After establishing themselves in major metropolises like San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Kimpton Hotels is branching into smaller markets and more laid-back destinations, says Kate Brown, the director of sales at Kimpton's Brice Hotel in Savannah, Ga.
The Brice is slated to open this spring and will be first Kimpton property in the Southeast. Other upcoming properties in similar markets include the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, Calif. and the Amara in Sedona, Ariz.
The hotel will offer the same whimsical Kimpton programs that guests are familiar with, including in-room yoga mats, cruiser bike rentals and the Guppy Love program for a friendly fish in your guest room.
Plus, the brand's popular complimentary wine hour will be taken to a new level, thanks to Savannah's open-container laws.
Brown says that the hotel plans to create scavenger hunts, mobile wine hours and to-go programs, so guests can take their drink and sit in one of the city's 22 charming public town squares, lined by live oak trees and draped with Spanish moss.
The entire city is pedestrian and pet friendly; many restaurants allow pets in outdoor patio seating areas and offer special pet menus. The historic Pinkie Masters Lounge even allows dogs to come inside and sit on the bar stools.
The Brice will offer 146 guest rooms, 5,700 square feet of indoor function space and more than 3,000 square feet of outdoor space. Meeting room names reflect local history; Griffon, for the figures seen around town on sculptures, and Mercer, named after songwriter and Savannah-native Johnny Mercer.
The word"Brice" itself means "brick" in Gaelic, so the hotel's name pays homage to both the local gray bricks that inspired much of the property's design, as well as the generations of Irish immigrants and residents that have influenced the city since it was established in 1733.
According to Brown, one of the meeting space highlights will be the solarium-style Greene room, with a S-curve glass wall overlooking a secret garden courtyard area.
When Hotel Brice opens, it will accommodate groups of 80 to 120 people.