Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

Luxury hotels in New York will be gearing up for their usual pre-holiday rush as shoppers descend from all over the world to shop for holiday gifts and the latest winter fashions.

One innovative company has recognized the inconvenience of trailing around the stores with a handful of unwieldy shopping bags so they have come up with the perfect solution – Cubby. This new service is a cross between a luggage store and a courier service and is centrally located on Park Avenue South and 23rd Street in Manhattan. More downtown locations are planned to open shortly.

The idea is that shoppers drop their purchases at Cubby, perhaps before taking a break for lunch. They can then continue on their quest, unencumbered by their earlier purchases. Shoppers can either pay to have their bags held for collection later or can arrange to have their bags delivered to their hotel by bicycle courier. The Cubby store is open from 8am to midnight.

Shoppers can download an app to make a reservation for storage at preferential rates. Prices are dependent upon size, and start from $5 for the first bag. Additional bags are charged at lower rates and the optional personal courier service is $10.

by Gillian

Las Vegas has always been the place for fun weddings but New York State has now seen the potential. It became the sixth and largest state to legalize gay marriage in a tight vote, with the gay marriage bill approved by 33 votes to 29 votes against. Luxury hotels in New York were waiting with bated breath, ready to extend their finest luxury wedding packages and venues to same-sex marriages.

The in-house wedding planner at the Plaza can arrange everything for a splendid ceremony for couples in the Grand Ballroom Foyer with a personal butler to attend to the in-room pre-ceremony preparations. The St Regis New York is not to be outdone, offering wedding banquets for up to 200 guests with a 10 to 1 ratio of waiters to guests – and I didn’t get that figure the wrong way round! The cloud-painted ceiling in the event space certainly sets the perfect scene for romance.

The Mandarin Oriental offers stunning views of the New York skyline along with a horse-drawn carriage ride and fireworks while at The Pierre there is white-glove service and a choice of six lavish venues. Don’t be surprised if the next save-the-date wedding note doesn’t mention New York as the venue – for all couples.

by Gillian

Always seeking a new experience, two luxury hotels in New York have come up with a new summer attraction – sleeping outdoors. The AKA Central Park started the trend this month by offering guests staying in the penthouse the option to have the bed moved out onto the terrace. The 17th floor terrace with its built-in wood burning fireplace could recreate a sort of camp-fire sleep over.

The $3,000 per night suite does include a bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, flashlights, an e-reader and a telescope for checking out the night sky.

The obvious downside is the fact that the 17th floor in Manhattan is not the tallest building around and the al fresco guests can be looked down on from all sides. Sirens, rattling air conditioners, honking horns and the general drone of traffic do not abate after midnight in “the city that never sleeps” so getting any undisturbed sleep could be a problem, unlike “real” camping in the backwoods. Still there is a luxury bathroom handy and an excellent breakfast in bed.

The Affinia Gardens on the Upper East Side even includes tents for those wanting to sleep beneath the stars from one of the four ground floor suites. Tents are pitched in a fenced-in area on the rear patio and you have to bring your own sleeping bag. Suites cost from $309 per night, tents are an extra $35. Alternatively, park benches I believe are free!

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

Those planning to stay in a luxury hotel in New York this summer should add the newly upgraded Empire State Building to their list of places to visit. One of the immediate benefits you will notice is that waiting times have been reduced to 90 minutes or less, according to an Empire State Building spokesperson.

The tower accommodates hundreds of businesses and draws thousands of visitors every day to look down on the city from the observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors. So what’s new?

After its $550 million renovation the Empire State Building is proudly once again the tallest building in the city. It has reduced its carbon emissions by over 38% and expects to save over $4 million in energy bills.

The new-look lobby has had the drop ceiling removed to reveal a beautiful celestial ceiling mural made of aluminum leaf and 23 carat gold. Externally there are nine different colors which can be used to light up the building for various special events, and by combining the colors there are 405 possible shades.
For those who want to dine first, the last elevator up is at 1.15 am and the observatories close at 2am every day of the year.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

The way New York cab drivers look and dress has been the subject of recent debate.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is proposing adjustments to language on the rules about a driver’s demeanour. The current wording requires drivers to look ‘clean and neat’. The proposed change would add that they should have ‘a professional appearance’.

The agency is pushing to eliminate language that prohibits specific clothing including tank tops, underwear as outerwear, swimwear or cut-off shorts. The TLC says these references are dated and unnecessary.

“Drivers are ambassadors of the city, for tourists, for New Yorkers, as well,” said TLC Chairman, David Yassky. “But particularly you think of tourists coming to the city, getting into a cab and wanting to be greeted in a professional way.”

One New Yorker commented: “As long as the cab’s clean and safe, I’m fine with how they dress. They’re sitting in their cars all day. They should be comfortable. [It’s fine] as long as they’re pleasant and courteous.” The TLC will vote on the matter in January.

A handful of New York City cab drivers are to add an extra item of clothing to their wardrobes – bullet-proof vests. In a pilot scheme, a dozen or so cabbies will wear the extra protection in tough areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can help you book some classic luxury hotels in New York City – at the best possible rates.

Within two years, there could be a single smart card allowing travellers to ride the London Underground, the Paris Metro and the New York Subway.

The company running the tube, Transport For London (TfL), is speaking to its counterparts in the United States and Europe about the possibility of harmonising the ticketing systems. With millions of tourists crossing the globe to visit major cities for business and leisure, the aim is to simplify their travel and spare them the bureaucracy of buying a local card.

In London, most commuters pay for travel using a top-up card known as an Oyster, which has been in place since 2003 and is used by about seven million people. TfL plans to run a ‘contactless payment’ scheme as an alternative to Oyster, allowing people to use public transport by scanning their debit or credit cards on a special reader.

The next technological step would be to develop a common internationally accepted card, making life considerably easier for the tourist.

• London’s museums and galleries enjoyed a blockbuster summer as recession-hit Britons stayed at home and an influx of foreign tourists swelled visitor numbers. Attendances were up by an average of 11 per cent, with some attractions enjoying a 24 per cent boost

by Andy Moreton

Luxique has an unrivalled selection of the finest luxury hotels in London – some large and traditional, some small and chic.

New York City’s latest tourist attraction will be launched on Thursday (September 16th.)

‘The Ride’ will take visitors on a tour of the city in eight super-sized buses, offering a combination of sightseeing, technological wizardry and on-board performance. The engineers who worked on the buses say they’ve crammed an IMAX theatre’s worth of equipment inside them.

Guests board the vehicles at the New York Marriott Marquis luxury hotel in Times Square. That’s the starting point for a 4.2 mile journey in the tallest vehicles allowed under federal law, equipped with stadium-style seating and panoramic windows.

Along the route, the hosts entertain riders with comedic send-ups of common New York sites, created by a team of writers and producers whose credits include well-known American TV shows.

“The Ride is about experiencing the fabric of New York – honestly and unflinchingly – through the eyes of talented and truly funny people who love the city and its history and who have chosen to be life-long residents here,” said company founder Michael Counts.

Tickets for the attraction are priced from $59 (£37). www.experiencetheride.com

by Andy Moreton

If you’re going along for The Ride (and everything else the Big Apple has to offer), let Luxique help you book your luxury hotel in New York City.

The Statue of Liberty will be closed to tourists next year for security upgrades, including a new staircase.

The 22-storey structure currently has just a single staircase spiralling up to the crown. Construction on a second will begin in October 2011.

“The $26 million [£16 million] project will add fire-proof staircases, elevators and exits,” said David Luchsinger, Superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

In the event of an emergency – such as the smoke alarm that went off last month – hundreds of tourists are evacuated down the single staircase, the same one that firefighters use to ascend the monument.

The additional staircase will run from the ground to the pedestal, the highest point reached by most tourists, located a little over halfway to the top.

The statue has a total of 354 steps from base to crown, but only 10 visitors at a time are permitted to make the climb up the narrow staircase to the very top – in part because of evacuation concerns.

by Andy Moreton

The Big Apple is full of ‘must see’ places. Here at Luxique we can help you plan your visit with our comprehensive city guide and, of course, our selection of the finest luxury hotels in New York.

A new luxury hotel in New York has opened close to the Ground Zero site, dividing opinion on whether it’s too soon for such a venture at a sensitive location.

Some of the rooms in the 169-room World Center Hotel have floor to ceiling windows that overlook the Trade Center site or the former Deutsche Bank building, which was irreparably damaged when the twin towers were destroyed and is being dismantled.

There’s a great deal of rebuilding going on in the area, including the construction of the new One World Trade Center (‘Freedom Tower’), which is expected to be completed in 2013, as well as a museum and memorial.

Cheryl Palmer, an executive from the luxury hotel, says the property “offers an accessible view of the new World Trade Center for those individuals who want to experience the rebuilding up close.” One guest said that being able to see this rebuilding was ‘phenomenal’.

However, the influential news and blog website, the Huffington Post, described the opening as shocking. “Not yet ten years since 9/11 and we have a hotel overlooking the spot where thousands lost their lives. To its credit, the hotel is steps from Wall Street and the headquarters of many companies, but who would want to stay there?”

The hotel describes itself, on its website, as ‘groundbreaking, stylish and modern.’

by Andy Moreton

If you’re thinking about a vacation or just a long weekend in the Big Apple, Luxique can help you find the best of the luxury hotels in New York City.

In New York City, open-top double-decker buses are a great way of seeing the sights, and tourists love them.

But the feeling’s not shared by the people living in landmark neighbourhoods who say they are driven to distraction by the commentaries coming over the loudspeakers.

The City Council has now passed a law requiring the buses to replace loudspeaker systems with headphones, starting from July next year.

New York City’s sightseeing bus fleet has grown rapidly since the vehicles first appeared on the streets in the early 1990s. Efforts to quieten their loudspeakers have persisted for years, particularly in more residential neighbourhoods like the West Village, SoHo and Chinatown in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.

“It’s a constant, pervasive, persistent noise,” said Barbara Backer, whose apartment faces the major tour bus corridor of Bleecker Street. “Some people wear earplugs in their homes.”

Thomas Lewis, President of Gray Line New York Sightseeing, insisted his buses did not violate the city’s strict noise code. Besides, he said, New Yorkers were subjected to many other sounds: garbage trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, for example. “It’s one of the consequences of living in the city,” he said.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can help you book some classic luxury hotels in New York City – at the best possible rates.