Glasgow Gets Swanky Budget Hotel

This fall marked Dutch hotel group citizenM’s first opening outside Amsterdam. The hospitality house opened its third location, in Glasgow, Scotland, further expanding its offerings and marking its place in the “affordable luxury” hotel business. The company, whose name refers to the concept “mobile,” introduced the new 198-room hotel in what was once a troubled [...]

Newport Gets Green Hotel

Rhode Island’s upscale summering destination and the home of a mainstay folk festival is now home to an eco-friendly hotel. The LEED registered Forty 1° North opened this summer, boasting upscale rooms, docking space for boats, and two restaurants, including Christie’s, a Latin Asian fusion restaurant.  The hotel offers views of Newport Harbor and Thames Street and [...]

Lord Foster To Design London Hotel

The man behind the Great Court at The British Museum in London and Hearst’s Gotham headquarters is teaming up with Spanish hospitality company Sol Melia to build a hotel in London’s financial district. A household name in architecture circles, Norman Foster will design an ME by Melia hotel near Trafalgar Square ahead of the 2012 [...]

Starbucks: A LEED Store, Happy Hour & Custom Drinks

Though the country may still suffer from nearly 10% unemployment, we have begun a recovery and so has Starbucks. Late last month, the company announced that its SoHo, NYC, store on Spring Street is registered for LEED certification as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Volume chrome://foxytunes-public/content/signatures/signature-button.pngCertification pilot program. The design is a blend [...]

Retail News June 2009

Christie Brinkley Launches Jewelry Line Christie Brinkley is launching a jewelry line called CeleBrate that will sell exclusively at Ross-Simons, License reports. The collection includes necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets with floral motifs, Southwestern-style turquoise and gold peace signs with diamonds. Many styles also include Brinkley’s initials. For the complete story, click here. Yum! Brands [...]

Revive Thyself TravelerWhat: Contributing Editor Bir Ganguly takes a look at one of California and America’s first certified green hotels, a San Francisco operation with a sister hotel (Orchard Hotel) and a great holiday getaway deal.

The Dirt:On a recent trip to the west coast, I decided to check out San Francisco’s newest and ‘greenest’ hotel – the Orchard Garden Hotel. It is one of California’s first hotels built to the specifications of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. I consider myself fairly environmentally conscious. [...]

Retail & Celebrity Charity News October 13

The Proximity Hotel Named First LEED Platinum Hotel The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC, has been awarded LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, becoming the first hotel to receive the highest level of certification. Sustainable measures taken during the hotel’s creation included recycling 87% of construction debris, sourcing 90% of the furniture [...]

Retail & Celebrity Charity News August 25

On July 1, 2008, Starbucks announced it will close 600 of its stores in the United States, including several locations in New York and California, as well as five in Las Vegas. Starbucks also released a full list of anticipated closures that will occur during the first half of 2009. CEO Howard Schultz attributes smaller [...]

An Experiment In Green HospitalityThe InterContinental Hotels Group Surveys The PublicWhat:Instead of building their version of a green hotel, the InterContinental Hotels Group has created a prototype of a green hotel online to find out what consumers expect of an eco-friendly brand.

The Dirt:Any homeowner knows the cost of implementing alternative energy features is expensive, which is why most opt out. The same is true for most hotel chains, which of late are making baby steps by adding energy-efficient cooling and heating systems, using shower heads and faucets that save water and only using energy-efficient light bulbs. [...]

European Hotelier Looks To Middle East

China is all over the news between politics and the development craze inspired by the upcoming Olympic games. However, institutional investors know that in addition to China and India, the last haven for emerging markets investments lays in the region abbreviated as MENA—the Middle East and North Africa. Enter Kempinski Hotels. They are certainly not [...]