Hotels

One woman’s stay at the Dream Hotel in New York quickly turned from a dream into a nightmare when she found herself being assaulted in her room by a hotel employee. 

Dream Hotel New York

Late Sunday night, around 3 am, the woman and her boyfriend returned to their room at the Dream Hotel. They were drunk and were having difficulty getting back to their room by themselves. One of the hotel’s employees – 27 yr old Jaime Lopez Mendoza, was called to assist them back to their room.

The next thing the woman remembers is waking up to find Mendoza on top of her, assaulting her. Her screams caused the perp to flee, but he has since been nabbed.

Another guest then found the woman screaming in the hotel’s hallway. The whereabouts and condition of the boyfriend at the time of the assault are not yet clear.

Mendoza was brought to court on Monday and charged with first-degree rape, and he’s due back in court on Dec 31. 

The Dream Hotel is located on West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, within walking distance of Central Park and Times Square. The hotel offers luxury accomodations, with a lavish lobby, an ayurvedic spa, and four restaurants and lounges, including a subterranean lounge named Subconscious.

This is the second time in two months that an assault of this nature has taken place in a New York hotel. Last month, a maid at the Standard Hotel was allegedly assaulted by a guest – an Australian businessman.

Photo courtesy Preferred Hotels & Resorts

Info: 210 West 55th Street, between Broadway & 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019; (212) 247-2000

If you thought getting clobbered by Chris Brown was the low point of Rihanna’s 2009 woes, think again. Turns out Rihanna has been helping guests with their luggage in New York’s Bryant Park Hotel.

Rihanna & Bryant Park Hotel, NYC

Back in September, when she walked out of the Hotel de Rome in Berlin wearing a bellhop hat, it was assumed to be a fashion statement. But now it looks like there’s more to it.

Rihanna was spotted with some pals in the Bryant Park Hotel’s lobby, trying to help them move their bags. They wouldn’t let her, so she tries to grab the bags out of their hands. It ended up looking like a friendly game of tug of war.

We’re not experts on Bellhop etiquette, but Rihanna’s expertise in luggage-handling suggests that a brilliant career in hospitality awaits.

That doesn’t look likely to happen anytime soon, though. Her latest album – Rated R, is doing quite well, and the Barbados singing sensation is being paid an astonishing $500,000 by the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi for a New Year’s Eve performance.   

John Lickrish, managing director of Flash Entertainment, which organized the concert, says that “The response from the public has been fantastic since we announced Rihanna would be performing in Abu Dhabi.”

In between gigs now - bellhopping at the Bryant Park Hotel and the NYE concert at the Emirates Palace hotel – Rihanna is kicking back at a beach back home in Barbados, enjoying some R&R.

If Abu Dhabi is too far for you, here’s a primer for some more New Year’s Eve hotel parties with star-billing, and here’s the top 5 destinations people are traveling to for the New Year celebrations.

Rihanna photo by O.M. Gee; Bryant Park Hotel photo by Tone Walker

Want a free tour of New York’s Fashion District? NYC & Company – the Big Apple’s official marketing & tourism organization, has teamed up with The Westin New York at Times Square to offer an exclusive ’Project Runway’ promotion.

The Westin New York at Times Square

As part of the launch promotion for the seventh season of Lifetime Television’s “Project Runway” premiering on January 14, Westin guests in New York will receive a complimentary customized two-hour CitySights “Project Runway” bus tour with their reserved room on select dates between December 29 and January 18.

The tour will run on Saturdays January 2, 9, 16, and Sunday, January 10, visiting fashion landmarks as well as sites from past Project Runway seasons including Bryant Park, Parsons The New School Fashion Design building, and Mood Designer Fabrics - the supplier store for many of the contestants’ creations.

The hotel itself has been the setting for several past episodes. Gerard Widder, general manager of The Westin New York at Times Square, said that ”We are thrilled to partner with NYC & Company and “Project Runway” for this exclusive tour… Our proximity to the Fashion District adds another synergy that makes this project work so well.”

Use promo code RUNWAY.

The Westin New York at Times Square offers 863 rooms and suites with spectacular views of the New York City skyline, Empire State Building and the Hudson River.

Also a good place to check into if you’re planning a family vacation in New York to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Info: 270 West 43rd Street, at 8th Avenue, New York NY 10036; (212) 201-2700; www.westinny.com/

The Broadway Hotel & Hostel in New York’s Upper West Side has been shut down by the City for packing in too many people. Hundreds of budget travelers staying at the hotel now have 24 hours to get out and find another place to stay.

Broadway Hotel & Hostel, NYC

The City’s Department of Buildings slapped ‘Vacate: Do Not Enter’ notices on the hotel, which packs in over 400 people in bunk beds and rooms in an building on the corner of Broadway and W. 101st St.

Every single guest at the hotel is a visitor to New York, since the hotel apparently does not allow New Yorkers to stay.

On the hotel’s website it says they offer more than 400 beds, in newly renovated dormitory-style rooms and private rooms at rates as low as $19. Private rooms with private baths start at $159 a night.

They call themselves a ’Manhattan discount hotel that rivals the best hostels in Europe.’

The Hotel is owned by Hank Freid, who also owns other hotels in New York, including the Ameritania in Midtown, and Marrakech Hotel NYC in the Upper West Side.

Freid is also developing a four-and-a-half-star lifestyle hotel called Sanctuary in Times Square, with 125 rooms and an exclusive duplex penthouse suite with roof access. The Sanctuary was originally slated to open in Fall 2009, but the opening has now been pushed back to Fall 2010.

Photo courtesy Broadway Hotel & Hostel

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Entrance to The Carlyle Hotel

The Carlyle in New York City is much more than just another luxury hotel.  For decades, it’s served as a decadent playground for the rich and famous who value discretion as much as first class accommodations.

Built in 1930, The Carlyle has played hosts to royalty, Presidents and movie stars, sometimes all at once.  Princess Diana stayed at The Carlyle when she visited Manhattan, and it’s rumored to have been the preferred meeting place for John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.  More recently, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes hosted a party for their daughter Suri Cruise at the New York City landmark hotel.  Oh, if those walls could talk!

Of course, the hotel staff isn’t divulging any secrets.  The Carlyle prides itself on offering security and discretion that makes it a safe haven for their A-list clientele.

But you don’t have to be a celebrity to enjoy star treatment.  Even The Carlyle offers package deals and discounts.  Kind of.

Read More »

What’s in a name? A lot, if you win the Roosevelt NYC’s new contest, and end up with a free 2-night stay for two, with your name etched for posterity on a bar stool, where it will face many a posterior.

The Roosevelt is opening a new bar, and they’re running a contest called Name our Bar, where you have to… name their bar. The winner will be a special guest at the grand opening of the new bar and have his/her name permanently etched on one of the bar stools.

According to the hotel, “The name should be creative, catchy, original, bold and fun – most importantly, it needs to fit who we are.” Well, who are we? Here’s a few helpful tid-bits about the hotel and the new bar:-

The Roosevelt Hotel, New York City

1. The Roosevelt Hotel was named after Teddy Roosevelt.
2. Centrally located Midtown Manhattan just blocks away from Grand Central Station.
3. Established in 1924, the Roosevelt Hotel holds 1015 rooms.
4. Located on the corner of 45th and Vanderbilt Street, with a street-level entrance.
5. The bar will be open and fully operational all year long.
6. Primary customer base will be from local, the business community and hotel guests.
7. This bar will take up approximately 2300 sq ft.
8. Big Band great, Guy Lombardo performed at the hotel for over 40 years.
9. The bar will offer everything from beer and wine to mixed drinks with a menu of light fare.

Submit your entry on or before December 14th. All you have to do is fill in the form here.

Photo by Billy Hathorn

Info: 45 East 45th Street, corner of Madison Ave New York, NY 10017; 212-661-9600; www.theroosevelthotel.com/

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Eloise just got herself some shining new diamonds – an early Christmas present from the AAA, which just announced the 2010 AAA Five Diamond Award winners, with 113 hotels on the list – including The Plaza Hotel and The Pierre New York-A Taj Hotel.

Eloise at the Plaza

The Plaza re-opened last year after a massive three year renovation. The Pierre, likewise, re-opened earlier this year after a $100 million renovation. In a funny co-incidence, both iconic New York hotels first opened their doors on Oct 1. The Plaza opened on Oct 1, 1907 and The Pierre on Oct 1 , 1930.

Here’s the AAA’s full list of 2010 Five Diamond Lodgings. The list now also features the Mandarin Oriental in Boston; Encantado - An Auberge Resort in Sante Fe, N.M.; and The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. Florida and Nevada each scored 3 more properties on the list.

Speaking of Eloise, she now has a second home in the Big Apple – the New York Public Libary. The Library  ‘acquired’ a colored-pencil sketch of the Eloise painting that hangs in The Plaza. They got the sketch as part of a donation which included the personal papers of  novelist E. Annie Proulx and Hilary Knight, who drew Eloise for the Kay Thompson books.

No word yet on whether Eloise will be joined at the Public Library by her nanny, her pug Weenie, and Skipperdee – her turtle.

Photo of Eloise at the Plaza painting by susansimon.

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Outside view of the Sheraton New York

Five blocks from Times Square and three blocks from Central Park, the Sheraton New York could not be located in a more perfect place for the New York visitor. Cheap hotels are not easy to find in Manhattan, so seeing the price of the room for one night (approx $330/night in November ‘09) can set you back. But in Manhattan, you get what you pay for. Located at 7th & 52nd, the well-appointed hotel will give you the perfect central location for walking the city or navigating on the subway just across 53rd.

The large lobby is well-designed with a sports bar and bistro restaurant flanking the marble floors of the entry way with room to gather your group. With Wi-fi in the public lobby area, you can sit and enjoy the people-watching while on your computer. (If you’ve ever been to New York, the people-watching should be classified as its own sport.) My biggest complaint about the Sheraton New York is the lack of Wi-fi in the guest rooms, but if you’re staying alone or have only one computer to connect, high-speed internet access is available for a daily fee with their provided ethernet cable.

If location and staying in a comfortable, well-appointed room are your biggest concerns when staying in Manhattan, consider the Sheraton New York.

Contact info:
811 7th Avenue 53rd Street
New York, New York 10019 United States
Phone: (212) 581-1000 Fax: (212) 262-4410

*Photo courtesy of Sheraton New York website

What’s the deal between the Hilton New York and the Bloomberg Administration? The Mayor is congratulating the hotel personally for being an “innovator in implementing sound environmental practices.”

Hilton New York

Last week, the Hilton New York was awarded the 2008-2009 Environmental Recognition Program – “Green Street” Award by the Avenue of the Americas Association. Hilton New York received the award in the Energy Efficiency / Sustainability Projects category for “Buildings Over 1M Square Feet” in recognition of its energy fuel cell, which the hotel installed 2 years ago.

Apparently, it takes some time for New York to recognize a breakthrough achievement. Or the patronage of a certain high-ranking NYC elected official. To be fair, the hotel has also recently added some new green initiatives to its toolkit – they’re now dissolving food waste with microorganisms to reduce garbage volume. For real.

But something is surely going on with the Hilton New York and NYC officials. In addition to the awards and kudos over the green stuff, there’s also the Olympic connection. On Nov 4, the U.S. Olympic Committee (with Hilton as it’s sponsor)  will be turning New York’s Rockefeller Center into a winter wonderland as a 100-day countdown for the Vancouver 2010 Olymipics – something about the Making of Team USA.

Lisa Baird, USOC’s Chief Marketing Officer, added to the kudos – “I’d like to extend a special thanks to Hilton Worldwide and our associate sponsors for their support in bringing this 100-day countdown event to historic Rockefeller Center.”

If you’re looking for green hotels in New York, look no more. Head straight for Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite green hotel – located on 1335 Avenue of the Americas.

Photo by mrkathika

The New York New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is looking for a brand ambassador with plenty of ’New York attitude.’  And their search for a New York Vinny aka Vincent Roosevelt Scagnetti has been narrowed down to two finalists – the Red Vinny and the Blue Vinny, who are now duking it out in a series of contests and public votes.

Vinny vs Vinny, New York New York Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

The two wannabe Vinnys were introduced in a press conference at the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday.

And with the introductions over, the gloves came off with the start of an epic series of Vinny vs. Vinny contests – a Nathan’s Hot Dog eating competition, a Rascal scooter race around the Center Bar, a dance-off at Rok Vegas and a belly-flop contest in the pool.

The contests – which include a video game battle, a sports trivia contest and standup comedy, will be held at different areas of the hotel in between now and Nov 6.

You can also vote for which whichever Vinny you like better here. Before you vote, don’t forget to check out their casting pitch video.

As of now the blue Vinny is leading by a mere 2%, but that’s probably because the red Vinny has a shiny top. But to even up the contest, the red Vinny claims he bleeds spaghetti sauce, so that might be interesting enough to give him an edge.

Update: Nov 23, 2009 – Vinny Blue has been declared victorious, crowning him the ultimate go-to guy for all things New York-New York.

Vinny Blue, New York, New York

Photos courtesy New York New York Hotel & Casino

Info: 3790 Las Vegas Blvd. South  Las Vegas NV 89109; (702) 740-6969; www.nynyhotelcasino.com/