Hotel Openings

🏠 Ennismore teams up with Tilal Real Estate Co. to sign the 25hours Hotel Heart of Khobar in Saudi Arabia, offering 170 rooms, suites, and 80 serviced apartments within the Heart of Khobar development. The hotel, featuring multiple restaurants, a pool, gym, and an analog-themed circus, will also introduce the co-working brand Working From_, spanning 2,000 square meters with various membership perks. The 25hours hotel aims to enhance connectivity in the Dammam Metropolitan Area, aligning with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030.

🍴 Washington Street Hospitality, known for Pasta Beach in Boston and Rhode Island, opened Legami in Charleston, S.C. on October 9. Eldredge and Tyler Ropolo, whose parents launched Pasta Beach in 2002, lead the family-operated venture. Legami serves Italian cuisine with a modern twist, offers a two-story dining experience, seating 180 guests, and features a menu crafted by Michelin-starred veteran chef Andrea Congiusta. Beverages are curated by James Ruggiero, including signature items like the Legami Martini.

🏡 Wyndham opens the first Wyndham Garden hotel in India, the Wyndham Garden Sonipat Murthal in Haryana, operated by Rajdhani Realcon Pvt. Ltd. The 81-room hotel features amenities like a restaurant, lounge, fitness center, spa, pool, and event spaces, emphasizing midscale brands for quality accommodations. Wyndham's expansion includes a partnership with NILE Hospitality LLP for 40 Microtel hotels by 2031, targeting tier II, III, IV cities, with the first openings expected in 2025. Each Microtel will have 50 rooms. Wyndham now operates under nine of its 25 brands in India.

🍴 Executive Chef Freddy Vargas opened Aitana in New York City's Virgin Hotels on Nov. 15. Aitana offers Latin-Mediterranean cuisine with views of the Empire State Building and features geometric chandeliers and a curated wine selection by sommelier Andrew McFetridge. Vargas, with Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican heritage, infuses his family recipes with fine dining experience, offering dishes like tostones with caviar and a 24 oz. dry-aged ribeye. Inspired by chef Emeril Lagasse, Vargas pursued a culinary career after a brief college stint. Aitana is Vargas’s ninth restaurant venture, reflecting his philosophy of elevating traditional dishes with modern techniques.

🏡 ARRIVE by Palisociety to open its fifth hotel, ARRIVE Albuquerque, in Albuquerque, N.M. in Q1 2025. The historic 1965 building on Central Avenue has been revamped to offer 137 reimagined rooms featuring a mix of 1970s and Southwestern styles, an oversized exterior mural by Nani Chacon, a seasonal pool, a fitness center, cocktail bar, lounge, and a pan-American cuisine restaurant. The design, led by Palisociety founder Avi Brosh and an in-house team, marks the brand's first entirely in-house designed property.

🎰 In Las Vegas, the Rio Hotel & Casino, now part of Destination by Hyatt, completed phase one of a $340 million renovation, updating 1,500 rooms in the Ipanema Tower and adding six culinary spots, 220,000 sq ft of meeting space, a revamped pool area, and over 500 new slots and 30 table games. The resort's phase two will modernize the Masquerade Tower. Rio is the largest Hyatt property by room count and the first Destination by Hyatt in Nevada.

🍕 Miami welcomes international culinary influences with the opening of Momento by Ikaro, a Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant's outpost, in Downtown Miami mid-August. Chefs Carolina Sanchez from Ecuador and Iñaki Murua from Spain's Basque region unveiled their first U.S. establishment, merging their backgrounds. Momento spans 4,733 square feet, seating 80, and features a menu with seasonal ingredients, wood-fired branzino, and a bar with global wines. Ikaro Spain gained its Michelin star in 2018 while Michelin arrived in Florida in 2022.

🏖️ Hyatt Hotels Corp. expands its all-inclusive portfolio with a Dreams Resort & Spa in the Dominican Republic, set to open by the end of the year. Dreams Cap Cana Resort & Spa will offer 519 guestrooms, 40 villas, and 100 swim-up suites near Punta Cana International Airport. It joins other Hyatt properties on Juanillo Beach, within Cap Cana's gated community. The resort features 10 restaurants, six bars, a 11,000-square-foot spa, four pools, and various sports and entertainment facilities. Hyatt has opened Hyatt Centric Santo Domingo and Secrets Tides Punta Cana in 2023, with plans for nearly 20 properties in the Dominican Republic by 2025.