<B>NYC Adds, Upgrades Digs</B>
By Robert Selwitz
The reborn Hudson hotel made its eagerly awaited debut in October. Featuring 1,000 rooms, including singles with rack rates as low as $95, the Hudson is another major effort by owner Ian Schraeger and designer Philippe Starck, who specialize in very high design and very low square-footage rooms.
Near Central Park, Lincoln Center and much of the burgeoning West Side business district (it's also a short cab ride to the Javits Convention Center), the Hudson is a truly "happening" place where most room tabs are submerged below Big Apple averages. For example, in addition to some 500 $95 singles, Hudson also offers standard rooms starting at $175, superior digs at $275, deluxe rooms at $295, studio rooms for $350 and deluxe studios beginning at $425.
In-room amenities include three two-line phones with conference and speaker capability, high-speed Internet access and dataport connections for modem/fax hookups. Executive services include a business center, videoconference capabilities and an executive boardroom. Other distinctive touches include a public library with a pool table, a 30-ft. tall conservatory and a 56-arm chandelier.
In early December, Chambers, another new lodging entry, will debut at 15 West 56th Street, steps from Fifth Avenue. Accommodations at the 77-room facility will emulate SoHo lofts. Design details will include blackened steel door sashes, distressed concrete walls, large platform beds and thick Tibetan and Turkish rugs. The property also promises "an all-male housekeeping staff to provide guests with personalized attention to every need, day and night."
In less grabbing news, the Waldorf-Astoria recently opened a new 1,150-sq.-ft. business center, which is fully digital and networked, and is geared to handle tasks ranging from basic photocopying to four-color electronic publishing, fax production and on-property distribution, plus the production of oversize posters. Atlanta-based Document Technologies Inc. manages the center.
At the Holiday Inn Wall Street, the hotel's 18th floor now has become the home of S.M.A.R.T. rooms (smart machines are right there). Each features cellular connection services, a printer, T-1 Internet access and the use of Toshiba laptops the guest is free to use in or out of the hotel.
Also, The Millennium Broadway has added four new conference rooms to its conference center inventory. Each of the rooms accommodates 30 to 72 attendees classroom style, and 50 to 135 attendees theater style.