10021 Travel Guide
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Taking The Bad With The Good: Reviews of The Surrey So Far
When we had the chance to check out The Surrey Hotel’s $60-million “re-creation,” we were impressed by the sheer prettiness of the new guest rooms. But not everyone shares our take. Over at the UK site, Globalista Travel Journal, this week The Surrey copped a dressing down for what the nameless reviewer called “a pointless refurbishment.” In the nature of being “fair and balanced,” we decided to compare Globalista’s opinion to recent reviews on TripAdvisor.
Let’s start with those Gloablista grumbles, shall we? The things that ticked them off included: a huge discrepancy in the size of the lowest category Deluxe Salon rooms (some box-like and others spacious, but the same price); the noise; spotty housekeeping service; the complicated or non-functional TV; and the lack of weekend breakfast until 8 a.m. Globalista also said, “The 1920s homage to Lanvin decor is quite simply ghastly.”
Tags: Hotel Offers / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Just How Special is the Introductory Offer at The Surrey? We Do the Math
We love us an introductory offer. It’s always nice to be one of the first guests at a hotel, and score a special rate in the process. But when your regular rates are in the $500-a-night range, how "special" can your intro offer really be? Let’s turn to the Upper East Side’s new darling, The Surrey, shall we?
We can admit from our tour inside that the hotel is gorgeous. But it is a little out of our price range. In the interest of trying to justify blowing our cash on one-night’s stay here, we examined the hotel’s Introductory Offer to see if it was worth it.
Tags: Sneak Peek / 10 Hot NYC Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
A Sneak Peek at The Surrey Hotel
While the Crosby Street Hotel wowed us in downtown Manhattan, a sneak peek at The Surrey Hotel left us breathless uptown. If you love The Carlyle, then you will love The Surrey which has the same elegance as The Carlyle, except it's now newer. (And it's just a block away.)
The hotel won't soft-open until October 15 but we took a tour with the hotel's designer Lauren Rottet the other week and got a sneak peek at this model room on the 12th floor.
This is a Grand Deluxe Salon which averages about 330-sq.ft. and features a little sitting area off to the side of the bed. Aside from loving the soft gray color scheme, we found ourselves admiring the hand-painted armoire which holds the flat-screen TV. Usually, we despise armoires in hotel rooms but this one was just too pretty to resist.
The rooms also feature a mirrored wardrobe closet, a vanity/desk and a windowsill seating area overlooking the posh Upper East Side. The minibar is Don Draper-approved with a cocktail tray and the appropriate bar utensils to make your old fashioned, neat. Or at least a Tom Collins.
Tags: Pitch Your Hotel / Hoteliers That Matter / Hot Hotelier News / Interviews / Denihan Hospitality / 10 Hot NYC Hotel Openings / → All Tags
The Surrey Hotel Promises 'Considered Moments' For Its Guests
Welcome to our regular Monday feature, Pitch Your Hotel, where we let hoteliers, general managers and other hotel execs tell us on-camera what makes their hotels so different from all the rest. And believe us, the competition is fierce these days. So sit back, relax and listen to them explain why their hotels are worthy of your hard-earned dollars or rewards points.
Last week, we attended an event for the soon-to-open Surrey Hotel on New York's Upper East Side. But this was a little different than most "Getting to Know You" parties.
For starters, the event was held in Beverly Hills so that West Coast folk could get a more intimate look at the hotel without having to fly to NYC. The party was also held at the Cartier store on Rodeo Drive which might seem a little presumptuous but if you recall, the hotel plans on having a Cartier Closet in its lobby.
This exclusive retail space will offer guests the chance to buy smaller luxury items that they may have forgotten to bring with them such as cufflinks and sunglasses. (Yes, regular Cartier prices will be charged here.)
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An Unlikely Partnership: The Pierre Hotel and The VMAs
Wanna rub shoulders with these two? Yeah, we don't want to either.
Go ahead. Say it. Just like we're too old for most reality shows, we're too old for the VMAs. Young kids don't want the likes of us around them, trying to get into their groove thang with our beepers and our Cross Colors shortalls. (See, we just dated ourselves.) So that's why we promise to stay away.
But whether you like it or not, MTV's Video Music Awards are coming back to New York on September 13th, with British comedian Russell Brand set to host again. Also making a comeback? Free swag! Swag at events like the VMAs, the Grammys and the Oscars came under scrutiny by the IRS a little while ago forcing celebrities to start actually paying for some stuff. (We know! That's like, inhumane.)
Yet the fear must have subsided because we just got a press release for a VMA gifting suite at the most unexpected hotel in New York.
Tags: Hotel Openings / New York Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
The Surrey Hotel Will Cater to Cartier Lovers and Other Luxury Enthusiasts
Um....Is that Kate Moss?
Recession, Schm-cession. While some are in conservation and simplification mode, others, like the soon-to-be-opened Surrey hotel refuse to put luxury on the back burner. In fact, it happens to be at the forefront of the design plan for the Upper East Side-located property. Set to open on October 1st, The Surrey will have 190 "salons" (we're pretty sure that's a fancy way of saying "hotel rooms"), with 30 suites, a Presidential suite and a Penthouse.
The design nods to the 1920s and incorporates more than a few highfalutin touches: gray marble floors, French limestone walls and archways, and the kicker, a Jimmie Martin-designed "Cartier Closet." It's exactly what it sounds like: a custom armoire filled with Cartier goods that will serve as the hotel's retail space.
The designer name march continues in the "salons," with requisite LCD TVs and iPod docking stations, Duxiana beds, Pratesi robes, Sferra bedding, and more. It's like Fifth Avenue landed in your room, er, salon.
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The Observer Goes Inside The Carlyle's Roger Federer Suite
Were you aware that The Carlyle has a Roger Federer Suite? Um, well, it does — and it's huge. And expensive. And the New York Observer got itself a hot little tour of the place and published pics of it here.
Up on the 16th floor of the luxe NY hotel lies a two-bedroom suite that costs $3,075 a night, and it has been where the ultra-hunky champ has called home while he's played in each U.S. Open since 2007 (we know he usually prefers to hit up the Four Seasons otherwise). We're talkin' RF monogrammed pillows, some pretty ridiculously opulent bathroom decor, an espresso machine, and even some leopard print rug-action in the master suite. We'll let you make the call between tacky and tasteful on this one — we're on the fence.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Political Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
We Think We Know Where Sarkozy's Getting Cozy in NYC
Nicolas Sarkozy is trotting around NYC today, and the Twitterverse is all a-flutter with (Carla-less, on this trip) sightings of the French prez around Manhattan's streets.
Twitter-er n8s8e snapped this Twitpic of him and his cronies walking along like business as usual — but he also happened to see that gang sauntering out of The Carlyle Hotel.
Coincidence? Lunch date? The Pierre not French-sounding enough for him? We're gonna bet he's shacking up here during his stay — maybe in that kickass Royal Suite.
Rates at the Carlyle used to be exorbitant, but now they're down at a more manageable $300-ish. It won't get you the Royal Suite, but it will get you a breathtakingly-big room.
[Photo: n8s8e]
Tags: Hotel Bars / Luxury Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
The Pierre's Bar Is Open (If You're Into That Sort of Thing)
If you're more of an absinthe-and-opulence kind of person (as opposed to a cheap-pitchers-on-the-Lower-East-Side type), you'll be please to find out that just-reopened iconic swank-fest that is The Pierre Hotel has opened up its Bar & Lounge, Two E — named for the 2 E. 61st St. addy. It's in the space of what was originally the hotel's reading room.
The place is open from 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. and serves up cocktails at nighttime, and, in the daytime, coffee (from a fancy-schmancy coffee bar) and afternoon tea — and you can order light fare and small share-able plates like fresh oysters or assorted cheeses throughout the day.
From 3 to 5 pm, Two E's Traditional Tea Service may be worth it for folks that are into that kind of thing: for $55 per person, you'll be able to sip on a selection of teas from around the world while noshing on finger sandwiches and "Ginger Scones with Devonshire Cream and Meyer Lemon Curd and pastries, such as Banana Rum Opera Cake and Mini Chocolate Savarin" — or you can opt for the Sweet Tea Service for $45, which features freshly-baked scones and pastries.
Starting rates at The Pierre are still hovering in the $500 to $600 range, so maybe you're better off just dropping a $20 for a cocktail and getting the bar experience one night than, you know, actually staying over.
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The Pierre is Open Again, If You've Got a Few Hundred Bucks to Burn
The good news: The Pierre is open again. The bad news: rates are pretty high. The slightly better-than-bad-news: they're not quite as high as we'd originally thought — and the lowest rate we could find, $506, comes with a free shoe shine. Yay, we guess?
Taj's (well, now Taj's) iconic midtown property underwent a $100 million renovation and reopened on June 1st; and the new design, according to designers James Park Associates:
Each [room] is infused with subtle references to the heritage of The Pierre's Indian custodian, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. Soft colour palettes, inspired by the jewels of the Maharajas, are complemented by soft furnishings of rich silks and brocades, whilst traditional patterns are abstracted into decorative motifs, reinforcing the theme in a delicate, understated manner. The high ceilings of these residential-style interiors, and an abundance of natural light, emphasise The Pierre's renowned comfort and opulence.
The photo above is one of the first we've seen of the new rooms, which are going for $506 as a "summer special" rate. They go up (er, significantly) from there — a City View Suite with one king bed, for instance, will run you $1,628.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Drew Barrymore / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Parties / → All Tags
The Rebirth of The Pierre Inspires the Rebirth of a Celeb Couple
Looks like the rebirth of the iconic, historic Pierre Hotel in Manhattan — officially opening this June after a massive renovation next month — may just bring rebirth to, um, relationships that are also a part of history.
At the afterparty for the premiere of Drew Barrymore's new movie, Grey Gardens, which was held in the Pierre's ballroom earlier this week, Ms. Barrymore and her ex-dude, Justin Long (the guy from the Mac commercials), were seen by Page Six looking like the flames had been rekindled: "'They were giggling and kissing each other all night and ended up leaving together,' says [Page Six's] spy." Though Barrymore's rep told the New York Post that the pair were just good pals, we like to think the new-and-improved old hotel will be bringing some newness and improvements to old relationships. Or something.
Apparently, the Pierre was a hot scene that night: Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams, and Debbie Harry were seen working the room at the same party.
[Photo: Gossip Girls]
Tags: Hotel Deals / Quikbook / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
The Swanky Carlyle Hotel Now Affordable at $304 a Night
We stayed at glorious Carlyle Hotel in New York last summer and when we booked it, we used a heck of lot of our credit card points to do so. It was the only way to afford the hotel which usually commands rates well above $500. This is the tony Upper East Side after all and the Carlyle is legendary.
But now thanks to Quikbook's "Risk Free NYC" sale(no pre-payment and no fees for cancellations or changes), we can spend a night at the Carlyle starting at $304 a night. But you must book before 5pm on April 3. The deal is good for stays throughout the rest of the year. Yes, please!
Visit Quikbook.com to book. You will have to hunt around for the $304 rate but weeknight stays are your best bet.
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