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Scoping Out The Trump SoHo With Ivanka on 'Nightline'

Where: 246 Spring Street [map], New York, NY , United States, 10013

In case you missed it, Ivanka Trump was on Nightline last week, talking about nepotism, her conversion to Judaism, her impending marriage, and—our favorite part—Trump SoHo. There’s not too much of the hotel’s much-vaunted Rockwell design to see in this clip, but if you want to see Ivanka in construction boots, this may be as close as you’ll get without stalking the still-in-the-works hotel. (She says her dad would kill her if he saw her in 4-inch stilettos on a construction site.)

You can kinda sorta see the view from the Terrace Penthouse, even though it’s raining and Ivanka doesn’t want to go out on the balcony. For the rest of the details, we turned to the hotel’s press release to get our imagination working …

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Tags: Hotel Openings / Trump Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags

The Trump SoHo Will Open February 1, 2010

Where: 246 Spring Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

Say what you will about The Donald and The Trump Organization. They’re brash and they’re bold but, hell, today we like their barnstorming brand of confidence. Why? Because they’ve just given us an official opening date for the Trump SoHo. And with all the delays in this industry, there is little we love more than marking a hotel’s opening in our calendar in Sharpie instead of pencil. The big day? February 1, 2010.

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Tags: Manhattan Hotels / Robert DeNiro / Tribeca Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Inside The Greenwich Hotel in TriBeCa

Where: 377 Greenwich Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

It only took about a year and a half but HotelChatter has finally seen the inside of the Greenwich Hotel in TriBeCa. Yes, the very same Greenwich Hotel that infamously blacklisted us on its opening day in March 2008.

We knew before we booked our room on that black day that the hotel had a media exclusive. We promised not to run our photos until the exclusive was published but the hotel didn't want to take any chances. And today, a year after officially opening, they still aren't taking any chances.

During our tour, we were not allowed to photograph any of the public spaces in order to respect the privacy of the guests who may be passing through. So we kept our shots to the standard guest room that we saw and all its amenities. We were, however, allowed to snap the quiet sanctum that is the indoor pool.

Keep reading for our thoughts and photos of The Greenwich Hotel!

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Tags: Hotel Contests / Ivanka Trump / Trump Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel News / → All Tags

Ivanka Trump Wants You to Spend The Night at Trump Soho

Where: 246 Spring Street [map], New York, NY , United States, 10013

Want to be one of the first to stay at the new Trump SoHo opening in February? And meet Ivanka Trump? (And, no, it doesn’t involve becoming an apprentice chamber maid or front-desk clerk.) In a promotion we can totally get behind, the hotel has a “Trump SoHo Hotel Countdown” website which includes a contest to win a two-night stay in a spectacular suite, dinner for two at Quattro, and a VIP invitation for the hotel’s big opening bash with Ivanka.

It couldn’t be easier to enter—just punch in your email address. Plus! Reading the fine print for the sweepstakes gave us some valuable intel on the hotel’s opening timeline. The Trump SoHo’s Twitter page says the hotel does not have an official opening date yet—listing “February 2010” in their bio—but here’s what we found reading the contest rules:

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The Grand Street Hotel Drive-By

Driving down the West Side Highway in Manhattan this weekend, we failed to spot any naked guests gracing the windows of The Standard New York. But then we turned into Canal Street, and another thin, glassed building caught out attention. Located just west of the SoHo Grand, a block north of Canal, we thought: “Hmm, that has the unmistakable look of a much-delayed hotel under construction." But which one?

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Tags: Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / Trump Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

Trump Soho Now Taking Reservations Starting January 4th

Where: 246 Spring Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

Trump Soho is coming. Are you ready?

Well, if you're at least ready to poke around the website, we might gently suggest that you turn off your speakers before you head over there — the music is terribly annoying. Aside from that fanfare and goofyness, there is some good stuff happening: the ginormously-tall place is taking reservations!

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Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Hype / Mondrian Hotels / Morgans Hotels / Morgans Hotel Group / → All Tags

Mondrian SoHo Renderings Strike Terror In the Hearts of Foodies

Earlier this week, the renderings for Mondrian SoHo's new restaurant — which is being headed up by former Top Chef hottie Sam Talbot — surfaced on Eater. And people hate them. The blog Dreamtard actually posted the renderings first, claiming that the "light fixtures on the walls are actually motorized arms that light up and move as somebody walks by them." Uh, ew.

Choice Eater comments: "This design asks a simple question: What if Tron were haunted?" and "oy, serious uglies." We'll hold back on the commentary, especially given the rendering-to-reality discrepancies that we hope (pray) will come into play to tone some of this down in real life.

The hotel itself, by the way, is a-rising: Curbed took some shots of the facade of the 25-story tower, and the rumored opening date of "later this year" is contradicted by the (typically more realistic) HVS Manhattan Market Overview — which is predicting an "early 2010" opening date for the 274-room Morgans property.

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Greenwich Hotel's Locanda Verde Declared 'Vastly Superior' to Ago

Where: 377 Greenwich St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

Hehe. Remember when legendary NYT restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni hit up The Greenwich Hotel's now-defunct Ago restaurant and deemed it spectacularly bad, with a review that actually sort of made people wince with its harshness and zero-star rating (that hurts, you guys)? Well, Ago has since peaced out of the restaurant space and has been replaced by Locanda Verde, a spilling-onto-the-sidewalk casual-but-upscale restaurant headed up by chef Andrew Carmellini.

The Times gave the new restaurant the official Bruni treatment yesterday.

Bruni declares LV "so vastly superior to Ago that it’s sacrilegious even to mention the two in the same sentence," and pens a "groveling penance, a bent-knee litany of all that’s improved" — from the wine list to the decor to the food, with an almost-flawless selection of cicchetti and antipasti.

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Tags: Hotel Bookshelves / Robert De Niro / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Browsing the Greenwich Hotel's Bookshelves

Where: 377 Greenwich Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

Wanna read like Bobby De Niro? The hotelier-actor has said that the comfy posh décor of his Greenwich Hotel reflects how he’d like to “do” his own house.

We’d quite like to follow suit, but until our budgets match Bobby’s we’re going to start with what’s on his bookshelves. To replicate that hip Greenwich library feel at home, we secured this shopping list and example of what you’ll find in this luxury hotel where rooms start at $525 a night.

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Sounds Like Someone Had a Good Time at the Greenwich Hotel

Where: 377 Greenwich St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

Every so often we feature a hotel review from one of our readers that we feel should be shared with the rest of you dear hotel guests. These reviews are highlighted because they are timely, about cool hotels in cool places and are relatively level-headed. Think you can submit one just like this? Send it in.

We've given the Greenwich Hotel a fair amount of heckling around here — we have a somewhat tumultuous history with the Robert DeNiro-owned place — but we quite enjoyed this review, which landed in our inbox over the weekend.

Hey, at least someone had a kickass time at the Greenwich. And there is a possible Will Ferrell sighting, too.

From an enthusiastic, very satisfied Greenwich guest (spelling in context, where applicable):

My great stay was in Tribecca at the Greenwich Hotel where I encountered the most friendly service from front desk to concierge to GM all of whom managed to positively welcome me and the physical property is luxe in a very subtle in it's eclectic mix of reclaimed civil war era wood and modern appointments to include the basics but also bose dock for iPod and phone charging and playing, free goodies at the in-room snack basket and drinks all excepting alcohol drinks which are not free of course. The spa is over the moon, particularly the pool which is saline and out of a design mag, with private steam showers in the changing room.

Will Farrell was the only other client working out, which also was cool for me.

The introductory corporate rate for this property was $429 for a King bed, down from a rack (ex-hotelier) of $579. It was a lot of bang for the buck. I am referring it to all my NYC business traveller friends.

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Tags: Mondrian Hotels / Hotel Hype / Thompson Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

The '150 Lafayette Hotel' Has a Very Familiar Logo

Where: 150 Lafayette Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

It's just another day in the fiercely competitive New York City Hotel World today. The Mondrian Soho is still rising on 150 Lafayette Street in New York and once completed in late 2009 or early 2010 (our money is on the latter date), the hotel will assume all the bells and whistles that belong to a Mondrian Hotel.

But until then, the hotel's developers, Sochin Downtown Realty, LLC, has a website devoted to the property with a very interesting logo. Can't quite place it? Let us help you here.

Yes, this looks strikingly similar to the Thompson Hotels logo except Thompson's logo is all one one line and has one less block. Thompson's flagship hotel 60 Thompson is still a good 10 blocks away from this upcoming hotel but we are sure they can't be too pleased with the hotel's pending arrival. And this logo similarities might just be the icing on the cake, huh?

Still, this doesn't bring us too much cause for concern. Once the Mondrian brand opens the hotel, the logo will probably cease to exist.

[Photo of the construction: Brooklyn Rider Rob]

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Robert DeNiro / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

The Greenwich Hotel's New Restaurant, Locanda Verde, Will Open Next Week

Where: 377 Greenwich Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10013

The NY Times has the breaking news that the restaurant formerly occupied by Ago inside the Greenwich Hotel will now be called Locanda Verde:

Andrew Carmellini is executive chef and co-owner; Karen Demasco is pastry chef. The interior is getting a speedy makeover by Ken Friedman and Meyer Davis, the firm that designed Boqueria and Mas Farmhouse. In an interview in February, Mr. Carmellini set out his goals for the restaurant. ”I want this to be a neighborhood restaurant,” he said. ”I want it to be laid back and casual. I want to have a good time.”

And good food right? The restaurant will open next Tuesday. Hopefully, the Greenwich hotel's website will have removed all their copy about Ago by then.