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THE past year has been very good to New York’s hoteliers. Average room rates are $212, up from a five-year low of $193 in ’03, and occupancy rates are now at 83 percent, over a paltry 73.4 percent in 2001.
One thing hasn’t changed: What makes a good hotel great.
This year’s No. 1 concern, as it was in 2004, when NYP Travel launched its survey of N.Y.C.’s best places to stay, is service. A great hotel makes guests feel every whim will be attended to, day or night, and in record time. Next on the list is comfort. Save your Philippe Starck — we just want a comfortable couch and a soft, pillowy comforter.
A great hotel is also well cared for, and the room, regardless of size or price, is one in which we’d like to spend the day and still loathe to leave come check-out time.
147 Mercer St.; (212)
966-6060; www.mercerhotel.com
ROOMS: 75 (five suites) RATES: from $410
SoHo and its environs
are known for flashy, substandard hotels and publicists perennially in attack
mode. One hotel, however, long on good service and comfort, has proven to be the
exception: The Mercer. This understated
spot has always been a great place to hang out, though it’s difficult to
pinpoint why. A hip, well-trafficked location helps, as does the consistently
delicious basement Mercer Kitchen — still buzzy after all these years — the
comfortable, if cramped, street-level mini-bar, and a lobby that remains a great
place to people-watch. (Where else can you see Hollywood types reading
newspapers and waiting to be noticed?)
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Most likely, the hotel’s
success has to do with the efficient way it’s run and its understated vibe.
Seven years old, The Mercer has never
hung a shingle and has never had a proper Web site. (Occupancy rates are still
through the roof.)
The staff, despite a
veneer of tragic/fabulous, is generally quite pleasant. Case in point: We showed
up unannounced, looking disheveled and lugging an old, crummy overnight bag, and
were treated like gold.
The starting room class,
a Courtyard Room, is merely 275 square feet. The best bet is one of the Loft
Studios, which runs about 475 square feet. All rooms are lovely. Ours, room, 508
— a Loft Studio — features dark hardwood floors, high ceilings, a pillar in the
middle of the room, leather window seats and a dining area. The bed is firm but
pillowy and the windows are double-glazed to keep out Prince Street noise.
The white marble bath
has a separate toilet area and shower stall, and, taking pride of place in the
middle, a two-person tub for soaking.
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