Tag: New York Hotel Reviews
View All TagsHotel Renovations / Taj Hotels / New York Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
The Pierre To Be Reborn, Courtesy of Taj
The beautiful Pierre on Fifth Avenue, NYC, is about to get even more beautiful. The NY Times reported that it's about to close for a major renovation, but details on exactly when and for how long are still sketchy.
A hotel spokeswoman wouldn't give any details at all, other than to say a press release would probably come out in the next couple of weeks. If you try the Pierre website now, you can book up until December 30, but from then on all rooms are marked as sold out.
The rumored renovation is supposed to be costing the relatively new owner, Taj, $122 million, and will update the lobby and all 200 guest rooms. In fact in the last couple of years they have already renovated some of the function areas but it seems like more is to come.
There are some permanent residents in the Pierre and apparently they won't be kicked out during the renos, but will only be receiving limited services. Watch this space for more news on the Pierre's big remake.
[Photo: Jeffrey Keefer]
Related Stories:
· Storied Hotel Is Closing For A Major Face-Lift [NY Times]
· Hotel Wedding Crashers Undercover Edition: The Pierre Hotel [HotelChatter]
Rooftop Bars / New York Hotels / New York Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Manhattan Rooftop Bars: Now with More Blue Shirts
Guess our coverage is striking an inspirational chord with readers. A Friend of Hotel Chatter recently wrote in with this back-of-the-bar-napkin review of Rare View at the Shelburne Murray Hill Hotel (which we first mentioned way back when):
It was OK. It's somewhat nice looking with good seating options and that kind of thing, but overpriced (of course) and filled with blue-shirt guys. Tons of them. I really prefer a dumpier environment. But on the other hand I'll go to just about anything on a roof.
Hmmm... a rooftop dive bar. Maybe that's what Jason Pomeranc has planned for the top of Six Columbus?
[Photo: Noah Kalina]
Related Stories:
· HotelChatter's Rooftop Bars coverage [HotelChatter]
The Pod Hotel / New York Hotel Reviews / Hotel Bars / Rooftop Bars / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
What's the Story with The Pod Hotel's Rooftop Bar?
That's the question HotelChatter guru markj asked after we posted our Hotel Video Tour recently. After a little back and forth with some PR types, we thought we had it sorted out: roof deck at the Pod Hotel not open for business, but garden courtyard ready to party. Here's what we hear about the garden:
The space is simple but still manages to create a warm ambiance complimented by lush greeneries. The ground is covered with beach stone amber pebbles... Floating in the beach pebbles are wood deck POD tables which create the seating and dining area...The tables have a small round leather finish with a black granite top. Scattered around on the tables and along the deck are 1930's stainless steel French bistro chairs.
End of story, right? Not quite: we poked through some TripAdvisor reviews, and either the roof is open or there's some shills about:
The hidden gem, during our stay and in the hot weather, was the roof terrace with the skyscraper view. It was a little resting place between an afternoon of shopping and a night on the town.
At least you can get a good view from somewhere!
[Photo: JB2007]
Related Stories:
· Room with an Anti-View :: The Pod Hotel [HotelChatter]
Andre Balazs / Times Square Hotels / New York Hotel Reviews / Parties / Pools / → All Tags
Lone Swimmer At André's Pool Party
Wednesday night, André Balazs threw a little shindig at Hotel QT for the release of a new edition of Kelly Klein's book Pools and HotelChatter was on hand to take in the scene for you.
André was sporting a slick seersucker suit--in creme and white, not standard blue, natch. Kelly was signing away on new copies of her book. We were sticking to the back of the room taking it all in, waiting for someone to finally break down and cannonball in to the pool. And then finally it happened: a lone swimmer got up the guts and leaped in--wearing only his boxers. That's when we decided to call it a night.
Related Stories:
· André Balazs coverage [HotelChatter]
New York Times / New York Hotel Reviews / Denny Lee / → All Tags
The Orchard Garden Hotel Gets Dumped On
Last we heard from New York Times hotel maven Denny Lee, he'd "discovered" The Bowery Hotel. What groundbreaking news did he bring us this Sunday? Word of The Orchard Garden Hotel. You know, the one we mentioned last year.
The review itself is hardly flattering. There's nothing particularly bad about the place, the article says, but:
The hotel is far from stylish, and the drab and featureless interior seemed, at best, like a nice Holiday Inn. Rather than applauding its virtue, you end up wishing the Orchard had been more wasteful...It felt like sleeping in a plain cardboard box.
Though the rooms are low on luxury, the breakfast buffet sounds nice with granola and organic coffee on offer. Just don't have too much. This is a green hotel after all:
The toilet...did an amazing job with a small gulp of water, though the recycled bathroom tissue was not exactly soft.
Coincidentally, HotelChatter spent a night at the hotel this past weekend and we'll have our take on this green hotel later this week.
[Photo: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times]
Related Stories:
· Check In, Check Out [NYT]
New York Hotel Reviews / New York Hotels / The Bowery Hotel / Restaurants / → All Tags
Not Fighting the Crowds at the Dream Hotel
Last month sis site Jaunted paid a visit to the midtown Dream hotel and the next-door restaurant, Amalia. We decided to check the space out, too, but we didn't go for dinner. We snuck downstairs to the bar/lounge D'Or to really make the scene.
Or so we thought. Turns out, we were the scene--the only folks in the bar. Now, we admit we were there early in the night. But when we chatted with an employee, he told us things only really buzz for a couple hours a night: Between 11 and 1 is your best bet. Then again, maybe you'd like a quieter New York hotel scene than you find downtown.
Related Stories:
· Destination: Amalia [Jaunted]
· The Bowery Hotel ... Knife Fight [NYMag]
Four Points Hotels / Scott Kerksman / New York Hotel Reviews / Beer / → All Tags
Chief Beer Officer's Work Obviously Just Getting Started
So about that new beer guy at Four Points Hotels. He's got some work to do at the Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea. We stopped in to the hotel's restaurant and "lounge"--U and Mie--for a couple brews.
We've got no idea where the name comes from, but it's about as bad as the place itself. The centerpiece of the small, poorly lit space is a giant flat screen TV, tuned to Girlfriends. Our lovely bartender did a good job of keeping our mugs full, though she's "Not much of a beer person," and couldn't warn us off what turned out to be a terrible Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat. The only local/"interesting" choices on the beer menu were Brooklyn Lager and Brooklyn Pilsner--available in tons of bars around the city.
What would normally be a bright spot--the happy hour discount--wasn't really that great either: It's comparable to loads of seedy midtown bars with the same amount of character as U and Mie. The place does have cute novelty cocktail napkins, though. We're filling ours out to read like a memo to Scott Kerksman: There's plenty more work to be done.
Related Stories:
· Interview with Four Points' Chief Beer Officer [HotelChatter]
· Four Points Hotels coverage [HotelChatter]
New York Hotel Reviews / New York Hotels / Sean MacPherson / Hotel Video Tours / NYC Hotel Video Tours / → All Tags
First Look Inside the Lafayette House Hotel
We went down to the Lafayette House Hotel yesterday and had ourselves a good look around. We liked what we saw. There's a definite Sean MacPherson-Eric Goode vibe, with antiques everywhere and that Victorian flavor. But the effect is sort of country-lodge-in-the-big-city, which would probably be nice to come home to after a day in New York.
The overall effect--given that the hotel has only a few rooms--is that of a bed and breakfast, though as our tour guide pointed out, "without the breakfast." That's not a stumbling block for us, as the property is in easy striking distance of plenty of restaurants. Next door, B Bar handles lunch and dinner, and will even deliver room service to guests in the hotel. (The bar provides after hours support, too.)
The property itself fills the five-story building, with only a couple units per floor. (That debate about 14 or 15 rooms? One is used as an office, but can be dressed up for guest occupancy if need be.) First floor rooms, while smaller, have the benefit of soaring ceilings. Room 4 has a small balcony, and a few other rooms open onto a small courtyard. At the back of the hotel, rooms can be a bit dark. Business types looking to work in the room should book facing 4th Street.
Right now, rooms start at $350, but some rate structure changes may be on the horizon. More exclusive photos after the jump.
The Bowery Hotel / New York Hotel Reviews / Hotel Hype / Booze / → All Tags
Paparazzi Already Not Welcome at The Bowery Hotel
Last night we went to The Bowery Hotel for the second time this week. We forgot the ol' digital camera the first time, so we went back for some snaps. But front office manager Steve Rachmat politely told us that there are no photos allowed during these early stages. So we're using an exclusive shot that one of our tipsters sent in last week. (Geez, that's the last time we ask before taking the picture!)
But enough about all that. What's the bar like? We got our drinks at the bar itself, a cozy enough nook with lots to choose from. Still, we opted for something simple: a Woodford Reserve Manhattan. It was damn good--as it should've been for $17.
Since there are no bar stools (as of now, anyway), we retired to the lobby with our cocktail. Lots of mix-and-match furniture, Persian rugs and Italian tiling fill the space, which channels a sort of Keith McNally meets Freemans vibe. Which all makes perfect sense: As Down By the Hipster first reported, Freemans is partnering with the hotel for a still-TK Italian restaurant called Gemma. Maybe we'll be able to get a photo of that?
Related Stories:
· Photos from Inside the Bowery Hotel [HotelChatter]
Borat / Movie Set Hotels / New York Hotel Reviews / Times Square Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
How Borat Duped the Wellington Hotel
Well, it looks like the folks at Wellington Hotel, where Borat crashed for a few nights during his controversial movie, wouldn't speak to us or other outlets but someone inside decided to speak with Page Six.
And surprise, surprise, Borat and his alter-ego Sasha Baron Cohen are no longer welcomed at the midtown hotel because of the way he duped the place:
He checked in as a travel writer from Kazakhstan and asked for a special rate, $100 a night, which we gave him - and then he tried to get it down to $30," a hotel insider said. But what really irked management was when, "in the middle of the night, his crew started carrying furniture out of the hotel. The night manager stopped them, and it turned out it was furniture that had been taken from a Sheraton in New Jersey. The police were called, and Borat ran out of the hotel as fast as he could."
Ok, this makes us laugh. Stealing furniture from a hotel in Jersey? They should have filmed that part. But the bargaining down to $30...not so cool. For the record, we don't do that. Then again, we don't have any fluffy mustaches to accent our good looks and charm. Perhaps if Borat's had been just a wee bit fluffier, he could have haggled successfully.
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· Wellington Hotel Talks Borat [HotelChatter]
· Guest from Hell [Page Six]
Borat / Movie Set Hotels / New York Hotel Reviews / Times Square Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Wellington Hotel Talks Borat
Little brother Jaunted has been covering Borat's impact on travel for over a year now. Thus, we thought it was time we added our two cents to the worldwide phenomenon.
If you saw the Borat movie, and who hasn't at this point, you may have noticed a couple of hotels played a key role in the filming.
We focused in on Borat's stay in room 311 at Wellington Hotel in Times Square.
Yesterday, the Wellington Hotel, who was reportedly none to pleased to be included in the movie, spoke with HotelChatter.
A Wellington Hotel employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said:
I wasn't working the night he came in. He came in late. But, yeah, if I was here I would have known who he was, I personally am a fan of Ali G.
The next day there was plenty of talk, you know 'some weird guy came in with a cameraman acting strange'. The night team on duty just didn't have any idea who he was.
Hmm. Did anyone notice the Wellington Hotel night team featured in the movie was definitely a bit on the older side. Not really the Borat demographic, right? Does Borat prey on older folks for comic fodder?
Oh, and while Borat treats the large Wellington Hotel room as a castle with a throne, other guests aren't so sure.
While the rooms were clean, furnishings were limited (the only mirror was in the bathroom which you'd better be taller than 5'6" to see).
That shouldn't be a problem for the lanky Borat. Besides, from now on Wellington Hotel can put together "Borat 311" packages and easily sell them at a higher than normal room rate.
[Photo: Yahoo!]
Related Stories:
· Hotel Wellington reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Borat Coverage [Jaunted]
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