The Hotel Chatter blog recently reported that the newly opened Aloft Harlem was fully booked for New Years Eve at $239 per night:
LINK. Walking by the spinoff branch of the W Hotel this past Friday, we noticed that yellow cabs were indeed pulling up in front of the Aloft entrance on FDB/8th Avenue (between 123rd and 124th Street) and dropping off tourists with luggage in tow. Anyone who has ever tried to shack up relatives in a New York hotel for the holidays know that most are usually booked so it's nice to have a decent one uptown as an option. In addition to stowing away visiting parents, this part of Harlem will probably become an international hub since the European and Japanese tourists should be arriving en masse in the upcoming months.
Only surprise is it has taken this long for Harlem to see a reputable hotel! If only the Hyatt lot would take notice at the pent up demand and get their act together.
ReplyDeleteMy observation has been that most tourist traffic can be found around Lenox Ave, 125th street, Mount Morris Park, Strivers Row, Astor Row, etc. While I agree that the ALOFT will bring in more tourists to the neighborhood I doubt that they will be siteseeing along FDB. FDB is virtually void of locales with any culture, history and local flavor - which is what tourists look for when visiting a place like Harlem.
ReplyDeleteAgreed D. Convenient for the A train, Apollo Theater, Studio Museum, but there is so much to see as you head a little further east. That is why 125th & Lenox would be so ideal for a hotel.
ReplyDeleteI agree that FDB doesn't have the architecture or historical feel of Mt. Morris Park or Lenox or Striver's Row or 125th street. But this location puts people within a short walk of all of these things, and also gets the visting parents from Columbia (there aren't a lot of options within walking distance of campus otherwise).
ReplyDeleteThis isn't to say that a hotel couldn't also work at 125th and Lenox. I find it shocking that people think a hotel can't work in Harlem - there is so much tourism here, not to mention people are close to Central Park, Yankee Stadium, etc. I think as long as the hotel is moderately priced and centrally located the demand is there for at least one more hotel.
Now that somebody else has actually taken the first step and actually built a hotel, it will be interesting to see which, if any of the two other planned hotel actually get built. 5 West 125th is just a hole in the ground. Harlem Hyatt didnt even get that far.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Aloft on FDB should see plenty of demand, and that another hotel closer to 125th & Lenox should work well too. A rising tide will lift all boats, etc.
ReplyDeleteAMEN!!!
ReplyDeleteAll we need now is Moses to walk through Lenox Ave!!
If 52 % of NYC hotels lost money last year, why would the banks lend money to build 5 more including this one in Harlem? Perhaps because the hotel lobby pushed Gov Paterson to sign legislation that makes operating B&B's and vacation rentals illegal. B&B's and vacation rentals provide 1000's of rooms for tourists who do not like hotels or their prices. You might welcome the status of having these sharks swimming around in your waters but please don't be deluded into thinking they are bringing anything to the community except perhaps some low paying jobs and unemployment for some small business owners. Does any of this sound familiar?
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