New York City has seen a slew of hotel openings in the past year. More than 5,100 new and renovated rooms bumped up the city’s total inventory by 6% in 2009 – no mean feat at one of the toughest times in recent history for the hotel business.
The city, which was declared the US’s top tourist attraction last year for the first time since 1990, has a knack for constantly reinventing itself.
Hoteliers have continued to innovate by transforming grande dame hotels and launching innovative projects outside Midtown Manhattan, including SoHo and the area around Ground Zero.
With visitor numbers still down from the UK, hoteliers in even the most high-end properties are offering added value, making this an ideal time to book your clients a break in the Big Apple.
The Mark
Having first opened in 1927, the Mark is an Upper East Side institution reworked to the tune of $150 million by French design star Jacques Grance.
On entering, the lobby’s stark black and white design, broken up with brightly coloured pieces of contemporary art, hits you between the eyes. The 118 guest rooms take things down a notch, offering more understated luxury.
The hotel’s location in the sophisticated Upper East Side is perfect for repeat visitors looking to escape the frenzied midtown shopping streets.
Rates start from $495 for a superior courtyard queen room.
The Crosby Street Hotel
This first foray outside London for the Firmdale group is on the site of a former parking lot on a cobbled side street in buzzy SoHo.
The Crosby’s bright colours and quirky art are reminiscent of the London properties and the service equally matches up. The 86 rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, iPod docking stations and flatscreen TVs.
The hotel is gaining a reputation for its afternoon teas served overlooking the courtyard garden. Rates start at $495 for a superior room.
Ink 48
Kimpton has converted the former VU Hotel into Ink 48, a nod to the building’s history as a printing house.
Great for clients looking to explore a new neighbourhood, the hotel is in Hell’s Kitchen, an increasingly fashionable ‘up and coming’ area a few blocks from Times Square.
Some rooms command spectacular views over the Hudson, but don’t worry if you can’t get one – Kimpton is putting the finishing touches to a rooftop lounge and restaurant.
Ink 48 is currently offering ‘rough draft’ promotional rates of $224 per night bed and breakfast.
The Distrikt Hotel
The Distrikt Hotel in Midtown West promises to bring the diversity of the city indoors when it opens next month, with each floor themed around a different area of Manhattan.
The lobby features a 14ft green living wall representing Central Park and artwork from New York artist Chris Rubino. Each of the 155 rooms has Frette bed and bath linen, a business desk with ergonomic chair, Ecru New York soaps and free wireless internet. A standard queen is $159 a night.
Opening this year
Hyatt boutique brand Andaz, which launched in London’s Liverpool Street in 2007, is bringing its ‘unpretentious upscale’ mantra to Wall Street this month and plans to open the Andaz Fifth Avenue in the spring.
In an area populated by boutique townhouse hotels, the Trump Hotel Collection is to open an unashamedly over-the-top, 391-room, 46-storey, glass tower hotel on February 1.
Located at the southern edge of the World Trade Centre Memorial Site, the W New York – Downtown is part of the rebirth of the Ground Zero site. Gearing up for a February 4 opening, the $240 million hotel will have 217 rooms and 223 private residences.
Morgans Hotel Group’s latest property, the Mondrian SoHo, is slated to open in late summer 2010.
Hotelier Sant Chatwal is launching The Chatwal, the first of his new luxury brand in spring 2010. The 88-room, art deco hotel will be in the former Lambs Club, America’s first professional theatre club. Plans are under way for more properties outside London and in India.
New activities
Try the New York incarnation of London restaurant Le Caprice, which opened in the Pierre Hotel in November. You’ll find the same black and white décor,
the same menu and even some of the same staff.
Discover the history of the World Trade Center and see September 11 through the eyes of those who experienced it on the Heroes of the World Trade Center tour. Book at attractionworld.com
Take a walk down the High Line, New York’s newest park. The line stretches 1.45 miles down Manhattan’s West Side from the Meatpacking district through Chelsea to 34th street.
Sample product
Four nights in New York with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic and accommodation at the new Ace Hotel, costs from £640
per person. vhols4agents.co.uk, 0844 557 3982
Hayes and Jarvis offers a four-night break at the refurbished Shoreham Hotel from £676 per person, including return flights from London. hayesandjarvis.com, 0871 664 0246
Thomson Tailor-made offers four nights at the three-star New Yorker Hotel from £599 per person. The price includes accommodation and return flights from Heathrow with British Airways. thomsonworldwide.com, 0871 664 0011
