Meeting News - November 19, 2007 - (Page 16)

Hotels/Resorts loft-style accommodations, with soaring ceilings and exposed brickand-concrete walls. In addition, the hotel will provide a large, open public area called The Loft, where guests can work, shop, meet, drink, dine, or relax. Nylo Plano, the first property in a plan for 50 such hotels nationwide by 2010, also promises to be environmentally friendly by using renewable wind energy. The hotel has purchased a 50-percent wind energy product from Green Mountain Energy Company, an Austin, TX-based retailer of cleaner electricity products. Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica, Fairmont Newport Beach, Fairmont San Jose, Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, and Fairmont San Francisco— has banded together to buy 500 trees in an effort to replant various area forests ravaged by the recent wildfire. Fairmont, which is often at the leading edge of environmental efforts, purchased the trees from TreePeople, a local nonprofit organization.“The devastation in Southern California is overwhelming. Given our commitment to sustainable tourism, we are proud to support TreePeople in regreening Southern California,” said Michelle White, Fairmont’s director of environmental affairs. Fairmont Aids Eco-Group In Southern California Recovery Santa Monica, CA—It can be argued whether green efforts really help the planet, but the latest effort by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is above reproach. The California Luxury Collection of the company—which includes the Hotel Has A Heart of Glass, And Spirituality On Its Mind Tacoma, WA—A celebration of glass art is coming to town in the form of an unusual hotel. The 320-room Hotel Murano, set to open next March alongside the Bicentennial More than window construction material: Glass artisans created perhaps a fantasy ship with a bunny rabbit and a human traveler as its very comfortable passengers. The astounding pieces will decorate the new Hotel Murano, in Tacoma, WA. Pavilion (a 14,336-sf meeting facility), will feature the work of more than 40 glass artists. One original masterpiece will sit on each floor, while a custom-made glass front desk and large-scale pieces will decorate the property’s lobby. In addition to offering up a feast for the eyes, the Murano will delight the ears of guests and ease their minds as a result of its iPod and spiritual menus. Musically inclined guests can, upon check-in or at any point during their stays, request complimentary, preprogrammed iPods. Users can ask for more than one such device and can also trade one for another during the course of their stay. The range of music available on the personal music devices includes rock, jazz, classical, alternative rock, and reggae. On the more personal side, the Murano will give guests a menu of spiritual or religious books from which to choose, rather than leaving a standard-issue bible in each accommodation. The hotel will have copies of the Torah, the Koran, books on Daoism, and Scientology, as well as two versions of the Bible. A pillow menu will be available, as well. Offering 10,000 sf of meeting space, the hotel is a project of Provenance Hotels, which runs several properties in the Northwest, as well as the Hotel Preston in Nashville. www.meetingnews.com An Ounce (or More) of Goodness healthy restaurant opened at the Doubletree Hotel Bethesda, in Maryland, last month. OZ (pronounced “oh zee”) has a menu of items served by the ounce (i.e., a diner can request a 4-oz steak instead of an 8-oz artery clogger). In fact, the eatery was named for the abbreviation for ounce. All non-entree items have less than 490 calories, and all desserts are “served by the spoon,” according to the hotel. A Some of the delectable deserts that can be found at OZ: a flourless chocolate cake and assortment of truffles. 16 MeetingNews November 19, 2007 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - November 19, 2007

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