Ny Travel Guide - Page 2
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?
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Chefs / → All Tags
Ma Peche Restaurant Opens At NY's Chambers Hotel, And We're So There
We've made no secret of the fact that one of our favorite Digital Nomad Lobbies is the mezzanine at NYC's Chambers Hotel, and three days ago while working in our usual nook, we noticed a suspicious lunch menu sitting on the sidetable. But how could we order this lunch when there was no wait staff? Ah ha—we should have known that they were being trained at that very moment for the opening of the hotel's new restaurant, Ma Peche.
Ma Peche is the latest spot from David Chang of the foodie favorite Momofuku megaforce that counts three restaurants in the Lower East Side. This being his first highly anticipated restaurant in Midtown, and hello—it's in a hotel, so it's screaming our name—we said scram to our hot pockets and headed in for the first lunch ever.
The details, after the jump.
Tags: Reality TV Hotels / Hotel Renovations / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Hair Salons / → All Tags
Reality Star Gives Makeovers in Madeover Suites at The Kimberly Hotel
We know what you’re thinking: reality TV stars at hotels—no, thanks. But this tale does not involve Speidi or Omarosa or a certain single father of eight. No, the reality TV dude in question here is Danish hairdresser Rene Fris, who was one of the judges for Bravo’s Shear Genius. Here he is wielding his scissors in a suite at the Kimberly Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
But before you get too excited, Fris has not started a salon residency in the hotel—he was there to give a few lucky folks a makeover. The hair, make-up, and styling session bestowed upon Fred and Susan Denischuk and their daughter Melanie Jaskiw was a silent auction prize at the Viennese Opera Ball. For the lowly among us, that’s one of the big charity galas on the New York City social calendar, thrown by the U.S.-Austrian Chamber of Commerce. It’s the kind of ball where ladies wear long gowns and men are required to wear "white tie and decorations."
It’s held at the Waldorf-Astoria, but it was the smaller but still luxurious Kimberly Hotel which donated the rooms for the Denischuk family to claim their makeover prize last month.
Tags: Insane Hotel Packages / Hotel Promotions / GEM Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Launch Your Own Hotel Takeover With the GEM Hotel Midtown West
Have you ever dreamed of taking over an entire hotel, just like those kids in Hotel for Dogs or like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Well, now you can do it without having to set up a makeshift animal shelter or get all nationalistic and chummy with the military. That’s because the GEM Hotel Midtown West is “inviting” guests to takeover all of its 39 rooms. The Hotel Takeover offer is available in January and February 2010, which gives you ample time to save the $5,000 you’ll need for one night of playing hotelier. (Or you could just put it on your “Dear Santa” list.)
The five grand is the starting rate (it's based on dates and availability) but that works out to about $128 per room per night, and you also get complimentary high-speed Internet access, bottled water, and Wolfgang Puck coffee. The GEM has a mix of King and Duo-Double rooms to house your friends, but you’ll want to book yourself into the Terrace Room, so you can get some “fresh air” (the hotel is located near 10th Avenue and the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.)
Tags: Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / Andaz Hotels / → All Tags
Andaz Wall Street Aims to Open January 17th; Rooms Start at $295
We knew that Andaz Hotels were gearing up to open up their Andaz Wall Street in January 2010 but a tipster seems to have an exact date for us: January 17.
Of course, that's just the target opening date. To be safe, the hotel has this listed on their website under "Reservations":
Rooms are now available for booking from a check-in date of February 15, 2010 onwards.
Given that we've been waiting for Andaz Wall Street to open forever (literally, forever!) we say it's best to err on the side of caution and book your stay for late February. We checked out the rates for February 15th and an Andaz King with 345-square-feet was available for $295 a night. An Andaz Deluxe King with 450-square-feet was available for $345.
Tags: Hotel Bars / Hotel Lounges / Standard Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Even If You're a Hotel Guest, The Standard's Boom Boom Room Kicks You Out at 9
Who wants to hear some ridiculous Manhattan hotel news? The Standard's top-floor lounge/club Boom Boom Room (or whatever they're calling it), only allows hotel guests up between the hours of 4-9pm. What happens at 9pm, you ask? Well, a very PYT HotelChatter operative reported back from a boozy evening in the Boom Boom Room that everyone is kicked out at the stroke of nine. This way, the place can be reopened for private and celeb-filled parties at 10pm.
This means no late night socializing and snacking and no nightcaps in the Boom Boom's plush environs, even though you are a paying guest of the hotel. Still, our operative managed to capture a few undercover pictures before the curfew came down, and we see a sampling of the "Sweets" menu above, with a fireplace after the jump.
Tags: Snapshot / Kimpton Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Boarding Passes / → All Tags
Kimpton Hotels Want To Print Your Boarding Pass For You
Often times when staying in hotels, we're just happy to get free WiFi which we can certainly get at all Kimpton Hotels (by becoming a member of their InTouch program). But we realize there are some times when you need things printed out on paper. You remember paper, right? We used to feed it into this thing called a printer and words would magically appear on it? Yes? No? Hmm....
At the new Ink48 we noticed they wanted to print out boarding pass for hotel guests. You simply fill out this sheet with your pertinent flight info and drop it off at the Front Desk and your boarding passes will be delivered back to your room three hours before your flight or by noon the day of your flight (whichever comes first.)
Tags: Checking In On / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Taking The Bad With The Good: Reviews of The Surrey So Far
When we had the chance to check out The Surrey Hotel’s $60-million “re-creation,” we were impressed by the sheer prettiness of the new guest rooms. But not everyone shares our take. Over at the UK site, Globalista Travel Journal, this week The Surrey copped a dressing down for what the nameless reviewer called “a pointless refurbishment.” In the nature of being “fair and balanced,” we decided to compare Globalista’s opinion to recent reviews on TripAdvisor.
Let’s start with those Gloablista grumbles, shall we? The things that ticked them off included: a huge discrepancy in the size of the lowest category Deluxe Salon rooms (some box-like and others spacious, but the same price); the noise; spotty housekeeping service; the complicated or non-functional TV; and the lack of weekend breakfast until 8 a.m. Globalista also said, “The 1920s homage to Lanvin decor is quite simply ghastly.”
Tags: Hotel Parties / New York Hotels / Hotel Construction / Fashion Hotels / Halloween Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Construction Zones Are The New Hot Party Venue, In NYC At Least
Apparently there are not enough event spaces or hip hotel bars in New York City to appease the fashion flock, since the biggest party in town (for the trend-ites, it seems), was held in the under-construction core of the NoMad Hotel. If you remember, we went to the big Interview Magazine party last year in the under-construction core of The Standard Hotel, probably with some of the same attendees who showed at the NoMad.
There is this old saying: "two's a coincidence and three's a trend." Well, we've got two down with these parties; what hotel skeleton will be the next to hold a fashion party, thereby elevating this to a trend? Will songs by "Men at Work" be played? Now let's talk about the Nomad...
Tags: 2009 World Series Hotels / Ticker Tape Parade Hotels / Downtown New York Hotels / → All Tags
Five Hotels Downtown for the Yankee Ticker Tape Parade
So the New York Yankees won the World Series last night and we're sure The Hotel Indigo Chelsea has popped plenty of bubbly for their Philly guest losers. But the celebrations aren't over yet. The city of New York will throw a traditional ticker tape parade to honor the athletes tomorrow in downtown New York. The official route:
The parade will begin at 11 a.m. at Broadway at Battery Place and proceed northbound up the fabled Canyon of Heroes to City Hall, at Chambers St.
At City Hall, the Yankees will be presented with Keys to the City at 1 p.m. by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
You don't need a hotel room to watch the parade but it does make things easier. Since this is so last minute we fully expected hotels to bump up their rates for tonight, but surprisingly there are some deals. It's just a shame that Andaz Wall Street and W Downtown aren't open yet.
Tags: Sweet Suites / Hotel Deals / Hotel Penthouses / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Stay at the Buckingham Hotel's Penthouse For a Song
If you’ve dreamed of living in a New York penthouse but only ever get as far as flipping through the ads in the Times real estate section, you might now be closer to living your dream thanks to the Buckingham Hotel. Sitting atop the small boutique hotel near Carnegie Hall is The Martinelli Penthouse, which was once home to opera singer Giovanni Martinelli when he was performing at the Met, and also used by musical star Bobby Van as a dance studio.
Now, the two-bedroom duplex with a totally awesome terrace is available for meetings, private parties, and of course as hotel accommodations for cashed-up guests. We know, we know, you’re thinking: why are you telling me this? I could never afford something so luxurious. That’s what we thought—but then we learned that the Buckingham has slashed the regular rate for the penthouse by 50%.
Tags: Hotel Amenities / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Fitness / → All Tags
Hooping It Up In Your Hotel Room Encouraged at The Muse Hotel
When we first saw the words "Hoop There It Is," we thought we were in an early ’90s time warp and wondered if Miami bass was back on the charts. But no, it’s just another wacky hotel amenity promotion—this time, courtesy of Kimpton’s The Muse Hotel in New York City.
Riding the tails of yet another resurgence of hula-hoop fitness (doesn’t it seem that this comes around every three years or so?), The Muse is offering a “Hoop There It Is” amenity basket, with all the goodies you need to get hula-ing: a hoop, a hula-hoop workout video (we think they probably mean DVD) and a small towel. Because, after all, hula-hooping burns between 150-200 calories in half an hour. Totally sweat-inducing.
Sure, it’s gimmicky, but we actually like the idea of hula-hooping it up in our hotel room. Doing all of those “take it on the road” workout routines seem so boring in comparison. The Kimpton folks reminded us that even Michelle Obama has taken to hula-hooping recently, racking up 142 swivels during a kids’ fitness event on the South Lawn of the White House a couple of weeks ago.
But more importantly: how many swivels can Muse Director of Pet Relations Ginger do? We’ll make that our goal before we reward ourselves with a cocktail at the bar.
The “Hoop There It Is” basket is available free-of-charge upon request. A room at the Muse this Friday night starts at $329.
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