Check out The Guest House at Graceland in Food & Wine magazine
Read full article at Food & Wine.
“I think that one of the biggest challenges was to create a design that really complemented Graceland,” Priscilla Presley says. “This would be a dream hotel for him.”
Photos Copyright Jeffrey Jacobs Photography
Entertainment Tonight Goes Inside the Guest House at Graceland With Priscilla Presley
It’s not every day that one of our designs is featured on Entertainment Tonight! Watch out Hollywood, here we come!
Watch the videos here at Entertainment Tonight.
ET has been a frequent guest at Graceland and now Priscilla Presley is showing ET the Guest House, a part of the beloved tourist attraction that lets visitors experience how Elvis would live today.
Exterior Photo: Copyright Jeffrey Jacobs Photography
First look at the new Port Gamble S’Klallam Point Hotel
The culture and local art we were able to integrate into the design of The Point Hotel is what makes it so special. We enjoyed every minute of working on this unique project and we are excited for its opening!
S’Klallam’s HBG-designed Point Hotel to open this month
Read the full feature at the Kitsap Sun.
KINGSTON — Workers are putting finishing touches on The Point Hotel ahead of its opening this month.
Soon the beds will be made, the ladders will be packed up, the art will be hung in the lobby, and the plants and landscaping will be sprouting roots.
The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe's hotel opens Nov. 25. When visitors arrive, they'll find a four-story building with 75,000 square feet of finished space. The hotel, which connects both figuratively and literally with the tribe's casino, has 85 double and king-size rooms, nine suites, a café that serves sit-down and grab-and-go meals, an outdoor gathering area, a multi-purpose meeting room and an exercise space.
Traditional and tribal-inspired art will be displayed inside and outside the building, most prominently in the four-story traditional "paddles up" structure that greets visitors as they drive into the parking lot.
"This is a sign of respect to our guests who come to visit the hotel," the tribe's Executive Director Kelly Sullivan said.
Outside, totem poles designed by Native American artists stand near a courtyard that displays a traditional spindle whorl design. The building's exterior — designed in a longhouse style — appears wooden, which matches the surrounding forested areas. Inside, a display room will feature S'Klallam artifacts near the hotel's lobby, other traditional art will be hung throughout the building and pictures from local photographers will hang in each of the rooms.
The hotel's goal is to be a draw for the casino, according to Noo-Kayet Development Corp. CEO Chris Placentia. That company is the tribal enterprise charged with economic development for the tribe.
"We're also diversifying the tribal local economy and also the regional economy as well," he said. "For the Kingston area, tourists, because of lack of hospitality services in the area, didn't have an opportunity to really stay in the area longer. This will provide more opportunities for those types of tourists to actually stay in this area for longer periods of time."
Hotel operations, including food and beverage support staff, will employ about 60 people, Placentia said.
The casino also will receive updates to coincide with the hotel opening. In an effort to open up the gaming floor near the hotel entrance, table games will be moved. The casino is adding an additional lounge and a 1,100-square-foot, 60-machine, nonsmoking gaming area, and remodeling the center bar area and an outside bistro patio, according to Leo Culloo, the general manager for the hotel and casino.
Culloo said that work on the gaming floor would be completed by the time the hotel opens and that work on the two food areas would be finished within two months.
The Guest House at Graceland Earns AAA Four-Diamond Rating
Photos Copyright Jeffrey Jacobs Photography
In the two weeks since opening The Guest House at Graceland, the 450-room luxury hotel has hosted two sold-out weekends and earned a AAA Four Diamond Hotel rating in the process. Graceland's® already-popular resort hotel joins the exclusive ranks of top hotels and resorts in the country that have earned the coveted Four Diamond distinction.
"The AAA Four Diamond Award ratings are among the most well-known and respected distinctions in the global travel industry," said Keith Hess, vice president and managing director of The Guest House at Graceland. "We are honored to receive the award as one of the most prestigious hotels in the country so early in our operation."
AAA Four Diamond lodgings are defined by their refined and stylish design and décor, with upscale physical attributes, and they offer a high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail. Resorts and hotels undergo rigorous evaluations from AAA's professional inspectors, and must meet specific criteria to earn the award. The exclusive Four Diamond group represents just six percent of the nearly 28,000 AAA/CAA Approved and Diamond Rated hotels.
Inspired by Elvis' personal style and the iconic Graceland Mansion, The Guest House at Graceland opened on October 27, 2016 and is the most significant enhancement to Graceland since it opened to the public in 1982. It is the largest hotel project in Memphis in over 90 years. The resort hotel, which is situated just steps from Graceland Mansion, features 430 guest rooms and 20 specialty suites with design and décor supervised by Priscilla Presley. The hotel also features two full-service restaurants, a lobby bar, a 464-seat theater, outdoor pool and conference, and event and catering facilities.
The primary design goal for The Guest House at Graceland was to create a resort which would complement and celebrate Graceland Mansion – almost as if Elvis was adding a guest house to his original home – without taking away the Mansion's prominence as the focal point. The warm, welcoming spirit of southern hospitality that Elvis embodied at Graceland was a big inspiration to the design process and a key driver of the design.
HBG Design, also based in Memphis – one of the top ten leading hospitality design firms in the United States, designed The Guest House at Graceland, working closely with Priscilla Presley and the team at Graceland.
View the full release on businesswire.com:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161114005584/en/
See Inside: Elvis Presley Fans Can Now Sleep At Graceland's Guest House
It was 30 years in the making, but the 450-room Guest House at Graceland, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from Elvis Presley‘s actual Graceland home, which has historic landmark status guaranteeing its preservation, opened to the public today for the first time, and Today got a tour from Priscilla Presley, which you can watch in the video.
“Elvis loved detail and he was so stylish himself,” Presley told Today contributor Jenna Bush Hager, “He had just such a flair. And actually that’s really what this is all about — its flair, its taste. It’s beautiful, it’s comfortable. I mean, everywhere you look, Elvis is here.”
Watch the video and read the article at Parade.com
Guest House at Graceland is draped in Elvis style
MEMPHIS — The Guest House at Graceland doesn't scream Elvis, but there's no escaping his sense of style in the new Memphis resort hotel.
From a lobby ceiling evoking his bejeweled cape to lightning bolt-motif lamps to a replica of Graceland's staircase, the 450-room resort is a contemporary translation of the late singer's aesthetic.
"It's basically his personal style, and of course, it's inspired by Graceland," said Priscilla Presley, his former wife. "You don't have pictures of Elvis everywhere, but you do have his style: a little bit of his jumpsuit, his guitar, TCB, his belt. But it's not in your face." The letters TCB with lightning bolts (Taking Care of Business - In a flash) comprise Elvis' motto.
The $92 million hotel marks its "soft opening" in private events Thursday before hosting a full house of VIPs this weekend. The hotel, lobby and restaurants will open to the public on Sunday afternoon.
There was a whirlwind of activity Wednesday at 3600 Elvis Presley Boulevard as workers put finishing touches on the building and grounds and members of an exclusive fan club checked in. Crews from the Today show and Entertainment Tonight filmed segments that will air Thursday.
Priscilla Presley, who helps manage their only child Lisa Marie Presley's interest in Graceland and the Elvis estate, believes Elvis would be pleased.
"I think he too would absolutely be blown away by the attention to detail, the attention to color and the lightness of it all. It's not heavy. It's not dark. It's stylized, and he was always a man of style. It has that little extra touch that he always had," Presley said.
"It's warm, and it has that Southern hospitality look and feel," she continued. "That's something Elvis always had in his home."
Read the full article and watch the video at USAToday.com
The Guest House at Graceland featured on TODAY
Take a tour of The Guest House at Graceland with Priscilla Presley and Jenna Bush Hager as seen on The Today Show.
Click here for full article and video tour
Elvis Presley once sang about a “Heartbreak Hotel,” but he couldn’t have known that one day, just steps from his home in Memphis, guests would be able to stay at the Guest House at Graceland.
The 450-room hotel, which opened to the public on Thursday for the first time, is a resort right near Elvis’ iconic and famously stylish home (which is also open to the public). TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager even got a special tour, courtesy of Presley’s ex-wife, Priscilla!
“He loved detail and he was so stylish himself,” said Presley. “He had just such a flair. And actually that’s really what this is all about — it’s flair, it’s taste, it’s beautiful, it’s comfortable. I mean, everywhere you look, Elvis is here.”
It’s taken 30 years to turn the dream of a hotel into a reality, and just stepping inside it does have a certain dreamlike quality. But the interior really inspired by Presley’s home, particularly in certain areas.
For example, Presley and Hager trod down a gleaming white grand staircase with a sparkling chandelier that Presley said was an “even larger” replica of the light fixture in Graceland’s foyer. There are 20 Elvis-themed suites (presumably with “King”-sized beds) that echo the singer’s tastes, including the King Suite (done up in red, black and gold and featuring a TV set on the ceiling above the bed, just like at Graceland).
“I hope you were watching the TODAY Show on the ceiling,” Hager joked to Presley. “Well, we were never up that early!” said Presley. “We came home at that time.”
Other suites recall Elvis’ other homes, like the one in Palm Springs that included a winding white couch, where he spent his honeymoon. “I can actually see my parents sitting here, my brother, my sister, him, myself, his father,” said Presley.
What else comes with the “guest house”? How about a 464-seat theater, a pool and five restaurants serving comfort food? (chicken and waffles, we imagine, are on the menu; Hager said the biscuits were amazing.)
“Graceland is where I really feel [Elvis’] presence,” said Presley. “His spirit is there. Where I feel it [in the Guest House] is just the style and design of what he loved.”
And Elvis never has to leave the building.
Ho-Chunk Black River Falls Casino Begins Construction!
The construction camera is up and running at Black River Falls Casino in Wisconsin. HBG is proud to be the designer for this expansion project!
View construction progress here.
Graceland Announces New $45 Million State-of-the-Art Entertainment Complex
HBG is excited to be the designer for the new “Elvis: Past, Present & Future” Entertainment Complex, that will present the life, career and legacy of the greatest entertainer like never before.
‘Elvis: Past, Present & Future’ to Open Spring 2017, Featuring New Elvis Presley Career Museum, Automobile Museum, Performance Soundstage, Restaurants and Retail in 200,000 Square Foot Expansion
New, Permanent Exhibition on Sun Records’ Legendary Founder Sam Phillips and his Music Legacy to be Featured, as Graceland Partners with the Phillips Family to Showcase Artifacts From the Family Archives
Original article located at Graceland.com here.
Elvis Presley’s Graceland has announced its largest and most significant expansion since opening to the public in 1982 with the unveiling, this morning, of its plans and artist renderings for “Elvis: Past, Present & Future,” a 200,000-square-foot, $45 million entertainment complex now under construction across the street from Elvis’ iconic Graceland Mansion. The state-of-the-art facility, opening in the spring of 2017, will be five times the size of the current visitor center. It will present the life, career and legacy of the greatest entertainer like never before. The complex will also showcase interactive and immersive pop culture experiences that connect to Elvis’ personal interests and activities throughout his life, including his passion for automobiles and new technology.
While the acclaimed Graceland Mansion tour will continue to present the personal and family side of Elvis’ life, “Elvis: Past, Present & Future” will tell the rest of Elvis’ incredible story in an unprecedented, interactive and highly-engaging way.
“We are thrilled to bring Elvis fans the opportunity to explore the things that Elvis loved and what he would have loved today – the music, the technology, the experiences,” stated Joel Weinshanker, Managing Partner, Graceland Holdings, LLC. “Elvis: Past Present & Future will enable our visitors to live a day in the life of Elvis Presley. Whether you’ve been to Graceland multiple times or have yet to make the trip, we know that you will be entertained, educated and inspired like never before, here at the world’s greatest music landmark.”
The cornerstone of this new complex will be “Elvis: The Entertainer,” a 20,000-square-foot museum celebrating Elvis’ incredible music, movie and live touring career, featuring hundreds of artifacts from the extensive Graceland Archives, as guests take a journey from his early days in Tupelo, Miss., through his first recording session in Memphis, rise to fame, Hollywood career, service in the U.S. Army, life at Graceland, the Las Vegas years and more. “Elvis: The Entertainer” will be the largest and most comprehensive Elvis museum in the world.
A new Elvis Presley Automobile Museum will showcase over 20 of Elvis’ automobile and motorized vehicles, including Elvis’ iconic Pink Cadillac, and also feature a 200-seat theater space showcasing Elvis movie clips focused on cars and racing.
A 20,000-square-foot “Graceland Soundstage” will be an extraordinary venue for live music performances, movie screenings and premieres, video productions, with theater seating for up to 2,000 people, as well as the flexibility to use for private events, corporate meetings, conferences and trade show exhibitions.
“Discovery” exhibit spaces will showcase aspects of Elvis’ life, career and interests in greater depth, from the music genres that influenced Elvis from his earliest days – Rhythm & Blues, Southern Gospel, Country & Western — to today’s music artists who continue to be influenced by Elvis and his body of work. Graceland will also partner with iconic brands to present immersive, experiential exhibits and pop culture attractions to enhance the visitor experience throughout the complex.
A signature exhibition will present the incredible story of music visionary and legendary producer Sam Phillips, who essentially created Rock ‘n’ Roll and discovered so many incredible artists at Memphis Recording Service/Sun Records, including Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and, of course, Elvis Presley. Graceland will partner with the Phillips family to develop an extensive exhibition that showcases Sam’s life and work in an unprecedented and engaging way. Featuring rare artifacts, photos, videos and documents from the Phillips family archives, the exhibition will shine a light on the great artists that Sam produced, starting with the early blues recordings that profoundly influenced Elvis and continues to impact the music of today.
In a statement, Sam Phillips’ sons Knox and Jerry (seen in the photo at right with Elvis) said, “Our family and the Presley family have had a long standing relationship since 1954 when Sam gave Elvis the inspiration and opportunity to express himself through music in his Memphis Recording Service studio. When Sam first recorded Elvis, the world changed. Having Sam Phillips story at Graceland not only brings Sam and Elvis back together in Memphis again, but shines a light on the great artists Sam produced from his early blues recordings that profoundly influenced Elvis and the music of today. The entire Sam Phillips family is extremely pleased and proud to partner with Graceland as we bring Sam’s incredible story to life for Graceland visitors from around the world. What better place to do this than at Graceland here in Memphis where it all happened. Sam and Elvis had such love and respect for each other, now they will be recognized together again, influencing new generations for years to come. Rock on…”
“Graceland is thrilled to team with Knox and Jerry and the entire Phillips family on this exhibition about an extraordinary man and our dear friend, Sam Phillips, who changed the world forever with his amazing vision, insight and great talent,” stated Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. “We can’t wait to present Sam’s entire story and tremendous legacy, from his earliest days, to the artists he discovered and nurtured, to his crucial role in Elvis’ life and career – as we make this exhibition a vital part of the expanded Graceland experience.”
The “Elvis: Past, Present & Future” experience will also feature Elvis’ two custom airplanes, the Lisa Marie and the Hound Dog II, which continue to be a very popular part of the existing Graceland visitor center. The iconic planes will remain across the street from the Mansion, adjacent to the new venue.
The new facility will also feature two themed restaurants named for Elvis’ parents, Gladys and Vernon. Gladys’ Diner will feature classic American fare, including Elvis’ favorite: grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Vernon’s Smokehouse will feature authentic Memphis BBQ, smoked in-house. A coffee bar and ice cream shop will also be located within the complex, along with new retail stores offering the most extensive collection of Elvis merchandise in the world.
“Elvis: Past, Present & Future” is Phase II of the planned Graceland expansion and development. Combined with the $92 million Phase 1 project — The Guest House at Graceland 450-room resort hotel opening October 27, 2016 — Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. is investing a total of $137 million in the Whitehaven community of Memphis to further enhance the Memphis and Graceland experience for visitors from around the world.