Tag Archive for: Semi-automatic

RIP Semi-Automatic — Hudson Hotel Quietly Retires Its Vending Machine

Seems it was only yesterday we were reporting the arrival of the Semi-Automatic, the Hudson hotel’s cool vending machine. You may recall it as the one stocked with gold-plated handcuffs, Haute Hippie sequin miniskirts and Ouiji boards instead of Doritos and M & Ms.

But today when we visited the Hudson to check out Hudson Common, the newish beer and burger court, we got a shock. Strolling over to the Semi-Automatic to see if it was still selling Equinox Derringer bikes (for $2,300) or, more realistically, toothbrushes, we discovered it was gone. Had it been moved? Read more

Fashion Week: New(ish) Designers Check in at the Hudson, W and Roger Smith Hotels

We’ve been noticing an abnormally high percentage of rangy, good-looking people around town. That means one thing – Fashion Week is back.  More than 200 designers unveil their creations during the Spring/Summer 2012 shows at the tents in Lincoln Center and a host of private venues through September 15.

What are New York’s fashion-forward hotels doing besides gleefully celebrating their full – or nearly full — houses? Hint: think “emerging designers ” – and fashion by association, that hint of glamour that rubs off on anyone around it.

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A Hotel Vending Maching That Dispenses Ouiji Boards and 24-Karat Gold Handcuffs? Meet Hudson Hotel’s Semi-Automatic

Semi-automatic? It’s a vending machine, not a weapon, and you can see this big, oddly futuristic contraption in the lobby at the Hudson here in New York as well as at the Mondrian South Beach and the Sanderson in London. Read more

Who Needs a Bartender (or a Chef)? These Three NYC Hotels Put You to Work (In a Good Way)

Don’t tip the Yotel robot

That much-discussed Yobot robotic arm that grabs and stores your luggage at the soon-to-open Yotel Times Square got us thinking about other nifty labor saving devices – as in the saving of the hotel staff’s labor – around town.

We visited three hotels with clever do-it-yourself amenities, read the instructions and pushed the appropriate buttons. How did we fare?

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