. The management agreement includes a commitment that the hotel will undergo a major refurbishment to re-open the closed 212 additional guestrooms and create new lounge, lobby and two new restaurants. The refurbishment is scheduled to be complete over the next twenty-four months. The hotel also includes a casino, nightclub, shopping mall, swimming pool and recreational facilities that will be reinstated. The hotel has a conference capacity for 2,000 people.

“The 450-room Grand Hotel Kinshasa is one of the finest hotel properties in Africa and we are delighted Lonrho Hotels has been chosen to manage the hotel and the refurbishment of the property. The hotel is an important asset for the government and its refurbishment of the hotel reflects the economic progress that is being seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Geoffrey White, Lonrho Plc’s CEO.

Viceroy Hotel Group announced that The Jalousie Plantation in St Lucia and the Tides Zihuatanejo, Mexico, will be rebranded as Viceroys.

More Viceroy news: HNA Group Co., Haikou, China has purchased the 165-room Cassa Hotel and Residences, located in New York City, and signed an agreement for Viceroy Hotel Group to manage the property. The hotel, completed in 2010, is located on 45th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. The amount of the transaction has not been released. The previous owner, Waterscape Resort, New York City, filed for bankruptcy in April 2011.

Mandarin Oriental is to make its debut in Turkey, increasing its presence in Europe to seven countries. The Hong Kong-based group is to manage the Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum, which is expected to open in 2014 on the Bodrum peninsula, on Turkey’s Aegean coast. The resort will have 82 guest rooms, 20 suites and 214 private residences.

Swissotel Hotels & Resorts is to open its fourth property in Germany. Joining its sister hotels in Berlin, Bremen and Düsseldorf/Neuss, the 235 room Swissotel Dresden Am Schloss is due to open on 1 April 2012 opposite Dresden Castle, at the centre of the city’s medieval Old Town.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts has announced its first Sheraton Hotel in Madrid:  the 180-room Sheraton Madrid Mirasierra Hotel & Spa. The existing Mirasierra Suites Hotel is currently being adapted to Sheraton standards and is expected to be rebranded this spring.

U.K. trade publication Construction Enquirer reported that two years after stopping work due to a fiscal dispute with the property’s previous owner JJW Hotels & Resorts, Shepherd Construction has won a £33 million (US$52 million) contract to convert the former Berners Hotel, located in London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood, into a Marriott Edition to open in 2013. The Edition brand has had a rocky start with only two Edition-branded hotels opened so far in Istanbul and Honolulu, and the Honolulu hotel has since rebranded amid legal acrimony between the hotel’s owner and Marriott. However since then Marriott International Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, announced it would commit US$800 million to develop the Edition brand, an atypical move for the company that is primarily focused on managing hotels. The lifestyle brand was created with famed hotelier Ian Schrager.

The U.S. General Services Administration has chosen Trump Hotel Collection and Colony Capital’s proposal as the winning bid to develop the historic Old Post Office and Clock Tower in Washington, D.C. into a 250-room luxury hotel. The new hotel will be named Trump International Hotel, The Old Post Office, Washington, D.C. and include restaurants, a bar and lounge, banquet, ballroom and meeting facilities, a library, curated museum, indoor and outdoor gardens and spa facilities. Approved by the U.S. Congress in 1880 and completed in 1899, the massive Richardsonian Romanesque Revival edifice is located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 12^th Street, in downtown Washington.

And more DC hotel news: HEI Hotels & Resorts, Norwalk, Connecticut, announced on Wednesday that it bought the 154-room Hotel Palomar Arlington, which it rebranded as Le Meridien Arlington, for an undisclosed amount.

Melia’s contemporary city-centre Innside brand, which it acquired in 2007 has signed its first hotel in the UK. Construction is set to begin on the four-star, 208-bedroom Innside Manchester Hotel during the second half of 2012. The hotel will form part of the new multi-use First Street North development. Innside by Melia currently operates nine properties in Germany and one is set to open in Barcelona.

The Rezidor Hotel Group and Al Jassim Group have announced a 2015 opening for the Hotel Missoni Doha (Qatar). The luxury lifestyle hotel will be exclusively designed by Rosita Missoni and feature approximately 200 rooms and 70 serviced apartments. The hotel will be built along the C Ring Road in the heart of Doha, just 10 minutes from the International Airport. The extensive food and beverage outlets will comprise Hotel Missoni’s signature restaurant “Cucina” with a traditional yet creative Italian menu, a second all-day-dining restaurant, Bar Missoni, a pool bar and a lobby lounge. Guests will benefit from an 800 square meter Spa- and fitness area, an outdoor swimming pool, approximately 1,500 square meter conference- and banquet facilities including ball room, and a business centre. Hotels Missoni are operated in Edinburgh and in Kuwait; further properties are under development in Oman, Turkey, Brazil and Mauritius.

Rezidor also announced this week the rebranding of the 583-room Ramada Plaza Doha Hotel into a Radisson Blu Hotel in the third quarter of 2012.

Even more Qatar hotel news: the June, 2013 scheduled Nikki Beach Resort & Spa, The Pearl-Qatar has already won an AAA five-star diamond award as best design for a boutique beach resort in the Middle East. That is slightly odd for a hotel which even has opened yet. Designed by the award winning Singapore-based ECO ID Architects with interior design by Gatserelia Design, the Nikki Beach is a $45m boutique beachfront resort with 47-luxury villas and spa suites. The development will include Satine, a pan Asian specialty restaurant, NikkiSpa by Espa, Envy, the Ultra VIP lounge, a signature Nikki Beach Club with private plunge pools, a Tone Fitness Center and many other guest amenities.

HotelChatter reports that an offshoot of the Soho House Group will open in Chicago’s West Loop/Fulton Market area inside a vacant warehouse. Soho House would install about 50 rooms, a signature restaurant and a rooftop pool.

Our December 26 report on the Clark Hotel in Los Angeles suggesting that King & Grove was to be the new operator of New York’s Chelsea Hotel was right. This month comes the news that King & Grove are also taking over the management of the brand-new opened Hotel Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. The Chetrit Group, owner of the Clark Hotel and the Chelsea Hotel is close to an agreement buying the Hotel Williamsburg, currently operated by Graves Hospitality from Minneapolis.

The ill-fated Cipriani hotel project in Miami Beach finally is getting afoot. Only no longer under the Cipriani name, but under its original name, The Saxony. Argentine hip hotelier Alan Faena of Buenos Aires’ Faena Hotel fame is taking on the project. A condo tower by star architects Foster and Partners is being added and the Faena Saxony Hotel as it is called now is “coming soon” we see at the Faena website.

The Spanish mission styled 97-room Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, now with The Leading Hotels of the World, is being sold to Kimpton Hotels for $40m.