The Suite Life

Always trying to stay on top of the news and it sounds like Ritz-Carlton and its development company is expanding its Arizona presence. They currently have a hotel in Phoenix but the new one will be in the Scottsdale-Paradise Valley region.

“Ritz-Carlton and its development group have acquired a $100-million, 123-acre site and proposes to develop a $1.5-billion master-planned, mixed-use project with a Ritz-Carlton hotel as the centerpiece. The site, straddling Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, is one of the last large undeveloped parcels in the region. The development will be the first Ritz-Carlton mixed-use project of its kind, combining a 225-room resort hotel, a residential development with villas, luxury homes and one-acre estate lots as well as a mixed-use component along Scottsdale Road. The land is located on the west side of Scottsdale Road between Lincoln Drive and Indian Bend Road. According to a Paradise Valley land-use plan for the project, most of the development site, about 105 acres, is in Paradise Valley, with the remaining 18 acres in Scottsdale.”

Here’s the location on Google Maps - best guess is it’s that big brown patch:

Google just keeps progressing with new features faster than….faster than….well, faster than Google, I guess. Not only was it enough to try to map the entire world, then show it to us in satellite, but now they are working on showing us what every single street in every city across the world actually looks like. No, not in a yellow street graphic map kind of way, but in real photos and imagery. The new product called Street View can be found on Google Maps.

Supposedly, they have sent people around to various cities with cameras to take full 360 degree panorama shots. It is truly remarkable, especially if you are thinking about traveling and visiting a new city and really want to know where things are, like maybe your hotel. Always nice to know beforehand if that great hotel you found on TripAdvisor is actually surrounded by massage parlors. Or maybe that brand new luxury hotel strangely has such low rates and lots of vacancy, until you find out that it is in a part of town that is still under development.

It’s a still a bit glitchy but if you thought that Google Earth was a timewaster, you haven’t seen anything yet. Although this did crash my computer when I tried it out so you’ve been warned. But, if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll see a friend in one of the shots. It is pretty intense since you can change the address by one building over and get a different view of a street.

Here are some shots I just did looking at hotels in San Francisco:

Clift Hotel and Hotel Monaco in San Francisco

Hotel Palomar, San Francisco

As we are trying to improve the site as much as possible, we’ve just just launched the ability to find your favorite luxury hotel groups, brands, and chains without too much effort. It also provides us the opportunity to present our favorite hotels throughout the world in a very easy to find navigation. Perfect Escapes now can help you easily understand and find answers for questions like:

Social Bookmarks:

I wish I could say that the Houston Chronicle was thinking of us when they labeled one of the sections in their article about the new Hotel Zaza Houston, “The Suite Life.” But that would be thinking very highly of ourselves. However, we will trumpet the fact that we included Hotel Zaza Houston in our Top US Hotels list even before it has officially opened - especially since I enjoyed the Hotel Zaza Dallas so much.

Here is an abstract from the article by David Kaplan from the Houston Chronicle: Warwick Hotel goes ZaZa in hip transformation

“The Warwick Hotel is going from quiet, Old World opulence to bold, sexy and ready to party. Hotel ZaZa Houston co-owner Charlie Givens, who took over the Warwick property, describes the new place as “Phantom of the Opera meets George Clooney meets Versace meets Alan Greenspan.”

Don’t laugh. People chuckled when the ZaZa opened in Dallas, but not anymore. Even though Givens had limited hotel experience and opened it during a big hotel slump in Dallas, the ZaZa was a smash hit. Months after a late-2002 debut, Conde Naste Traveler named it one of the hottest boutique hotels of 2003. Last year, the Dallas Morning News ran this headline: “The glitterati go gaga over … ZaZa.” But the hotel is more than just glitz.

But if ZaZa blows them away in Dallas, will it do the same in Houston when it opens June 4?

“I think Houston is such a powerful, broad-shouldered town with great style,” Givens said. “I think Houston will eat this up.”

Like its Dallas cousin, Hotel ZaZa Houston will have themed suites: For Your Eyes Only; Houston, We Have a Problem; and Love Shack, to name a few.

But the Houston ZaZa is not an exact replica of the Dallas model.

For the Bayou City, Givens has injected more of a business-hotel flavor while still making it a chic “celebration of fashion and celebrity.” Houston’s ZaZa has far more conference-room space, much of which is as playful as some of the concept suites.

Though rates for the themed rooms can run $2,500 a night, rooms are available for under $200. The average price is $260.”

Related Links:

Perfect Escapes Houston Hotels
Hotel Zaza Uptown in Dallas
Ever Choose a Hotel Based on the Bathroom
Hotel ICON

Las Vegas just can’t seem to stop expanding and reinventing itself. Here are some of the latest in developments from Sin City:

The Venetian Hotel and Casino is renovating more than 3,000 of its rooms this year for completion by fall 2007. In addition to new carpets, furniture, and fixtures, the $100 million renovation will include three new plasma or LCD televisions in each room, remote control shades and curtains, wireless Internet and new sectional sleeper sofas.

Mandalay Bay recently completed a $150 million redesign of its rooms, creating five new categories of suites ranging in size from 550 to 1,500 square feet, each displaying a palette of earth tones and dark woods. The new rooms include spa tubs, two flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet. The new, 750-square foot Great Room Suite was inspired by the African savannahs, utilizing deep yellows and oranges and cherry wood furnishings.

The Platinum Hotel and Spa just off the Strip has launched a weekly event dubbed “Dine and Unwind.” On Friday and Saturday nights, Las Vegas visitors are invited to visit the fifth-floor pool deck for movies and concert videos projected onto the side of the hotel and a menu of “gourmet concessions.” The Platinum’s executive chef, Brent Hammer, has designed a casual menu including gourmet popcorn, lobster and chorizo tacos and microburgers. Mixologist Niles Peacock has fashioned some creative cocktails for the event, including Gummy Worm Margaritas and Hot Tamales (made with cinnamon schnapps, vodka and garnished with a Hot Tamale cinnamon candy). Dine and Unwind is free excluding food and beverage and will continue throughout the summer.

JULY 7 (7/7/07) is shaping up to be the biggest day for weddings in Las Vegas history, and the hotel-casinos are getting in on the act. Mandalay Bay has announced that KC & the Sunshine Band will perform on 7/7/07 for a large wedding reception at the hotel’s Mandalay Bay Beach. The performance is part of a mass wedding package that includes the ceremony, a champagne toast, flowered leis for the couple, a catered buffet and all drinks and a reception featuring KC & the Sunshine Band.