/ / / / / / / / / /

For Better Or Worse, NYC Hotels Got Their Fair Share Of The Spotlight This Week

August 10, 2012 at 9:04 AM | by | Comments (0)

They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, so we'll just go ahead and assume that somehow Grand Hyatt, The Mercer and Peninsula New York have managed to find the silver lining in the torrent of media attention that has come each of their ways this week.

First up: The Mercer played a starring role in an absurd incident involving a red Ferrari 458 Spider, an NYPD officer's foot, and The Hills star Stephanie Pratt's boyfriend. And, as luck would have it, the whole thing was caught on film and posted to YouTube.

To recap, a cop was issuing the car a parking ticket when the driver, Julian Chabbott, stormed out of the hotel, got into the car, and started trying to drive away while the cop was standing there. In a matter of seconds, he'd been pulled out of the driver's seat, shoved against the side of the car and thrown to the ground because he allegedly ran over the cop's foot. Hooray for innocent passersby armed with smartphones!

Witnesses (and as you can see from the video, there were a lot of them) claim they never saw the car actually roll over the cop's foot, but it's safe to say the whole incident got blown way out of proportion. Need proof? The clip has so far received over 8 million views, and counting.

Further uptown, a tragedy unfolded yesterday morning when an unidentified man plunged to his death by jumping from the Peninsula New York's sun terrace—and landed square on top of an SUV with the driver inside. Luckily, reports the NY Daily News, the driver remained unharmed, though understandably shaken.

And finally, on a more positive note, Grand Hyatt is making headlines this morning for, of all things, being a good hotel. After Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones decided to share his complaints about the hotel on Twitter yesterday—the AC wasn't working, he couldn't access the movie channels, and the bed was uncomfortable—the hotel quickly responded by sending someone up to fix the TV.

As a result of the hotel's startlingly fast service, Jones stepped off a little:

And that's the news, folks.

[Photo: HotelChatter]

Hotels mentioned in this story

Comments (0)

Post a Comment

Join the conversation!

Not a member? .
Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). © Condé Nast. Your California Privacy Rights. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
Ad Choices