Average NYC hotel rate climbs to $234, deals disappear
After dipping below $200 this summer, the average hotel room rate in New York City is back up to $234.45 as of the first week of October, according to Smith Travel Research. While that’s 21 percent less than the same time a year ago, consumers aren’t likely to find any comfort in the discounts out there now.
Searching for the last weekend in October, Quikbook offers almost nothing under $250. If you poke around on other nights you can find rates from:
Comfort Inn Midtown West - $136
Ace - $219
The GEM Hotel, Midtown West - $229
Hotel Metro - $236
Cooper Square - $280
City Club - $289
Likewise, GetaRoom doesn’t deliver a deal for the Halloween weekend, but promises lower rates for other nights:
Wellington Hotel - $153.30
Best Western President Times Square - $170
Beekman Hotel - $231.20
HotelChatter has the heads-up on several soon-to-open properties, including the almost-ready Sanctuary Hotel, which is opening rooms as they’re upgraded from the old Portland Square Hotel digs. The new rooms are priced at $159 a night during construction.
While the fancy new The Standard still promises rooms from $195, you may be hard-pressed to find that rate available.
The Pod Hotel, which is now requiring a two-night minimum for most weekends, can be booked for as low as $149 per night in October (or $129 in November) if you’re willing to share a bathroom down the hall.
Now in its fifth year, Open House New York this weekend will open hundreds of sites for free tours, allowing the public to wander through cheese caves, a subway power station, the abandoned hospital buildings of Ellis Island, and into well-appointed private apartments, hotels and offices.
And while all the events are free, not all the sites are accesed with equal ease.
While there is a free printed OHNY guide (also available online in PDF) there have been many changes since its publication, including cancelations, new sites, and altered hours. Official updates can be found on the OHNYwebsite and its blog. (Yes, you need to go to three different locations to get a full list of changes.)
Open House NY reservations-required free tour list
Open House New York will open hundreds of sites for free tours during the weekend of October 10 and 11. Several locations will require reservations. Here’s the list of some of the most interesting OHNY tours that promise to fill up fast.
(Editor’s note: The final update to this list was Thursday night.)
Lefferts Historic House - cellar-to-attic tours from noon on Saturday and Sunday. (718) 789-2822 ×10. Update: Only two spots remain noon on Sunday, all others full.
Betances Community Center - Saturday tours with the architects in the Bronx. info@syarch.com. (All tours still have openings as of Thursday at noon.)
Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum tours of Manhattan’s only active cemetery with historian Eric K. Washington. (212) 939-0994. All four tours — Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. — still have a few spots open (as of Thursday at noon) with the Sunday at 1:30 p.m. most likley to fill soonest.
Wild Project - weekend tours with Alive Structures landscape architects. (Spots still open on Sunday at 10 a.m.,noon and 4 p.m.) marni@alivestructures.com
W hotels - tours of the Times Square, Union Square and Lexington Ave properties. rebecca.snyder@bbg-bbgm.com for Lex; nychappeningsrsvp@whotels.com, for others, specify which hotel. (As of noon Thursday, there are confirmed openings for W on Lex.)
The New School: Orozco Room - Saturday at 11 a.m. tour with Silvia Rocciolo, cocurator of the New School Art Collection, and James Wechsler, an independent scholar. Updated RSVP info.
Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church - Saturday and Sunday tours of the Romanesque Revival Church with Tiffany stained-glass windows. lrogers@lapcbrooklyn.org. Update: Reservations not required. “Just simply arrive during the allocated time (Sat. 12-1 pm, Sun. 1-5pm).”
Louis Armstrong House Museum - weekend tours still available (as of Thursday afternoon.) info@louisarmstronghouse.org
Brooklyn Museum - Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. tours of the Sackler Wing with Polshek architect. A few spaces are still available both days (as of Thursday afternoon.) grouptours@brooklynmuseum.org
Woodlawn Cemetery - weekend tours of private mausoleums by designers McKim, Mead & White, Carrere & Hastings, John Russell Poper, Tiffany, and Hunt & Hunt. Update: Reservations are preferred; spots available on the Saturday at 10 a.m. tour and Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. tours. (718) 920-1470
Locations that may still have spots open: (NewYorkology has reached out to each of these groups to confirm availibility.)
Reservations opened today for New York’s Spa Week — Oct. 12 through 18 — with full-service treatments priced at $50.
Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa at the Plaza, Lia Schorr Day Spa, Ling Skin Care, Jurlique, Fresh, Great Jones Spa, Angel Feet Reflexology, Clarins Skin Spa, SHIZUKA and The Salon & Spa at Saks Fifth Avenue are among the New York City locations taking part.
New York Spa week stretches around the state, including Gurney’s Sea Water Spa in Montauk, and The Ritz Carlton Spa in Westchester.
Treatments vary at each location, ranging from facials, massage and manicures to botox, colonics and laser hair removal.
The hotel has just announced availability for almost a dozen shows, including Badgley Mischka, Tracy Reese and Nanette Lepore.
The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week begins Sept. 10 and runs through Sept. 17, with main events set at Bryant Park.
The Catwalk Package — priced at $969 — gets you a suite for one night at W New York - Union Square, two invitations to a Mercedes Benz Fashion Week runway show, a backstage tour and party invite, plus a BLISS energizing mask.
The hotel will donate 10 percent of the VIP Catwalk package to Dress for Success.
Fashion Week catwalk tickets are very limited and past seasons, most sold out fast:
Technically, it doesn’t all go to NYC, which only keeps 4-1/2 percent.
The rate also includes a 4 percent New York State tax and a 3/8th of a percent Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District tax, according to NY State Department of Taxation and Finance (link in pdf format.)
Aug. 1 was also the end of the sales tax exemption for clothing and footwear purchases exceeding $110.
Clarification: “Purchases costing less than $110 remain fully exempt” in the clothing and footwear category, according to the state taxation notice.
This is the first permanent rise in the city’s sales tax in more than 35 years, according to NY1.
Hotel guests will also have to absorb the half-percent sales tax increase, on top of the 5 percent rise in the hotel room occupancy tax that went into effect in March 1.
Picture credit: CBGB’s cash register, in situ, October 2006. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
A soft re-opening for The Mark with rooms from $425
When The Mark closed for renovations, it basked in stories that it would luxuriously reopen with no room priced under $1,000 per night.
But a funny little recession happened while the building was closed for its upscale condo/hotel conversion. The Mark is now in its soft opening phase with rooms offered at a “special promotion” rate of $425 a night.
Some construction will continue until fall when The Mark opens its restaurant, Mark’s Bar, Club Room, fitness center and Frédéric Fekkai Beauty Salon, a hotel spokeswoman told NewYorkology.
The hotel, situated on floors two through eight, has 100 rooms plus 18 suites. Regular rooms are 400- to 500 square feet while suites start at 800 square feet.
The hotel has free wi-fi and high speed Internet in rooms and public spaces. Rooms feature 32-inch HD LCD flat-screen TVs, iPod, MP3 and laptop connectivity; bars with SubZero equipment and Crestron touch screen room control panel. Some rooms have walk‐in closets.
The bathrooms feature deep soaking tubs, separate showers, a double vanity, marble slab walls and nickel-plated fixtures.
The hotel car is a Bentley Silver Spur.
The Mark is located on the Upper East Side, a block from Central Park at 25 E. 77th St., map.
Picture credit: “Courtesy of The Mark Hotel.”
Correction: Due to incorrect information provided by a hotel spokesperson, this story was changed to delete a reference to Frédéric Fekkai & Frédéric Malle in-room bath products.
New tech for NYC: subway hacks to cheap hotel maps
There’s an awful lot of newish gee-gaws out there with special features for heavy New York City users — and travelers. Here’s a roundup:
AcrossAir’s New York Nearest Subway application for iPhone (see video above) will show you which subway entrances are closest to your current location.
Another application, Exit Strategy NYC will tell you where to stand on the subway platform so that when you alight, you’ll be perfectly aligned with the station exit you need.
The New York Philharmonic has launched its own iPhone application that lets listen to music and podcasts — and buy tickets
Sirius XM Radio Inc has also launched a free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
