NY Hotel News

A widow in a wheelchair is suing the Waldorf Towers, the residential part of the Waldorf-Astoria, for discrimination, claiming the WT did not accomodate her disability. Rose Gutmacher is suing for $8 million, with the thinking going that $37,500 a month should bring a little more service than what was offered, but the WT, perhaps fed up with her requests, raised rent to $63,500. What Gothamist found interesting is that the Post mentioned old school former tenants, like Mamie Eisenhower, Cole Porter, and Frank Sinatra, but didn't mention Paris and Nicky Hilton as well as the America's Next Top Model crew who camp out there. Gutmacher has since moved to the New York Palace.

This is a big day for swank hotel news: Some Colombian cocaine traffickers were arrested in a bust by the Feds. They had been living at the Plaza, but the $18 million in drugs were in a storage facility in Maspeth.

Finally, it seems that New York Presbyterian is going to offer hotel rooms, but you need to be on "hospital related" business. Hotel Chatter was, at this time, unable to confirm whether or not using the hospital as a restaurant counts, but notes that the hotel rooms are in a good part of town and have full kitchens.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 13, 2005 8:35 AM

Comments [rss]

joe

Do Paris and Nicky pay rent at the Waldorf, or do they get the rooms free since the Hilton family owns it?

Max

Maybe someone knows a bit more about this, but that WA story was almost a non-story. Seems like the suit is a big FU to the Waldorf simply because they would not let her sign a long term lease (which is thier call)and they just picked on the wheelchair/disability angle as an excuse. The WA regularly gets high ratings for its ADA complience and handicapped facilities.

Cheng-Jih Chen

I'm not sure what the big deal about hospitals having hotel facilities is. For example, the Cleveland Clinic runs three hotels (of varying price levels and cushiness), as a large fraction of its patients are from out-of-town. Having nearby accomodations is a good thing for family wanting to stay close to the hospital.

NYP is also a world-class institution, with a large fraction of its patient population from outside the New York metropolitan area, so it's not unexpected for it to offer accomodations. Note that the hotel is near the Cornell side of hospital, where the cancer center is located.