Cute but lethal.
Eliminate poison and you wipe out much of the world’s great literature, not to mention a slew of movies, crime stories and much of the TV line-up. Consider: no Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter, no Mad Hatter or Macbeth. No Hunger Games. And most definitely, no American Horror Story: Coven. Read more
Stayful’s New York homepage.
“Imagine that Priceline and Tablet Hotels had a baby,” says Cheryl Rosner of her baby, a new hotel booking site called Stayful that went live today.
Stayful offers rooms in independent boutique hotels, like New York’s Standard High Line and the Inn on Rivington; no large chain properties are allowed. Read more
Every decade or so, someone comes along and tweaks the way hotels look and do what they do.
In the 1970s, London designer Anouska Hemphill transformed a pair of run-down South Kensington townhouses into Blakes, the template for the one-of-a-kind boutique hotel with a sumptuous, ethnic-inflected aura and rooms so exotically dressed – puddled silk curtains, midnight colors — guests (usually) forgave the miniscule dimensions. Read more
Overlooking the parade finale from the lobby patio
When Macy’s changed the route of New York’s marquee parade from Seventh to Sixth Avenue in 2012 it proved a blow to visitors who like watching Hello Kitty & Company float by from a hotel room.
Seventh Avenue’s eight hotels overlooking the parade route dwarfed the five along Sixth Avenue and Central Park West, both in size and number. But this summer the Courtyard Marriott Manhattan/Herald Square added 167 rooms to the mix, many with direct views of Macy’s, the parade’s grand finale.
And this week brought more good news for parade lovers. Read more
Reads on the Road
It’s no fluke that libraries are the go-to amenity at smart hotels. Books and travel go together like gin and tonic, airplanes and airports, pillows and pillowcases.
70 Park Avenue, a stylish hotel in a 1920s building south of Grand Central Station, is New York’s latest hotel to go literary but with a twist. Read more
Don’t expect a hotel job at the front desk.
Big bushy beards didn’t hamper sluggers Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes or Dustin Pedroia in this year’s World Series. But they and their Red Sox teammates would be wise to go clean shaven if they ever aspire to work the front desk at a hotel.
Hotel employees sporting facial hair make a less favorable impression on guests than their smooth skinned counterparts, according to a new survey in the latest Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. Read more