As anyone who hasn’t been in solitary confinement this week knows, February 9 marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to the U.S.
Specifically, it heralds their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, an event watched by 73 million people including the 728 in the studio audience.
Not surprisingly, there are hotel connections. Read more
This is what you see from a room near the top of the tallest hotel in North America, which happens to be in New York. (That’s a snow-covered Central Park down there, in case you’re wondering.)
What birds see
It’s a bird’s-eye view of a high-flying bird – or a low-flying plane. But guests in north-facing rooms on the 62nd floor at the new Residence Inn Central Park can take it in from a white leather club chair or a king-size bed for as long as they like without moving a muscle. Read more
It’s January, and once again Tripadvisor rolls out its annual Best Lists compiled from the bazillion reviews filed by hotel-goers each year. How did New York City’s nearly 100,000 hotel rooms fare?
Lots better than in 2012, when not a single Big Apple hotel landed on the Tripadvisor top 25 best US hotels list (New York has yet to crack the ranks of the 25 best hotels in the world). This year there are three: Read more
From North by Northwest and Sleepless in Seattle to Crocodile Dundee, it’s hard to imagine a hotel with more Hollywood screen time than The Plaza. Last year alone the hotel racked up vivid cameos in The Great Gatsby and American Hustle. Read more
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
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
Free WiFi: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong.
This was a good week for those who believe WiFi is no different from hotel basics like sheets, towels and a shower with running water and should be included free of charge in the price of a room.
Mandarin Oriental announced that its hotels will offer their “exceptional” high-speed internet service on a complimentary basis. Guests will be able to connect up to six wireless devises free of charge. Read more
The Carter marquee.
The Hotel Carter, Times Square’s notorious flophouse, was in the news today once again. But this time was different.
A night manager wasn’t stabbed as in 1999. A dead body wasn’t discovered under a bed as in 2007. And TripAdvisor didn’t hail the hotel one of the dirtiest in the United States, a distinction the Carter held for years until the site scrapped its list a couple of years back.
The news, as reported by DNAinfo New York, is that the hotel is cleaning up its act, possibly with an eye to a sale. Read more