Tourism facilities in Cayman take a fashion step forward with the announcement that the new Dart hotel at the reconfigured Public Beach area of Seven Mile Beach will be a Kimpton hotel.
Kimpton is a US chain coming out of San Francisco (style points start here) and known for their trendy restaurants and sense of fun.
We took an e-stroll through their website and were impressed with several cool features including their green certifications and their friendly and casual style. Kimpton also allows pets of any size or kind and features innovative touches such as yoga mats in every room. This takes us into the realm of Lonely Planet prestige. Not the budget Lonely Planet but the fun and interesting flash-packer Lonely Planet. Until now, Cayman has had a more professional and reserved feel to its hotels. The new Kimpton hotel will bring a more chic and hip vibe to our hotel scene.
Why do we care? Because Cayman’s hotels have always been very friendly to locals. We enjoy Sunday brunches at their waterfront restaurants, hold wedding receptions in their facilities, refresh ourselves at their swim-up in-pool bars after walking the beach and even stage important polictial meetings in their conference rooms. We go to happy hour at their bars, shop in their clothing stores, arrange birthday parties at their restaurants, and rent kayaks from their watersports concessions. Kimpton bills itself as “boutique” perhaps not in size, but in personality. This is the kind of hotel we welcome in Cayman, one that fits into our sense of community where locals and tourists mix readily.
There are several other features of this new hotel that we are eager to see in person. A cascading pool and spa will be designed into the waterfront area There will be numerous restaurants and a sky bar on the top floor of the 10 storey hotel. The restaurants will be in the celebrity chef genre – this has worked very welll in Cayman at the Ritz-Carlton’s restaurants. And the overall design and planning is touted to be eco-friendly.
The location of the new Kimpton hotel is already stunning. When finished, the hotel should be unparalleled for beauty, interest, appeal and jole de vivre we are looking forward to the opening in 2016.