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.

San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hotels has opened Hotel Lincoln in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The hotel features 184 guestrooms with layouts ranging from studios to family suites outfitted with bunk beds. Each room highlights vibrant colors, art by Marwen and Project Onward, trunk-style faux crocodile nightstands and accent pieces that reflect the property’s proximity to Lincoln Park Zoo. Sixty percent of the rooms offer a direct view of Lake Michigan, while others have views of downtown Chicago.

Chef Paul Virant crafted the in-room dining menu to reflect the seasonal, sustainable dishes served at Perennial Virant on the hotel’s ground floor. Elaine’s Coffee call is a European-style coffee bar off the lobby serving coffee, pastries, light bites and other beverages. In June, Hotel Lincoln will open a rooftop lounge with capacity to accommodate 175 outdoors and up to 75 indoors.

Flexible meeting space on the second floor can accommodate up to 100 people, and the rooftop lounge will serve as potential meeting space as well.

“Hotel Lincoln will serve as a community gathering place, where residents can relax in the heart of their own city, and visitors can enjoy a live-like-a-local experience,” says General Manager Bob Shelley.

Powerful Multi-Brand Lifestyle Hotel Group Poised for Global Growth

Thompson Hotels, an international collection of 12 luxury lifestyle hotels, and Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the most influential boutique brand in the West, announced they have merged. It is the first step in the creation of a multi-brand lifestyle hotel group with a global footprint. The new group, provisionally called JT Hospitality, will be formally renamed early next year in concert with the completion of a comprehensive joint branding exercise that is currently underway.

“Fifteen months ago we said we would leverage our hospitality platform to nearly double Joie de Vivre’s annual revenues and the number of hotels in the collection within five years”

Thompson Hotels and Joie de Vivre Hospitality are equal partners in the merger, which took effect Oct. 1, 2011, and encompasses hotel-management operations and brands but not real estate assets. With the consolidation, the new hotel group manages 45 properties under the distinctive Thompson and Joie de Vivre brands with combined annual hotel revenues of approximately $500 million. The company will be based in New York City and Thompson Hotels CEO and Co-owner Stephen Brandman has been named CEO. Hospitality veteran John Pritzker, whose private equity firm Geolo Capital acquired a majority stake in Joie de Vivre in June of last year, will serve as co-chairman alongside Jason Pomeranc, the creative vision behind Thompson Hotels and one of its co-owners.

JT Hospitality plans to further expand the two brands domestically and internationally through management contracts, acquisitions and joint ventures. The company, which manages Carmel Valley Ranch and Ventana Inn & Spa, will also add additional luxury resorts and introduce a resort brand. With the merger, the Thompson brand gains access to Geolo Capital’s earlier commitment of a $150 million fund dedicated to hotel acquisitions and co-investments. As a result of the fund, Joie de Vivre has made significant headway on its expansion, acquiring two hotels and a development site in Manhattan, as well as signing up several new management contracts, including hotels in Scottsdale and Chicago, which represent the company’s first forays outside of California.

“Fifteen months ago we said we would leverage our hospitality platform to nearly double Joie de Vivre’s annual revenues and the number of hotels in the collection within five years,” said Pritzker. “By merging with Thompson Hotels we are on track to reach that goal well ahead of schedule. More importantly, the merger will accelerate the growth of both brands, which will benefit from significant capital resources, greater distribution, economies of scale, and collective expertise.”

“It’s exciting to take on the challenge with John of formulating the strategic vision and direction for the new company,” said Pomeranc. “We will be able to take the sensibilities and cultures of the two brands and spread them across different sectors and offer more accessibility with the various price points. Our owners will get the benefits of working with a bigger brand but still get the individuality of an independent.”

Thompson benefits from Joie de Vivre’s dominant West Coast presence and Geolo Capital’s significant investments in Joie de Vivre’s infrastructure and its hospitality investment expertise. Joie de Vivre gains wider exposure and distribution through Thompson’s international expansion in London and Toronto and its strong presence on the East Coast, where the company has five hotels in Manhattan, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Miami.

In addition to geographic diversity, the two brands complement each other in positioning. Joie de Vivre operates 33 properties and is known for casual, eclectic boutique hotels and resorts with inventive design that span the price spectrum from budget to luxury and Thompson operates luxury lifestyle hotels in major urban centers that are design-driven. Both brands are focused on providing guests an immersive experience rooted in each hotel’s unique location.

The new parent company will be formally introduced in the first quarter of 2012 when the global branding strategy is rolled out. JT Hospitality CEO and Co-owner Brandman will oversee the operations and integration of the two companies and split his time between the company’s New York and San Francisco offices. “I look forward to working with the Joie de Vivre team. We will be bringing the two businesses together and intend to be fully integrated within the next three to six months,” said Brandman.

Gary Beasley, who has been serving as interim CEO of Joie de Vivre since September 2010, will return to Geolo Capital to focus on business development for JT Hospitality. The Joie de Vivre brand will continue to be run day-to-day out of San Francisco by Joie de Vivre President and COO Ingrid Summerfield.

Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre’s founder, will retain a significant equity stake in the new company and remain involved as a strategic advisor. “I’m thrilled that with the marriage of JdV and Thompson Hotels the spirit of the Joie de Vivre brand will be growing on a global scale and that the investors and owners who have been the mainstays of our company will enjoy the benefits of the distribution this growth will bring. I look forward to helping in any way that benefits JT Hospitality,” said Conley.

Thompson Hotels Co-founders Michael and Lawrence Pomeranc will each be significant owners in JT Hospitality and continue to develop properties for JT Hospitality as well as sit on the company’s Advisory Board.

“We are extremely excited at the unique opportunities that this merger presents for potential global expansion,” said Lawrence Pomeranc. That sentiment was echoed by Michael Pomeranc, who said “We look forward to continuing the family’s long history of real estate development with lodging projects in exciting new markets.”

San Francisco’s boutique hotel chain Joie de Vivre announced on Monday that it will enter the Chicago market, turning the 148-room Park View Hotel into Hotel Lincoln in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The hotel, currently closed, is set to re-open in February.

Recently, we did a post on hotels that were acting like airlines in all the wrong ways with infuriating fees. But the Custom Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport is imitating the airlines in a very good way, a sort of mod-60s, golden age of flying way.

We toured the airport hotel yesterday to look at the revamping that’s been going on since Joie de Vivre Hotels snapped up the place last year. The biggest change is the concept of Custom Hotel. Previously, under its old owner, the hotel was more of a dark, boutique, too cool kind of property that may have done better in Hollywood rather than near the beach.

But now with JDV’s guidance the hotel has embraced its location, opening up the property up people seeking not just a convenient airport hotel but a happy and recreational stay as well. Here’s how Custom has customized their hotel to fit its airport proximity.

For starters, the hotel’s logo is now a set of wings with a C planted in the middle. Next, the hotel’s staff uniforms and nametags are inspired by 60s airlines uniforms. Women will be sporting sleek blouses and pencil skirts while the men will don opened collar dress shirts with pinstripes. The unis aren’t completed yet but given that the new TV show Pan Am is about flight attendants in the 1960s, these outfits might be right on trend.

The lobby has been renamed The Layover Lounge and features two communal tables, a small bar, a mini-business center with two giant iMacs and that awesome photo booth we told you about yesterday.

Up in the guestrooms, things haven’t changed too much although those quirky dog blankets were done away with. But JDV did add the ultra-cool fixture of mood lighting which guests can control themselves and which makes the hotel stand out from the street. (You could probably even see the hotel while your flight is landing at night.)

All rooms come with 37″ flat-screen TVs, iPod docking stations (which will be playing happy music when you enter the room), complimentary WiFi, Lather toiletries, OnDemand movies, cool-looking desks and most importantly, soundproofed windows. During our tour, we didn’t hear an airplane once while inside.

Adding to the airline theme are the floor names which include aviation lingo like Supersonic and the Elevated floors on 9-12 which give guests access to the LAX Lounge and the Stratosphere relaxation rooms. These floors also feature some of the best views of the Pacific Ocean and of course, LAX. (Yes, Elevated floors are totally reminiscent of Virgin America’s Elevate program.) While the Elevated floors will cost a little extra, all floors actually have their own lounges for guests to chill out in. These just happen to be a notch nicer.

The hotel also has a revamped outside pool area with five cabanas and a restaurant, Deck 33, which is now serving breakfast and dinner but should add in a lunch service next month. Locally reknowned chef Katsuo “Naga” Nagasawa is behind the menu which has a Pacific Rim influence. On the opposite side of the hotel is Hangar 39, a sort of bar/lounge/creative space that can be rented out for parties.

The hotel is still undergoing all these fun changes but general manager Chan Jin tells us the property is about 85 to 90 percent complete. The biggest change left to make will be the entrance of the hotel which used to be in the back of the hotel and is temporarily in the front but which will actually open up on the side of the hotel.

Renovated rooms are actually available now starting at $129 a night and that includes personalized shuttle service to and from LAX but if you want to wait until the hotel has completed its landing, remain seated in your seats until September 15th.

Source: HotelChatter.com

The old Hotel Theodore formerly known as The Mondrian Scottsdale nee James Scottsdale (and even before that Holiday Inn Old Town) has finally gotten a new identity, The Drinkwater, which comes from the hotel’s location on Drinkwater Boulevard. (That name came about in honor of Scottsdale’s former four-term mayor, Herb Drinkwater.)

If you recall, the hotel was snapped up by Joie de Vivre Hotels back in February and when it reopens in the fall will actually be JDV’s first hotel outside of California.

Right now, the place is undergoing some “reimagination” to showcase the spirit of the Southwest as envisioned by architects Peter Stamberg and Paul Areriat. The hotel is not closed but there is limited availability.

Joie de Vivre Hospitality will manage the former Mondrian Scottsdale, the group’s first property outside the state of California, when the 195-key hotel relaunches this fall following a major renovation.

The Mondrian will be renamed as Hotel Theodore by new owner Sydell Group. Formerly GFI Development Co., Sydell is the owner and developer of Ace Hotel New York and Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. Sydell recently purchased Theodore for an undisclosed sum.

Joie de Vivre currently operates 34 boutique hotels in California exclusively, and the Scottsdale property will be the group’s first beyond the state.

Sydell and Joie de Vivre will focus renovation and rebranding plans on embracing the property’s Southwestern roots in order to give the hotel a true sense of place. The relaunched hotel will feature a new restaurant concept which opens on to Scottsdale’s greenbelt and the Scottsdale Performing Arts Center, two indoor/outdoor bars, 5,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space, two swimming pools and pool bar.

Conley says being gay is “a component of who I am, yet it’s not the only thing that defines me.”

SAN FRANCISCO—Chip Conley knows how and when to come out. A prominent gay entrepreneur, he is the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, a quirky collection of boutique hotels he launched in his native California in 1987. Now, he is ready to put his urbane and playful stamp on hotels outside the Golden State.

Armed with an approach based on the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow and a hefty financial commitment from Hyatt scion John Pritzker’s Geolo Capital, Conley is looking to acquire hotels in the western U.S., Hawaii, Manhattan, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

The strategy is cluster; unlike pioneering role model Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the dominant boutique brand, Joie de Vivre hotels cut across price points, even though they’re all individual, all boutiques and all third-party management contracts.

Conley, 50, is executive chairman and chief creative officer of Joie De Vivre Hospitality, a San Francisco-based collection of 34 hotels. He has a stake in 14 and Geolo owns two. Each JdV is based on a magazine, from Rolling Stone (the model for the Phoenix Hotel, the first JdV) to Wired, the platform for the Hotel Avante, a Silicon Valley property. The hotels aim to provide “identity refreshment” and serve as “mirrors for the aspiration,” Conley said in a mid-October address at the Lodging Hospitality/HVS Hospitality Management-sponsored Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference in Miami.

The first five were transformations of pay-by-the-hour hotels, and the Phoenix rapidly became a favorite of rock ‘n’ roll bands and their tour managers. Other JdV hotels target niche markets, such as Google, which books 12,000 roomnights a year at the Avante and should simply buy the place, Conley said; and readers of Dwell magazine who patronize Hotel Vitale in the Embarcadero section of San Francisco, Conley’s home.

A capital infusion

In June, Conley announced a partnership with Geolo Capital, the equity investment arm of the John A. Pritzker family. San Francisco billionaire Pritzker is the son of Jay Pritzker, who founded the Hyatt hotel chain. Under the agreement, Geolo established an investment fund, its aim the acquisition of US$300 million to US$500 million in hotel assets during the next five years. Pritzker is now chairman of Joie de Vivre.

• Read “Joie de Vivre charts course after investment.”

In a recent interview, Conley said that even though 75% of the 34 Joie de Vivre hotels are gaining market share, several in the portfolio have “serious debt situations” that are a “major distraction.”

“We manage hotels for other people,” he said. “The hotel may be gaining market share, but if you’ve got a 110% loan-to-value ratio, it’s all they can do to get out of the loan.”

One reason he allied with Pritzker was to diversify. Another “was making sure we had pockets to weather the storm” of this long economic downturn. Yet another was the opportunity to buy hotels in all-cash transactions.

“We’ll in some cases buy a platform, then bring their brand into our own. We are talking to people about that premise right now. There’s a lot of players out there who are smaller than we are who are finding it a struggle,” he said, comparing these times to the 1930s. “They’re too small to have distribution power.”

What drives Conley

As a child in Long Beach, California, Conley often visited Disneyland, where he developed some ideas he would apply to JdV. He was an all-star athlete in high school and in summer 1983, worked for Morgan Stanley in New York. That was when he came out—discreetly.

“I had a girlfriend through college and my first year of business school, but that summer in New York is when I first said, ‘OK, this is where I’m coming out.’ I came out to a couple people but I didn’t publicly. But when I came back to Stanford Business School, I did start talking to friends about it and after my second year, when I was 23 I went to work for a sort of macho real estate development company and started to come out there. Being in San Francisco made it a little easier, but the process took a certain amount of faith and courage to believe that people would be okay with it.”

Conley noted that in the San Francisco hotel business, many employees, especially at the front desk and in bars and restaurants, are gay and lesbian.

“That meant I was in a position to be able to be comfortable that I was in a habitat that might be friendly for this. Working for Morgan Stanley in New York was certainly a less friendly habitat.”

He had a good eye for design and though he doesn’t want to stereotype—he was an All-American high school athlete in water polo—he said, “I think men who are gay may have an eye for design, a certain love of empathy, and know what it’s like to have to serve other people … and on the boutique side of it, being really creative and at times a little outrageous gave me a little more license to be creative.”

Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second largest independent boutique hotel company in the country, has entered into a strategic capital partnership with Geolo Capital, the private equity investment arm of the John A. Pritzker family. Geolo Capital will take a majority stake in Joie de Vivre’s business and provide capital to fund the boutique hotel brand’s expansion outside of California.

As part of the transaction, Geolo Capital has established an investment fund with the objective of acquiring $300 million to $500 million of hospitality assets over the next five years. Geolo plans to double Joie de Vivre’s revenues and grow the number of managed properties over that time period from the current 33 in California to approximately 50 throughout the U.S., adding hotels and resorts in key gateway cities and resort markets through new third party management agreements, joint ventures, and acquisitions.

Under the agreement, John Pritzker, Geolo’s founding partner and director and a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry, will become chairman of the company. Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre’s founder and CEO, will retain a significant ownership interest in Joie de Vivre and remain actively involved as CEO.

The partnership with Joie de Vivre gives Geolo Capital, which specializes in hospitality investments, a branded platform to both acquire and manage additional hotels and resorts. Last year the company acquired Carmel Valley Ranch, an iconic resort property on 400 acres of land in the lush Carmel Valley. The Ranch will join the Joie de Vivre Hotels collection this year as part of its luxury portfolio, which includes Joie de Vivre’s flagship property, Hotel Vitale in San Francisco.

“As soon as we purchased Carmel Valley Ranch I knew I wanted to replicate its magic and create an authentic lifestyle and resort brand that was experience-driven for customers and employees,” said Pritzker. “Then I found out that brand already existed – it’s called Joie de Vivre.”

Geolo sees tremendous opportunity for the Joie de Vivre brand across the three- to five-star spectrum, especially in the three-and-a-half star space where the boutique hotelier is “the best in the business,” said Pritzker.

Joie de Vivre is known for taking bland box or challenged hotels and transforming them into unique boutique properties that are an antidote to the vanilla experience offered by major chains. Each Joie de Vivre hotel is an original that reflects its location through creative design and amenities. The San Francisco-based company has created more three- and three-and-a-half star boutique hotels than any other hotel company.

“After 23 years of being a California hotel brand, we felt the time was right for Joie de Vivre to move outside the state. There are so many neglected gems and tired hotels that could be turned into appealing, affordable boutique properties,” said Conley. “With Geolo as our partner, we will be able to take advantage of the wave of hotel deals that are imminent, and we will have sufficient working capital to invest in our infrastructure to support our growth.”

Working with Joie de Vivre’s development team on the company’s strategic growth will be Geolo partner Gary Beasley, who spent seven years with KSL Resorts, where he was instrumental in acquiring and integrating over $800 million of hotel and resort properties.

“Our objective is to take advantage of what we believe will be one of the most attractive hotel buying cycles in a generation, and in the process create great hotels that offer both outstanding guest experiences as well as outstanding economic returns,” Beasley said. ” We look forward to working with Chip and the rest of the Joie de Vivre team to continue to build what we believe is one of the most dynamic and promising hospitality platforms around.”

Joie de Vivre, California’s largest boutique hotel collection, is adding a fifth southern California property to its collection with the newly renovated Pacific Edge Hotel, a boutique property situated in the heart of the famed downtown district of Laguna Beach. Set on a pristine white sand beach, the 132-room property is in the final stages of renovations. Pacific Edge boasts uninterrupted ocean views and is just blocks from the chic shopping, arts and dining enclave of Laguna Beach. With modern amenities, casual residential touches, and a tinge of retro-chic attitude, it is an ideal beach destination for both business and vacation travelers who are looking to retreat, but not unplug from society.

“Joie de Vivre is known for finding undiscovered gems,” said Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre’s CEO. “This hotel has that Cinderella story line. It’s a humble family hotel being transformed into a fun, approachable, and authentically local Laguna Beach hotel where people will want to spend time with old friends and make new ones too.”

As the ultimate beachside retreat for travelers and locals alike, Pacific Edge’s new design will marry the relaxed, sporty, and creative vibe of Laguna Beach. With its cheerful accent colors, surf-themed touches, and views of the blue sky and sea, visiting Pacific Edge will be the definitive mood-boosting experience. The hotel will evoke the feeling of visiting a friend’s beach home, mixed with edgy artistic elements, pop-style furnishings and attentive service. Embracing the inherent surf culture Southern California is renowned for, Pacific Edge has partnered with Bruce Brown Films to become the first official “Endless Summer” hotel, one of the most influential films of the surf genre, and will feature its defining artwork throughout the property as well as DVD box sets in the rooms.

Pacific Edge features 28 comfortable suites, one Villa, a multi-purpose cottage called “Hide,” and 104 deluxe guestrooms. The full service hotel also features two heated swimming pools and a Jacuzzi, a gym and spa, along with a surf lounge for private events. A unique “Beach Sherpa service” will make trips down to the water fast and convenient and WIFI is free throughout the property. The Villa, a newly refurbished 6,000 square foot inspired social gathering or creative business event space, boasts an expansive deck right on the sand. Hide, a two-story beach cottage tucked between the quaint Sleepy Hollow Lane and the Pacific Ocean, is amenable to both business meetings and intimate parties.

Upon arrival, all guests of the hotel receive an “Edge Card,” which allows them to exclusively enjoy VIP privileges and discounts at local restaurants and businesses in Laguna Beach. Guest amenities will include plush bedding, surfboard storage, new bathroom mirrors, and coffee machines serving small batch-roasted coffee from Coffee People of Portland Oregon. Oceanfront rooms, most with balconies overlooking an expansive view of the Pacific Ocean, are perfect for families, couples, and business travelers alike and include 32-inch flat screen televisions, comfortable Adirondack chairs, and queen-sized sofa beds.

Pacific Edge will also introduce a new and exciting bar concept called “The Deck” in Fall 2010. Located on a 3,000 square foot open-air beachfront deck, The Deck will offer the ultimate outdoor lounge experience with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, fire pits for chilly nights, and a thoughtfully crafted cocktail and food menu. For day rate charges, the location will also offer five spacious surf -themed cabanas with private concierge service.

As part of their stay at Pacific Edge, guests can dine at the recently refurbished, iconic Beach House restaurant under the helm of recently hired Chef Michael Ingino, and a enjoy a menu focused on locally caught fish and seasonally grown produce. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and has been a cozy locals haunt for years, known for its amazing ocean views and food. The Beach House also caters Pacific Edge’s room service menu, allowing guests to enjoy their extensive, top quality food offerings in the comfort of their hotel rooms.

“Laguna Beach is perfect for guests wanting a beach experience with a slight quirkiness,” said General Manager, Kurt Bjorkman. “Staying at Pacific Edge will be the definitive Laguna Beach, California experience. Guests will want to return year after year.”

Pacific Edge joins Hotel Erwin in Venice, Hotel Maya in Long Beach, the new Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach and the Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles, as part of Joie de Vivre’s Southern California portfolio. Rates at Pacific Edge during high season average $179 for a Village room/ $259 for Oceanfront. Low season rates average $139 for Village room/ $199 for Oceanfront.