Hip Hotel Watch
Hey, ye roadsters who like to stay on the cusp of trends, take note of the upcoming openings of a handful of fresh, innovative hotels. Located in different parts of the U.S. -- Tacoma, Miami, Boston, North Carolina -- they're all well outside the typical chain lodging box.
1. The Gansevoort South, sister to the stylish Gansevoort in New York City's Meatpacking district, is set to open sometime in November in South Beach, Fla. In the works for a couple of years now, this spacious property boasts expansiveness -- huge rooms, an oversized pool, a sprawling lobby. In contrast to most of the compact South Beach properties, it's supposed to be a place where you can be chic and sprawl out at once. With part of the property given over to condos, it will also be an experiment in how well the hotel/condo combo works.
2. The Murano, in Tacoma, Wash., is designed to feature works by almost all ,if not all of, the best-known glass artists. Once you get over the idea of flying all the way to Washington state to lounge around glass scuptures, the hotel, due to open in November, looks brilliantly original, according to the designs we've seen.
3. The Liberty Hotel, in an earlier incarnation, housed criminals as Boston's Charles Street Jail. When it opens in September, it wll be a deluxe hotel, complete with Molten Brown bath amenities, flat-screen televisions and all that. Not to forget its roots, vestiges of jail cells will be maintained in the lobby area.
4. The Proximity Hotel ), scheduled to open in October in Greensboro, N.C., is designed as a showcase eco hotel. It will be heated by 4,000 feet of solar rooftop panels, use 40% less energy and 35% less water than other properties, and will feature a rooftop vegetable garden atop the restaurant.
Questions: Which, if any, of these concepts excites you? Which seems like the kind of hotel you would patronize? Which, if any, seems gimmicky?
By Gary Lee |
August 2, 2007; 9:33 AM ET
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Posted by: Sara | September 5, 2007 1:51 PM
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I've been to Tacoma and don't ever plan to go back -- what a ho-hum destination when Seattle is just up the way and the Olympic peninsula is just across the water. A bunch of glass sculpture in my hotel doesn't change what a snoozer Tacoma is.
I've never been to Greensboro but haven't heard anything that would excite me to go there.
Do people really go to destination hotels in boring cities? I don't think I would, unless it was a pit-stop on a long distance road trip and I had money burning a hole in my pocket.