Each one of the countless hotels, motels and inns across the globe has a story, big or small.
This collection of stories written by Hotel News Now reporters focuses on individual properties and their stories. These hotels have opened, reopened, undergone major renovations, hit a milestone or even closed after years of operations.
Each story is unique to the property.
The Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened its doors Dec. 13, 2023, after 18 years of development hurdles and setbacks, including abandonment in 2009 because of the Great Recession. The 3,644-key, 67-story resort went through multiple owners and plans over the years before its original owner and developer — Jeffrey Soffer of Fontainebleau Development — took back the reins and completed the project.
The developers, Fontainebleau Development and Koch Real Estate Investments, secured a $2.2 billion construction loan for the resort. Bloomberg reported the total project cost was $3.7 billion. All guestrooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Las Vegas Strip. It has 550,000 square feet of customizable meeting and convention space and 150,000 square feet of gaming space. The resort has a 96,500-square-foot luxury boutique retail district, a 55,000-square-foot spa and a 14,000-square-foot fitness center.
The Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego entered the final stages of its $550 million development by late 2023. This last $160 million phase will focus on the resort’s Victorian building and is expected to be complete in 2025. The renovation of the Victorian building, — the first part of the resort complex — includes its entrance and lobby area as well as the guestrooms, suites and event spaces.
Blackstone Real Estate is the current owner, but Hotel Del Coronado has changed hands numerous times in recent years. Blackstone Group once owned it along with partners Strategic Hotels & Resorts and KSL Resorts, but Strategic became the full owner in 2014. Blackstone bought Strategic in 2015 but then sold it to Chinese insurance company Anbang Insurance Group in 2016. The deal did not include Hotel Del Coronado because of the federal government’s concerns over a foreign company owning such a property near the Naval Base Coronado.
The 510-room Mandarin Oriental Singapore reopened in September 2023 after a six-month-long, multimillion-dollar renovation. The total renovation cost was more than $100 million. The hotel, located along Marina Bay near Singapore's central business district, opened in 1987. Marina Centre Holdings owns the property, and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group operates it.
The renovation focused on its guestrooms, and now has a Presidential Suite and four-bedroom Royal Marina Bay Penthouse. There are also 45 residential suites with a kitchenette, washer and a dryer. The project also included public spaces, including a new lobby and lobby lounge.
"Guestrooms take cues from the scenes outside their windows — dappled batik patterns and a cooler color palette blend with the undulating water of Marina Bay-facing rooms, while those looking onto the South China Sea are bathed in warm tones reminiscent of the morning sun. City-facing rooms are infused with Singapore’s verdant greenery through lush botanical prints, bringing the outside in," according to a news release.
The owner of the Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort, on the island of Hawaii — or Big Island — focused on environmental sustainability and respect for the area’s history and culture in redeveloping the property. The resort reopened in July 2023 after seven years of work redeveloping the former Kona Village Resort.
Real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson partnered with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts to reimagine the property. It sits on an ancient fishing village and it spans 81 acres. It features 150 traditional guest hale, or houses, as well as five restaurants and bars and Rosewood’s Asaya Spa. There is also a dedicated cultural center that pays tribute to the village’s archaeological sites and anchialine pools. It displays culturally important items to help explain the history of the area.
"We are honored to be the next stewards of Kona Village and have approached our work here as though we are a guest in someone else’s home,” said William McMorrow, chairman and CEO of Kennedy Wilson.
In January, the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore entered the second phase of its $1.75 billion renovation to position the resort as a top tourism destination in the country. The second phase will invest $750 million into the property and focus on Tower 3, the hotel lobby and Sands SkyPark. This includes a reimagined VIP arrival experience, new dining and retail offerings, a lobby redesign and a focus on wellness experiences. This phase will also redesign 550 rooms, approximately 380 of which are suites.
The resort’s owner, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., expects to complete the second phase throughout 2025.
At the same time, the resort is in the final stage of its initial $1 billion reinvestment project. That phase focused on its first two hotel towers, upgrading a combined 1,280 rooms, 390 of which are new suites.
The LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples, Florida, fully reopened this month following repairs of damage caused by Hurricane Ian in late 2022. Hotel real estate investment trust Pebblebrook Hotel Trust owns the resort and club, but not the golf course. The repair work included hardening its buildings against future hurricane damage, moving critical systems to higher floors and shifting a building’s elevator stack.
Business has been returning to the resort, particularly from group demand and locals enjoying the beach club. Transient demand has been a little slower to return, but summer isn’t Florida’s prime season.
“But we're really encouraged by the speed at which the customer is coming back,” Pebblebrook Chairman and CEO Jon Bortz said. “It's been here a long time, this property. It's really loved by its customer base.”
The 1,470-room Tropicana Las Vegas – A DoubleTree by Hilton closed its doors for the last time April 2 to make way for a planned major league ballpark that would house the yet-to-be relocated Oakland Athletics. The hotel casino opened in 1957, running into several regulatory issues due to the developers’ ties to organized crime.
Over the years, the property underwent several renovations and expansions, adding new hotel towers and venues. It hosted countless musical and entertainment acts, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Gladys Knight as well as its risqué Les Folies Bergere revue.
The planned demolition of the Tropicana is one more part of Las Vegas’ overall transformation in recent years, expanding its gaming and shows offerings to include professional sports, racing and other forms of entertainment.