Houston-based Benchmark Hospitality International, which manages 35 resorts, conference centers, and hotels nationwide, has acquired Seattle-based MTM Luxury Lodging, a hotel and asset management company specializing in full-service luxury hotels, it announced yesterday.
Based on the acquisition, which brings four existing managed properties into its portfolio, and a fifth that will soon begin construction, the company has launched a new luxury hotel collection, called the Personal Luxury Collection (PLC), that includes these five hotels, as well as eight other properties already managed by Benchmark.
"I am particularly pleased to announce this acquisition and the launch of our new Personal Luxury Collection, as they go hand in hand," said Benchmark Chairman and CEO Burt Cabañas, who recently was interviewed by Successful Meetings. "MTM has done an incredible job creating a group of high-end and highly customer-focused properties. They bring five superb small luxury hotels in terrific destinations to our company, as well as the opportunity to penetrate the Northwest. With this addition, it is the ideal time to launch our Personal Luxury Collection of 13 highly distinctive independent hotels."
MTM properties joining the Benchmark portfolio include: Hotel 1000 in Seattle; Sorrento Hotel, also in Seattle; Willows Lodge in Woodinville, Wash.; Bardessono in Yountville, Napa Valley, Calif.; and the new Bellevue Park Hotel, expected to open in 2013 in Bellevue, Wash.
Existing Benchmark properties that will be included in the PLC, meanwhile, are: Costa d'Este Beach Resort in Vero Beach, Fla.; Hotel 718, opening in Brooklyn, N.Y., in November 2011; Hotel Granduca in Houston; Marenas Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.; Naples Bay Resort in Naples, Fla.; Sorrell River Ranch in Moab, Utah; The Villas and Cottages at Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii; and The Villas of Grand Cypress in Orlando.
According to Benchmark, the PLC concept was founded on the premise that "luxury means different things to different people." Chosen for their "individual attentions, chef-driven cuisine and what our guests will define as pleasure, comfort, happiness, taste and escapism," its hotels will provide "distinctly individualized service products that reflect the unique preferences of each guest."
"Luxury is so much more than bricks and mortar and the best china and silver," Cabañas said. "It's what makes each guest feel expected and genuinely welcomed over and over again. MTM has demonstrated excellence in delivering this extraordinary level of service, and more importantly, they've refined the ability to make each person feel they are a guest in MTM's 'home.' That's a memorable and highly personalized welcome experience. It's why we're so pleased to have them join our company and the new Personal Luxury Collection."
For more information about Benchmark Hospitality and its new PLC, visit www.benchmarkhospitality.com.