New York Travel Guide
Tags: Gossip Girls Hotels / Hotel Cocktails / Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
The Empire Hotel Celebrates Chuck Bass With Gossip Girl Cocktails
If you've been paying attention in the slightest to this most recent season of Gossip Girl, then you'll have noticed how New York's Empire Hotel has become one of the characters, after it was bought by Chuck Bass. Now that the hotel is making appearances on TV, the real life property believes it should embrace the connection by debuting "Gossip Girl cocktails."
Concocted by the Empire's cocktail consultant Somer Perez, there are drinks for each Gossip Girl main character (even the dudes!). You can find them being served in the hotel's Lobby Bar, and each cocktail is $15. There's even an "XOXO" cocktail, with secret ingredients they'll never tell.
After the jump, the rest of the character cocktails...
Tags: Ace Hotels / Movie Set Hotels / Hotel Secrets / Massify / → All Tags
Thousands of Stories Waiting To Be Told at New York's Ace Hotel
Behind shut doors and "Do Not Disturb" signs, hotel rooms hold stories to tell, and maybe a few secrets that shouldn't be repeated. Illicit liaisons, romantic fairy tales, or just plain goofball mishaps take place on any given day and can serve as cinematic fodder.
That's precisely the idea behind a new partnership between Massify, an online network of filmmakers, actors, and crew members, production company Killer Films, and New York's Ace Hotel.
"One hotel. Thousands of stories." reads the tag line to a recent contest sponsored by Massify, Killer, and Ace. They called on members to submit creative takes on hotel stories, as they launched a search for material to be turned into "very short, very funny vignettes":
Set at Ace Hotel's New York outpost, we'll develop a collection of original, concise narratives that clock in at under five minutes in length. Avoid relying heavily on sketch comedy and take advantage of this unique location to create character driven pieces that are intelligent, artful and comedic.
Tags: Sneak Peek / Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / Ascend Collection / → All Tags
Rooms at The Distrikt Not As Funky as the Hotel's Name Suggests
One of our favorite milestones when tracking a new hotel opening is the release of photos. Not renderings, not collages, but full color pictures of the guestrooms we’re so eager to check into. Today The Distrikt Hotel reaches that milestone by posting photos on its Facebook page.
We’ve been dying for a glimpse inside the hotel since the funky collages on the website--while arty and cool--left us without a clue as to room design. Now The Distrikt delivers and we’re both relieved and disappointed.
Relieved that the neighborhood theme is not an OTT mish-mash as it could have been, but a little sad that the décor plays it so safe. For all its savvy marketing, The Distrikt looks pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to design. The rooms look nice in these photos—but "nice" means a place your mom would be comfortable staying. (That is, if she isn’t scared off by the funky name.) And that’s just not what we were expecting here.
Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Manhattan Hotels / Historic Hotels / Hotel Promotions / → All Tags
Inside The Roosevelt NYC: The Consummate Tourist Hotel
Like we said yesterday, you really can't beat winning a room rate of $19.24 on Twitter for three nights in a historic hotel property in the middle of Manhattan. That said, The Roosevelt has its ups and its downs, but it is most definitely the quintessential New York tourist hotel. Onto our experience, over Halloween weekend:
Check-in:
Although we live in New York, we came straight to The Roosevelt after flying into JFK at the end of a trip, so we were your typical tired, bedraggled guest. Friends who were visiting for the weekend would be staying in the room with us, and as they were arriving earlier, we directed to do the regular thing of asking the hotel front desk to hold the luggage until the person under whose name the reservations is (that'd be us) arrived. But the front desk clerk told us immediately that two others had been looking for us already and that it was a security risk to give out room numbers. Yes, we know this; just hold the luggage and don't act like it's some big scary, unusual service.
Tags: Standard Hotels / Hotel Awards / Andre Balazs / Hotel Architecture / → All Tags
The Standard Hotel is The Best Building of the Aughts, So Says Curbed
Curbed recently put out the first of what will be many lists across the internet universe, saying goodbye to the aughts. But this being Curbed, they focused on the The Best New Buildings of The Decade for New York City. And wouldn't you know it? The Standard Hotel is the #1 best building of the decade.
Yes, The Standard. Since we tracked the opening of this hotel pretty much from its inceptions, we're a little surprised to see it top this list. We say it looks way better from the inside looking out then just on its own. But we guess naked people in the windows helps.
Here are some of our favorite moments of the Standard NYC...through the years.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / → All Tags
Quikbook Still The Way To Go For The Strand, Now Opening December 1st
While we had high hopes of seeing one of our hotly anticipated new NYC hotels opening before Thanksgiving— The Strand in the garment district—it now looks like we'll have to wait another couple of weeks. Cross out that November 16th opening date, folks, and pencil in December 1st. That is the first date showing up on both the hotel's online reservation system, and on Quikbook.
As we reported in our last update, Quikbook is definitely the way to go when booking a night at The Strand. Previously it was showing a saving of $40 per night compared to the rates on the hotel's website. Now those savings are $70. A Superior King is going for $329 a night through the hotel, but just $259 on Quikbook. If waiting a bit longer for the doors to open can save us money like this, we might even be content to wait another week or two.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / Manhattan Hotels / Historical Hotels / → All Tags
Sleeping Inside One Of NYC's Historic Hotels: Our Room at The Roosevelt
It's almost impossible to believe that, in the years that we've been around here at HotelChatter, we have not slept in the historical hotel that is The Roosevelt. But then, we do live here, and there have been other hyped new openings to focus on, thus putting The Roosevelt on our back burner. And there it stayed.
...Until recently, when The Roosevelt held a promotion on Twitter to offer stays at the low, low rate of $19.24 a night, for a maximum stay of three nights. The $19.24 honored the year that this grand dame first opened, as part of a trio of hotels next door to Grand Central Station. Of the three—the other two being The Biltmore and The Commodore—The Roosevelt is the only survivor, and she continues to give a neverending flow of tourists a place to lay their heads after a long day of exploring the Big Apple.
Tags: HotelChatter Reader Deals / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Here's Your Chance to Tell Us What You Think of The Surrey Hotel
When we got our sneak peek of The Surrey Hotel on New York's Upper East Side, we were thrilled by the luxe elegance we found in the room, not to mention the swank neighborhood outside. But then we read a review from Globalista that wasn't quite what we hoped for. Even though the TripAdvisor reviews were generally positive, the seeds of doubt were planted.
Coupled with our disappointment about the hotel's introductory offer, chances were looking slim on taking a chance on The Surrey. Until now.
The Surrey has just sweetened the deal for HotelChatter Readers by offering a complimentary night when you reserve a minimum two-night stay.
Tags: Thanksgiving Hotels / Twitter / Manhattan Hotels / Affinia Hotels / → All Tags
Win Tickets to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (And a Night at The Affinia)
Another day, another Twitter hotel contest. But this is one that could score you major brownie points with the kids. Tomorrow, Affinia Hotels launches a Twitter promotion where the prize is exclusive access to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parde—and an overnight stay at the Affinia Manhattan on Thanksgiving night.
While a free night in a NYC hotel on a holiday is nothing to scoff at, the seating for the parade is the big deal here. Tickets are not available to the general public—seating is restricted to the folks of NBC, corporate sponsors, Macy’s execs, politicians, and charitable organizations. So win these babies and you’ll be hobnobbing it up, away from the riff-raff with their fold-up chairs.
Tags: Hotel Views / Hotel Openings / InterContinental Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Scoping Out the View From the InterContinental Times Square
Often in New York City hotels, views are non-existent, or they’re of the poor suckers in the apartment building across the street. So when we get a chance to gaze out across the city—or even New Jersey!—we are much happier campers. Which is why we were thrilled to see these photos of the view from the InterContinental Times Square, opening in July 2010.
When we last checked in on the hotel’s progress, there were just renderings of the tower. We’ve got nothing against renderings, but you can't beat seeing a building in living color—or even in muted grays like in these shots taken on an overcast day in Manhattan. The photos come courtesy of InterContinental’s Facebook page—which we applaud. Hotels and chains using Facebook and Twitter to give us sneak peeks at upcoming properties or new promotions is definitely a trend we support.
Tags: HotelChatter / Jaunted / VegasChatter / 92Y Tribeca / Twitter / Facebook / → All Tags
Meet Us in NYC at the 92Y Tribeca as We Talk Hotels, Travel and Social Media
We're assuming you're already following HotelChatter on Twitter and Facebook but if you've ever had the desire to meet us in real life, here's your chance!
On Thursday, December 3, we're talking with a few top travel friends at the 92Y Tribeca. The event, "Travel Gets Social: The New World of Travel Media," brings together Bowen Payson, Virgin America Manager of Online and Digital Marketing, NY Times Frugal Traveler Matt Gross, Adam Wallace, New Media Director for Roger Smith Hotel and others, moderated by the man who started it all: Mark G. Johnson, founder of Jaunted, HotelChatter and VegasChatter.
All the details, after the jump.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Trump Hotels / Celebrity Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Trump International Will Stay Open During 2010 Renovations
With all the breathless anticipation over the February opening of the Trump SoHo, we almost forgot that the Don and the kids had other properties. (Almost but not quite—after all, how can you miss those towers cutting off your access to the sun?) But you don't expect the Trumps to let their flagship baby languish while the cool kid downtown gets all the attention, do you? Of course not!
So it will come as no surprise, then, that the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York (that big sucker at the bottom of Central Park) is getting a multimillion-dollar spit and polish come January.
While the Forbes (formerly Mobil) Five-Star Hotel has always been stately and posh, the renovations will, according to Donald J. Trump Jr, put it in step with the "elegant, classic-contemporary feel of the other Trump Hotel Collection properties." It was Don Jr. himself who approved the model room displaying the proposed renos. So, what can all those tween stars expect when their tours bring them back to NYC in 2010?
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