Preferred Hotels® & Resorts Worldwide, a prestigious brand of more than 116 distinctive, independent luxury hotels and resorts has extended its member collection with the addition of three new properties: St. Julien Hotel in Boulder, Colorado; Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Ft. Myers, Florida; and the Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach, California.
“Preferred is proud to welcome these three distinctive hotels to our membership portfolio,” said Rob Cornell, Managing Director of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “As the Preferred brand continues to grow worldwide and throughout North America, visitors to these key markets can now be assured of travel experiences that are unparalleled in superior quality and service.
Membership in Preferred is restricted to independently owned, full-service luxury hotels, resorts and spas. Preferred considers top-caliber properties for membership that meet and exceed the high operational levels required by Preferred’s Standards of Excellenceä, an award-winning, proprietary quality assurance audit that annually measures and monitors 1,600 aspects of a property’s service delivery and facilities.

Prospective Preferred member hotels are evaluated on such elements as geographic location, building architecture and design, grounds and landscaping, interior design, guest rooms and common areas, bathroom features, staffing levels, food and beverage facilities, room service, engineering and safety, health and fitness facilities, business services, and conference/meeting facilities.

The newest Preferred member hotels are:
St. Julien Hotel, Boulder, Colorado
Considered for years the last great opportunity site in downtown Boulder, St. Julien Hotel is located within walking distance of Boulder’s major tourist and central business districts and offers unobstructed and unmatched views of the city’s signature Mountain Range—the Flatirons. The four-story, 150,000-square-foot full-service hotel is architecturally inspired by the Arts and Crafts era, and has the ‘look and feel’ of indigenous local materials such as granite, sandstone and slate. The 200 guest rooms and suites will be “mountain luxury” in design, featuring only the most superior and luxurious amenities. The full-service spa at St. Juilen will house twelve treatment rooms plus a salon, men and women’s sauna and steam rooms, an indoor pool with sundeck and a separate fitness area. State-of-the-art conference space and one of the largest meeting facilities within the city of Boulder will accommodate groups of up to 400 people. The 4,800-square-feet ballroom is easily divided into three separate rooms, plus three additional meeting rooms. The hotel’s restaurant, fashioned after a Colorado bistro, hosts an atmosphere of casual elegance. With a separate entrance, it will be enjoyed by both hotel guests and local diners. Spacious terraces offer spectacular views. The property is scheduled to open January 2004. Their membership officially begins on August 1, 2003.

Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa, Ft. Myers, Florida
A waterfront resort situated on more than 85 acres, the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa is a tropical oasis that embraces the beauty of flourishing mangroves and gardens. Originally built in 1988 and renovated in 2002, the property boasts four buildings with accommodations including a 107 room “boutique” inn, 51 condominiums (two buildings) and a main hotel with 242 rooms. The Spa at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa is a 40,000-square-foot facility offering over 60 different treatments. For sport, the resort features a championship tennis complex with nine newly resurfaced tennis courts, a racquet club (named one of the “Ultimate Tennis Resorts in America” by Racquet Magazine), a golf course, six swimming pools, a bayside beach and a 19-slip marina. Children can enjoy daily educational adventure activities through the hotel’s Kid’s Club. The hotel also offers kayaking, pool floats and fishing aboard the Sanibel Harbour Princess, a 100-foot private luxury yacht. Additionally, the yacht offers elegant sunset dinner cruises each evening with panoramic views of the Florida Gulf Coast. Guests can also experience a variety of dining pleasures at one of six restaurants and lounges on the hotel grounds.

Montage Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach, California
Situated on a coastal bluff in the middle of the artistic, eclectic town of Laguna Beach, Montage Resort & Spa has been hailed as “the single best beachfront property in the U.S.” Settled on 30-acres of ultra luxurious beachfront property the newly opened Montage Resort & Spa features 262 guest rooms including 51 suites. Each guest room and suite offers turn-of-the-century style accommodations complete with custom dark wood furnishings, muted tranquil hues and authentic early California artwork. Additionally, rooms feature feathertop beds, private balconies or patios, high-speed Internet access, voicemail, a flat screen television and DVD/CD player. The meeting facilities feature a Grand Ballroom with capacity of up to 500, a Gallery Ballroom for up to 250, a Pacific Lawn for 325 and an Ocean Lawn for up to 360 guests. The 20,000-square-foot spa facility offers 22 treatment rooms, a signature couples suite, floor-to-ceiling open-air windows offering panoramic views of the ocean, an expansive fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, a mosaic infinity pool, a lap-pool and a children’s pool. At ‘Studio’ the resort’s signature oceanside restaurant, guests can enjoy awe-inspiring panoramic views of the Pacific while expansive open-air windows offer refreshing ocean breezes. Two custom-built wine vaults present guests with a selection of more than 2,000 fine wines.

Reservations for any of these hotels and resorts can be made by contacting the Preferred reservations office at (800) 323-7500 or by visiting the Web site at www. Preferredhotels.com

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