aloft Bolingbrook opens its doors at the Promenade

aloft Bolingbrook opens its doors at the Promenade

A La Carte
Sherri Dauskurdas--Associate Editor

Editor’s note: A la carte is one of the newest industry columns in the Business Ledger, focusing on the restaurant and hospitality sector. Send your news and information to us at alacarte@thebusinessledger.com

LTD Management Company, L.L.C., in partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc has opened its newest hotel, Aloft Bolingbrook. The newly built hotel features 155 loft-inspired rooms, a variety of intuitive and accessible technologies and recreational public spaces.

Aloft is a new brand of hotel in the “W” line. Guest rooms feature nine-foot ceilings, oversized windows roomy walk-in showers and amenities created by Bliss® Spa. Each Aloft room is also a combination high-tech office and entertainment center, equipped with wireless Internet access and plug & play, a one-stop connectivity solution for multiple electronic gadgetry all linked to a 42” flat-panel, HDTV television.

Aloft offers public spaces where guests can mix and mingle, read the paper, work on laptops, play a game of pool or grab a drink with friends The re:chargeSM fitness center and splash pool give travelers options to de-stress and re-energize, while a one-stop food and beverage area, offers sweet, savory and healthy food, snacks and beverages to grab & go, 24 hours a day.

“The urban design aesthetic and social atmosphere that’s always abuzz makes Aloft Bolingbrook the perfect complement to this dynamic metro area,” said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. “Bold and stylish, Aloft Bolingbrook delivers an eclectic and electric experience catering to savvy travelers and area professionals.”

Aloft Bolingbrook is strategically located in The Promenade Bolingbrook, amidst 750,000 square feet of dining, shopping, entertainment and office space. Aloft Bolingbrook serves a business community that includes General Electric, Quantum Foods, Adventist Hospital, and Prater Industries.

“We’re excited to introduce Aloft Bolingbrook to the main street style atmosphere of The Promenade in Bolingbrook,” said Neel Desai, Managing Partner for LTD Management Company, L.L.C. “The nature of this hotel concept makes it an intriguing destination and enhances the center’s robust and varied entertainment and retail options.”

Aloft Bolingbrook is the first hotel that LTD Management Company, L.L.C has opened in Illinois and is LTD’s fourth Aloft to open in less than 12 months. Another Aloft Hotel is located in WHERE.

For more information on Aloft, please visit www.alofthotels.com.

Chipotle goes green, and it’s not just the chiles
Chipotle Mexican Grill will be opening a green restaurant in far north suburban Gurnee which features a prominent six-kilowatt wind turbine, generating 10 percent of the store's power. The Gurnee Chipotle also will boast:
•   a 2,500 gallon underground water cistern to harvest rainwater for landscape irrigation
•   LED lighting, high-efficiency faucets and toilets, and Energy Star rated kitchen equipment
•   recycled drywall, recycled barn metal, and primers and paints that contain fewer chemicals
•   native plants
•   asphalt in the parking lot to reflect the sun's heat, rather than absorb it.

Chipotle is seeking LEED certification for this location Chipotle also operates two green locations in Austin and is seeking certification for one restaurant in Minnesota.

Save the date for Illinois Tourism
The 2010 Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism will take place February 17-19 2010 at The Fairmont Chicago. The event features the annual State of the State of Tourism Address, many valuable sessions and a lineup of keynote speakers including Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, futurist Jim Carroll, and motivational speaker Mike Rayburn. The conference will conclude with the Illinois Excellence in Tourism awards luncheon Friday, February 19. In addition to the conference program, attendees to the Illinois Tourism Marketplace can meet with vendors and view unique products and services for the tourism industry. For questions, please contact Julie Elmore at (630) 730-1780, or at info@ilgovconference.com.

Tasty Catering honored for business ethics
Tasty Catering, a suburban-Chicago based corporate catering and event
planning company, has been named as one of the winners in The Chicago & Northern Illinois Better Business Bureaus' (BBB) thirteenth annual Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics. The Torch Awards spotlight five companies that exemplify ethical business practices.

The 2009 competition had the largest number of nominations and entries with more than 1,800 nominations from a wide variety of businesses

“Our company's success is due to a value proposition supported by our core values,” said Tasty Catering CEO Tom Walter   “We hold our vendors and clients to the same standards. The result is a flourishing business in a sea of trust."

Sheraton renovates Elk Grove Village hotel
Sheraton Suites Chicago Elk Grove has completed an $18 million renovation with newly designed guest rooms, lobby, restaurant, function space, lounge, and health club. The transformation is part of a larger, $6 billion worldwide effort to revitalize the Sheraton brand.

The newly renovated Elk Grove Village location will feature signature amenities and services of Sheraton’s revitalization program, including a re-designed lobby that features Sheraton’s “Link@SheratonSM experienced with Microsoft®.” This unique amenity offers a lobby lounge that enables today’s travelers to stay connected with instant access to information and technology for work, leisure and social networking. Designed as a social environment, The Link invites guests to interact with each other while they check their email, research local attractions and even print boarding passes using free Wi-Fi and Internet-enabled computer stations.

St. Charles CVB booking hotels for charity
The St. Charles Convention & Visitors Bureau has chosen the Wounded Warrior Project as its charity of choice for a year-long meeting incentive and winter leisure visitor campaign with hope that exposure for both not-for-profit organizations will help push forward the missions of each.

The Wounded Warrior Project raises awareness and enlists the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women.

The Bureau will be using the campaign to entice more leisure travelers to St. Charles as well. “Book a Room & Make a Difference” will send one dollar to the Wounded Warrior Project for every leisure hotel room booked at a St. Charles hotel between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2010. Visitors will learn about the promotion through print ads in AAA Living Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin; a radio schedule with Chicago’s country station US99, and eblasts the SCCVB will send to its database of 7000 loyal clients.

2008 was good year for suburban tourism
Tourism-generated revenue went up by the number of visitors’ spending in 2008, according to numbers just released from the Illinois Bureau of Tourism.

In 2008, Cook County ranked first in the state with visitor spending at $18.6 billion; DuPage County at $2.15 billion; Lake County at $1.09 billion; Will County at 589 million.

Visitors’ spending in Kendall County reflected a 5.7 percent increase, from $34 to $36 million, while in Kane County, visitor spending reached $398.77 million—up from $397.28 in 2008 (0.4% increase).

On the move…
Robb A. Rybicki has been appointed Director of Catering at the Eaglewood Resort & Spa in Itasca. Rybicki previously was director of catering and sales for Illinois Beach Resort and Conference Center, Zion

Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 (Archive on Tuesday, December 08, 2009)
Posted by jstoltz Contributed by jstoltz

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