New York isn’t Amsterdam. But since 1993, the addition of 100 miles of greenway paths has changed life for bike lovers. I wouldn’t recommend plowing into midtown traffic unless you’re Tour de France fit  – or a bike messenger. But the city’s growing network of bike lanes offers savvy riders a fun, pollution-free way to get from Point A to Point B and take in the sights that whirl by.

These five properties (plus a bonus) lead the growing band of hotels that house bikes to lend or rent to guests. (Condolences to the Hotel Gansevoort Meatpacking District, whose fleet of Puma bikes was stolen and, as of this writing, has not been replaced). (more…)

An Element kitchenette.

Back to the land isn’t a phrase that leaps to mind when I think of New York, especially anything having to do with Times Square.  So I was intrigued to learn that Element New York Times Square West, a skinny skyscraper looming over the Port Authority Bus Terminal with nary a barn nor pasture in sight, is about to begin offering guests the opportunity to have food delivered from Holton Farms, an eighth-generation family farm in Vermont. (more…)

As a group, New York City hotels aren’t very green. It’s not for want of trying. Many reside in old buildings

The Element lobby.

constructed long before sustainability was on the radar.  Yet almost weekly you hear of advances on the green front, from baby steps to strides.

In December the InterContinental New York Barclay, a 685-room hotel billeted in a Roaring 20s building, switched completely to wind-powered energy.  Earlier this year the 899-room New York Palace, a stylish marriage of the historic Villard Houses (more…)