Quote:
Originally Posted by cardeza
we had a st regis but its now the westin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller
No, it was a Ritz Carlton before it was a Westin
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Cardeza is correct. The Ritz-Carlton became a St. Regis (c. 1999) before Westin, although if you blinked you may have missed it (it lasted 7-1/2 months).
The Philadelphia Inquirer
15 Feb 1999, Mon • Page E1, E11
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6963...adelphia-1999/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6964...adelphia-1999/
--quote--
Starwood said that by Jan. 1 [2000] it would convert what is now the Ritz-Carlton at 17th and Chestnut Streets, a building Starwood owns, into the St. Regis Philadelphia Hotel. The Ritz is to reopen in mid-2000 in the former Two Mellon Center-Girard Bank complex on South Broad Street between South Penn Square and Chestnut Street.
For the record, the changeover to St Regis occurred July 1, 1999. On or about Feb 15, 2000 it changed again to Westin under the same owner, Starwood. At the time Starwood was also contemplating construction of a W Hotel on the former NewMarket site.
Hotel to get third name within a year - Inquirer 1999
The Philadelphia Inquirer
28 Dec 1999, Tue • Page E1, E10
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6964...within-a-year/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6964...within-a-year/
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The Philadelphia Inquirer
20 Feb 2000, Sun • Page J1
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6963...liberty-place/
The Scene column
--quote--
Check out the confusion Ask a taxi driver to take you to the hotel at Liberty Place. "The Ritz-Carlt uh, the St. Regis uh, how about the Westin?" Yes, as of today, the hotel on 17th Street near Chestnut is the Westin Philadelphia. Not to be confused with the Westin Suites by Philadelphia International Airport which is not a Westin anymore anyway; it's a Sheraton. Wait, wait, you say. There was a Sheraton right there on Route 291! That Sheraton just became a Four Points. Credit for the confusion goes to the hotels' owner, Starwood, which says it needed to rename in the interest of branding; those coveted business travelers seem to know Westin and not St. Regis, whose name was on the facade for a mere 7 months. (The "Regis" in there must have been its undoing: Is this your final name?) Meanwhile, the Ritz-Carlton, which Starwood does not own, is poised to resurface in the spring on Broad Street between City Hall and Chestnut Street. We hear that among the new Ritz's perks will be butler-drawn baths in tubs that offer city views. Outward, we presume.