Bahamas
The iconic British Colonial Nassau hotel, located in Nassau, Bahamas, reopened in December after a 22-month closure to undergo over $50 million in renovations. The 288-room landmark property traces its roots through the 19th century and has gone through multiple changes in ownership, most recently joining the Hilton Hotels brand before reopening late last year as an independently operated boutique hotel.
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The oceanfront property is located in the heart of Nassau’s liveliest downtown shopping district and offers newly designed guest rooms in 21 different layouts and 25 signature suites across seven floors. Most rooms include marble bathrooms, 50-inch flat-screen TVs and desks designed specifically with business travelers in mind. The hotel also features seven food and beverage outlets, including fine dining, a martini bar, a sushi bar, a poolside bar and grill, cafes and more.
The property offers more than 18,000 square feet of meeting and event space and is able to accommodate up to 800 attendees. The hotel offers three outdoor event areas surrounded by greenery and views of the ocean, with 13 indoor meeting rooms, including two ballrooms. The hotel also offers more-intimate spaces for smaller meetings, including prefunction, breakout spaces and boardrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Florida
Villatel Orlando Resort is a first-of-its-kind “villa hotel,” offering private villa rentals with hotel-style amenities in the heart of Orlando’s International Drive. The unique hospitality concept allows guests access to their own fully equipped kitchen, living room, game loft, pool, bedroom and other resort amenities, all of which are cleaned and serviced like an upscale hotel or resort.
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Villatel Orlando Resort has already opened its first set of villas and plans to launch over 500 units comprising of 256 apartment-style suites and 270 single-family homes. Come 2024, the resort will offer a community clubhouse, grand pool, waterpark, fitness center, full-service restaurant and wet and dry playgrounds, plus bocce, basketball and pickleball courts.
The $500 million resort is spread across 77 acres in the heart of Orlando’s tourism district and located minutes away from the area’s iconic attractions such as the Universal Orlando theme parks, Walt Disney World theme parks and the upcoming Epic Universe theme park set to open in 2025. The resort is also located just under four miles from the Orange County Convention Center and offers indoor and outdoor social spaces for teams as well as a corporate event space at Dezerland Park Orlando.
Texas
Le Meridien Fort Worth Downtown, set to open this spring in historic Fort Worth, offers a blend of Southern charm and European elegance. The 14-story boutique hotel offers 188 guest rooms and suites, all with scenic views of downtown Fort Worth or the courtyard pool deck.
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The property will also feature a full-service restaurant serving coffee, breakfast options, seasonal entrees and a curated wine list that complements the lunch and dinner menus. The hotel’s rooftop bar, The Annex, will feature a range of cocktails and light bites and can serve as a social venue for smaller private events. Additionally, the hotel will feature nearly 5,000 square feet of meeting and event space spread across eight meeting venues. These include a ballroom, breakout rooms and more that will utilize state-of-the-art technology and flexible layouts.
North Carolina’s Billion-Dollar Development
Research Triangle Park (RTP), or The Triangle, connects multiple college and university campuses in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, including Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Soon, the area will be home to a new Marriott Renaissance hotel set to serve as a focal point for regional and leisure travel. The property will feature over 250 rooms and more than 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space and is slated to begin construction this year.
The hotel, which is part of The Hub RTP—RTP’s vibrant downtown currently undergoing a $1.5 billion mixed-use development project—will feature several amenities, including a resort-style pool with patio seating, a coffee bar, high-tech fitness center and outdoor patio with direct access to more than 20 miles of nearby nature trails. The hotel is part of a larger project to build Hub RTP as a premier destination in the region, with its 100 acres soon to be filled with 1 million square feet of office and lab space, 1,200 residential units and 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant spaces.
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