In another nail-biting plot twist in the never-ending saga of the Hotel Chelsea, a new character has walked in to stir things up.
Andrew Tilley, an English guy who has worked at the Hyatt Carlton Tower in London and, more recently, the Paramount/Hard Rock Hotel in New York (among other places), has been brought into the Chelsea as the next poor soul to attempt to fill Stanley Bard's shoes as manager.
For those of you who aren't up to speed on the drama, this dude has about as much of a chance of being warmly embraced by the Hotel Chelsea crowd as Drew Carey has with The Price is Right people. One post-Bard manager has already been chased out; hopefully this one will fare a little bit better.
Not sure if you caught it but last month we stopped into the Hotel Chelsea for a brief respite from the hotel takeover and checked out the art exhibit that was going on there. Yet before we could make it to the art floors, about eight FDNY guys came in and proceeded straight up the stairs.
Later we found out that a woman who has lived there for 30 years was being investigated for a hoarding problem. Now we might know who that is. The NY Times has an article about a young artist in residence Sam Bennett who befriended his neighbor Bettina Grossman, a recluse and prolific artitst who became the subject of Bennett's documentary, "Bettina."
After two months, Mr. Bassett finally entered No. 503 to find that Ms. Grossman was, in fact, fiercely guarding an apartment nearly stuffed to the ceiling with hundreds of boxes, forcing her to live in her hallway and sleep on a deck chair.
Yikes. Grossman was almost evicted back in 2006 by the old management team for her apartment's frightening condition but a judge dismissed the petition. No doubt she was probably at the top of new management BD Hotels' hit list until they were fired last week. Unless, there's someone else hoarding stuff at the Hotel Chelsea.
Legends has managed to obtain a copy of the arbitration filing that will ultimately determine who will manage the Chelsea Hotel. What happened in this case is that BD filed suit against the hotel (essentially Marlene Krauss, since she is the one running the show), alleging that Marlene fired them without cause, and that she has failed to pay them the Incentive Fee that she owes them.
Marlene Krauss fired BD for, along with other things, failing to live up to their duties. Now BD is trying to recoup some of that incentive fee which is around $2 million. Yikes. No one from BD Hotels has shown up at the hotel today and the blog is reporting that the locks on the manager's office have been changed.
This is probably going to get even messier but we're sure the residents of the hotel are at least a little happy about the firing. Um...well...probably more than a little happy judging from the photo above which was posted on the residents' blog.
We always enjoy news about the Hotel Chelsea that doesn't involve a murder, a peeping Tom, or a hostile takeover.
We popped into the hotel last Friday to tour some of the first-floor rooms that had been transformed into mini-art galleries as part of the PooL Art Fair. Different emerging artists were able to showcase their work in the Chelsea's historic rooms. One lucky artist got to show off their work in the room where Sid Vicious may have killed Nancy. Here's a review from artinfo.com.
There was some quite excellent work here and -- as though to underscore how distant the whole enterprise was from the other fairs -- nobody tried to sell me anything. Come back next year, PooL. You'll be very welcome.
This art fair was put on by the hotel's new management BD Hotels who seems to be trying hard to respect the hotel's bohemian past. (Note: BD Hotels also manages the just-opened Greenwich Hotel, not that we care or anything.)
If you aren't aligning yourself with the new establishment then stop by the Museum of the City of New York tonight. The museum is hosting an evening dedicated to the 125th Anniversary of the Chelsea Hotel. Yes, the hotel is that old. There will be a reading and a panel discussion to commemorate the milestone. The event will also be showing a video interview with beloved former manager Stanley Bard.
Oh and it wasn't completely drama-free during our visit to the hotel. FDNY made a stop in to investigate a hoarding problem by one of the residents. Which is probably as representative of the Chelsea's wild boho spirit as the artwork hanging from the walls.
We linked back to a local newscast story in Atlanta back in December who did an expose on those drinking glasses you see in hotel rooms. Check-out the video above.
Now an ABC channel in Arizona has done their own investigation which was featured on "Good Morning America." Most hotels caught using lax "cleaning" practices (for example: drying the glasses using a dirty hand towel) were budget chains and extended-stay chains.
BUT one of the hotels caught with questionable practices was the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, a Waldorf-Astoria collection (which we just wrote about this AM!) Here's the statement from the hotel:
We are extremely concerned to learn that one of our employees was not following the resort's exacting procedures on which they were trained. We have taken immediate action to address this issue, conducting additional training to ensure that every employee not only understands the procedures but consistently follows them.
So paying $6 for bottled water doesn't seem so bad now does it?
In other news: · Fameball dating expert Julia Allison plugs the W Hotels New York Valentine's Day Spin the Bottle shindigs.[Julia Allison] · NJ Nets Richard Jefferson allegedly choked a man at the Infinity Lounge inside the Graves 601 Hotel.[TMZ] · Even the U2 Hotel, The Clarence, in Dublin is not immune to hotel fires. [Digital Spy] · Another hotelier caught saying dubious things. Richard Born may want to bankrupt the Hotel Chelsea [Living with Legends]
We have spies all over the hotel industry who like to send various miscellaneous tips our way. Some of these are post-worthy, others are not much more than one sentence tid-bits. So here's the latest batch of whispers through the hotel grapevine.
We had a little surprise bit of Heard Around the Mexican Hotel World earlier this week and now we bring you our regularly scheduled programming.
· Britney Spears has reportedly been blacklisted from the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills after a paparazzi there got into a scuffle with a hotel security guard. Apparently, the Peninsula is not willing to sacrifice the peace and quiet of their swank hotel and their other high-profile guests for trainwreck that is Britney Spears.
· This has been a big week for Thompson Hotels. First we introduced a Thompson Hotels map, then we saw some sketches for the Beverly Hills property uniforms, and then Stephen Brandman defended his hotels' service reputation. In between all that, we heard that Thompson Hotels will announce a few more projects in early 2008. No word on where they will be but discussions are happening about a Vegas property which would include a Teddy's outpost.
· Ok this is not technically a piece of gossip, but we think you should hear it. Whist at the Viceroy Santa Monica is offering a Sunday New Year's brunch every Sunday in the month of January for just $20.08 a person. Get it? 2008...The brunch is usually $55 person and includes unlimited champagne, mimosas or bloody marys. So much for that "Drink Less" New Years Resolution.
· Care to spend your holiday in Minneapolis? That is where the hotel rates are the cheapest at around $83 a night, according to the CheapTickets.com Holiday Shopping Cheapometer.
· In some more holiday booking news, Booking.com was named the #1 hotel site in terms of room availability over Christmas.
· Lastly, the bitterness between residents and new management at the Hotel Chelsea still continues. Manager Glennon Travis has been called a "baby dictator" and a master of the annoying memo. While we certainly agree he is young at just 26 years of age, a dictator is stretching it. Afterall, isn't he just doing what BD Hotels tells him to? But since he is so proficient with the memos, we shall call him Baby Bill Lumbergh--"Did you get the memo?"
Seriously, it's getting harder and harder to keep track of all the drama exploding at The Hotel Chelsea.
It's like back in 2004 if we missed an episode of The O.C. we'd tune in only to find that somehow Julie Cooper got married again, Ryan Atwood beat up like 10 people, Sandy Cohen was fighting yet another Newport Group development and Marissa Cooper had stolen another Chanel purse.
The latest madness erupting from the Hotel Chelsea Takeover has been reported by the New York Observer who write that the fired hotel managers are still showing up for work, the hotel owner, David Elder, has reportedly placed spies around the place, a fish head was found in a box on the hotel's rooftop addressed to Elder and poop was found in front of his door. (We couldn't help but wonder, did they stick it in a paper bag and light it?)
The article is definitely worth a read as it gets some of the other side's opinions (namely not those living at the Hotel Chelsea) and a more objective backstory to the hotel takeover.
What's interesting to note is that the Observer says that most of the residents publicly support the old managers, Stanley Bard and his son David, but that privately they mention he favored other tenants, gave higher rents to some and under his watch the hotel had several housing violations.
Either way, you may not want to stay at the Hotel Chelsea for a while lest you get poop accidentally delivered to your door...unless you're into that sort of thing.
The good folks over at the Living with Legends blog let us know that the Hotel Chelsea which was recently taken over by BD Hotels and is rumored to be Andre Balazs' project, has gotten some new, cheaper rates.
A shared bath studio is now going for $99 a night and a two-bedroom suite is going for $179 a night! Actually, when we checked for Monday, July 23rd we found the shared studio for $109 and the suite for $199. But still, that's crazy! You will never find these rates again in Manhattan.
But don't get too excited. The dirt cheap rates have alarmed the long-term residents of the hotel who worry the new management is turning the place into a "flophouse." Their thoughts after the jump.
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by Jenna
We have spies all over the hotel industry who like to send various miscellaneous tips our way. Some of these are post-worthy, others are not much more than one sentence tid-bits. So here's the latest batch of whispers through the hotel grapevine.
