September hotel update: Hottest openings

USA TODAY

It’s been a tough summer for the hotel industry in certain parts of the world, with hurricanes and earthquakes pulling them into crisis mode.

Nonetheless, the industry is still thriving overall and new buzz-worthy hotels have opened in recent months.

Here are a few notable ones.

Intercontinental Los Angeles

This downtown L.A. hotel is the tallest building west of Chicago. It’s also the largest InterContinental hotel in the Americas. The building is 1,100 feet tall and 73 stories. It has 889 guest rooms including 110 suites.

Dining options include La Boucherie on 71, a high-end French-inspired steakhouse, and Spire 73 – the tallest open-air bar in the western hemisphere located on the 73rd floor, according to InterContinental Hotels Group.

The hotel has 94,977 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting and event spaces, including a 21,379-square-foot ballroom and a Club InterContinental Lounge.

The property is also the first LEED-Gold Certified for Building Design and Construction in downtown Los Angeles.

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MADE Hotel in NYC

This 18-story, 108-room hotel is located in New York’s up and coming NoMad neighborhood.

The property has a communal coffee shop called Paper, a lobby bar, a rooftop venue with panoramic views, and a fine dining establishment.

Good Behavior, the rooftop bar, is located on the 18th floor and has views of the Empire State Building. Ferris, the restaurant, serves a new American menu with seasonal and vegetable focused dishes.

Guest rooms are minimalist with custom raw-bronze shelving and handwoven fabrics and a day bed platform.

Nobu Hotel Ryokan

This hotel is a re-make of the 1950’s beach hotel Casa Malibu. It is meant to evoke the feeling of a traditional Japanese Inn. Hence, the name Ryokan.

The hotel only has 17 rooms, each decorated in teak, bronze and limestone. They each have skylights to bring in natural light.

Nobu Ryokan Malibu is the first of the Nobu Ryokan Collection, a group of boutique hotels owned by celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro, and others.

Other Nobu properties include Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace, and Nobu Hotel City of Dreams in Manila. Nobu Hotels will expand this year with properties in Chicago, London, Riyadh, Los Cabos, and Bahrain.

The Grove Resort & Spa Orlando

This 106-acre property is just minutes away from Walt Disney World on Lake Austin. It has 878 residential-style suites. The property has three swimming pools, a spa, fitness center, two bars and lounges, a large-scale grab-and-go outlet, a lakefront pier with watersports, and a children’s game room.

It will also soon have an on-site water park with a dual rider surf simulator, winding river, and multiple water slides.

The hotel is just three miles from Disney’s Western Way entrance on the rapidly growing west side of the park.

For adults, luxury shopping is located nearby, with stores such as Gucci, Valentino, and Bottega Veneta.

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