Despite a decline in business and leisure travel since 9/11, the Manhattan hotel scene remains resilient and continues to grow. If you'd like to put the "new" back into your hotel stay in New York City, try these brand-spanking-new properties at three different price points:
Value: Hampton Inn, Chelsea
This 144-room, 20-story high-rise hotel recently opened in Manhattan's trendy Chelsea neighborhood on West 24th Street, about halfway between Midtown and Lower Manhattan. It combines high-tech design features with the amenities you may have come to enjoy at other Hampton Inns: free continental breakfast, free local calls, in-room coffee makers and ironing boards, a fitness center and free high-speed Internet access. In addition, you'll earn Hilton HHonors points for your stay. Rates start at $160. (108 W. 24th St.; 212-414-1000)
Boutique: Hotel Gansevoort, Meatpacking District
The new zinc-and-glass-clad, 13-floor Hotel Gansevoort opens this winter in the eclectic Meatpacking District on Manhattan's Lower West Side. Surrounded by cutting-edge restaurants and boutiques housed in retrofitted meat warehouses and storefronts, the hotel offers balconies and/or bay windows with views of the city or the Hudson River from most of its 187 rooms. High-tech amenities include free Wi-Fi and plasma-screen TVs in each room. Rates start at $325. (18 Ninth Ave.; 212-206-6700)
Luxury: Mandarin Oriental, Columbus Circle
The dramatic new Mandarin Oriental is perched on the top floors of the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle-a brand-new twin-tower, multipurpose complex on the southwest corner of Central Park. The 251 guest rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows, three phones, high-definition plasma-screen TVs and marble bathrooms featuring soaking tubs with picture windows overlooking the park and the city. Start saving now; rooms start at $595. (80 Columbus Cir.; 212-805-8800)
Christopher McGinnis, travel correspondent for CNN Headline News, is author of The Unofficial Business Travelers' Pocket Guide.
This story appears in the February 2004 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
