Terry Trucco

An Under-The-Radar Supporting Role For The Mark Hotel In “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

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OscarHotels don’t win Academy Awards, but that hasn’t kept New York City hotels from landing in movies that get nominated. 

Consider 2013, when NYC hotels had close-ups in three movies chasing Oscars –Best Picture contenders The Great Gatsby and American Hustle which showcased extravagant, if wildly different, interiors at The Plaza, and Blue Jasmine (Best Actress, Cate Blanchett), which features a contentious argument shot near the big clock in front of the erstwhile Tribeca Grand (now the Roxy Hotel Tribeca).

Only one New York City hotel is in the running for reflected glory when the 93rd Academy Awards air on Sunday, April 25, and it’s on screen for less than five minutes. But the scene filmed in a suite at The Mark won instant notoriety when Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Sacha Baron Cohen’s cheeky mockumentary, debuted in October. It wasn’t for the interior design. Read more

Terry Trucco

Get Delivery Or Takeout From A Hotel Restaurant During NYC Restaurant Week 2021

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Call it the next best thing to room service.

NYC Restaurant Week, Winter Edition, the annual January blizzard of prix fixe lunches and dinners, has morphed into takeout and delivery meals through February 28, agreeably priced at $20.21. Read more

Terry Trucco

What Is the Top New York City Hotel in 2020 According to Tripadvisor Reviewers?

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Releasing a “best list” of hotels in the middle of a pandemic that has shuttered countless properties, some forever, seems a bit awkward. But Tripadvisor is nothing if not indomitable, and on July 31, their  2020 Traveler’s Choice list of the 25 top hotels in the U.S. and the world landed. How did New York City hotels fare?

New York hotels haven’t had much luck scoring a spot on Tripadvisor’s best in the world list, and this year was no exception. As for best in the U.S., just one New Yorker made the grade — Hotel Giraffe, an airy, NoMad boutique hotel that was 16th on the list. (It was 12th last year, but hey, still good.) Read more

Terry Trucco

NYC Hotels Stepping Up To House Medical Personnel and Non-Critical Patients During Covid-19 Outbreak

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If anyone deserves a comfy bed and a welcoming room after a grueling day at work, it’s the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel caring for Covid-19 patients at New York City hospitals. The deadly virus has also created a need for facilities for non-critical patients and personnel.

Enter the hospitality industry, newly awash in temporary closings prompted by the disease. This week New York Governor Andrew Cuomo cited several prominent New York City hotels in his list of companies, individuals and foundations donating goods and services to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. Read more

Terry Trucco

Our Top Picks from the 2019 Hotel Trade Fairs — Or What You May See on Your Next Hotel Visit

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We love hotel trade shows.

For one November weekend, we slip into comfortable shoes, charge up our phone and head to Javits Center, where a pair of enormous shows previews the latest gadgets, accoutrements and surprises you’ll soon see in hotels (if you haven’t seen them already).

While it’s fun to ogle industrial size kitchen equipment, be wowed by high tech electronics and hear about advances in bedbug eradication at HX, the Hotel Experience, we gravitate to BDNY (Boutique Design New York) and its eye-catching inventory of wallpapers, countertops, bathroom hardware, floor coverings, artworks, bedding and, yes, surprises like real roses that can last for three years (more on that later). Read more

Terry Trucco

Celebrating Winter: These Four NYC Hotels Are Going All Out for “Game of Thrones” in Its Final Season

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It may feel like spring, but winter is here. Or for Game of Thrones fans who are keeping score, 67 episodes down, 6 to go.

The fantastical Westeros saga returns to HBO on April 14 for its final chapters. Lannisters! Targaryens! Dragons (dead and alive)! These four New York City hotels are toasting all things Thrones with a mix of viewing parties, themed drinks, trivia contests and deals for guests looking to take in the action from someplace other than the living room couch. Read more

Terry Trucco

The Mark Hotel, Its Grand Penthouse and Meghan Markle’s New York Baby Shower

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Score one for The Mark.

New York’s most boldly lavish hotel, to quote the Mark tagline, is known for stylish rooms devised by celebrated French designer Jacques Grange, a sophisticated bar scene and super chef Jean George Vongrichten’s glamorous restaurant The Mark, which also provides room service. Add a royal baby shower to its credits. Read more

Terry Trucco

The Michelin Guide’s Top Picks for Best New York Hotel Restaurants, 2019 Edition

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How do you know you’re really in the thick of Fall?

A November election, the end of daylight saving time (fall back!) and the arrival of a new Michelin Guide to New York City restaurants are excellent bellwethers.

Michelin’s red-coated 2019 edition landed yesterday, Election Day 2018. We eagerly scoured it online to see how the city’s hotel restaurants fared. With three categories of stars encompassing 76 restaurants, six were at hotels. That’s nice, but hardly news.

In 2010, the first year Overnight New York started keeping score, seven hotel restaurants made the cut, including tony, now shuttered establishments like Adour Alain Ducasse at the St. Regis, Gordon Ramsay at The London and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons. But only five collected a Michelin star (or two, or three) in 2015. Read more

Terry Trucco

Will a Hotel Stand Next to New York’s Historic Merchant’s House Museum?

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Merchant House Museum’s “call to arms” cartoon

At last count, New York City had more than 630 hotels, according to Smith Travel Research. The vast majority are located in Manhattan. Does the city really need a new hotel on East 4th Street?

We’ll know soon. After more than six years, an answer could come today that will determine the future of an unremarkable looking plot of East Village land currently occupied by a storage garage for food carts. A developer wants to build an eight-story hotel on the lot. But next door stands the historic Merchant’s House Museum, a late-Federal brick townhouse built in 1832 and one of the city’s few buildings with a landmarked interior and exterior. Read more

Terry Trucco

Ace it! New York’s Best Hotels If You’re Going to the U.S. Open

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This post was updated for the 2019 U.S Open

With Wimbledon 2019 in the books, our tennis thoughts bounce to hard surfaces and the best hotels if you’re going to the U.S. Open.

So long, strawberries. Hello, hot dogs!

The 50th annual U.S. Open unfurls from August 26 through September 8.

In theory, you can stay at any hotel in New York City and get yourself to the sprawling Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens (the easiest, and cheapest, way is to catch the 7 subway train at Grand Central Station for Mets-Willets Point Station). But these hotels, for wildly different reasons, put a special spin on New York’s biggest tennis event. Read more