The 125-room Premier now has a floor exclusively for women. Accessible only with an elevator key card, the floor has seven rooms with yoga mats; plush robes and slippers; a lighted make-up mirror, wash mitts and bath salts in bathrooms; and women's magazines.
Ah, yes, yoga: the official sport of women!
This seems scary to us because the last time we experienced a floor full of women was in our college sorority house, but we survived the ordeal. So we're willing to admit that a women-only hotel floor in a super-busy American city may actually be a fantastic concept.
If a ladies-only floor can be executed tastefully -- and not full of pink crap or cutesy pictures of stilettos and lipstick and martini glasses -- we think this sort of thing is perfect for solo female travelers who might be interested in a little added safety.
If you find yourself in New York City this summer with a need to stay near Times Square and without any desire to bask in the glow of the city lights (or you're just a hip and trendy jet-setting vampire), take a look at Vikram Chatwal's Night Hotel.
Situated on 45th Street in the heart of jean-shorted, fanny-packed tourist central, Night offers guests refuge from the technicolor visual craziness of the Times Square area--and they're serious about it. The place, intending to evoke "Modern Gothic Gotham", is decorated almost exclusively with blacks and whites.
The Marriott Marquis Times Square is not just near Times Square, it's really in it. You can walk to half of New York's attractions from here and transport is easy to reach, too.
Rooms come equipped with the Marriott Revive bed. The decor has been done up pretty recently, but it's probably not going to blow you away.
The view might though--especially from the The View Restaurant, the only revolving restaurant in the city.
Rooms are wired up for WiFi but it costs you $16.95 a day, although that includes all local and domestic telephone calls, too.
Since our expectations were on the low side, the hotel definitely over-delivered on our visit. You see, we were expecting a cramped room and a non-existent view. In actuality, our particular room was semi-spacious by New York standards (read: still small, but not a closet), the service was excellent, and the WiFi hummed along for free, as it does at Sunset Tower.
Let's get this out of the way right up front--The Millennium Hotel Broadway is in dire need of a full blown room renovation. At least on the 18th floor where we ended up bunking for the night.
Televisions are old, and there is no wifi, only wired access from the desk (for a steep price we might add), but this place is a true hotel Monet. At first glance the room looks large and fine (for NYC standards), however if you take a close look at the carpets, the walls, and the bedding, you will quickly begin chanting "ren-o-vation".
The view from our room was semi-cool, if only because we were starting straight out at an architecturally interesting building that reminded us of something out of a Marvel comic book. On the plus side, check in, though crowded was a breeze, and the staff went out of their way to let us check in early.
This is one of the few hotels in NYC that can be had for right around $200. The Millennium is a staple on TravelZoo and Priceline. With taxes, you will end up paying right near $300/night all in.
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.
