Promoting a posh new hotel that is still under construction during a building-lead recession takes some ingenuity. Celebrity hotelier Andre Balazs is offering guests sporting enough to take the risks of staying in a hotel that is not officially open and giving big pre-opening discounts.
A postcard promoting his 337-room Standard Hotel in New York’s hip meat-packing district suggestively invites frolicking guests to make their own noise to shut out the din of construction. Balazs, meanwhile, is dangling $195 room rates (unbelievable by New York hotel standards) and complimentary breakfast in bed. In normal course of things, the suites with floor-to-ceiling glass windows would cost at least $395 to $450 a night.
Eight of the 18 floors are open and the rest of the luxury boutique hotel is set to open by July this year. While the construction of many US luxury hotels have been delayed or stalled, Balazs is already making his property work for him. “It is a hell of a smart idea and could inspire other hoteliers to take a leaf out of Standard’s playbook,” industry expert Rupert Fitzgerald told DNA.
The New York magazine was enthusiastic; “As with every Andre Balazs-owned property, the staff is uniformly young, beautiful, and hip. But — big surprise — they’re also unbelievably competent.”
The US hotel industry is looking closely at The Standard’s creative marketing. Balazs, 50, who recently broke up with long-time girlfriend Hollywood actor Uma Thurman, is positioning his 265-feet tall hotel as a “place where New York attitude meets California cool.” The new hotel is likely to draw the fashion crowd. Balazs owns ten hotels in New York, Miami, Los-Angeles and Chateau Marmont.
