Few developments breathe new life into a city’s downtown like an aging hotel that has been carefully restored to its former glory or given an updated look and feel. Despite the economy, there are plenty of prime examples of hotels going beyond renovation to reinvention, emerging as entirely new gathering places for visitors and locals alike.
Millennium Bostonian Hotel
Opened in 1982, the Millennium Bostonian Hotel is far from old by Boston standards, yet it needed a total makeover to meet the new demands of both business and leisure guests, says Edward Carey, director of sales and marketing.
Recently emerged from a $24 million renovation that entailed gutting the entire property, the Millennium now has a contemporary design featuring floating ceilings, wood-stained millwork and exotic wood details. The new club-like lobby is a place where guests can relax among book-lined walls and music and lighting that changes throughout the day.
A major aspect of the renovation was the conversion of Seasons, a popular spot during years past for power lunches and breakfasts, into an elegant, 3,000-square-foot ballroom with 800 square feet of prefunction space. With a glass ceiling and bay windows, the room offers expansive views of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the North End, Boston’s traditionally Italian neighborhood.
"It’s a really unique space—a ballroom with an abundance of natural light," Carey says. "It’s a great spot for corporate dinners and receptions, and the social market loves it."
New additions to the hotel include a fitness center and North 26, an all-day restaurant serving locally inspired specialties such as lobster deviled eggs and New England shellfish stew.
The hotel’s refurbished 201 guest rooms, which once featured European-style decor, now have a sleeker look as well as updated technology. The guest rooms include balconies with French doors overlooking the North End.
In addition to Seasons Ballroom, the Millennium offers several smaller meeting rooms, for a total of 7,000 square feet of space. According to Carey, groups of 30 to 100 people are ideal for the hotel.
"We’re just two blocks from the financial district, so we get a lot of banking groups as well as legal, pharmaceutical and high tech," he says.
Carey notes that the Millennium’s renovation is part of a recent trend for local hotels to make substantial improvements.
"The hotels in Boston are as new and shining as they’ve ever been," he says. "Everyone has upgraded during the past two or three years."
W Washington D.C.
Opened in 1917 across the street from the White House, the Hotel Washington long held a place in the political and social life of the city; it was where Elvis met with President Nixon and asked to be a federal agent, where the presidential Thanksgiving turkey trotted on the rooftop before receiving its pardon and where Presidents Clinton and Reagan attended balls.
Reopened last summer after an extensive makeover as the W Washington D.C., the property retains its Beaux Arts architectural details while sporting signature elements of the W brand and a hip new design by Los Angeles-based designer Donna Wong.
In the public areas, guests will find vibrant colors and new features alongside restored plaster moldings, chandeliers and majestic arches. Many old and new elements are juxtaposed in the W living room, the brand’s twist on the traditional lobby, which includes a digital fireplace and a DJ spinning tunes in the evening.
"There is interplay here between history and fashion, classic and sleek, monumental and sublime," Wong says. "The new Obama administration brought a sense of excitement, elegance and youthful energy to Washington, D.C., and this hotel captures those qualities."
One of the W’s most distinctive features is its POV rooftop bar and terrace, affording panoramic views of the White House and many of the city’s famous monuments. Adjoining POV and also offering stellar views, the Altitude Ballroom hosts up to 220 people for a reception.
Also among the hotel’s 12,000 square feet of meeting space, the Great Room, which accommodates up to 700 people, features a sweeping staircase, plaster columns and other touches of Beaux Arts glamour. All the meeting rooms have been updated with tech features that include recessed screens, integrated audio systems and connections to the National Press Club’s satellite feed.
Each of the hotel’s 317 guest rooms, which include 30 suites, have been completely renovated and outfitted with such updated entertainment features as flat-screen LCD TVs and docking stations for MP3 players. New additions to the hotel include a Bliss Spa, a fitness center and J&G Steakhouse, a restaurant with a ceiling mural of cherry blossoms and arched windows overlooking the White House gardens.
New York’s Carlton Hotel
When the Carlton Hotel emerged from a multimillion-dollar renovation in June, it became a serious contender for meetings business for the first time since opening as the Hotel Seville in 1904. Located on lower Madison Ave. in New York City, the Carlton added six new meeting rooms, ranging in size from 370 to 922 square feet, during the renovation, along with restoring its original grand ballroom with its Tiffany-style glass dome.
"We added the meeting space because we wanted to get into the meetings market, especially corporate," says Bonnie Sommerstein, director of sales. "While this year wasn’t the best time to be opening the new space, we are finding that meetings are a good chunk of our business—we’re the largest hotel with the largest amount of meeting space in the Murray Hill area."
While preserving the Beaux Arts architecture, designer David Rockwell updated the hotel’s 317 guest rooms with contemporary touches, including leather headboards, down comforters and marble bathrooms with lighted make-up mirrors. A dramatic lobby with suede walls features a cascading two-story waterfall revealing an oversized vintage black and white photograph of the hotel as it appeared in 1924.
Independently operated, the Carlton recently became a member of Preferred Hotels.
"We needed to establish an identity, and joining Preferred Hotels has aided our ability to attract meetings," Sommerstein says.
