With a nod to Earth Day, we offer our (second) annual roll call of green New York City hotels.
The greenest of the green are those with LEED certification – third party proof of adherence to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards set by the U.S Green Building Council. Read more
Hard as it may be to picture – especially if you’re gazing at the Empire State Building – Manhattan was once blanketed by farmland. John Rowland, the 19th-century surveyor who mapped Manhattan’s street grid, knew all about it. In his spare time he fashioned nearly 100 maps of the island’s farms.
But enough history. Manhattan farming is back, albeit on a very small scale (think planter boxes). Still, finding a Manhattan hotel that grows its own food – or at least some of it – is a lot easier than it was as recently as a year or two ago. Read more
The calendar says it’s spring, even when it’s contradicted by chilly breezes and overcast skies. No matter.
Seasonal roof bars observe time, not temperature when choosing to open, and this week the Loopy Doopy Bar atop the Conrad New York, flung open its terrace above the Hudson for its second season. Read more
When hotel historians – hey, they’re out there somewhere — look back on 2012, they’ll say what we already know: it was, for the most part, a very good year. New York City boasts 91,500 hotel rooms – up from 90,000 in 2011. Put another way, 29 million hotel room nights were sold in New York City in 2012. Read more
Hotel shops sell a lot more than Band-Aids, bathrobes and bottled water. Many stock amusing, even unusual items you’d be happy to give – or receive.
And here’s the best part. Many offer online as well as in-hotel shopping. So browse what caught our eye. There’s still time! Read more
It’s been a tough week for New York, the city’s hotels and guests staying – or trying to stay – here. What was it like when the lobby flooded? How did guests react? How bad was the damage? And what can we expect next? Read more
Not tonight: the Ritz Carlton closed temporarily by Hurricane Sandy.
A hotel with room service, 24-hour movies, a big soaking tub and a comfy lobby lounge doesn’t strike us as a bad place to be in a storm. “I’ll watch the hurricane through my hotel room hot tub window,” writes a guest at The Out/NYC on the Hotelchatter website.
Still, Scary Sandy, or #sandynyc if you’re following Twitter, is doing what hurricanes do Read more
There’s nothing shy about the Statue of Liberty, standing proud and tall on her very own island. It’s just that in a city of skyscrapers she’s not exactly the tallest act in town. But starting on October 28 you’ll be able to see more of her — and more of the view from her island — than in years when Lady Liberty’s crown reopens after a year of renovations. Or to quote pageant coach Victor Melling in Miss Congeniality, “‘You ‘are’ the crown!” Read more
Clean at the Conrad.
First came washable duvet covers that replaced heavy, dry-clean-only bedspreads and lowered the “oogie factor,” as one hotel executive so aptly described, well, you know. Read more
Dip in.
What does summer taste like? Popsicles, if you’re 10 years old. And if you’re in double decades?
How about a cool goblet of Prosecco with a boozy, Day-Glo popsicle plopped inside like a swizzle stick? Read more
