HEALDSBURG,CA— David and Sarah Mars, owners of the Les Mars Hotel, announced an opening date of March 11, 2005 for the newest entrant among Healdsburg’s increasingly sophisticated array of luxury hospitality offerings. The couple will operate the hotel, designed to recreate the gracious ambiance of the classic European family owned inns, with their daughters, Christina Mars Sharp and Gretchen Anne Mars, and son-in-law, Grant Sharp. Les Mars has been designed to evoke the charm and style of a classic French Chateau, with wrought iron window work and a high pitched slate roof with zinc dormers. The hotel will offer unobtrusive yet highly personalized service in the time honored tradition of Europe’s boutique hotels and country inns. Located just steps from Healdsburg’s historic Town Plaza, the hotel is ideally situated for Wine Country excursions as well as for exploring the town’s many appealing shops, culinary attractions, and cultural offerings. Les Mars features 16 rooms, each individually designed in the style of an elegant European country house and furnished with personally selected 18th and 19th century antiques and fine reproductions. Custom designed four-poster beds, draped and dressed with the finest Italian linens grace the bedrooms, the bathrooms are clad in European marble with walk-in showers and hydro-therapy airjet soaking tubs. The family has assembled a management and design team that includes Philippa Perry, formerly of Auberge du Soleil, as general manager and Helga Horner, furniture consultant to the Ann Getty House Collection and Sandra Jordan Collection, as designer. Maitre d’ Nick Peyton, from Gary Danko and The Ritz Carlton, will operate the fine-dining restaurant, Cyrus, named after Cyrus Alexander, who founded the Alexander Valley. Chef Douglas Keane, formerly of Gary Danko, will create the restaurant’s menu of contemporary world-class cuisine.