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Hotel Chelsea News
Bob Dylan Rooms Destroyed at Hotel Chelsea
December 4, 2008 at 11:34 AM | 1 Comment
Covering the management and resident shenanigans that go on at the bohemian Hotel Chelsea could practically be a full-time job. And indeed it almost is for the bloggers/Chelsea residents who write the Living with Legends blog.
This time the hotel's residents are up in arms about the renovations that are going on in two rooms on the second floor where Bob Dylan reportedly stayed while writing Blonde on Blonde. Curbed has some photos of the renovations which are pretty much demolishing everything.
The room "looked much as it did when Dylan lived there" in the '60s, according to Living With Legends, at least until this week. LWL has photos of the renovation, and we're talkin' a bit more than some kitchen and potty tweaks. In fact, the place looks trashed.
Thompson Hotels
Smyth Tribeca Opening in January
December 3, 2008 at 2:37 PM | 1 Comment
A king superior room at the hotel.
We blame it on the Turkey Dinner. Last Monday, we heard from Thompson Hotels that Smyth Tribeca would be opening in January. And our mouths literally dropped open. But they insisted that it was true. So it was either the turkey we ate two days later or the sheer idea of this hotel opening in January that caused us entirely to forget about it.
But NewYorkology did not. According to the hotel's own website, rooms will be opening on January 6th starting at $205 a night. Here is the room description:
Our Queen Superior room measures 260 sq ft and features a queen bed with custom made 400 thread count SFERRA linens and is decorated in a contemporary design with vintage wine accent colors, rich walnut paneling and furniture, polished chrome light fixtures and features a sleek stainless steel desk. The full marble bathroom is lavishly designed with rain showerheads, luxurious fixtures, a centerpiece floating sink and features a floor-to-ceiling translucent glass shower wall that discreetly separates it from the bedroom.
Oh god. We loved the rainshower at Thompson LES. We sincerely hope it's the same one.
A Jour Et Nuit ("Day and Night") restaurant will be opening inside, although we're not sure when. You know how Thompson likes to open piece by piece. Rounding out the rest of the hotel are killer suites, 24-hour room service, a bar and lounge and presumably a fitness center. You can bet we'll be there opening night.
Hotel Hype
NY's NoMad Hotel to Get Costes Treatment
December 3, 2008 at 2:06 PM | 1 Comment
[NoMad rendering image via WWD]
Remember back ten years ago when Paris' Hôtel Costes was THE "it" hotel and the various CDs produced by the hotel were being played in hip cocktail lounges around the world? Well, when the NoMad Hotel opens in 2010 at Broadway and 28th Street in New York, a little of that Paris magic will be tagging along.
WWD reports that French designer Jacques Garcia, the man behind the swank of the Costes, will be outiftting the NoMad and looking to create a buzz like that of his other projects, which include NY's Spice Market restaurant and the Hôtel Métropole in Monte Carlo. Despite the ballooning number of boutique hotels in Manhattan, he sounds optimistic: “New York has always brought me luck ... In 2010, I have a new dream for the city and this hotel."
NoMad's 12 stories, 160 guest rooms and 11 suites will need much more than velvet curtains, however, as the hipster Ace Hotel sits on the very same block and seems determined to at least crack, if not break, the boutique hotel mold. In any case, the plushification of this North Madison Square district does mean more places to party and less historical buildings in disrepair.
Hotel Amenities
Algonquin Forgoes Bookshelf Trend for Kindles
December 3, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments
As the bookshelf craze in hotels seems to be blowing up in a big way — with trendy modern hotels ranging from the sleek, spankin' new SLS to the funky Mercer throwing displays of book collections into their lobbies — we think we've seen the future of literature in hotels...and it's at the Algonquin.
Yeah, the hotel that's had its doors open for more than a century actually seems to be a little more ahead of the curve on the books-in-hotels front: they've got Kindles.
Designer Uniforms
The Hotel on Rivington Gets Fly New DC Kicks
December 2, 2008 at 1:55 PM | 0 Comments
[Image via Hypebeast]
Next time you check into a hotel, particularly in Manhattan, take care to note the fine clothing on the backs of those hauling in your overstuffed old luggage.
With the rise of boutique hotels and their attention to branding every detail, it's no longer surprising to find that the valet may be dressed more expensively than yourself. Perhaps the most famous examples of this are Park Hyatt's Armani-clad doormen and Michael Kors for New York's Hotel Mela, but we can hardly forget about the dapper folk at The Hotel on Rivington who sport Ted Baker London like it's their job (ha).
This past Black Friday, THOR went a literal step further and introduced a partnership with DC Shoes for their employees. Now rounding out the tailored Ted Baker look will be DC's Sector 7, a slim leather low-top from the DC LIFE Collection.
Hypebeast lets us know how premium these are: "[the collection] features models, constructions, and materials found nowhere else in the DC line and is offered exclusively at a very select group of fine retailers worldwide." Sounds fancy! Next thing you know, Vogue will do a spread on hotel fashion and we'll be saying "we told you so."
Hotel Cocktails
St. Regis Toasts the Anniversary of the Bloody Mary
December 1, 2008 at 12:08 PM | 1 Comment
Put down that Red Bull and celebrate today, a landmark date for both cocktail enthusiasts and brunch boozers, as the NY Post points out that it's the 75th Anniversary of the Bloody Mary cocktail. Now for a tall, cool glass of history: the Bloody Mary was originally invented by bartender Fernand Petiot at Harry's Bar in Paris in the late 1920s, then perfected with the addition of Tabasco when Fernand headed up King Cole Bar at New York's St. Regis Hotel shortly after the repeal of prohibition.
Room Rate Drop Watch
Le Parker Meridien for $189 a Night in 2009
November 26, 2008 at 10:55 AM | 1 Comment
Welcome to Room Rate Drop Watch where we chronicle the plummeting prices at hotels that once commanded top dollar rates. These are often found in big cities with seemingly more hotel rooms than visitors like Las Vegas. But sometimes you can get lucky in the city of your choice. Seen a room rate drop so low you wanna tell us about it? Do it here.
This is unbelievable. The Le Parker Meridien in New York--home to an indoor swimming pool, a yummy burger joint and a Wii-workout plan--is available for $189 a night from January through March on Hotwire.
. Weekend stays (Thursday-Sunday) in a superior room are now just $189 per night, January 1-March 31, 2009. Stay December 14-26, 2008, for just $199. Stay December 27-30, 2008, for $239.
Granted, it's off-season for NYC (ie. cold as hell!) but even staying over Christmas for $199 is truly magical. Is it bad that we're kind of liking this recession?
Seen a room rate drop so low that we should know about it? Send it our way.
[Photo: Dominiekt]
Hotel Restaurants
We Take It Back: Country at the Carlton is Really Not the Same
November 26, 2008 at 8:55 AM | 0 Comments
Get ready to be thoroughly confused: remember last week when we heard that the most recent Zagat survey had "erroneously" printed that Country at the Carlton Hotel on Madison Avenue had closed, but then a tipster wrote in and told us that Country had, in fact, not closed but had instead just re-branded?
Well, as soon as we posted the story, a different (and very reliable) tipster — one who has been a loyal Country patron for quite some time — came forward and let us know that he stopped by Country pretty recently (his first visit since the "rebranding" went down) and it is not the same as it used to be. Like, not at all.
Manhattan Hotels
W Magazine Goes Inside the Ace Hotel NYC
November 25, 2008 at 11:33 AM | 0 Comments
As spring seems only a few uncomfortable holidays away, the buzz for the Ace Hotel New York's February/March opening continues to grow. Newest to the heat is W Magazine, who, for reasons unknown, sent their fashion operatives to pick apart details of the hotel's model room. Although W didn't have much more to say than last month's Monocle coverage of the same, they did dig the vintage finds:
In a nod to the nearby Garment District, guests hang clothes on pipes meant to suggest rolling dress racks and stash shoes in antique sewing bins bought at Paris’s Clignancourt flea market. The lobby is outfitted with vintage furniture and inherited its coffered ceiling and mosaic floor from the spot’s former occupant, the Hotel Breslin; three wood-paneled walls, salvaged from a Park Avenue apartment’s library, enclose a bar.
Snapshot
Checking In On Thompson LES
November 24, 2008 at 4:00 PM | 0 Comments
Last night we touched down in unseasonably cold NYC and hailed a cab to our digs for the next few days, Thompson LES. When it first opened, we had our very own talented Jenna check out the place. And she liked it. She really liked it.
We however, were trying to be more reserved when we checked in. But we too, were also surprised by how much we like this place. (After a while in this gig, you learn not to have any expectations of hotels, let alone good ones.)
It probably started with the deal we got here. We paid $170 a night via Quikbook.com for a superior queen/king room and we got a studio suite. We could be staying two blocks away in a closet at the Gem Soho for $189 a night.
Ascend Hotels
Gem Hotel "Soho" Also Now Open
November 24, 2008 at 9:35 AM | 0 Comments
A few weeks ago one of the first Ascend Hotels opened in New York City--the Gem Hotel in Chelsea. If you remember, Ascend is the new Clarion Collection from Choice Hotels. And today we also walked by another Gem Hotel--this time in the Lower East Side.
Despite the hotel's location on Houston Street and Eldridge (which is clearly LES turf), the hotel's name is listed as Soho. Hmm...not quite. But you are just two short blocks away from the massive Whole Foods store.
Just like the Chelsea location, rooms here look small with nothing in it aside from a massive white fluffy-looking bed and a flat-screen TV. Sometimes, that's all you need. Rates were going for tonight at $189 a night which is not bad. Except we paid $170 a night for our room at Thompson LES.
Hotel Openings
No View from The Vu Until February
November 20, 2008 at 11:57 AM | 0 Comments
UPDATE:The VU Hotel is actually taking online reservations beginning February 16th, not March as we previously stated. So get booking!
The Vu Hotel was supposed to be open by now but it doesn't look like guests will be sleeping there until March.
We hit up the hotel website and despite a friendly line telling us to book our reservations now, we couldn't get anything to come up until March 15th. When we did, we found a king superior room with 1 king bed for $299 a night. That's not too bad but the room category is tiny, ranging from 250 to 275 square feet. A king deluxe bed bumps up to 300-sq.ft. at $319 a night.
All rooms will have 11-foot-high ceilings with large loft casement windows, Frette bed linens, L’Occitane toiletries, and a safe designed to fit a laptop computer. Wireless internet access is listed as "available" which means not free as Kimpton started charging at their NYC hotels a few years ago. But remember, if you are an InTouch Member, you can sign on gratis.
