Tag archives: hotels
As reported in last week’s MoJo online newsletter, the legal battle between Biltmore owner Ty Warner and hotel management company Four Seasons rages on, with Warner filing a petition at the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, asking that the Courts step in to appoint arbitrators to hear the dispute between the […]
The legal battle between Biltmore owner Ty Warner and hotel management company Four Seasons rages on, with Warner filing a petition earlier this week at the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, asking that the Courts step in to appoint arbitrators to hear the dispute between the two sides. Mr. Warner served […]
It was a double celebration when Santa Barbara Historical Museum celebrated First Thursday with its new signature exhibition Project Fiesta: History of Old Spanish Days. The latest installation celebrates the pageantry, fashion, and traditions of our Eden by the Beach’s most cherished cultural festival event, which marks its centenary in two years’ time. Highlights of […]
While the world was going to hell in a handbasket, I escaped to Rancho Santa Fe, a sort of Montecito for the horsey set, for a couple of glorious nights at lovely Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa, a Spanish-Colonial hacienda style resort set on 45 acres in north San Diego County that’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive […]
The iconic Hotel Santa Barbara has been sold for $41.9 million to the Geronimo Hospitality Group, ending a 46-year run by the current ownership. Hotel Santa Barbara, located at 527-533 State Street, has seen renovations as recently as 2019, but the new ownership will be utilizing 2022 to prepare upgrades to the 75-key facility. “We […]
The pandemic has inspired sweeping culinary changes throughout Santa Barbara, and notably at several area hotels where executive chefs work diligently to provide a refreshing new take on this unique era in dining. And hospitality is making a slow comeback as city nears the yellow tier of COVID reopening. Some hoteliers are utilizing their indoor-outdoor […]
Now that I’m fully vaccinated, after “Our Year of Perpetual and Unusual Confinement,” I’m gearing up to hit the road again. Living on travel memories has been OK, but there ain’t nothing like the real thing. I’m ready to fire up my jets and dust off my suitcase, beginning with some weekend escapes. What’s a […]
There’s a new chef and fresh burst of inspiration in Belmond El Encanto’s kitchen. The Old Hollywood glamour-style hotel, perched on the Riviera, gets its first major menu change in four years, thanks to Bruno Lopez. He’s the former executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage and Raffles L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills and is […]
Rosewood Miramar Beach announced last week that it has received distinguished accolades from three leading travel authorities. The distinctions include a Gold Badge in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Hotels rankings, as well as being named the best hotel in Santa Barbara and the ninth best hotel in California by the publication. This […]
Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner has good reason to smile during this pandemic. Both his tony Montecito hotels, the 500-acre San Ysidro Ranch, with 41 private cottages, and the Four Seasons Biltmore with 206 rooms on 22 lush acres next to Butterfly Beach, have received top five-star ratings in the latest 63rd annual Forbes Travel […]
L.A. hotel opens its doors to the homeless during COVID-19. Communities around the world are under shelter in place orders, but staying home is not an option for homeless populations. A Los Angeles hotel is hoping to protect the health of its community’s most vulnerable residents by opening their doors to those living on the […]
Driving the seven hours from Nevada City to Santa Barbara, Sherry Villanueva was talking about shifting gears. Back in February, Acme Hospitality, the boutique restaurant and development group she manages, moved into the hotel business. At that time the company was in the midst of renovating two of the most iconic hotels in Nevada County, […]
Santa Barbara’s second annual hospitality summer games at the Hilton boasted 14 teams, double the number of participants at the first event at the Hotel Californian. The fun-filled event, which included a recycling race, a bed making contest, a server obstacle course, pastry cake wars, a toilet paper toss, and a talent and bike building […]
Ubiquitous charity emcee and auctioneer Andrew Firestone has joined the inn crowd! Andrew and his business partner, Jess Parker, who run five-year-old StonePark Capital, have just opened their fourth hotel property in San Luis Obispo, the La Quinta Inn and Suites by Wyndham. The three-story, 102-room hostelry, formerly the Monterey Hotel, has a sky bridge […]
After 12 years of frustration and determined perseverance, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso has opened his $200 million-plus, 161-room, 16-acre Rosewood Miramar Hotel, with its 495 feet of Pacific Ocean frontage. To mark the occasion he threw a bustling bash, appropriately enough at Caruso’s, one of the tony hostelry’s restaurants, run by Roman chef Massimo […]
“I’ve been waiting twelve years to tell you that the Miramar is completed,” said Caruso Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations Rick Lemmo to a packed audience at the Montecito Association board meeting earlier this week. Lemmo shared some details about the Resort, which had its soft opening on Monday, February 11. “Thank you for […]
On Monday, February 11, Rick Caruso’s Rosewood Miramar Beach Hotel and Resort was teeming with hundreds of employees awaiting the arrival of the first guests to stay at the reimagined property. The resort, which held its “soft opening” in order to accommodate a limited number of guests who had made reservations months ago, will be […]
Kevin Speer, the affable manager of Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner‘s Coral Casino, is celebrating his 25th anniversary in the role. But his career at the beachside club came about by chance. “Chris Hart, the former general manager of the resort, asked me to come over to the club from the hotel to correct some […]
The Hotel Californian was the site for the inaugural annual Santa Barbara hotel Olympics featuring a host of events including a bell cart race, culinary palate test, bike building, towel origami, and even cake wars. “After the terrible time we had at the start of the year with the devastating mudslides, we thought we needed […]
