10019 Travel Guide
Tags: Sweet Suites / Hotel Deals / Hotel Penthouses / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Stay at the Buckingham Hotel's Penthouse For a Song
If you’ve dreamed of living in a New York penthouse but only ever get as far as flipping through the ads in the Times real estate section, you might now be closer to living your dream thanks to the Buckingham Hotel. Sitting atop the small boutique hotel near Carnegie Hall is The Martinelli Penthouse, which was once home to opera singer Giovanni Martinelli when he was performing at the Met, and also used by musical star Bobby Van as a dance studio.
Now, the two-bedroom duplex with a totally awesome terrace is available for meetings, private parties, and of course as hotel accommodations for cashed-up guests. We know, we know, you’re thinking: why are you telling me this? I could never afford something so luxurious. That’s what we thought—but then we learned that the Buckingham has slashed the regular rate for the penthouse by 50%.
Tags: Hilton Hotels / New York Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Times Square Hotels / Eco-Friendly Hotels / Green Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton New York Honored With a 'Green Street' Award. Really.
Swarming with smog, exhaust, and buzzing with the din of taxis in neutral, New York's Avenue of the Americas is hardly a location we think of as being environmentally-considerate. A work in progress, maybe, with a little cheerleading needed to nudge it in the right direction.
The "Green Street" Award was established by the Avenue of the Americas Association to inspire the thoroughfare's tenants to think eco and find new ways to close the loop. This year, the Hilton New York was honored, and not just because it hosted the ceremony in its Trianon Ballroom last week.
Innovative eco-hotels are normally found bourgeois bohemian neighborhoods like the West Village or SoHo, so when we caught wind of this news we were looking for certifiable proof of the Hilton's investment in going green. According to the Avenue's Association, proof came in the form of a futuristic, energy-saving PureCell system that uses electric power to power the hotel and heat water, which has accounted for 6% of the hotel's consumption since being installed. It is also three times more energy efficient than a normal electric grid and operates 24-hours per day.
Tags: Hotel Crime / Hotel News / Luxury Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
A Shocking Murder at the Jumeirah Essex House
A sad and ugly truth about hotels is that they are often unwilling hosts to murder scenes. But the murder of a woman at the posh Jumeirah Essex House hotel off Central Park over the weekend has us rattled because the hotel's housekeeping chief has been charged with the crime. The New York Times reports:
The suspect, Derrick W. Praileau, 29, of 1521 White Plains Road, in the Bronx, was taken to Manhattan Criminal Court on Sunday afternoon and later charged with second-degree murder in the death of the woman, Andree Bejjani, whose body was found on Saturday in a 10th-floor apartment at the Jumeirah Essex House, where Mr. Praileau worked. He was ordered held without bail.
Tags: Sweet Suites / Fashion Week Hotels / Eloise / Hotel News / Luxury Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags
Eloise to Get Her Own Funky Suite at The Plaza
Is the Plaza turning into the ultimate girly hotel? First the ladies of "Sex and the City." Now Bestey and Eloise.
Perhaps realizing what a faux pas it was to mess with Eloise's house in the first place, The Plaza has just announced a partnership with fashion designer Betsey Johnson to create a one-of-a-kind Eloise Suite inside their hotel. Straight from the official announcement:
The Plaza's two-bedroom Eloise Suite will be whimsically decorated in a color palette of "Eloise pink" and black, and will be full of surprises and distinct "Eloise moments" throughout the guest room. The layout will include one room for parents and a separate Eloise bedroom for the young and young at heart decorated by Betsey Johnson. Plans for the Eloise suite at The Plaza Hotel will begin following New York fashion week.
Conveniently, the Plaza's restored Palm Court will be host to Johnson's Spring 2010 fashion show tonight. As for the suite, no word on the pricing but expect it to be extravagant since regular rooms at the Fairmont Hotel start around $500 a night. And the current Live Like Eloise package starts at $895 a night.
Whatever the folks pay, there better be a Nanny and a pet pug for rent and a turtle chillin' in the bathtub when guests check-in. Just sayin'.
Tags: Vintage NYC Hotels / 1950s Manhattan Hotels / Hotel History / Sheraton Hotels / → All Tags
The Park Sheraton Hotel in 1953: In-Room TVs at No Extra Charge
We devote more than enough ink to Manhattan Hotels, but what about the days when hotels first started tuning their cool? Thanks to an old tourist brochure from 1953, we're exploring back in the day versus today, for NYC hotels.
Back in the day:
Oh my gosh! The dandy Park Sheraton Hotel at 202 West 56th Street now has television in every room, and it won't even cost a slid tip to the bellhop. There's 1,450 rooms in this baby opened in 1927, but still a chance that you might bump into famous faces like residents Jackie Gleason, Mae West, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Be sure to order a Manhattan in the famous Mermaid Room, and enjoy washing up with "running ice water."
The Park Sheraton today...
Tags: Movie Set Hotels / Sex and The City / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags
'Sex and The City' Filming Outside The Plaza Hotel Today
Yes, Sex and The City fervor has swept up New York City once again and much like the first SATC movie, we've learned hotels will play a part in the show. While The Bryant Park Hotel got love from the four ladies the last go-around, The Plaza, which re-opened in February 2008 after a lengthy renovations process, will make an appearance this time. And we're happy to say the legendary hotel's cameo will take us back to the Plaza's glory days.
Tags: Summer Cocktails / Hotel Cocktails / Jumeirah Hotels / Downtown Manhattan Hotels / US Open Hotels / → All Tags
Jumeirah Essex House Celebrates The U.S. Open With The Honey Deuce
We've kicked off our Summer Cocktails series where we profile fun new summer drinks that hotels are making. Got one we should know about? Send us the recipe with a photo of the drink. Otherwise, enjoy and @reply us when you're wasted!
With the U.S. Open coming up, the fine peeps at Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park have got a consolation prize for all of us who won't make it courtside: we can enjoy the official U.S. Open Cocktail instead (who knew a sporting event had an official cocktail? We hope the players get one after every match).
Anyway, this official cocktail is the Honey Deuce, featuring Grey Goose vodka and Chambord, and of course some melon balls which definitely get us thinking about tennis, at least if we use our imagination. Essex House will be offering this cocktail in its South Gate restaurant from today through to the end of the U.S. Open on September 13.
Tags: Digital Nomad Hotels / Hotel WiFi / Hotel Lobbies / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Digital Nomad Lobbies: NYC's Chambers Hotel
There has been a lot of talk recently about the lifestyle of digital nomads -- folks who work from wherever they might roam. HotelChatter has been covering hotel wifi since the beginning, but as we cited in our 2009 annual hotel wifi report times they are a changin'.
It's time for us to start rating hotel lobbies on their digital nomad quotient. We began this series with the Portland Harbor Hotel, but undeniably Manhattan needs a digital respite as well. So next up, we divulge one of our secret places: the Chambers Hotel Manhattan
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Le Parker Meridien Gets a Le Parker Makeover
We have some news: Le Parker Meridien in New York — home of the fabulous cheeseburgers and a lovely shaving shop — has gotten some renovations. They're not, like, epic or anything, but the property has gotten some necessary tweakage.
Here's what we're looking at: custom-designed bed wraps (they have matching embroidered pillows, too) are debuting in all rooms. For the suite people, soft white embroidered curtains inside those suites — and some "chocolate brown velvet" sofabeds (which we hope look nicer than they sound) for the junior suites.
You'll see soft-white pleated lampshades, LED's instead of voltage bulbs, and grey leather-ish headboards (which the press release specifically states are to "bring back Sexy Time; really, we won't argue here).
You also might notice new carpeting in the hallways and new damask wallpaper, too.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Dream Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Industry News / → All Tags
Will Dream NYC's Financial Woes Affect You?
So, we knew Dream NYC was having some major financial issues. A $100 million loan secured by the hotel "was put on a special servicer status" a few months ago — which usually does not necessarily mean that the loan is going to default. But in this case, it did: National Real Estate Investor reports today that the hotel actually defaulted on that $100 million loan. Alright then. So now what?
An excellent article over at Budget Travel outlined exactly what it means for the guest when the hotel you've booked is in major financial trouble. Quick summary: in almost all situations — whether a hotel has defaulted on a loan or is actually in foreclosure — it means absolutely nothing:
As Joe McInerney, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, puts it, hotel guests don’t have much to worry about. "When a hotel is in foreclosure, it's business as usual from the guest's point of view," says McInerney. "All commitments are honored. If new operators have taken over, it's generally a seamless procedure."
The BT article goes on to explain what happens when a bank takes possession of a hotel — recommended reading, for sure — but in most cases when a hotel is having serious trouble, you don't see much from the guest side of things unless there is some sort of crazy political owner vs. management debacle going on (a la what some people are saying went down with Four Seasons Aviara).
Uh, we're still gonna keep our eye on Dream, though.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Mariah Carey / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Your Plaza Hotel Bellman Might Be Mariah Carey in Drag
As you're checking into The Plaza, look closely at your bellman: does he seem to have a went-out-of-style in 2002 goatee that appears to be fake-ish? Does that stubble look airbrushed? Do those deep brown eyes look a little... feminine?
Maybe it's Mariah Carey in drag, then.
Okay, not really — but MTV News has some snaps from the video shoot Mariah Carey recently did at The Plaza for her new single, "Obsessed," in which the diva gets dressed up in drag — in some shots, she's dressed up as someone who very, very closely resembles rapper Eminem, and in some scenes she's dressed as a Plaza bellman. Hehe.
We're not so sure where The Plaza comes into play here — the song is about a dude who goes around claiming that he and Mariah are, as the song says, "sexin," which is what some people believe to be a very thinly-veiled shot at rapper Eminem, who apparently released a song a while ago about wanting to steal Mariah "back" from her hubby — but, like, who knew divas had a sense of humor?
[Photo: Ray Tamarra / Getty Images via MTV.com]
Tags: Hotel Packages / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Score Prime Access to Summerstage Through the Buckingham
The New York Times' In Transit blog gave us a heads-up on a kickass deal The Buckingham's got goin' on for summertime NYC-goers: you can score VIP access to the famed (and awesome) Central Park Summerstage series, a free performing arts festival that runs throughout the summer (think music, dance, film, word, and comedy events) along with a pretty decent rate on your hotel room.
Per the Times:
And for those who like their entertainment alfresco — and within walking distance of their hotel — the Buckingham Hotel is offering a special entrance and seating to guests who attend the free (and very popular) Central Park SummerStage events, which include the Metropolitan Opera, hip-hop artist Q-Tip and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
The package starts at $219 per night (based on a four-person occupancy) and can be booked by citing the promo code Summerstage. The package is available through August 17th, 2009 — more info here.
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
