ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

Hotel’s new name, ‘identity’ unveiled: Royal Scandinavian becomes Hotel Corque; restaurant is ‘Root 246’

By Raiza Canelon/Staff Writer

The largest hotel in the Danish town of Solvang will no longer be called the Royal Scandinavian Inn. Instead, to reflect the larger wine country around the city, it will be called the Hotel Corque.

The new name — and the renaming of the hotel’s restaurant from The Meadows to Root 246 — were unveiled at a media conference Tuesday morning at the Chumash Casino and Resort.

The names are part of a larger “rebranding” campaign to attract tourists to the hotel and the restaurant, which is being developed by famed chef Bradley Ogden, Chumash officials said.

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians purchased the 25-year-old hotel in 2007 and, after beginning to fix a backlog of maintenance issues, decided to completely remodel it. Both the hotel and restaurant have been closed for months while work continues in two shifts to get them re-opened in March.

The restaurant’s name is not only a pun on Highway 246, which passes through town, but also a reference to the fresh, organic food the restaurant intends to feature, said the tribe’s chief operating officer, David Brents.

“In this massive renovation project we took on, we decided to re-brand the (RSI) and restaurant to create a new identity,” Brents said.

Values that the tribe’s consultants recommended building upon included such concepts as escape, relax, sensual, organic, and wine country, he added.

Changes to the building’s exterior will be minimal, Brents said. Even the Danish “Velkommen til Solvang” phrase across the fascia of the roof that guests park under while registering, he said, will remain.

However, the interior of the hotel and restaurant will be completely transformed when the facility reopens — tentatively projected as mid-March for the restaurant and the end of March for two-thirds of the hotel, with the entire facility reopened by summer.

Brents describes the style as contemporary and “Valley-centric.” The Chumash hired David Bury & Co. and SAND Design to collaborate on the architectural and interior design of the hotel, and its 134 rooms will be redone in natural colors with rich textures and materials, he said.

Hotel Corque will offer 18 suites, 11 two-room suites, six junior suites and an 11,000-square-foot presidential suite among its other rooms. Prices will range from $150 to $200 during the week and $200 to $300 on weekends, Brents said.

“We hired local contractors and workers that are going around the clock to make sure we complete it close to the timeline,” said Project Manager Dave Martinez as he took the media guests on a tour of the construction site Tuesday morning.

Young Construction of Santa Barbara is leading the remodel of both facilities; the work involves 140 people on site per day and a total of 5,600 man-hours per week, according to tribal officials.

The hotel is slated to be fully operational by summer, and the restaurant will be open by late March, Brents said.

Participants in the Amgen Tour of California who have previously stayed at the RSI have been moved to the tribe’s casino hotel on Highway 246 in Santa Ynez, though the professional bicycle race’s banquet on Feb. 20 will take place in a banquet room at Root 246, according to John Martino, executive director of hospitality.

The tribe hired Ogden — who has opened eight major restaurants, including the award-winning One Market Restaurant in San Francisco and Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas — to deliver high-quality food and service for the Valley.

Ogden joined Tuesday’s media tour after making a remote appearance on television’s “Today” show.

“Bradley has 30 years of experience to guide our restaurant into the hippest spot in the Valley,” Brents said.

Root 246 will have a slightly smaller seating capacity of 171 people, but will have two bars and continue to host wine-maker dinners and regular meetings of local groups including Rotary clubs and the Vikings of Solvang, Martino said.

“Our banquet room can seat 350 people and is by far the largest banquet hall in the city of Solvang,” he added.

rcanelon@syvnews.com