As well as helping train the hotel's team in the art of tea preparation, "the idea is that we will be using the tea that we are harvesting and we will try to incorporate [it] into some of our hotel elements," says Gregory Philippe, director of food and beverage at the hotel.
But with the media hungry for any tidbit – and photographers seen on Sunday morning rifling through bags of rubbish in the streets behind the hotel – some elements were certain to leak out.
We've seen our fair share of unique hotel design elements, but the sheer number and grandiosity of on-property hotel aquariums took us by surprise.
Like any great boutique hotel, design elements are not only pleasing to the eye, but to the body and heart as well.
-Starwood Preferred Guest: This group has over 1,000 properties across several great brands including Westin, St . Regis W Hotels, Sheraton, Element and Aloft.
By the end of the year, the team will break ground on the Element hotel, an extended-stay hotel that will charge visitors about $150 a night.
The well-off also have choices like the Element Hotels, owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, for those who want green features like low-flow toilets as well as a sleeker overall design, although they are not in the luxury tier.
The first Element hotel will open in Lexington, Mass., in 2008.
The first Element hotel will open in early 2008 in Lexington, Mass., with 13 more contracts signed with developers and an additional 80 hotels in the planning phase.
But the volunteers had to vacate a conference room in the Element hotel here on Thursday because it was booked by another group.
