Boutique Hotels

We were sitting in the shade of 100-year-old hau trees on the beach at Waikiki, listening to the thump of surf mixed with laughter and conversation from noonday diners. "You know, Robert Louis Stevenson sat beneath these very trees," Steven Boyle said as he motioned with his hand to the leaves above our heads.

When it opens early next year, the Gansevoort Las Vegas will bring something decidedly different to the Strip: a small, upscale boutique hotel. With less than 200 rooms, the new, low-rise resort will likely appeal to visitors who groan at the long lines and the extensive walking that are common at neighboring mega-properties. Gansevoort , a small chain with a couple of hotels in Manhattan, on Monday announced that it will take over the recently-shuttered Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon.

Marriott is expected to announce plans today for new so-called boutique hotels in downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood as part of a joint venture with hotelier Ian Schrager. The hotels would be two of nine to be built by the unusual partnership of staid industry stalwart Marriott International Inc. and the flamboyant Schrager, one of the founders of the infamous Studio 54 disco in New York in the 1970s.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Somewhere between the Christian and historical Jewish quarters of Old Damascus, labyrinthine alleys lead to a nondescript cobblestone tunnel that opens onto an Ottoman-era home, one of this ancient capital's many boutique hotels. Inside, across a courtyard and along the basalt stone wall, several young artists and musicians sit beneath a tangerine tree chatting and smoking a hookah, or water pipe. One strums a setar , a three-string lute indigenous to the region.

Three boutique-style hotel projects are taking shape in the Los Angeles area as hoteliers woo affluent guests by offering smaller properties packed with amenities and service. The three--in Beverly Hills, Long Beach and West Hollywood--are seeking to replicate the success of similar properties in San Francisco, Boston and New York, where boutique hotels with unique character and personalized service have performed well.

The Rat Pack lives again -- or at least Palm Springs, once the party pad of Sinatra and the boys, does. The Coachella Valley city, which had devolved into a caricature of a Hollywood playground, has reinvented itself: Its retro-chic look, striking scenery and hip hotels and restaurants are drawing a new generation of visitors. And, of course, there's always the weather, a tourist attraction on its own (in winter, anyway). The city prides itself on having 350 days of sunshine a year, a siren song that plays loudly and clearly in Canada and other frosty North America realms in the depths of winter.

A historic downtown Palm Springs hotel linked to mobsters and movie stars has been sold to Los Angeles investors for $15 million. The 57-room Colony Palms Hotel was acquired by real estate developer Michael Rosenfeld and his Woodridge Capital Partners in a joint venture with an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management. The hotel was built in 1936 by Al Wertheimer, a reputed member of Detroit's Purple Gang, which specialized in bootlegging and other criminal pursuits. The Colonial House, as the hotel was then called, had an underground speak-easy and a brothel reached via a secret staircase behind a pantry cupboard.

Marriott International Inc., the top U.S. hotel operator, said it would create a new brand of boutique hotels, the latest effort by lodging companies to appeal to travelers weary of cookie-cutter accommodations. Marriott is teaming up with Ian Schrager on the as-yet-unnamed brand. Schrager, the style entrepreneur credited with helping to introduce the boutique hotel concept with New York's Morgans Hotel in 1984, made his name in the late 1970s by creating the famed Studio 54 nightclub.

Dream, the latest development from actor-model-hotelier Vikram Chatwal, is slated to open Oct. 1 in New York. Chatwal, son of restaurateur and hotel owner Sant Singh Chatwal, also owns the New York boutique hotels the Time, Majestic and Lamb's Club. Dream's 220 blue-illuminated rooms will go for $279 to $575 per night, and the 15 suites cost $550 to $650. All rooms include wireless Internet access, 37-inch plasma TVs and an IPod-based sound system loaded with ambient music.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Somewhere between the Christian and historical Jewish quarters of Old Damascus, labyrinthine alleys lead to a nondescript cobblestone tunnel that opens onto an Ottoman-era home, one of this ancient capital's many boutique hotels. Inside, across a courtyard and along the basalt stone wall, several young artists and musicians sit beneath a tangerine tree chatting and smoking a hookah, or water pipe. One strums a setar , a three-string lute indigenous to the region.

A long-vacant 1920s office building in a recovering neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles has hit the market for almost $14 million as the city's historic core attracts new residents and investors. The 13-story Commercial Exchange Building - which was once cut in half vertically and shrunk in size - has been mostly empty for at least two decades, real estate broker Phillip Sample of CBRE Group Inc. said. In recent weeks, however, more than 100 potential buyers have toured the property at 416 W. 8th St. “We've got a lot of boutique hotels looking at this,” he said.

If you're interested in making some early New Year's resolutions, why not make 100 of them? Fodor's just released its 100 Hotel Awards 2012 , and I can't think of a better way to start next year than to resolve to visit them all -- or even a 10th of them. What I like best about this list is the smart categories that convey more about the experience at each venue than mere numeric rankings. For example, the Bellagio in Las Vegas shares Global Icon status with the likes of the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Connaught in London.

The developers of a proposed $31-million hotel near Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles are ready to seek city approval to construct an indoor-outdoor complex in the brick shell of a condemned apartment building. Plans call for gutting the empty three-story building at 1130 S. Hope St. that was erected more than a century ago and is no longer structurally sound. The developers would build inside the perimeter of the old exterior walls, creating a landscaped open-air courtyard leading to a new tower with 44 guest rooms.

The Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens sits in a quiet section of the rain forest near Arenal Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. It's about a three-hour ride north from the airport in the capital San Jose to get to this cozy boutique hotel with views of the volcano. In September and October, the resort is offering a 25% savings on suite stays. The deal: The Nayara Suite Special costs $149 a person, plus tax, per night. The deal comes with breakfast daily, three-course dinner daily, free Internet connection, a private Jacuzzi on the suite's veranda and an outdoor shower.

Gordon Ramsay may be making over hotels in his new TV show "Hotel Hell," but chef Nobu Matsuhisa has gone him one better with the upcoming opening of the sushi chef's first Nobu Hotel in Las Vegas . Technically, it's a hotel within a hotel. Nobu Hotel will feature 181 rooms and suites starting at $300 a night inside the Centurion Tower at Caesars Palace (which leads to this mouthful of a name: Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace). The ambiance will be Japanese luxury (the 63-year-old chef was born in Japan )

Maybe you want to spend Labor Day somewhere other folks aren't going to visit, somewhere like Southern California. Travel website Hotwire reports that New York, Chicago and Las Vegas are the most popular weekend destinations for the upcoming holiday. L.A. didn't place among the top 10. Here's the upside: Stay local and avoid the crush. Le Parc Suite Hotel in West Hollywood has a Labor Day deal that takes up to 20% off at the all-suite boutique hotel. What's there to do? Check out our picks on Southern California Close-Ups: From West Hollywood to Wilshire . The deal: The Labor Day Sale features tiered pricing based on how long you stay: one night, 10% off; two nights, 15% off; three nights, 20% off. You may lounge around the hotel's Skydeck with cabanas, a tennis court and roof-top pool, or work out at the hotel's gym. If you need to get a little work done, there's free Wi-Fi (even pool-side)

A long-vacant 1920s office building in a recovering neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles has hit the market for almost $14 million as the city's historic core attracts new residents and investors. The 13-story Commercial Exchange Building - which was once cut in half vertically and shrunk in size - has been mostly empty for at least two decades, real estate broker Phillip Sample of CBRE Group Inc. said. In recent weeks, however, more than 100 potential buyers have toured the property at 416 W. 8th St. “We've got a lot of boutique hotels looking at this,” he said.

When Rick Caruso bought Montecito's Miramar Hotel in 2007, it was a long-vacant, fenced-off, dilapidated eyesore. Five years later, the fences are still up, the windows boarded, the paint peeling. In a community of sky-high hedges and imposing gates, it's still an eyesore. "I'm embarrassed we haven't been able to get it built," Caruso told Santa Barbara County supervisors at a meeting last week, "but it hasn't been for lack of trying. " Caruso, a celebrity developer who is considering a run for mayor of Los Angeles, was asking for a $15-million tax break that he said can speed transformation of the beachfront property into a new five-star hotel.

Backpacking across Europe? Soon, travelers may be able to bunk in budget hotels from Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea. The owner of Ikea's intellectual property rights, Inter Ikea, is planning to open at least 100 such lodgings across the continent, according to the Financial Times . But the company won't run the affordably priced boutique hotels, nor will it give them the Ikea name. Instead, an established hotel operator will take charge, according to the Times. Inter Ikea is also looking at building residences for students.

A historic downtown Palm Springs hotel linked to mobsters and movie stars has been sold to Los Angeles investors for $15 million. The 57-room Colony Palms Hotel was acquired by real estate developer Michael Rosenfeld and his Woodridge Capital Partners in a joint venture with an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management. The hotel was built in 1936 by Al Wertheimer, a reputed member of Detroit's Purple Gang, which specialized in bootlegging and other criminal pursuits. The Colonial House, as the hotel was then called, had an underground speak-easy and a brothel reached via a secret staircase behind a pantry cupboard.