Incentive - April 2008 - (Page 37) TRAVEL SAN DIEGO Rooftop pool at Ivy Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter Night view of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel Boutique Glamour In any major city, the opening of a cool hotel is as attention worthy as a hot new club. In San Diego, the appearance of several new boutique hotels like the Ivy, Hotel Solamar and Hard Rock Hotel San Diego is turning up the heat in the Gaslamp Quarter, attracting younger, hipper groups. “We had a grand opening party last August that just kind of blew the roof off of San Diego,” says Jessica Martinez, director of marketing for Ivy Hotel. Opened by two brothers and their company, Kelly Capital, Ivy is a renovation of the old Maryland Hotel, a project that cost $75 million. Maintaining the solid, brickfaced elegance of the original Victorian structure, the hotel reveals an ornate, youthful decadence on the inside. Designers Dayna Lee and Ted Berner of Powerstrip Studio in Hollywood, known for their movie sets, designed Ivy’s dramatic interiors. The hotel features 159 guestrooms and 17 suites. Posh amenities at Ivy include 24hour butler service, Escalade service and products by Molton Brown and Korres. Other features include 20,000 square feet of flexible event space and 9,000 square feet of meeting space. As a friendly wink to dog-toting starlets, the hotel is pet friendly. Not even a year old yet, Ivy has quickly established itself as a place to be seen, and has been receiving a lot of buzz. For the hotel’s soft opening in May of 2007, singer John Mayer performed. For the official grand opening weekend, held in August, the hotel kicked off festivities on a Friday with a charity celebrity poker tournament hosted by actress Jessica Biel, then on Envy, its nightclub/ultra lounge, and Eden Rooftop as well as a huge block of rooms, says Paul Krause, director of sales for Ivy Hotel. Sir Richard Branson was present for the event, where the nightclub was reconstructed to mimic the interior of the new Virgin America planes. To replicate Virgin’s new seat-to-seat chat amenity, five giant flat-screen TVs were mounted over the bar and featured live text messaging amongst attendees. Says Krause, “We “We had a grand opening party last August that just kind of blew the roof off of San Diego.” –Jessica Martinez, Ivy Hotel Saturday, a rooftop performance by British songstress Joss Stone, followed on Sunday by a leisurely poolside brunch. Recent corporate groups to the young Ivy include Rolls-Royce and Virgin Atlantic. To celebrate its expansion of daily flights to San Diego, and a new fleet of high-tech planes featuring mood lighting, on-demand entertainment and a seat-to-seat chat feature, Virgin Atlantic held a “Love VirginAmerica Style” party at Ivy. For one night the airline took over the entire hotel: wanted to recreate the whole feeling for them in the party. It was really, really fun.” Prior to Virgin Atlantic’s event, the hotel hosted a three-week event for Rolls-Royce promoting the Phantom Drophead Coupe. Waves of dealership owners and automotive press were brought in to stay at Ivy and view the cars, which were flown in and showcased at the hotel. Due to the success of the event, Ivy will be hosting another one like it for Jaguar this month, featuring the rooftop unveiling of the XP sedan. incentivemag.com | April 2008 | Incentive | 37 http://incentivemag.com
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