Balazs Barrage: Dig This, Gone Cats

     Self-consciously hip hotel designer Andre Balazs, (rhymes with mirage, persiflage) appears to be having cash flow problems.  How else to explain his decision to unload half of his hotel portfolio, including New York’s QT Hotel and the Standard Hotels in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Miami?  (I guess he knows no one would want to buy the gargantuan blunder that is the Standard on the Highline where, I believe, BD Hotels may also be involved.)  The explanation that he wants to focus on the hotel management business doesn’t hold water, as management and ownership certainly aren’t mutually exclusive.  The only other possible explanation is that he’s seeking to dump these duds because he believes the market has topped-out.  In which case Caveat Emperor, to say the least.
     In other hipper-than-thou news, we’ve received tips to the effect that one or more young designers have checked into the Chelsea to begin the clandestine redesign of various hotel rooms.  Reportedly, this use of novice, no name designers is one of the hallmarks of the Balazs approach to hotel renovation, as it makes it easier to take credit for their work.  (Note to the young designers:  If you’re really hip, tell Balazs and BD where they can stick it.  It’s uncool to mess up a landmark of the counter-culture such as the Chelsea.) --Ed Hamilton