arriott is ready to pump you up. The
firm said it will open the 175-room Renaissance ClubSport next
month in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Marriott said the hotel is designed to be a "world-class sports
and fitness resort."
A sports club will feature 12,000 square feet of cardiovascular
and weight-training equipment; an NCAA-regulation gymnasium for
basketball and volleyball; group exercise studios; racquetball and
squash courts; and fully appointed locker rooms.
An outdoor area will offer three swimming pools, a whirl-pool,
bocce courts and a garden patio. There also will be a
3,000-square-foot day spa and salon.
A 7,000-square-foot kids center offers supervised childcare,
fitness and sports activities and arts and crafts.
Kimpton Boutique Hotels is the latest chain with a price
guarantee.
The operator of boutique hotels launched an Internet Price Match
Guarantee, promising to match rates found on third-party travel Web
sites.
Customers who find a Web rate that's cheaper than a Kimpton rate
can call a toll-free number -- (877) 536-0580 or (800) KIMPTON --
and request the cheaper rate.
The guarantee is based upon the rate being available on the
third-party Web site when guests call, Kimpton said.
The promotion excludes rates on opaque Web sites such as
Priceline and Hotwire.
Caryl Helsel, vice president of distribution and reservations
for Kimpton, said the company has been price-matching third-party
Web rates upon customer request for more than a year.
• • •
et ready for more Red Lions.
WestCoast Hospitality Corp. said it will add more than 20 hotels to
its Red Lion chain by converting existing WestCoast hotels to the
brand by February.
The conversions will add more than 4,500 rooms and approximately
240,000 square feet of meeting space to the Red Lion fold, creating
a total of more than 65 Red Lion hotels.
After the conversions, WestCoast Hospitality said it will
reposition both brands, focusing on their primarily West
(WestCoast) and East Coast (Red Lion) presence.
WestCoast Hospitality said it will launch a number of support
programs for the brands, including a new central reservations
system and a combined guest loyalty program.
• • •
tlanta's Stormont Hospitality
Group will develop the first Sheraton hotel modeled after the
prototype planned for key suburban markets.
The hotel will be built adjacent to the 400-seat Normal Theater
-- a 1930s movie house listed on the National Register of Historic
Places -- located on the campus at Illinois State University in
Normal, Ill.
Set to open in 2004, the 150-room, full-service hotel will cost
$24 million to build. The project includes a 500-car parking
garage, restoration of the theater and a 5,000-square-foot retail
component.
It will be managed by Crestline Hotels & Resorts.
Although Sheraton's prototype was not designed to have meeting
space, this hotel will have a 12,000-square-foot conference
center.
Starwood said it planned to develop some 40 midmarket Sheraton
hotels with between 150 and 300 rooms and approximately 20 upscale
Westin hotels with about 207 rooms during the next three years in
key suburban markets.