Hotel News

New boutique hotel in Arlington will come with its own golf course

It's a hotel with a golf range right in its backyard.

Courtesy rendering

A unique hotel with a golf range attached is coming to Arlington. Called the RiverPark Arlington, it'll be a boutique hotel designed for those seeking outdoors activities along with their hotel stay, and according to a release, is targeted to open in 2023.

Located near Texas Rangers Golf Course at 1301 NE Green Oaks Blvd. on the Trinity River in north Arlington, the property is anticipated to have 87 rooms in a four-story structure that sits on 29 acres, bringing nature and active living together in a unique hospitality/entertainment experience that will be available to the community as well as hotel guests.

The project is owned and operated by Galante Hospitality Group and was designed by Type Six Design, an Arlington architecture firm whose co-founder James Lusty calls it a "one-of-a-kind resort."

"The goal was to create a quick retreat — an active, sports-driven oasis in the middle of the city that serves as a respite in the middle of DFW," Lusty says.

The design includes a state-of-the-art golf driving range powered with TopTracer by TopGolf technology, with climate-controlled bays and private suites, miniature golf course, and the first tennis center in DFW outfitted with the Playsight Smart Courts system, which records your play on high-def cameras so you can analyze your performance. SMU and TCU both use the system for their tennis teams.

Other features include:

gastropub with indoor/outdoor seating
outdoor infinity-edge resort pool
sports recovery spa
5,000 sqare feet of meeting space overlooking the driving range

The RiverPark Arlington is part of the Ascend Hotel Collection portfolio of independent resort, historic, and boutique hotels featuring destinations woven into the culture and fabric of their communities. There are more than 315 Ascend Hotel Collection properties worldwide, including in France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, Canada, Ecuador, and throughout Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.

The Ascend Hotel Collection is part of Choice Hotels, which also includes Cambria Hotels, Quality Inn, and Econo Lodge.

Choice Hotels senior VP Mark Shalala calls Ascend "the first soft-brand collection in the industry." Soft-brand is described as a hotel that is historic or has enough of its own identity that it keeps its own persona rather than going under a large chain name.

hotels openings

Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

holidays