Tag Archive for: W New York Downtown Hotel & Residences

Terry Trucco

Another Trick Up The Virtual Sleeve Of The New Apple Watch: It Unlocks Hotel Room Doors

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It monitors heart rate, exercise and calories. It makes and takes calls, texts and emails. It surfs the internet.

And for Starwood Preferred Guests staying at select hotels in the W, Element and Aloft chains the new Apple Watch can open doors — specifically, the door to your room.

There’s a Maxwell Smart quality to this. (Hey, Rolex — jealous?) The Apple Watch works at Starwood hotels wired for keyless systems where you can open guest room doors using your iPhone or Android. Read more

Terry Trucco

Scary Sandy, the Hurricane Horror, Checks In and NYC Hotels Hunker Down

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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

Terry Trucco

See “Midnight Cowboy” — and Hear Spike Lee Talk About It — at W New York Downtown’s “New York in Film” Series

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We love watching old movies in hotel screening rooms, the ultimate anti-multiplex (the chairs! the sound system! the champagne!).

Last month W New York Downtown initiated “New York in Film,” a smart if brief summer series of old movies curated by savvy New Yorkers. And just like that W joined the (too) small society of New York hotels, including the Crosby Street Hotel and Tribeca Grand, that screen movies to anyone who purchases a ticket, not just red carpeters and opening nighers. Read more