Outdoor movie screenings enjoy a long, illustrious history (think drive-ins). But a hotel rooftop can do the trick, too. Here’s where to catch a flick (and drink something other than Diet Coke) during the long, hot New York summer. Read more
Renovations of public areas are as awkward for hotels as their guests. The noise. The inconvenience. The mess.
So rock on Yotel Times Square for hiding the construction of its new lounge with a crowd-sourced Lego Wall stretching across the fourth floor as you exit the elevators.
The DIY wailing wall lets visitors get clever with Legos, building whatever images they want, the ultimate in house-condoned graffiti. Read more
Anyone who has seen the movie Taxi Driver knows that Times Square wasn’t always a desirable location for a hotel. But that was a long time ago. Now even hotels that aren’t all that close to Times Square are adding the spot-where-the-New-Year’s-Eve-ball-drops to their name. Read more
Don’t tip the Yotel robot
We’ll never know the identity of the enterprising employee who cleared his throat, stared down a guest and was remunerated for carrying a bag. But by the 1820s tipping the porter, like signing the register, was a ritual at hotels in New York and other big American cities.
Blame it on the buildings. Carrying bags wasn’t a problem for guests staying at small, squat colonial inns and taverns. But hotel architecture changed in the 1790s, with the advent of full-fledged hotels with complicated floor plans, writes A.K. Sandoval-Strausz in Hotel, An American History, a fascinating look at the evolution of the hotel. Read more