The Sè San Diego is now officially the Hotel Palomar San Diego, a Kimpton Hotel. The name and brand will hopefully stick after what has been a very rocky start for a very stylish and hip hotel in San Diego near the Gaslamp Quarter.

Hotel Palomar San Diego

The original plan called for a 22-story condo-hotel named The Diegan. This was changed to the Setai San Diego after the developers tied up with the Setai Group.

The Setai name was also dropped after it turned into a legal hot potato, and the hotel ended up as the Sè hotel.

The $150 million Sè San Diego finally opened in late 2008, and the recession promptly forced it into bankruptcy before it could take off properly.

Kimpton purchased it out of bankruptcy for $49 million, and officially gave the hotel its fourth and latest identity as the Hotel Palomar San Diego at a dedication ceremony on Sept 27.

The 5th Avenue hotel has 183 guestrooms, including 17 skyline suites and 20 luxury flats. It has a 19-foot floor-to-ceiling ballroom, a pool deck and infinity pool offering day beds and private cabanas, and more than 20,000 square feet of event space adorned with art created by local artists in San Diego.

Under the Kimpton brand, Hotel Palomar will now offer the chain’s wellness offerings in addition to the existing spa and in-room spa services. There’ll be a daily hosted evening wine hour, and of course – the hotel’s pet friendly policies now include the gold-fish you get to keep in your room under Kimpton’s pet-friend program.

The new 2-story  Saltbox Dining and Drinking restaurant replaces the old Suite and Tender. The restaurant is now an American gastro-lounge, with “social plates” priced under $25 and meant for sharing.

Considering the hotel is still just as good as new, Kimpton hasn’t had to make any other major changes except an increased focus on art, including the giant rendering of the hotel by local artist Grant Pecoff that was unveiled during the dedication ceremony.

All said and done, it’s a sweet deal for new guests under Kimpton, considering that Se started out in 2008 as a luxury resort with rates as high as $500. They’re now offering pretty much the same thing under Hotel Palomar, but with nightly room rates starting at $159.

Hotel Palomar San Diego

Not to mention an artsy location that leads right into the Gaslamp Quarter. Hotel Palomar is also collaborating with several cultural organizations under the “Art in Motion” initiative to offer custom-tailored room packages, including with the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Youth Symphony and House of Blues.

Photos – Se San Diego

Hotel Palomar San Diego - 1047 5th Avenue San Diego CA 92101; (888) 288-6601

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San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Boutique Hotels
Westin Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego Unveils New Renovated Rooms

Legoland California is getting ready to pour the LEGOs and begin construction on their very own Legoland Hotel. They’ll be starting work in October, and plan to open the hotel in summer 2013.

Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad, California

The Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad, CA will be the first one in America, and the third of its kind in the world.

There’s already one in the Legoland Billund resort in Denmark, and a new hotel in Legoland Windsor in the UK is gearing up for an opening in 2012.

The 250-room Lego themed hotel in Carlsbad is being built in a parking lot to the right of the main entrance.

It will feature a pool area, restaurant and brightly colored Lego décor. For instance, one of the models built for the hotel is a six-foot tall hotel bellhop built out of more than 37,000 Lego bricks.

The rooms and suites will be themed after the most popular areas in the park. The facilities are designed to make it a family hotel for those with young children, and will feature rooms and suites themed after the most popular Legoland areas.

If the Legoland Hotel in Billund is taken as a standard, there will be quite a few different types of rooms.

It has standard and business rooms, junior suites and themed rooms furnished with Lego models. There are Princess themed rooms, pirate rooms and knights’ rooms.

Legoland has had this hotel plan in the works for quite some time now. They got approval for the plan from the city of Carlsbad way back in 2009, but had to wait a couple of years because the economy was in the tank.

Note that quite a few Carlsbad hotels already exist to provide accommodations for Legoland California visitors, including the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and the Grand Pacific Palisades, both of which are also on the resort’s property.

But Legoland says it needs this hotel because they want park visitors and San Diego day-trippers to stay overnight as part of the experience, like people do when they visit the theme parks in Orlando and Anaheim.

Photo courtesy LEGOLAND® California Resort

More info: http://www.legolandhotel.com/

Related posts:
Beating the Summer Crowds at Legoland California
A Fun Weekend with Kids in Carlsbad, California
Legoland’s Lesser-known Aquatic Attractions

Teach your dog how to surf on vacation!

I came across this article on ABCNews.com the other day written by Jeryl Brunner, and some of the information regarding weird hotel amenities made me laugh. Dog surfing? Really? Ok, ok. I have two dogs, and I might actually try that one out.

I can’t take credit for any of the info below, but I wanted to share it with you all. Hope you enjoyed learning about this stuff as much as I did. I think the common theme here is that in this economy, hotels are struggling more than ever, and it’s imperative that they come up with creative ways to keep old guests and attract new ones. Emphasis on the word creative. Here are three of my favorites from the list.

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In a frugal age where hotel owners are counting every penny spent on upkeep, the Custom Hotel in Los Angeles has enjoyed two major renovations in 4 years.

The 250-room Custom Hotel at LAX is being “re-introduced” after yet another makeover given to it by JDV Hospitality, which is now in charge. The previous owners had spent more than $20 million on a full renovation as recently as fall 2007.

Custom Hotel LAX

One of the obvious advantages is its Westchester location – one mile from LAX and a few minutes from Los Angeles attractions like the Venice Beach Boardwalk and the Santa Monica Pier.

While a gazillion other LAX airport hotels can lay claim to the same convenient location, the Custom Hotel still manages to stand apart as the only boutique property among the lot.

As per the JDV custom that each of its hotels have a unique personality befitting its location and culture, this one too has a decor and theme that harks back to the golden years of air travel in the 60′s, when flying was fun and glamorous, and 9/11 didn’t mean anything much.

The guest rooms and suites offer more choice than the cookie-cutter brand-name hotels lined up on W Century Blvd, since each floor of the Custom Hotel has its own graphic concept. In fact, you can actually custom-ize your room, because the LED lighting allows you to change the color of the lighting to suit your mood. Read More »