InterContinental Hotels Group announced that HOTEL INDIGO will add four boutique properties in the greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C., metropolitan area: Ashburn, Chantilly, and Herndon, Va.; and Linthicum, Md. Scheduled to open by the end of 2008, all will be new construction in upscale, mixed-use development complexes and will range from 100 to 200 rooms each. The largest of the four properties, in Herndon, will have a 10,000-square-foot spa.
THE RITZ-CARLTON, NAPLES (FLA.) BEACH HOUSE debuted in November. It is the newest addition to the five-star, five-diamond resort on the Gulf of Mexico. The 3,000-square-foot, $4.5 million Naples Beach House can host 120 people for a dinner or 150 for cocktail receptions and boasts a full-service kitchen for on-site catering needs.
The ST. REGIS RESORT, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is on track to open March 1. The resort has 166 guest rooms, including 28 suites, and more than 24,000 square feet of meeting space. The grand ballroom is 8,504 square feet in area, just slightly larger than the spa, which has 11 treatment rooms.
THE MILLENNIUM BOSTONIAN at Faneuil Hall Marketplace has begun a renovation that will redesign its 201 guest rooms, add 3,000 square feet of meeting space, and more. The project is expected to be complete by mid-2007. Guest rooms will feature the “Millennium Bed” with duvets and 300-thread-count linens, flat-screen TVs, and laptop safes. The famous fireplace rooms and balconies will have new, soundproof windows. Other enhancements include Wi-Fi availability in public spaces. The renovated hotel will be smoke-free.
Developer Hank Freid has purchased the century-old PORTLAND SQUARE HOTEL in New York with plans to turn it into a four-star boutique property called SANCTUARY. Renovations, with a projected budget of $7.5 million, began in January, with completion planned by the end of this year. The Times Square property will have 115 rooms and will remain open during renovations.
The landmark FONTAINEBLEAU MIAMI BEACH, which is undergoing a $1 billion renovation and expansion, has joined ASSOCIATED LUXURY HOTELS INTERNATIONAL. ALH will provide national sales services for the 1,500-room resort, now preparing to serve the meetings, incentive, and convention markets beginning in June 2008 with 107,000 square feet of renovated meeting space. The original Fontainebleau closed in early 2006.
In mid-2007, HILTON MOLINO STUCKY VENICE, Italy, will debut with a private landing jetty; rooftop pool and bar; 380 guest rooms, including 100 executive rooms and 50 suites; and a 6,400-square-foot spa and Turkish bath. The hotel has been noted as the most significant architectural development in Venice in recent years. The project transforms the 13 buildings of Molino Stucky, a 19th-century flour mill. The hotel is on Canale Giudecca, which was once an island reserved for banished noblemen. One of its most famous residents, Michelangelo, lived there in the 16th century.