{"id":289423,"date":"2025-10-09T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/289423\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:21:10","slug":"new-york-city-is-amid-a-hotel-renovation-frenzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/289423\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Is Amid a Hotel Renovation Frenzy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs ballyhooed as New York\u2019s many iconic and historic hotels<\/a> are, for decades they\u2019ve been mostly sizzle, not a lot of steak. The most exciting city stays have been newer properties, like the beautifully curated, artistic Fifth Avenue Hotel<\/a>, or the sleek, contemporary style and service of wellness-led Aman New York<\/a>. Yet within the last few years, NYC has seen a cascade of long-planned, highly anticipated renovations<\/a>. \u201cI think it was long overdue to keep up with other places around the world who have reputations as being incredible hotel cities, such as London and Paris,\u201d says Josh Alexander, a luxury travel advisor<\/a> with ProTravel International, a Virtuoso agency. \u201cNew York City<\/a> was falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe starry list of NYC hotels that have completed rejuvenations is (in alphabetical order) include: The Carlyle (reopened in 2021 after three years), Hotel Chelsea (reopened in 2022 after 11 years), Four Seasons Midtown (reopened in November 2024 after four years), Park Hyatt (remained open during a 2024 renovation), the Peninsula (remained open during a 2024 renovation), St. Regis (remained open besides public spaces, which reopened in August 2024 after renovation), The Surrey (reopened under the Corinthia banner in October 2024), W Union Square (relaunched in September 2025), and the Waldorf Astoria (reopened July 2025 after 8.5 years).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhew. Do any of these revamps live up to the hype? To say that there\u2019s pressure involved in getting this right\u2014the legacies at stake amid a jam-packed, competitive arms race<\/a>, to say nothing of the monetary investment \u2014is an understatement. \u201cWe received tons of letters from New Yorkers saying, \u2018Don\u2019t you dare this mess up,\u2019\u201d says Dino Michael, senior vice president and global head for Hilton\u2019s luxury brands, of the enormous eight-and-a-half-year Waldorf Astoria New York<\/a> project.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA new Peacock Alley, fit for strutting.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoe Thomas<\/p>\n

\n\tThe classic hotel, at its current Park Avenue address since 1931, reduced its room count from 1,400 to 375 rooms and suites, along with 372 residences, while retaining its Gilded Age grandeur: the 148,000 marble tiles in the circular \u201cWheel of Life\u201d mosaic in the Park Ave lobby; Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cHigh Society\u201d grand piano; the reassembled Waldorf clock tower, first commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1893, and so much more. \u201cWe haven\u2019t lost any of the magic,\u201d Michael says.<\/p>\n

\n\tRenowned lobby bar Peacock Alley is back in action, with a cocktail program now spearheaded by New York bartending icon Jeff Bell of Please Don\u2019t Tell<\/a> fame. It\u2019s a spot for New Yorkers to honor a big occasion, for celebrities to come and flaunt their status, and for tourists to recline and get a taste of it all. When a storied hotel succeeds with such a face lift, it\u2019s a moment for all of the above to rejoice, and it appears that the Waldorf Astoria has managed to achieve that goal. After almost a decade on the shelf\u2014and construction costing a reported $2 billion\u2014they better hope that they did.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe key to success starts in the kitchen\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a common thread through the most successful of these overhauls: Build a top-tier food and beverage program, attract the locals, and the tourist dollars and international prestige will follow.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEven if you\u2019re not staying [in the hotel]\u2014if you\u2019re just living or working in New York\u2014you want to go for the restaurant or the bar,\u201d Alexander says. \u201cThey\u2019re making these gathering places, and that\u2019s what they\u2019re getting right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander calls out several of the completed rebirths for their success on this front. \u201cLook at what Rosewood has done with The Carlyle<\/a> (from $895) and Bemelmans Bar,<\/a> taking these types of iconic old school spots and making them cool and hip again,\u201d he says. A stiff Bemelmans martini while enjoying a night of live music is now a hallmark of a classy NYC night out. The bar somehow straddles the line between regular\u2019s haunt and tourist attraction.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also shouts out The St. Regis<\/a> (from $895), which spruced up the legendary King Cole Bar to coincide with its 90th anniversary, and the hotel\u2019s 120th anniversary, last fall. The iconic bar\u2014which also happens to be the home of the original, proto-Bloody Mary, the Red Snapper\u2014has been refreshed while preserving its deep history. It\u2019s packed with locals nightly, attracting queues of devotees waiting to grab a bar stool and gaze at the restored Maxfield Parrish Old King Cole mural, or for a chance to observe the hotel\u2019s nightly Champagne sabrage ritual.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGrab a seat at King Cole Bar to admire the restored Maxfield Parrish Old King Cole mural.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of the overhaul, The St. Regis renovated its lobby, as well as the Drawing Room in front of the bar, transforming it into a stylish but relaxed lounge serving $36 lobster rolls and bacon cheddar burgers. La Maisonette, a cafe open for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, also made a re-entrance following a 20-year closure.<\/p>\n

\n\tKing Cole Bar and Peacock Alley are true attractions, elevating the updated hotels and\u2014dare we say\u2014making Midtown cool again. \u201cMidtown, rightfully so, has long been thought to be kind of dead after 6 p.m. with no good restaurants or bars. It\u2019s great for New York and the hotel industry to begin changing that,\u201d Alexander says. \u201dPeople want to come and stay in Midtown and the Upper East Side now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAn unexpected winner from this round robin of renos is the W Union Square<\/a> (from $650), which celebrated the completion of its $100 million renovation spearheaded by the Rockwell Group this September. It may not have the same legacy as the Waldorf Astoria or the St. Regis, but it does call the 1911 Beaux-Arts Guardian Life building home, and has been an Union Square institution in its own right for the past quarter century.<\/p>\n

\n\tW Union Square is now the brand\u2019s global flagship\u2014the torchbearer for W Hotels<\/a>\u2019 transition from a neon-drenched, early aughts party vibe to a more sophisticated, mature look and feel that emphasizes luxury as much as lifestyle. \u201cIt\u2019s almost becoming a showroom of what we believe is the benchmark for the brand,\u201d says George Fleck, senior vice president and global brand leader for W Hotels, Edition, and St. Regis.<\/p>\n

\n\tFood and bev are at the heart of the project here as well, including the Living Room, which morphs from daytime cafe to evening lounge, and the new Guardian Rooftop, complete with a retractable roof for all-season revelry. On the ground floor is Seahorse, operated by Mercer Street Hospitality, a modern seafood brasserie with both streetside and lobby entrances. Fleck notes that, in New York, \u201cyou\u2019re competing against some of the most incredible culinary offerings in the world,\u201d so they do an \u201cintense market study\u201d to find their niche before renovating.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen New York decides to do something, it does it big, and the revamp of the city\u2019s luxury hotel scene is no exception. \u201cI love that so many New York hotels are getting these renovations because it really helps lift the entire market,\u201d says Fleck. The world\u2019s best are watching.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As ballyhooed as New York\u2019s many iconic and historic hotels are, for decades they\u2019ve been mostly sizzle, not…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":289424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,3553,17054,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,12216,69413,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,148621,148622],"class_list":{"0":"post-289423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-feature","10":"tag-hotels","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-renovations","18":"tag-st-regis","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-w-hotels","26":"tag-waldorf-astoria-hotels-resorts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115344656923960393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}