Photos: courtesy aloft hotels
As we have not hesitated to let you know, the folks at aloft hotels are happy to announce the opening of further hotels in a myriad of locations. Montreal was the first open location (as cited by our very own Aefa Molholland in her piece on chic budget boutique hotels), but now there are locations at Rancho Cucabmonga, CA, as well as airport hotels at O’Hare in Chicago, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Portland.
The very gay-friendly people at W Hotels inspired aloft’s concept and goals, which are to bring the high design, high comfort, and high tech to a low cost environment. This environment, which is “otherwise bland and occasionally lonely,” refers to airport hotels and other in-between rests for frequent travelers: aloft hopes to raise the bar in quality here. With 500 locations planned, Starwood, aloft’s operator, is looking to revolutionize the industry with high-tech rooms that sound exciting just on their own (we can’t emphasize enough the appeal of gadgets). Services include like downloadable in-room movies and selecting room locations like one would for an airplane seat (additional features are described in our previous blog posting on aloft).
Designed by the world-renowned architect David Rockwell (who
also designed for W Hotels), the rooms
are bright and spacious and the hotels feature funky cocktail bars and indoor/outdoor pools. The only question we have is how they can afford the very reasonable (and approximate) $150 a night price tag? As new hotels open in airports including DC’s Dulles North and South, Denver,Phoenix, and San Antonio, not to mention locations in Mexico and India by 2009, may your mission, dear reader, be to experience it for yourself!
