Racing at Porsche driving school and a Bang & Olufsen home stereo system are among new items available, through Hyatt Gold Passport Exclusives™ Auction.
Beginning July 9 through July 18, 2007, Hyatt Gold Passport members will have the opportunity to use their points to bid on Hyatt Gold Passport Exclusives™ auction packages featuring some of the world’s finest products and most extraordinary experiences. This is the sixth Hyatt Gold Passport Exclusives auction since the program’s inception in November 2005 and features the most elaborate and lavish packages to date.
Available packages up for bid on www.Goldpassport.com/exclusives include:
Porsche Sport Driving School at the Barber Motor Sports Park (Birmingham, AL)
Thrill-seekers can master their driving skills with instruction from racing professionals at the Porsche Sport Driving School. This two-day high performance driving experience begins with classroom training outlining vehicle dynamics and driving technique, followed by time on the track and an off-road course.
The package includes:
* A two-day high-performance driving course for one participant
* The ability for a guest to join in classroom sessions and course time as a passenger during the track sessions
* All meals for both attendees during the two-day session
* Two-night accommodations at the Hyatt Place Birmingham/Inverness in Birmingham, AL.
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts® is an official sponsor of Porsche Motorsport and the Alex Job Racing Team. Learn more about the program at www.porschedriving.com.
Bang & Olufsen Home Stereo System
Bring home the world-class sound of Bang & Olufsen. The BeoSound 9000 six-CD changer integrates an AM/FM radio and the possibility for digital music playback. The sounds of the BeoSound 9000 can also be enriched with a set of unique BeoLab 6000 speakers. Both components are designed to adapt to a variety of placement alternatives, different ways of use, as well as to physical changes in the surrounding environment.
Bang & Olufsen products are available in select Park Hyatt® Hotels worldwide and Hyatt hotels in Asia and Europe.
Southern Hemisphere Ski Vacation (Santiago, Chile)
Hit the slopes of the Andes Mountains during a getaway for two people to Santiago, Chile. The trip includes two days of skiing at two of Chile’s finest ski resorts, plus a spa treatment to soothe aching muscles at AKO, the hotel’s spa\. This package also includes continental breakfast and evening cocktails in the Grand Club lounge, featuring stunning view of the snow-capped mountain range. At the end of the evening, unwind in the luxury of your Presidential Suite at the Grand Hyatt Santiago.
This package includes:
* Two lift tickets and round-trip transportation to Valle Nevado Ski Resort
* Two lift tickets and round-trip transportation to Portillo Ski Resort
* Choice of a 60-minute spa treatment per person: Swedish Massage or Lymphatic
* Treatment at AKO Spa
* Three-night accommodations at Grand Hyatt Santiago in the Presidential Suite
* Breakfast and evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Grand Club lounge
* Roundtrip airport transfers
Indulge at The Barai at the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, Thailand
Relax and unwind at one of Hyatt’s newest spas, The Barai at Hyatt Regency Hua Hin in Thailand. The spa, recently featured in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2007 Hot List, has been designed to ensure that guests enjoy the ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation of the mind and body. The Barai offers a selection of treatments based on the Thai belief of maintaining the vitality and balance of the four elements: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.
The package includes:
* Two consecutive nights accommodation in a Barai Balcony Suite for up to two guests
* One hour in-suite spa treatment per person per day: Aromatherapy or Thai Traditional
* Daily healthy breakfast at McFarland House or in-suite
* All-day tea and healthy beverages, and evening cocktails at McFarland House
* In-suite herbal steam bath
* Daily fresh tropical fruit and flowers
Barista for the Day with the Ultimate Starbucks Coffee Experience (Seattle, WA)
Unleash an inner barista with this package in Seattle, WA and enjoy a unique opportunity to get an insider look into Starbucks, coffee tasting and training as well as a chance to explore the magnificent Pacific Northwest.
This package includes:
* Three hours of coffee tasting and training with Starbucks Coffee specialists to learn how coffee is selected and tasted
* A behind-the-scenes tour of a Starbucks roasting plant with a Senior Coffee Education Specialist where guests can follow the beans from their arrival in burlap bags to the packaging of your favorite Starbucks coffee
* Starbucks Home Espresso maker complete with syrup and accessories to take home
* Two-night Executive Suite accommodation for two at the Grand Hyatt Seattle
* Full breakfast for two each day
* $100 gift certificate to a Tom Douglas restaurant
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
A380 world tour continues.
Airbus' A380 will embark for a series of demonstration tours starting on 30th August, key airports in South East Asia and the US will be visited -
The Asia-A380-tour will be conducted with flight-test-aircraft MSN (Manufacturer's Serial Number) 007, powered by four Rolls Royce Trend 900 engines. The world's largest and most innovative passenger jet flying today is equipped with a full passenger cabin, which can comfortably carry 520 passengers in an extra quiet and relaxing three-class cabin-environment.
The International Airports to be visited are:
* Thailand, Bangkok / Chiang Mai -- August 31 - September 2
* Vietnam, Hanoi -- September 2-3
* China, Hongkong (Asian Aerospace) -- September 3-5
* Korea, Seoul -- September 5-7.
The US-tour will take the A380 flight-test-aircraft MSN009, powered by four Engine Alliance GP7200 engines, to the United States. The visits are part of the ongoing route proving process for this aircraft/engine-combination. The aircraft, which has no passenger-cabin, is on static display at the following airports:
* Connecticut, Bradley International Airport (BDL) -- October 2-3
* Kentucky, Cincinnati/N. Kentucky Airport (CVG) -- October 3-4
* California, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) -- October 4-5.
Both demonstration tours are part of the extensive campaign to prepare the A380 for a smooth entry into service. Operating under typical airline conditions, both aircraft will undergo airport compatibility checks, ground handling and maintenance procedures to confirm its readiness to enter service. The A380 has already visited more than 45 airports and by 2011, more than 70 airports will be ready for A380 operations.
Total orders and commitments for the A380 are 173 by 14 customers. The first customer A380 will be delivered to Singapore Airlines in October. Subsequent aircraft, for delivery to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas, are also well on track.
The A380 will provide more comfort in every class and more open space for relaxation than any other aircraft. Passengers will enjoy a new way of flying while benefiting from the quietest cabin in the sky. The aircrafts‘ efficiency and advanced technologies will result in outstanding economics and higher operational flexibility as seat-mile costs are 20 percent lower and range 15 percent greater compared to today's existing large aircrafts.
Being cleaner, greener, quieter and smarter, the A380 is already setting new standards for transport and the environment. Per passenger, the A380 is as fuel efficient as a small economical family car. Requiring shorter runways for take off and landing, the A380 also provides vital extra passenger capacity without increasing the number of flights. So the aircraft is an ideal solution to today's congested airports.
The Asia-A380-tour will be conducted with flight-test-aircraft MSN (Manufacturer's Serial Number) 007, powered by four Rolls Royce Trend 900 engines. The world's largest and most innovative passenger jet flying today is equipped with a full passenger cabin, which can comfortably carry 520 passengers in an extra quiet and relaxing three-class cabin-environment.
The International Airports to be visited are:
* Thailand, Bangkok / Chiang Mai -- August 31 - September 2
* Vietnam, Hanoi -- September 2-3
* China, Hongkong (Asian Aerospace) -- September 3-5
* Korea, Seoul -- September 5-7.
The US-tour will take the A380 flight-test-aircraft MSN009, powered by four Engine Alliance GP7200 engines, to the United States. The visits are part of the ongoing route proving process for this aircraft/engine-combination. The aircraft, which has no passenger-cabin, is on static display at the following airports:
* Connecticut, Bradley International Airport (BDL) -- October 2-3
* Kentucky, Cincinnati/N. Kentucky Airport (CVG) -- October 3-4
* California, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) -- October 4-5.
Both demonstration tours are part of the extensive campaign to prepare the A380 for a smooth entry into service. Operating under typical airline conditions, both aircraft will undergo airport compatibility checks, ground handling and maintenance procedures to confirm its readiness to enter service. The A380 has already visited more than 45 airports and by 2011, more than 70 airports will be ready for A380 operations.
Total orders and commitments for the A380 are 173 by 14 customers. The first customer A380 will be delivered to Singapore Airlines in October. Subsequent aircraft, for delivery to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas, are also well on track.
The A380 will provide more comfort in every class and more open space for relaxation than any other aircraft. Passengers will enjoy a new way of flying while benefiting from the quietest cabin in the sky. The aircrafts‘ efficiency and advanced technologies will result in outstanding economics and higher operational flexibility as seat-mile costs are 20 percent lower and range 15 percent greater compared to today's existing large aircrafts.
Being cleaner, greener, quieter and smarter, the A380 is already setting new standards for transport and the environment. Per passenger, the A380 is as fuel efficient as a small economical family car. Requiring shorter runways for take off and landing, the A380 also provides vital extra passenger capacity without increasing the number of flights. So the aircraft is an ideal solution to today's congested airports.
Luxury hotel development may finally win approval (Santa Barbara News-Press, Calif.)
After 14 years of battles, setbacks and other delays, developer Fess Parker appears ready to get the green light to build his 150-room luxury hotel along the Santa Barbara waterfront, and construction might even start by year's end.
The visible homestretch of a long and often contentious journey, which began in 1993 when the city gave its original approval for the project, marks another victory for Mr. Parker, who admits that he enjoys engaging in epic battles to achieve his goals.
"I do love a good spat," Mr. Parker said during an exclusive interview held at the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. The Texas-born former actor, who gained fame by playing frontier heroes Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, celebrated his 84th birthday last week and expressed no desire to slip into a quiet retirement.
"People who have retired and who are not busy doing things are not long for this world," he said when asked why the new hotel was important to him and why he chose to keep working so hard. "I like what I do and I'm going to keep on doing it as long as I can."
Despite butting heads with many locals over this project during the past decade, Mr. Parker and the city actually had the same goal all along: to transform an unsightly parcel of waterfront land into an attractive, high-end hotel that would provide a boost to bed tax revenues. Santa Barbara still has room for another hotel that can command room rates above $300 a night, and Mr. Parker's new hotel will be a most welcome addition, according to several city officials and tourism experts.
"I'm very excited about it. It will be cleaning up an empty lot that attracts homeless people right now and is unsightly. So the hotel will be a vast improvement," said Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum. "It's a niche hotel that we don't have right now along the city waterfront. I think that's exciting for the city's bed taxes.
"And even more important than anything else is," she added, "it will enliven that part of the waterfront (near East Beach)."
In recent years, Santa Barbara's hotel inventory has experienced significant changes, especially in the luxury properties segment, said Shannon Brooks, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau and Film Commission.
"Our luxury offerings have strengthened considerably, which helps us retain market share given the competition presented by Southern California with several new coastal luxury resorts that have opened in Orange County and San Diego," Ms. Brooks explained.
The future waterfront hotel (that's just a working name as Mr. Parker has not yet given the project its formal moniker) will join an existing line of top-notch, beachside accommodations nearby, among them the Four Seasons The Biltmore Santa Barbara which recently completed a $260 million renovation, and Bacara -- both at the highest range for nightly room rates.
Not far behind in price and pampering is the remodeled and expanded Harbor View Inn near Stearns Wharf, plus Fess Parker's other hotel, the DoubleTree near East Beach.
Additional properties that are currently closed but plan to reopen in a couple of years with a big bang include El Encanto, owned by posh-property powerhouse Orient-Express, and the Miramar, with a long-awaited resurrection by developer Rick Caruso.
Regardless of the competition, Mr. Parker's waterfront hotel should do just fine, said several tourism professionals.
"All of our luxury hotels have a distinctive style of their own and cater to different clientele, so a new hotel can set itself apart and will complement other luxury offerings in our region," said Ms. Brooks.
Most important for Santa Barbara is the additional bed taxes that the waterfront hotel will contribute to city coffers. The Biltmore, Bacara and San Ysidro Ranch pay bed taxes to the county, not the city. (In Bacara's case, some of it goes to the city of Goleta.) Dave Davis -- former community development director of Santa Barbara who helped shape Chase Palm Park, Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort and the revitalization of downtown -- said the city has been waiting a long time for the waterfront hotel to open its doors.
"The city did a hotel economic study in the late '80s or so. And it found that even with the hotel that is now the DoubleTree, that didn't provide an anchor high-end hotel that the city needed. The study showed that there was still room for another four- or five-star hotel in the area," he explained.
Originally, the city envisioned the property where the DoubleTree now stands as the ideal location for the high-end hotel, Mr. Davis said.
Mr. Parker was looking for a hotel company to partner with him in the project but he insisted on keeping half of the ownership. That requirement drastically cut his chances of partnering with a well-known luxury brand, according to Mr. Davis.
Mr. Parker eventually hooked up with a big-name partner, but he ended up with the mid-level Red Lion chain. DoubleTree later purchased Red Lion, and the name was changed.
"Fess wanted a 50-50 partnership and none of the big (high-end) hotels would enter into that kind of deal," said Mr. Davis, who is now the executive director of the Community Environmental Council in Santa Barbara.
"He ended up partnering with the Red Lion, but the city really wanted a Biltmore."
The Red Lion made a tremendous leap in altering the image of Cabrillo Boulevard, in the late 1980s to early 1990s, a time, according to Mr. Davis, when the majority of hotel and motel properties on the street "were the pits."
"Now we're seeing all these renovations and upgrades over there. It took a decade to make those changes," he said. "Fess' new hotel is the last cornerstone of the plan to upgrade the hotels on Cabrillo. There is no other (vacant) land available for a new hotel."
Mr. Parker received approval from the city in 1993 to build a 150-room hotel on the site across from the DoubleTree, with the grand entrance at Calle César Chavez. He originally planned to put all of the parking underground, but later determined the cost to do so would make the project unfeasible.
He came back to the city asking to build a 225-room hotel instead, to help pay for the underground parking, but the city said he would have to go through the approval process all over again. Frustrated, Mr. Parker attempted to circumvent the planning process. He pursued a ballot initiative in 1999 asking voters to allow him to build the 225-room hotel. Santa Barbarans overwhelmingly voted "no." So Mr. Parker had to work with the city in finding a way to make a 150-room hotel work with the required parking.
Back in 1999, the estimated cost to build the 225-room hotel with parking underground was $58 million. Today's plan for a 150-room hotel, with all-valet parking at two locations off site on Calle César Chavez, is estimated at $90 million. Mr. Parker adds that the hotel is expected to contribute $1.5 million a year in bed taxes to the city.
As part of the original Waterfront hotel development agreement with the city, Mr. Parker agreed to donate five acres of property for a park that would eventually become Chase Palm Park. He also agreed to build a low-priced, 100-room hostel nearby.
Construction of a hostel was a requirement imposed by the California Coastal Commission, Mr. Davis said. When the city revised the land-use plan along Cabrillo Boulevard to allow the addition of a luxury hotel, the Coastal Commission insisted that a budget accommodation also be built nearby to "balance" the type of new lodgings around the beach.
"Fess had approval to build on 3 acres, but he was given the option of expanding it to 3.4 acres if he also built a hostel," Mr. Davis said. "It was his choice. And he chose to build on 3.4 acres, so that meant he had to do the hostel."
The hostel has essentially received its final approval, with only small details needed for a blessing from the Historic Landmarks Commission.
"Santa Barbara is not known for our budget accommodations," said Ms. Brooks from the visitors bureau. "And a new hostel would present our international visitors and the younger demographic with another option, making Santa Barbara more accessible to them."
On Wednesday, the Waterfront hotel design team goes before the Historic Landmarks Commission seeking approval for the final plans. Building permits have been applied for and construction could start by the end of the year.
If it does, said Mr. Parker, he anticipates opening the hotel in late 2009.
He still has not decided on the hotel's final name, however. But there are three things that will be part of the hotel's identification: 1) it will have a reference to the waterfront location and 2) it will include Santa Barbara.
Third, and perhaps most important of all, the hotel name will be prefaced with "Fess Parker."
The visible homestretch of a long and often contentious journey, which began in 1993 when the city gave its original approval for the project, marks another victory for Mr. Parker, who admits that he enjoys engaging in epic battles to achieve his goals.
"I do love a good spat," Mr. Parker said during an exclusive interview held at the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos. The Texas-born former actor, who gained fame by playing frontier heroes Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, celebrated his 84th birthday last week and expressed no desire to slip into a quiet retirement.
"People who have retired and who are not busy doing things are not long for this world," he said when asked why the new hotel was important to him and why he chose to keep working so hard. "I like what I do and I'm going to keep on doing it as long as I can."
Despite butting heads with many locals over this project during the past decade, Mr. Parker and the city actually had the same goal all along: to transform an unsightly parcel of waterfront land into an attractive, high-end hotel that would provide a boost to bed tax revenues. Santa Barbara still has room for another hotel that can command room rates above $300 a night, and Mr. Parker's new hotel will be a most welcome addition, according to several city officials and tourism experts.
"I'm very excited about it. It will be cleaning up an empty lot that attracts homeless people right now and is unsightly. So the hotel will be a vast improvement," said Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum. "It's a niche hotel that we don't have right now along the city waterfront. I think that's exciting for the city's bed taxes.
"And even more important than anything else is," she added, "it will enliven that part of the waterfront (near East Beach)."
In recent years, Santa Barbara's hotel inventory has experienced significant changes, especially in the luxury properties segment, said Shannon Brooks, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau and Film Commission.
"Our luxury offerings have strengthened considerably, which helps us retain market share given the competition presented by Southern California with several new coastal luxury resorts that have opened in Orange County and San Diego," Ms. Brooks explained.
The future waterfront hotel (that's just a working name as Mr. Parker has not yet given the project its formal moniker) will join an existing line of top-notch, beachside accommodations nearby, among them the Four Seasons The Biltmore Santa Barbara which recently completed a $260 million renovation, and Bacara -- both at the highest range for nightly room rates.
Not far behind in price and pampering is the remodeled and expanded Harbor View Inn near Stearns Wharf, plus Fess Parker's other hotel, the DoubleTree near East Beach.
Additional properties that are currently closed but plan to reopen in a couple of years with a big bang include El Encanto, owned by posh-property powerhouse Orient-Express, and the Miramar, with a long-awaited resurrection by developer Rick Caruso.
Regardless of the competition, Mr. Parker's waterfront hotel should do just fine, said several tourism professionals.
"All of our luxury hotels have a distinctive style of their own and cater to different clientele, so a new hotel can set itself apart and will complement other luxury offerings in our region," said Ms. Brooks.
Most important for Santa Barbara is the additional bed taxes that the waterfront hotel will contribute to city coffers. The Biltmore, Bacara and San Ysidro Ranch pay bed taxes to the county, not the city. (In Bacara's case, some of it goes to the city of Goleta.) Dave Davis -- former community development director of Santa Barbara who helped shape Chase Palm Park, Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort and the revitalization of downtown -- said the city has been waiting a long time for the waterfront hotel to open its doors.
"The city did a hotel economic study in the late '80s or so. And it found that even with the hotel that is now the DoubleTree, that didn't provide an anchor high-end hotel that the city needed. The study showed that there was still room for another four- or five-star hotel in the area," he explained.
Originally, the city envisioned the property where the DoubleTree now stands as the ideal location for the high-end hotel, Mr. Davis said.
Mr. Parker was looking for a hotel company to partner with him in the project but he insisted on keeping half of the ownership. That requirement drastically cut his chances of partnering with a well-known luxury brand, according to Mr. Davis.
Mr. Parker eventually hooked up with a big-name partner, but he ended up with the mid-level Red Lion chain. DoubleTree later purchased Red Lion, and the name was changed.
"Fess wanted a 50-50 partnership and none of the big (high-end) hotels would enter into that kind of deal," said Mr. Davis, who is now the executive director of the Community Environmental Council in Santa Barbara.
"He ended up partnering with the Red Lion, but the city really wanted a Biltmore."
The Red Lion made a tremendous leap in altering the image of Cabrillo Boulevard, in the late 1980s to early 1990s, a time, according to Mr. Davis, when the majority of hotel and motel properties on the street "were the pits."
"Now we're seeing all these renovations and upgrades over there. It took a decade to make those changes," he said. "Fess' new hotel is the last cornerstone of the plan to upgrade the hotels on Cabrillo. There is no other (vacant) land available for a new hotel."
Mr. Parker received approval from the city in 1993 to build a 150-room hotel on the site across from the DoubleTree, with the grand entrance at Calle César Chavez. He originally planned to put all of the parking underground, but later determined the cost to do so would make the project unfeasible.
He came back to the city asking to build a 225-room hotel instead, to help pay for the underground parking, but the city said he would have to go through the approval process all over again. Frustrated, Mr. Parker attempted to circumvent the planning process. He pursued a ballot initiative in 1999 asking voters to allow him to build the 225-room hotel. Santa Barbarans overwhelmingly voted "no." So Mr. Parker had to work with the city in finding a way to make a 150-room hotel work with the required parking.
Back in 1999, the estimated cost to build the 225-room hotel with parking underground was $58 million. Today's plan for a 150-room hotel, with all-valet parking at two locations off site on Calle César Chavez, is estimated at $90 million. Mr. Parker adds that the hotel is expected to contribute $1.5 million a year in bed taxes to the city.
As part of the original Waterfront hotel development agreement with the city, Mr. Parker agreed to donate five acres of property for a park that would eventually become Chase Palm Park. He also agreed to build a low-priced, 100-room hostel nearby.
Construction of a hostel was a requirement imposed by the California Coastal Commission, Mr. Davis said. When the city revised the land-use plan along Cabrillo Boulevard to allow the addition of a luxury hotel, the Coastal Commission insisted that a budget accommodation also be built nearby to "balance" the type of new lodgings around the beach.
"Fess had approval to build on 3 acres, but he was given the option of expanding it to 3.4 acres if he also built a hostel," Mr. Davis said. "It was his choice. And he chose to build on 3.4 acres, so that meant he had to do the hostel."
The hostel has essentially received its final approval, with only small details needed for a blessing from the Historic Landmarks Commission.
"Santa Barbara is not known for our budget accommodations," said Ms. Brooks from the visitors bureau. "And a new hostel would present our international visitors and the younger demographic with another option, making Santa Barbara more accessible to them."
On Wednesday, the Waterfront hotel design team goes before the Historic Landmarks Commission seeking approval for the final plans. Building permits have been applied for and construction could start by the end of the year.
If it does, said Mr. Parker, he anticipates opening the hotel in late 2009.
He still has not decided on the hotel's final name, however. But there are three things that will be part of the hotel's identification: 1) it will have a reference to the waterfront location and 2) it will include Santa Barbara.
Third, and perhaps most important of all, the hotel name will be prefaced with "Fess Parker."
Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley dies in Greenwich at 87 (The Stamford Advocate, Conn.)
Aug. 21--Dubbed the "Queen of Mean" by some but known as a generous benefactor to local nonprofit agencies, Leona Helmsley died yesterday at her backcountry Greenwich estate on Round Hill Road.
Mrs. Helmsley had been in declining health the past few weeks and died of heart failure yesterday morning, her New York publicist Howard Rubenstein said. She was 87.
Mrs. Helmsley and her late husband, Harry, carved out one of the most recognizable names in the hotel and real estate industry, though her own notoriety reached new heights following a 1989 tax evasion conviction for fraudulently billing $4 million in personal expenses, largely for renovations to her Dunnellen estate in Greenwich.
Former employees testified that Mrs. Helmsley was a mean-sprited Greenwich baroness who supposedly quipped that only "little people" pay taxes, though she denied making that statement.
After her imprisonment, including 18 months in federal prison in Bridgeport, Mrs. Helmsley stayed in the spotlight as she battled with contractors, business partners and others who said she had short-changed them in court. Mrs. Helmsley was acutely aware of her notoriety, though she and her supporters believed it was misplaced.
"She always said, 'I want what I'm owed, I want what's due to me,' " Rubenstein said. "A lot of times she would say to me, 'If I was a man, they wouldn't say this about me. They would just say that I'm tough.' "
Despite her litigious and combative reputation, Helmsley also left a philanthropic streak that in some cases was unrivaled. Her $10 million contribution to Greenwich Hospital, which came after her late husband was hospitalized there, remains the largest single donation, hospital president Frank Corvino said.
The money was used to open the Leona and Harry B. Helmsley Medical Building in 1999. Over the years, Mrs. Helmsley donated an additional $4 million.
"Now and then, we would request financial donation for certain things," Corvino said. "Sometimes a check would arrive unsolicited."
Mrs. Helmsley was known to be cordial and generous to charities and nonprofits that came calling, including the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Co., which received $33,000 in donations during the past two years, said Ron Brien, a fire company board member. Brien met Mrs. Helmsley at a Manhattan party hosted by Rubenstein and who also shared with her an affiliation with the UJA-Federation of New York.
"She was always philanthropic with UJA and she was always supportive of Round Hill and so we only have good things to say about her," Brien said.
Mrs. Helmsley was born July 4, 1920, in Ulster County, N.Y., to the late Ida and Morris Rosenthal. A former model who later worked as a real estate broker, she was married and divorced twice. Her first marriage resulted in her only child, Jay Panzirer, who died in 1982 of a heart attack.
Mrs. Helmsley met and married Harry Helmsley in 1972. Eight years later, she was named president of Helmsley Hotels, famously marketing herself as a "queen" who stood guard over the couple's hotels and made sure they maintained a high level of service.
She bragged about her attention to detail in a 1985 interview with Savvy magazine.
"I know if a bulb is out in Room 14 of the Harley (hotel) before the manager does," she said. "I know if there's a torn pillowcase at a suite in the Palace. I read every card guests filled out from every one of the hotel, especially the negative ones. And I answer them personally."
In April, 1988 "the billionaire baron and baroness of the hotel industry" -- as a story in Los Angeles Times called them -- stood accused in federal and state indictments of evading $4 million in income taxes between June 1983 and April 1986.
A year later -- in August 1989 -- 69-year-old Mrs. Helmsley was found guilty of 33 felony counts, including tax evasion, filing false tax returns and mail fraud. She was convicted of evading $1.2 million in federal income taxes by charging personal expenses to Helmsley-controlled companies.
Harry Helmsley was found incompetent to stand trial because of his failing memory.
Much of the two-month trial focused on references to the couple's luxurious lifestyle and Mrs. Helmsley's imperious personality.
In 1992, after being freed on $25 million bail, Mrs. Helmsley began serving a four-year sentence for income tax fraud at a medium-security prison in Lexington, Ky.
"I'll do what I have to do to get back to Harry and to get on with my life," said Mrs. Helmsley, who served less than two years and reportedly paid about $8 million fines and restitution.
In 1983, the Helmsleys purchased a country home in Greenwich for $11 million, a real estate record at the time.
The estate, which the Greenwich tax assessor values at $13 million, is perhaps one of the best known in town, dating to 1916 when Daniel Grey Reid, president of the American Tin Plate Co., commissioned it at a cost of $1 million for his daughter upon her marriage to Henry Topping, a steel magnate's son, according to "The Great Estates, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1880-1930."
When the Helmsleys moved to Round Hill Road, they befriended neighbor Adie von Gontard, who said one of the first things the couple asked for was advice on what local charities to support.
"She had no wrinkles on her heart," von Gontard, 82, said. "She was an asset to us in Greenwich. I hate to lose her."
In their heyday, the Helmsleys were particularly social, attending parties at von Gontard's home or holding their own, most famously the "I'm Just Wild About Harry" parties.
"She loved to dance," Rubenstein said. "They were terrific dancers. She and Harry were about the best dancers I ever saw."
But after she was sent to prison and later when Harry Helmsley died in 1997, Leona Helmsley retreated into her own world, emerging at times to mark her birthday with outdoor outings on her Greenwich estate.
Recently, though, her health began to decline. A neighbor said she would sometimes see Mrs. Helmsley drive about the sprawling 26-acre estate on a golf cart with a nurse or an employee, inspecting her property.
Mrs. Helmsley is survived her brother Alvin Rosenthal, four grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Rubenstein said the funeral will be private, though a public memorial service is in the works and will probably occur a month from now.
The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper, contributed to this story.
Mrs. Helmsley had been in declining health the past few weeks and died of heart failure yesterday morning, her New York publicist Howard Rubenstein said. She was 87.
Mrs. Helmsley and her late husband, Harry, carved out one of the most recognizable names in the hotel and real estate industry, though her own notoriety reached new heights following a 1989 tax evasion conviction for fraudulently billing $4 million in personal expenses, largely for renovations to her Dunnellen estate in Greenwich.
Former employees testified that Mrs. Helmsley was a mean-sprited Greenwich baroness who supposedly quipped that only "little people" pay taxes, though she denied making that statement.
After her imprisonment, including 18 months in federal prison in Bridgeport, Mrs. Helmsley stayed in the spotlight as she battled with contractors, business partners and others who said she had short-changed them in court. Mrs. Helmsley was acutely aware of her notoriety, though she and her supporters believed it was misplaced.
"She always said, 'I want what I'm owed, I want what's due to me,' " Rubenstein said. "A lot of times she would say to me, 'If I was a man, they wouldn't say this about me. They would just say that I'm tough.' "
Despite her litigious and combative reputation, Helmsley also left a philanthropic streak that in some cases was unrivaled. Her $10 million contribution to Greenwich Hospital, which came after her late husband was hospitalized there, remains the largest single donation, hospital president Frank Corvino said.
The money was used to open the Leona and Harry B. Helmsley Medical Building in 1999. Over the years, Mrs. Helmsley donated an additional $4 million.
"Now and then, we would request financial donation for certain things," Corvino said. "Sometimes a check would arrive unsolicited."
Mrs. Helmsley was known to be cordial and generous to charities and nonprofits that came calling, including the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Co., which received $33,000 in donations during the past two years, said Ron Brien, a fire company board member. Brien met Mrs. Helmsley at a Manhattan party hosted by Rubenstein and who also shared with her an affiliation with the UJA-Federation of New York.
"She was always philanthropic with UJA and she was always supportive of Round Hill and so we only have good things to say about her," Brien said.
Mrs. Helmsley was born July 4, 1920, in Ulster County, N.Y., to the late Ida and Morris Rosenthal. A former model who later worked as a real estate broker, she was married and divorced twice. Her first marriage resulted in her only child, Jay Panzirer, who died in 1982 of a heart attack.
Mrs. Helmsley met and married Harry Helmsley in 1972. Eight years later, she was named president of Helmsley Hotels, famously marketing herself as a "queen" who stood guard over the couple's hotels and made sure they maintained a high level of service.
She bragged about her attention to detail in a 1985 interview with Savvy magazine.
"I know if a bulb is out in Room 14 of the Harley (hotel) before the manager does," she said. "I know if there's a torn pillowcase at a suite in the Palace. I read every card guests filled out from every one of the hotel, especially the negative ones. And I answer them personally."
In April, 1988 "the billionaire baron and baroness of the hotel industry" -- as a story in Los Angeles Times called them -- stood accused in federal and state indictments of evading $4 million in income taxes between June 1983 and April 1986.
A year later -- in August 1989 -- 69-year-old Mrs. Helmsley was found guilty of 33 felony counts, including tax evasion, filing false tax returns and mail fraud. She was convicted of evading $1.2 million in federal income taxes by charging personal expenses to Helmsley-controlled companies.
Harry Helmsley was found incompetent to stand trial because of his failing memory.
Much of the two-month trial focused on references to the couple's luxurious lifestyle and Mrs. Helmsley's imperious personality.
In 1992, after being freed on $25 million bail, Mrs. Helmsley began serving a four-year sentence for income tax fraud at a medium-security prison in Lexington, Ky.
"I'll do what I have to do to get back to Harry and to get on with my life," said Mrs. Helmsley, who served less than two years and reportedly paid about $8 million fines and restitution.
In 1983, the Helmsleys purchased a country home in Greenwich for $11 million, a real estate record at the time.
The estate, which the Greenwich tax assessor values at $13 million, is perhaps one of the best known in town, dating to 1916 when Daniel Grey Reid, president of the American Tin Plate Co., commissioned it at a cost of $1 million for his daughter upon her marriage to Henry Topping, a steel magnate's son, according to "The Great Estates, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1880-1930."
When the Helmsleys moved to Round Hill Road, they befriended neighbor Adie von Gontard, who said one of the first things the couple asked for was advice on what local charities to support.
"She had no wrinkles on her heart," von Gontard, 82, said. "She was an asset to us in Greenwich. I hate to lose her."
In their heyday, the Helmsleys were particularly social, attending parties at von Gontard's home or holding their own, most famously the "I'm Just Wild About Harry" parties.
"She loved to dance," Rubenstein said. "They were terrific dancers. She and Harry were about the best dancers I ever saw."
But after she was sent to prison and later when Harry Helmsley died in 1997, Leona Helmsley retreated into her own world, emerging at times to mark her birthday with outdoor outings on her Greenwich estate.
Recently, though, her health began to decline. A neighbor said she would sometimes see Mrs. Helmsley drive about the sprawling 26-acre estate on a golf cart with a nurse or an employee, inspecting her property.
Mrs. Helmsley is survived her brother Alvin Rosenthal, four grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Rubenstein said the funeral will be private, though a public memorial service is in the works and will probably occur a month from now.
The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper, contributed to this story.
Hotel toothpaste recalled over toxic concerns
A leading supplier of toiletries for luxury hotels today recalled complimentary tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste worldwide after tests showed some contain a potentially toxic chemical.
It was the latest in a series of recalls of Chinese-made goods - toothpaste, children's toys, tyres and pet food - because of shoddy and perhaps dangerous manufacturing methods.
Gilchrist & Soames said it is recalling its 18-gram tubes with the name Gilchrist & Soames on it. The company today said some samples showed the tubes contained diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze that can be toxic to the kidneys and liver.
"They're just kind of the little complimentary size you get in the hotels, and it's branded Gilchrist & Soames," said Cindy Duran, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Indianapolis.
Gilchrist & Soames bills itself as "the only branded toiletries company dedicated to the luxury hotel market," according to its website. It serves The Greenbrier in West Virginia, The Properties at Pebble Beach in California and Plaza on the River in London, among other locations.
The toothpaste was made in China by Ming Fai Enterprises International Co Ltd.
The Food and Drug Administration is not aware of any US reports of poisonings from the toothpaste, according to a statement from the company.
China has come under fire in recent months after potentially dangerous levels of chemicals and toxins were found in some of its exports. A long list of products, from seafood to toothpaste, have been recalled or rejected by a number of countries worried about safety.
Gilchrist & Soames said it recalled toothpaste from hotels in Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Turks & Caicos, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States, and asked hotels to destroy any remaining inventory.
It was the latest in a series of recalls of Chinese-made goods - toothpaste, children's toys, tyres and pet food - because of shoddy and perhaps dangerous manufacturing methods.
Gilchrist & Soames said it is recalling its 18-gram tubes with the name Gilchrist & Soames on it. The company today said some samples showed the tubes contained diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze that can be toxic to the kidneys and liver.
"They're just kind of the little complimentary size you get in the hotels, and it's branded Gilchrist & Soames," said Cindy Duran, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Indianapolis.
Gilchrist & Soames bills itself as "the only branded toiletries company dedicated to the luxury hotel market," according to its website. It serves The Greenbrier in West Virginia, The Properties at Pebble Beach in California and Plaza on the River in London, among other locations.
The toothpaste was made in China by Ming Fai Enterprises International Co Ltd.
The Food and Drug Administration is not aware of any US reports of poisonings from the toothpaste, according to a statement from the company.
China has come under fire in recent months after potentially dangerous levels of chemicals and toxins were found in some of its exports. A long list of products, from seafood to toothpaste, have been recalled or rejected by a number of countries worried about safety.
Gilchrist & Soames said it recalled toothpaste from hotels in Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Turks & Caicos, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States, and asked hotels to destroy any remaining inventory.
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