Kitty Bean Yancey reports that Ali Kasikci — who created an avalanche of rumors when he announced his departure as General Manager of the Peninsula Beverly Hills — will become the General Manager at the new Montage Beverly Hills (scheduled to open Fall 2008, my hunch is it’ll be a bit later).

The Montage in Laguna Beach is already arguably the best resort in California, even the United States. So the company knows what it’s doing. And Kasikci ran the best hotel in Los Angeles for year. With a clean design slate there’s a tremendous potential here. There may be some opening jitters, of course, but this is a man and a company that I’d bet on.