Posh hotel on track as bookings pile in

Bentonville’s 21c set to open in March

Construction crews continue to work Monday on the 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Bentonville. The hotel is accepting reservations on or after March 10 for its 104 guest rooms.
Construction crews continue to work Monday on the 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Bentonville. The hotel is accepting reservations on or after March 10 for its 104 guest rooms.

The tony new 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville has reservations on its books beginning in mid-March, but construction is ahead of schedule and the art-themed boutique hotel has already booked its first event for March 2.

The hotel’s website allows bookings beginning March 10, but general manager Emmanuel Gardinier said Monday that he anticipates that the hotel will be ready and available for reservations evenearlier. The projected opening date was Feb. 11. The extra month was a buffer against unforeseen holdups.

“Anything can happen,” Gardinier said. “An 18-wheeler full of beds might not make it.”

Of about 20 bookings, including five made over the weekend, patrons are making their way to Bentonville from Los Angeles and New York, as well as Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, “within the five-hour driving distance,”Gardinier said.

Though reservations don’t query guests about their reasons for their visit, almost all said they were coming to take in the hotel’s curated contemporary art exhibitions, as well as the works at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, just a short walk away. The four-story 21c Bentonville has 104 rooms, including six suites, and is located at 200 N.E. A St., just north of the Bentonville square. The hotel’s restaurant, The Hive, is scheduled to open Jan. 28, adding to a growing number of upscale eateriesthat have opened in the area around the time Crystal Bridges opened Nov. 11, 2011.

The hotel, like the 21c flagship in Louisville, Ky., will feature rotating art exhibitions, installations and live arts events, such as such as poetry readings, film screenings and artist lectures. The hotel group was launched in 2006 by philanthropists and art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson.

Each 21c Museum Hotel features a flock of limited edition penguin sculptures by artist collective Cracking Art Group. The Bentonville penguins, which area residents voted to color green, will be on permanent display aroundthe property. Fans of 21c and residents of Northwest Arkansas selected green as the color to best represent the region. Founded in 1993, Cracking Art Group has created more than 600 exhibitions worldwide.

The Bentonville hotel has 12,000 square feet for these exhibits, plus room for meetings and events, such as weddings and galas. Rick Reed, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, said there have been several reservations for weddings in the summer of next year, and into the fall, as well.

“I’m very pleased with where we are,” Reed said.

The first to book a special event at the hotel is the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, which will hold its March 2 fundraiser, the Shoes and Blues Soiree, at 21c.

Krista Khone, a member of the shelter’s board of directors and co-chairman of the coming gala, said she believes the venue will increase attendance dramatically, and with that, awareness for the shelter’s mission.

“This will be a great opportunity to make a connection with people who don’t already have a connection to the shelter,” she said.

In addition to the 21c in Louisville, 21c Museum Hotels open its second hotel on Nov. 21 in Cincinnati. More are planned for Lexington, Ky., and Durham, N.C., Reed said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/18/2012

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