How Many New Luxury Hotels are on the Way?

Last night, the new ‘W’ hotel hosted its official grand opening, introducing the throngs, and at least one starlet,  to its White House views, neon-illuminated ceiling, celebrity chef-run steakhouse and general $100 million transformation.

And then hotel CEO Frits van Paasschen—he runs Starwood Hotels which owns the “W” chain—said that he’d like to see another W in Washington soon. Hell, maybe a couple!

“The company sees some cities as prime candidates for a more expansive rollout of the W brand, such as what exists in New York City, where there are five. D.C. is among the markets van Paasschen sees as being able to handle multiple Ws,” the Washington Business Journal reports.

The statement, at this point, is a little yawn-inducing…if not possibly impractical?

Every time I turn around, there’s another luxury hotel in the works. Let us count now:

• In Adams Morgan, there’s a hotel planned the corner of Champlain and Euclid Streets.

• On U Street, there’s a hotel planned for the corner of U and 13th Streets.

• The Franklin School building downtown could go hotel.

• The Jefferson Hotel on 16th Street just reopened.

• The neighbors in the West End are dying for a boutique hotel in the old Stevens School.

• One finalist to redevelop Hine Junior High School pitched a Kimpton Hotel for the Eastern Market area (…but they didn’t win the site, after all).