Those behind San Francisco's new four star Hotel Vitale, which opened on Wednesday, March 9th 2005, are on a Joie de Vivre mission. Their mission combines the talents of Architect Clark Manus of Heller-Manus Architects, zen-like interior design by Colum McCartan, the management of David Curell and Christine Gaudenzi and the vision of Joie de Vivre's king of hospitality, Chip Conley. Together they conspired to offer a "luxuriously natural" City by the Bay boutique hotel experience. And they've pretty much nailed it!

The Embarcadero waterfront dream took six years and $53 million to complete. In fact, of Chip Conley's previous twenty plus Northern California hotel ventures, it is his first to begin from the ground up.

The corner of Mission and The Embarcardero is a "dream" location where city buses used to sleep.

Interior Designer McCartan was on site yesterday putting finishing touches in every corner before Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Mayor Willie Brown's arrival for the grand opening. In every room and every nook and cranny he used light, shadow, natural materials, and then sprinkled them with a touch of soul.

Hotels.com and Expedia.com® announced on Wednesday that they have signed a new agreement with Joie de Vivre Hospitality, solidifying their commitment to making high-quality, distinctive properties available to customers shopping for lodging at Expedia.com and Hotels.com.

As part of the agreement, Joie de Vivre Hospitality will be able to market to the nearly 30 million customers looking for hotel rooms on Expedia.com and Hotels.com each month. In turn, Joie de Vivre will give travelers access to rooms at its unique Northern California properties through the hotel and vacation package offerings on Expedia.com and Hotels.com.

"Making our rooms available on Expedia is a tremendous way to reach travelers," said Chip Conley, chief executive officer of Joie de Vivre Hospitality. "This lets our guests decide where they want to research and book travel."

Of the 25 boutique hotels Joie de Vivre operates 17 of them are in San Francisco.

Joie de Vivre's 25 hotels represent a total of 2,213 rooms and include seven distinctive restaurants and bars. Each property has been carefully designed to celebrate the San Francisco Bay Area through its unique visual style, high design principles, one-of-a-kind amenities and personalized service.

Joie de Vivre's recently-renovated Hotel Rex is one of twenty Select "Rugged Elegant" Hotels in San Francisco found in SF.Rugged Elegance.com and the premier Spring 2004 "Places of Taste" Guides.

The Hotel Rex was inspired by the San Francisco art and literary salons of the 1920's and 30's. The hotel, which is just a few blocks from Union Square offers 94 guestrooms, including 8 King Executive Rooms, and 2 one-bedroom suites. Rooms start at $129.

Next door, Cafe Andree serves Franco-Latino breakfast (Mon-Fri), brunch (on Saturday and Sunday) and dinner, nightly.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

~Jennifer King

P.S. Every enterpreneur should read Chip Conley's "The Rebel Rules: Daring to be Yourself in Business."