The Four Seasons.

Not long ago Trip Advisor posted its crowd-sourced list of the top hotels in the US. New York City fared badly with not one property in the top 25.

Another day, another survey. AAA has released its 2012 list of  Five Diamond hotels and restaurants, and New York City cleaned up with eight hotels and one hotel restaurant landing the coveted diamonds, the goldest star AAA’s professional raters award. Only Las Vegas scored higher in the hotel category, with a nod for ten properties. (more…)

Talk about a misnomer. Lady Mendl, aka Elsie de Wolfe, the pioneering interior designer and Age of Innocence-era grand dame, never lived in the twin 1834 townhouses containing the tea salon bearing her name. And we can’t imagine this crusading modernist who loathed Victorian frou frou would have selected, or condoned, the curvaceous loveseats, tufted brocades, fringed lampshades and acres of carved wood that fill the salon’s two parlors.

No matter. We can’t think of a better place to retreat when you want to take a quick break from the 21^st century. (more…)

We don’t know whether to be befuddled or embarrassed. We’re pretty partial to New York City hotels, but not a single one – not one! – landed on Trip Advisor’s annual Travel’s Choice list of the 25 Best Hotels in the World list published yesterday.

New York did better last year, when the city offered fewer rooms but apparently played to more enthusiastic Trip Advisor users.  Though none made the cut for the top 25 international hotels in 2011, the plucky Casablanca in Times Square rolled in at number eight for best in the US. Alas, it – and every place else here in town – was shut out of that list this time. (more…)

Is Room Key the hotel version of the Empire Strikes Back?

Last week Roomkey.com, a new hotel search engine, went live. But instead of a third-party consolidator like Expedia or Travelocity, Room key is operated by a consortium of big-gun hotel chains whose properties it handles exclusively. (more…)

Movie stills at the Gershwin.

We always stop by the Gershwin hotel when we’re in the neighborhood. Besides Birch Coffee, a one-of-a-kind, sustainable-minded coffee shop, and a lively lobby where you can hang out as long as you want, the hotel buzzes with events – art exhibitions, music performances, drama of all kinds.

On a recent evening we strolled into the lobby and found actress Tilda Swindon (more…)

Sex, drugs and fluffy pillows. Think about it, dude. Rock musicians spend a lot of time on the road. The lucky ones score suites in some of the world’s best hotels. Those that don’t often crash in intriguingly oddball places. And things happen. Rooms get trashed. TVs get tossed into the pool. Harleys get driven into the lobby.

In short, there’s a lot of rock history lurking in hotel rooms around the world – enough to fill a book, or at least a new guidebook like Rock & Roll Hotels (Punk Publishing; British pounds10.99). In this cloth-covered, 198-page volume, slim enough to slip into a pocket, backpack or guitar case, British music promoter Greg Simmons escorts the reader through 45 rock-tinged hotels in Europe, North America and the Pacific. The result is well researched, trivia enriched and fun. (more…)

By the time 2011 morphed into a memory at the stroke of midnight, New York City boasted an unprecedented 90,000 hotel rooms. But the year that was didn’t just set records. If 2011 was a wine we’d raise a glass (and buy several cases). (more…)