American-Indian entrepreneur Sant Singh Chatwal has opened the first hotel in a new chain of luxury properties he hopes will become a global brand.

The Chatwal New York opened August 8 in a landmark 1905 building designed by Stanford White in New York City and is the only member of the Leading Hotels of the World in the Manhattan theater district.

The new property has been designed by Thierry Despont to offer “contemporary luxuries and ultra-modern technology” in a 1930s Deco design environment.

Grebstad Hicks Communications (GHC), a specialist in the promotion of luxury lifestyle, hospitality and travel, has been appointed PR partner in Asia for ultra-luxurious travel organisation, The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW).

Internationally recognized as the definitive mark of excellence in hospitality, LHW began as a network of 38 hotels and 9,000 rooms and suites in Europe and Egypt in 1928 and now has some 450 Member Hotels and 80,000 rooms in 80 countries across the globe.

Sometime a deal sounds almost too good to be true….

Just months after launching one of this year’s most lavishly expensive holidays – an epic USD 1 million trip “Around the World” – the Leading Hotels of the World is celebrating its 80th anniversary by passing on some incredible discounts to its guests.

To commemorate its founding year (1928), at 12 noon GMT (8am Eastern Standard Time) on October 1, 2008, they will release a limited number of the world’s most-coveted hotel rooms at the unprecedented rate of $19.28 per night.