The Cooper Square Hotel Finally Opens Today

December 11, 2008 at 10:52 AM | by juliana | Comments (5)

The long-awaited Cooper Square Hotel is opening today and normally for a new hotel in Manhattan we would be putting on our best clothes, straightening our hair and zipping up our new hooker boots to go and check it out. But today we're just "meh."

We've had a long history of covering Cooper Square on HotelChatter. During Cooper Square's construction, we learned about the warring factions behind the project. Apparently partners Matt Moss and Gregory Peck hate each other and general manager Klaus Ortleib has sided with Moss. Cooper Square also became one of the most hated buildings in the neighborhood for the way it looked, for what it planned to offer and just for its general existence. Of course, what new hotel in NYC isn't hated by the neighborhood at first?

But all of that drama probably contributed to the hotel's delay. This place was supposed to open in April, then again over the summer. And here we are today in December in the middle of a recession.

Further dampening our hotel libido is the interior pics we've seen of the hotel. When these first came out, we were a little upset. We just didn't expect a brand-new hotel built from scratch with a progressive exterior to be so...well...boring on the inside.

Our design and decor preferences aside, our biggest issue with Cooper Square is that its charging an intro rate of $275. Ortleib (now a co-owner in the hotel) says that will increase to $375 in February. Those prices are fine...for six months ago. Why would guests pay this much now when they can stay at equally hip boutique hotels in NYC for less?

Smyth Tribeca from Thompson Hotels is opening in January at $119 a night via Quikbook (the rack rate on their site is asking about $205.) NewYorkology just rounded up some more killer hotel prices (some under $100) at boutique hotels in the city, all less than the Cooper Square's introductory price. Even Gramercy Park Hotel charged less than this ($250) when it first opened and that was in a hotel boomtime.

Then again, since Cooper Square wants to attract guests from the film, music, fashion and advertising industries, a group more concerned with looks than price, perhaps they won't have any trouble.

We found a Cooper 3 category guestroom (with king bed) this weekend for $325. Free wireless internet is included.

Comments (5)

Return to » The Cooper Square Hotel Finally Opens Today

Wow, Thompson hotels promos are everywhere on this site. Is hotelchatter in the pocket of Steven Brandman?

hi there, it's me blogging from stephen brandman's pocket. you should meet me in person. i'm so mini it's too frickin' cute to stand. whatever.

if you have been loooking at what we are writing, we are writing about the cheap prices that thompson has been having lately. pretty much the only one of their hotels that can command the top rack rate is 60 Thompson. every other hotel has been deeply discounting, even on the left coast. which means us little people can actually stay there. and c'mon, don't you think its unreal that a new hotel in tribeca would be as cheap as $119 a night?

also, i have been loving the past couple of times i stayed in a thompson hotel (on my own dime, thank you very much) that they had free, reliable WiFi makes my job so much easier.

if anything i would think these mentions of Thompson Hotels really benefit Quikbook more than Thompson but believe me I am not in anyone's pocket. I drink too much and would probably keep falling out.

Hi there, it's Quikbook.com, commenting from Stephen Brandman's other pocket. You should meet us in person. We're so small-time and innocuous it's unbearable. That's why we all do back flips when Juliana or anyone else with a nice voice and venue mentions us.

If we had money to grease palms, we'd be Illinois' next senator. But we don't. We don't even have money to advertise. We don't have money because we don't shake down our guests. We don't shake down our guests because we're not a public company under pressure from shareholders to fleece our guests. Our rates are low cuz we don't mark them up. Period. (whew, we've been meaning to get all that off our chest for some time now)

And, yeah, Thompson offers a great product at an honest price. We like that. Props to them. And what method/process does Thompson use to hire their staff?? EVERY review our guests send us about a Thompson hotel is peppered with praise for the staff. Where is Thompson finding these people and how can we get some?

I love you both: Thompson Hotels for a great service and quickbook for letting me to stay at Thompson hotel at normal price! Keep on going that way!!

Sounds like I hit a nerve...if not in the pocket, I hope they at least give you an upgrade and pile on the freebies.

Well, I love to read your site for the hotel gossip and objective journalism. Please forgive my suspicions; in the age of Tivo and advertising saturation, shows are building marketing into their content, I hope Hotelchatter never has to go down that road.

Remember, on the internet any crazy person can write whatever they want. Whether it's true or made-up, objective or not. Keep up the good work, and don't be so sensitive.

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