CAPELLA WASHINGTON D . C ., GEORGETOWN
DESIGN : CAPELLA GEORGETOWN
CAPELLA GEORGETOWN AIMS TO
OPENING DATE : April 3 , 2013
DELIVER BOTH ELEGANCE AND COMFORT .
GUESTROOMS : 49
LOCATION : The Georgetown area of Washington , D . C ., bordering the historic C & O Canal and offering easy access to nearby landmarks including the National Mall , U . S . Capitol and White House
GENERAL MANAGER : Alex Obertop
OWNER : Castleton Hotel Partners I , Washington , D . C .
ARCHITECT : Michael Winstanley , Arlington , Virginia
LEAD INTERIOR DESIGNER : Peter Silling & Associates Hotel Interior Design , Cologne , Germany , and Hong Kong
DESIGN AESTHETIC : Sophisticated yet warm and welcoming
NOTABLE AMENITIES : Guests-only Living Room with 18-ft ( 5.5-m ) ceilings and a fireplace wall of marbled Italian onyx ; The Grill Room serving hand-cut artisan meats as well as fresh seafood ; The Rye Bar with a backlit onyx bar and floor-toceiling windows ; a rooftop lounge with sweeping views of the Potomac River and Washington Monument by ANN BAGEL STORCK , MANAGING EDITOR
The Georgetown area of Washington , D . C ., is known for its history , tradition and elegance — all qualities that led Capella Hotel Group , Atlanta , to choose the site for its first U . S . Capella-branded hotel . “ Washington , D . C ., and Georgetown are a great market from a U . S . standpoint in terms of visibility and also as an international city , and the sophistication made it a perfect location for our hotel ,” explains Kit Pappas , Capella ’ s vice president of sales and marketing .
Capella Washington D . C ., Georgetown debuted this past April in a residential neighborhood along the C & O Canal in a brownstone building most recently occupied by offices . Working with architect Michael Winstanley and Peter Silling & Associates Hotel Interior Design , Capella and the hotel ’ s owner , Castleton Hotel Partners I , transformed the property into a 49-room luxury hotel designed to feel like an elegant private home .
“ It needed to have a sense of tradition because we ’ re in a traditional area and a traditional city , but it also needed to be very comfortable and very approachable ,” says General Manager Alex Obertop .
“ We believe the design is timeless , elegant and represents a quality of modern traditionalism ,” adds designer Peter Silling .
The hotel features a number of unique design details , including custom work desks and Hermes leather drawer pulls in the guestrooms , a fireplace wall of marbled Italian onyx and abstract expressionist paintings by
Edvins Strautmanis in the guests-only Living Room and circular bathtubs sculpted from single slabs of marble in the two Presidential Suites . The Grill Room and The Rye Bar provide an elegant F & B experience , and a rooftop bar area offers sweeping views of the Potomac River and Washington Monument .
Obertop says the guest mix thus far has comprised both business and leisure travelers , including those taking advantage of medical tourism opportunities thanks to top-tier nearby hospitals . Capella declines to provide specifics regarding the hotel ’ s occupancy and rate , but Obertop notes , “ We don ’ t have group business , so that gives us a very nice average rate compared to our competition .”
“ We ’ re pleased with the performance of the hotel ,” Pappas says . “ One of the beautiful things about being a 49-room hotel is that our occupancies are strong , and we ’ re pleased with where rate is heading .”
Capella ’ s portfolio currently includes five hotels , with five additional announced properties in the pipeline . Pappas says over the next 12 to 18 months , the brand could add five to eight hotels in the United States and the Caribbean alone , with New York City , South Florida , Chicago , San Francisco , Southern California and the U . S . Southeast being the top areas of interest .
“ It seems like in the last three or four months there has been as much activity as the last three or four years ,” Pappas adds . “ There are a lot of things going on , and we are aggressively pursuing them , and that ’ s exciting .”
www . hotelsmag . com September 2013 HOTELS 29