A highlight of new and renovated international properties for the month of June 2015.
CHILE
DoubleTree by Hilton recently opened the DoubleTree by Hilton Santiago—Vitacura, located in Santiago’s Vitacura business district. The 226-room hotel offers 15,668 square feet of event space, including 10 meeting rooms. On-site catering is also available and there are a variety of hotel restaurants.
Japan
Japanese hotelier Fujita Kanko opened the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku in April. The 970-room hotel is located in Kabukicho, Tokyo’s nightlife hub. For Godzilla buffs, the property features two types of Godzilla-themed guest rooms. The Godzilla Room, located on the top floor features a trick wall with special effects, a life-size replica of Godzilla’s claw looming over the beds and a Godzilla figure standing in the room. Guests can also choose one of six Godzilla View Rooms, where they can see from their windows a life-size replica of Godzilla’s head on the hotel’s eighth-floor terrace.
Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto recently debuted. The residential hotel occupies part of the grounds of Tenryuji Temple, a World Heritage Site that formerly housed “Rantei,” a well-known traditional Japanese ryokan, or inn, from the 1960s long used by the Japanese government to entertain honorable guests. Suiran features 39 guest rooms, ranging from 500 to 1,000 square feet and also offers two private treatment rooms equipped with Japanese-style open-air baths. Suiran has preserved elements of its past, including two original structures, “Enmei-kaku,” which was built in 1899, and “Hasshoken,” constructed in 1910, which have undergone extensive restoration and now house the hotel’s restaurant and cafe.
Korea
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is in the planning stages of developing and operating an integrated hotel-casino resort on the grounds of Incheon International Airport in Seoul. The project still is pending governmental and regulatory approvals. If it comes through, the development is expected to include a two-tower luxury hotel complex with 1,000 guest rooms, which will be split between 300 six-star rooms and 700 five-star rooms; the only private jet terminal in the world connected to an integrated casino resort; and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail, food, art and entertainment experiences.
Philippines
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide recently announced the signing of The Westin Manila Sonata Place and The Residences at The Westin Manila Sonata Place, a new-build property, slated to open in 2019, joining two other Philippines-based hotels in the Starwood pipeline—The Westin Manila Bayshore and Sheraton Manila Hotel, scheduled to open in 2018 and 2017. With 300 guest rooms, the Westin Manila Sonata Place will be located in downtown Manila. The Residences will feature nearly 350 private residential apartments. The hotel will also offer three food and beverage venues, a spa, and more than 10,000 square feet of function space.
Saudi Arabia
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, will open its second hotel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah late summer with The Ritz-Carlton, Jeddah. The hotel will feature 224 guest rooms, including 30 royal suites spanning more than 5,000 square feet each, four dining outlets as well as more than 678,000 square feet of meeting space. The Grand Auditorium will be capable of seating 1,500 guests.