Virgin Hotels Provides Tesla House Car

Model S moves hotel guests throughout Chicago

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Feb 12, 2015, 10:00 ET

MIAMI, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting today, Virgin Hotels will offer guests car service seven days a week to select areas in Chicago in a top-of-the-line red Tesla Model S, a premium electric vehicle that delivers an exhilarating performance with electric dual motors. The new all-wheel-drive Model S P85D is not only electric; it's also the quickest-accelerating four door vehicle ever built. For guests wishing to arrive in style, they simply need to ring the concierge and a Virgin Hotels representative will drive them to their destination.

Doug Carrillo, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Virgin Hotels, said, "Tesla is the hottest electric car on the road right now, and we're elated to provide our hotel guests with this chic house-car service while also helping to reduce our carbon footprint. For Virgin Hotels it's important to provide services our guests desire but do so with the environment in mind whenever possible."

California-based Tesla built the world's first electric premium sedan, Model S, with a range of 265 miles on a single charge. With a rigid body structure, nearly 50/50 weight distribution and a remarkably low center of gravity, Model S offers the responsiveness and agility expected from the world's best sports cars with the ride quality of a luxury performance sedan. The Virgin Hotel's Tesla Model S P85D accelerates from 0-60 in just 3.2 seconds.

The Tesla house-car is just another step in Virgin Hotels' sustainability program. Other initiatives include an extensive green roof of live plantings, ample LED lighting sources, Energy Star kitchen appliances, daylight sensor lighting control and more. Plus Virgin Hotels Chicago underwent an extensive renovation process of the 1920's building and restored much of its original interior, bringing it back to its neo-classicism glory.

Virgin Hotels Chicago is now open and accepting reservations at virginhotels.com, with Nashville slated for 2016 and New York 2017. Virgin Hotels continues to explore hotel and office conversions as well as ground-up development in cities such as Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington DC, and London.

Images can be downloaded here.

About Virgin Hotels
Virgin Hotels is a lifestyle hospitality brand that combines heartfelt service, straightforward value and a seamless, personalized hotel experience with the track record of innovation and smart disruption that Sir Richard Branson's global Virgin Group has pioneered for over 40 years. Each property will intermix a passion for food and beverage with music and culture, fusing with the local landscape and providing a vibrant and inclusive environment for travelers and locals, alike. Chicago opened in January 2015, with New York, Nashville and others to follow. For more information, please visit www.virginhotels.com.

About Model S
Model S is the world's first premium sedan built from the ground up as an electric vehicle. It has been engineered to deliver unprecedented range and a thrilling drive experience. Model S is the world's fastest-accelerating four-door vehicle ever built.

With a rigid body structure, nearly 50/50 weight distribution and a remarkably low center of gravity, Model S offers the responsiveness and agility expected from the world's best sports cars while providing the ride quality of a luxury performance sedan.

Model S has received many awards and accolades, including Motor Trend 2013 Car of the Year©, Car and Driver 10 Best 2015, AUTOMOBILE Magazine 2013 Automobile of the Year, the 2013 Yahoo! AUTOS Car of the Year, TIME's Best Invention of the Year 2012, Consumer Reports' highest score ever given to a car, and a NHTSA 5-star safety rating.

About Tesla
Tesla Motors' goal is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport with a full range of increasingly affordable electric cars. California-based Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles, as well as EV powertrain components. Tesla has delivered more than 50,000 electric vehicles to customers worldwide.

SOURCE Virgin Hotels