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5/10/2010 - It List 2010 - St. Regis Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii
Travel + Leisure
When St. Regis announced its takeover of the Princeville Resort —and its plan to transform the 25-year-old property, redesigning the pool and adding a spa—we hoped that the cliff-top hotel would retain more than just its prime position overlooking Hanalei Bay. The resort doesn’t disappoint: 400 staffers (some with more than 25 years at the hotel) are still the best on the island, and now Jean-Georges Vongerichten has taken over the already popular Kauai Grill. Our favorite in-room amenity in the 252 plush rooms is the bathtub set next to floor-to-ceiling windows; the flick of a switch turns the glass opaque for privacy. Doubles from $435.
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5/6/2010 - BIA's best also indulges environment
Honolulu Star Bulletin
Stunning, environmentally conscious, and innovative new construction and remodeling work and the people behind it were honored at the 25th annual Building Industry Association of Hawaii Renaissance Awards gala last night. Overall grand award, new commercial construction: WATG (Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo Inc.) and Nordic PCL Construction Inc. were awarded for the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club, Phase 4. Overall grand award, commercial remodeling: WATG won a solo award for the rebranded St. Regis Princeville Resort, where its task was to meet the client's standard of luxury while infusing the property with a culturally sensitive, Hawaiian residential look and feel.
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4/1/2010 - The Latest Hospitality Design Trend: Bling Has Blung
Hospitality Style
WATG's renovation of Hawaii's St. Regis Princeville shows how the language of luxury contemporary hotel design is changing. Out went tons of polished marble, ornate railings and chandeliers, European themed furniture and artwork, and gilded Corinthian columns. Instead, the designers repositioned the Hawaiian property to reflect its locale through the use of indigenous materials, paintings and sculpture by local artists, and custom-designed carpets and furnishings with a residential feel that exude warmth and hospitality.
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4/5/2010 - Heavenly Hawaii: Kauai's revamped St. Regis Princeville shows you really can have it all
Los Angeles Times
The most northern of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is renowned for its incredible beauty, and the island's North Shore is a tropical paradise. Strolling the manicured grounds of the renovated St. Regis Princeville Resort, I find others equally dazzled. "This is everyone's dream of what Hawaii is supposed to look like," sighs New York honeymooner Naitik Patel, as he sips an 18-year-old single-malt scotch at the bar. Leading hospitality design firm WATG took 14 months to plan the transformation of a trio of low-slung, mid-80s buildings that step down the steep hillside to Hanalei Bay. The redesign included the entry, lobby, bar, ballroom and all 252 guest rooms—51 of which are ocean-view suites. Added were the Young Voyager Club, a 10,000-square-foot spa and a stylish revamped restaurant featuring the cuisine of three-Michelin-star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
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4/1/2010 - Goodbye Glitz
Hospitality Style
Bling has blung. Designers will have to learn a new language of luxury that's more about comfort and welcome than overindulgence. Luxury hospitality has been hit harder by the worldwide financial disruption than any other segments of the hotel business. According to Mark Lomanno of STR (Smith Travel Research), it may rebound the quickest, but it has the farthest to go. While all indications are that affluent travelers will indeed return, what they will be hoping to find in the hotels and resorts they visit will have morphed in a number of subtle ways. Shifting perceptions about luxury will account for changes that we are already seeing in high-end hospitality design. To the extent that conspicuous consumption and ostentatious décor might be considered bad form in a global recession -- where so many people and businesses have been hard hit -- design aesthetics will be tamped down in new and renovated properties, thereby changing the look and reconsidering the definition of luxury.
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11/23/2009 - WATG-designed St. Regis Princeville renovated to Hawaiian glory
Sleeper Magazine
St. Regis Princeville has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation that has seen its 252 guestrooms and 51 ocean view suites redesigned by WATG.
Situated on the island of Kauai, the hotel was previously a Starwood Luxury Collection brand but has been revamped to bring a residential feel to the interiors in an attempt to reflect Hawaii's natural surroundings. The transformation marks the debut of the St. Regis brand in Hawaii.
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11/22/2009 - Kaua'i Grill opens at St. Regis
GardenIsland.com
PRINCEVILLE - Red hibiscus glass doors hint of the "quiet elegance" that greets patrons as they enter the new Kaua'i Grill restaurant at the St. Regis Princeville Resort, said WATG Vice President and Director of Interiors Rhonda Rasmussen.
Rich, warm colors have transformed the former La Cascata Mediterranean-style restaurant to something which "feels more like Hawai'i ... relaxed, but still luxurious," said Rasmussen, who used the same approach to design the entire resort.
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11/18/2009 - Rhonda Rasmussen Project: St. Regis Princeville Resort
New Look Magazine
From the start, creating the St. Regis brand's first hotel in Hawaii out of the former Princeville Resort on the island of Kauai was going to be no small feat. But Rhonda Rasmussen, vp and director of of interior design for WATG was certainly up for the task of transforming the hotel into a new one-of-a-kind destination.
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10/16/2009 - St Regis Princeville opens after US multi-million dollar makeover
Hotel Designs
Situated on the island of Kauai, the resort has undergone a US multi-million dollar renovation, transforming it into a resort that was designed to reflect the land and culture of the area.
Redesigned in collaboration with hotel design firm WATG and local Hawaiian architecture firm Group 70, the resort features 252 guestrooms, including 51 ocean view suites. The St Regis also features a spa, golf courses and restaurants.
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10/5/2009 - St. Regis Princeville reopens on Kauai
Hawaii Magazine
After a year and $100 million renovation, Kauai's luxury Princeville Resort has reopened.
Now branded as a St. Regis, the hotel began receiving guests Oct. 1 and last night threw itself an opening gala.
The resort looks spectacular for a night arrival, as you can see from the picture above.
HAWAII Magazine flew over the event, which was attended by hundreds of invited guests, assorted dignitaries and people involved in the project.
Among them was the designer responsible for the hotel's new look, Rhonda Rasmussen of Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo.
Rasmussen was still working, staying up late to do last-minute tweaks on the décor when most guests were asleep. She also has a few major suites to finish. We congratulated her on the warmth she'd brought to the property. We never liked its former expanses of marble, grand but hardly welcoming. "Ah, that was the style in the '80s," she said. "We wanted more of a Hawaiian residential feel." Now there's plenty of wood, bamboo flooring, koa furniture, warm earth tones.
Which is not to say there aren't luxury touches, including Italian gold leaf on the walls of the entry and a chandelier, meant to mimic the area's waterfalls, made from 4,225 hand blown pieces of Murano glass.
The rooms are as spacious and comfortable as ever, now filled with Hawaiian-style materials, but they keep one notable feature of the old Princeville Resort. The shower has a large picture window, through which you can look out across the room to the large windows on the hotel’s spectacular view of Hanalei Bay and the mountains beyond. (If you're feeling modest, flick a switch and the shower window clouds up.)
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9/21/2009 - The Princeville Resort Becomes the First St. Regis in Hawaii
Elite Traveler
The St. Regis Princeville Resort marks the legendary brand's first resort in Hawaii and introduces an unparalleled level of sophistication and serene luxury to one of the most remarkable destinations in the world. Opening October 1, 2009, following a multi-million dollar renovation, this treasured resort has been transformed into an elegant reflection of its island home, paying homage to the land and culture. The exclusive resort will introduce the pre-eminent services and amenities of the iconic St. Regis brand, including The St. Regis Butler service, the new Halelea Spa and the introduction of Kauai Grill, a signature restaurant by world renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
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