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Tags: Hotel Openings / Tri-Pack Hotel / Hotel Delays / Budget Hotels / Sam Chang / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

It's Official: The Tri-Pack is Open

Ohhh wow. The Tri-Pack is open. Hooray!

We got The Real Deal in our inbox yesterday with some wonderful news: Sam Chang, the Manhattan budget-hotel guru himself, has finally lined up a buyer for the Tri-Pack — something he'd been having a hard time doing, which (we assume) was partly to blame for the opening delay here.

Recall that the Tri-Pack (or so we've dubbed it) is a Hampton Inn, Candlewood Suites and a Holiday Inn Express on West 39th Street, near Times Square. The Hampton Inn actually opened on Tuesday of last week, followed by the Candlewood Suites on Friday. The Holiday Inn is opening its doors today.

Unfortunately, TRD says the Hampton Inn was at a 20% occupancy rate the day after it opened. A couple things are probably to blame for this, though: rates are around $179 (kinda meh since you can get the Thompsons and whatnot for around that price these days) and, um, nobody really knew the place was open.

Tags: Harlem Hotels / W Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Harlem Hotel Happenings

We thought this was an April Fool's Day joke but a W Hotel might be opening in Harlem on Frederick Douglas Boulevard and 124th Street. Meaning that W Hotels would now have 6 hotels in Manhattan, one hotel in Hoboken and one in Harlem. Why not try expanding somewhere else?

However, the W Hotel may not be well-received thanks to what it seems to be replacing. From the website Harlem Fur:

Although I am all for a legit (versus by the hour) hotel coming to Harlem, I want to echo a Curbed commenter who laments the loss of a grocery store with potential. The area is hurting for more in the line of standard grocery stores, and the Associated had the potential for being upgraded from its less-than-stellar state.

The site then goes on to recommend two boutique hotels in Harlem--102 Brownstone or the Sugar Hill Harlem Inn.

The 102 Brownstone averages about $300 a night and recent reviews say the place is perfect for where it is. Yet one of the perks of this place seems to be the ability to buy groceries at a nearby supermarket. Let's hope this isn't the one becoming a W Hotel.

The Sugar Hill Harlem averages about $200 a night and operates as more of a B&B than a full-blown hotel. But beware, a reviewer said the Bed part was great, the breakfast not so much.

[Photo: Garu]

Related Stories:
· Sugar Hill Harlem reviews [TripAdvisor]
· 102 Brownstone reviews [TripAdvisor]
· W Wall Street a Go [HotelChatter]

Tags: Hotel News / → All Tags

Trump Keeps on Trucking

How can we end this week without one last tip of the hat to Donald Trump?

Donald is apparently in the final stages of negotiation a spot near the Holland Tunnel. (We always suspected he liked New Jersey a little too much.)

Since it is still in the early stages, no big details have emerged except that it will most likely be a 50-story hotel/residential complex that will rival Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West.

"It's gonna be huge," he said. "I predict it will be the #1 Hotel of all time and I'm not just saying that. It's gonna be out of this world. Oh yeah, and buy Trump Water. And a Trump suit while you're at it."

Related Stories:
· Trump is `fired' up about Hudson Square hotel [The Villager]
· Sneaky Hotel Charges [HotelChatter]
· Denver Hotel Scene Gets New Life [HotelChatter]