What Does $1,000 a Night at the Plaza Get You? Hint: Not a Talking Robot or WiFi Access

March 4, 2008 at 4:56 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

The Plaza has reopened and everyone is just wetting their pants over the fact that it's open again. Well, except the people who bought the apartments in there because it's apparently pretty empty on those floors.

And while many tourists want to check out the new digs, not everyone is going to be able to afford it. So they will have to settle for skulking around the public areas---something we will probably be doing pretty soon.

Anyways, what pulls at our chain (pardon our grandma's favorite expression) is this bit from a Cornell Hotel School university professor:

"When you hear $1,000 a night for a room it might seem like a lot, but in the end it's not about the price, it's about the experience," said Bill Carroll, a professor at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. "It's such a unique destination. It really is about the cachet." Carroll spent his honeymoon at The Plaza 41 years ago.

"It might seem like a lot"??? Um, Bill...it IS a lot of money. And from what we've read of the new Plaza, it doesn't seem worth it.

Here's what that $1,000 will get you in-room: flat-screen TVs, electronic key cards, iPod docks and digital touchscreens that let guests change lighting and temperature or call for assistance. You'll also have a floor butler on call 24 hours a day and you can hang out in a bathroom that has 24-karat gold-plated faucets and mosaic floors.

Also Kitty Beyonce at Hotel Hotsheet says the hotel reneged on its promise to deliver free WiFi and is instead charging $14.95 a day because its competitors charge for WiFi.

So it doesn't sound like we're getting the bang for our buck here. For that money, we would request a talking robot. (Seriously, people. Is this too much to ask for?) Or at the very least, give us our own personal butler. Not one that we have to share with the rest of the floor.

There's so much more we could rail on here (Artie Frommer, we hear ya!) but this is what gets us: The hotel prides itself on its legend and its history. But $400 million has been spent upgrading the rooms and some public spaces to look nothing like it used to. So basically they are selling guests on the history of the hotel that they have pretty much plastered over and then charging them (starting at the lowest price we found) $755 and up. Boo.

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