A tourist from Texas reportedly experienced a New York nightmare last weekend. While visiting the city the 19-year-old says she was sexually assaulted in her midtown W Hotel room. Since the assault, the NYPD have arrested two Swedish tourists they say were involved in the crime. more ›

Some 2,000 followers of Florida megachurch founder Zachery Tims packed the New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando last night to mourn their leader's death. Tims's body was found in a room at the W Hotel in Times Square Friday after he failed to check out. Last night his ex-wife (the couple divorced in 2009 after Tims admitted to a year-long affair with a stripper) told his flock that Tims had just enjoyed a week-long Puerto Rican vacation with his daughters before coming to NYC and checking into a suite at the W, where room rates range from $399 to $699 a night. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Zachery Tims, the celebrated pastor of Florida megachurch New Destiny Christian Center, was found dead in a Times Square hotel room Friday night. Police say the 42-year-old Christian evangelist was discovered unresponsive in a room in the W Hotel around 5 p.m., and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Wall Street Journal, a housekeeper who tried to clean the room in the afternoon found it locked from the inside, and hotel security subsequently entered to find Tims's body. The cause of death is still under investigation, but there was no sign of anything suspicious in the room, and at this time no criminality is suspected. more ›

You pay through the nose for an apartment you can barely afford, with roommates you can't stand, in a neighborhood where you run home from the subway station screaming to yourself like a schizophrenic to ward off muggers, all the while dreaming of a better life in a roach-free apartment in a safer part of town. Meanwhile, 21-year-old University of Central Florida senior Adam Venckauskas clicked once to enter HGTV's "Urban Oasis giveaway" contest, and won a furnished condo at the W New York Hotel in the Financial District. And a new car. "It's perfect... Whenever I have a long weekend, I'll come up," the tall, good-looking young winner tells the Post. We sincerely hope he enjoys it, and has lots of mind-blowing sex while gazing out at the Statue of Liberty and savoring how fair and perfect life really is. more ›

With its troubling debt problems, an arm of Dubai World lost control of the W Union Square Hotel in a foreclosure auction this morning. The Real Deal reports, "LEM Mezzanine, a Philadelphia-based private equity fund, acquired Istithmar's former W New York - Union Square hotel for $2 million, plus the assumption of $212 million in debt." more ›

Yesterday morning, police arrested a homeless man for three separate stabbing incidents on Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning. Four cabbies who witnessed Kenny Alexis stab two women near the Times Square W Hotel called 911 and followed him until police apprehended him at a McDonald's. Alexis's brushes with the law started before the first stabbing on a downtown C train - he was stopped by the police are trying to enter the 42nd Street and 8th Avenue subway without paying, but since he didn't have a record, the police just issued him a summons. The NY Times has a map and timeline of Alexis's actions. more ›

Two stabbings underground and one above have occured in less than 24 hours, with four people injured. The first one is the C train incident where tourist Chris McCarthy was repeated stabbed by a man who simply walked up to him. McCarthy didn't even realize he had been stabbed until he saw that he was bleeding; the unprovoked stabbing occured near 110th and Central Park West - the stabber got away there, and then the train was stopped at 103rd and CPW to help McCarthy. McCarthy, McCarthy's girlfriend Ganda Krisananuwatara, and another friend took the downtown C at 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue; the Post says they took the wrong train after visiting a museum, but it's unclear which museum they went to. more ›

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A security guard at the W Hotel on Lexington Avenue found a housekeeper, unconscious after being raped on Monday morning. The 25 year old victim told the police that she was attacked from behind, her head getting "bashed" near the sixth floor ice machine (according to the Daily News, the guard had been delivering bills when he saw the victim at 4:30AM). Female hotel guests weighed in: One told the Post, "The hotel never said anything," while another told the Daily News, "Oh, my God. You pay money to stay at a high-end hotel, you expect to be safe." What is hotel security like at the W? In Gothamist's experience at some NYC hotels, there's no oversight at all, while others require keycards for people to use the elevator - and the Sixth Avenue Hilton in midtown has required the name of a hotel guest before entering. more ›

Inspired by this week's Time Out New York cover story this week, we visited a new bar/lounge in Times Square- we went to Times Square in search of a bar that would be entertaining for out-of-towners. At a glance, Club 49 aims to be competition for Top Of The Rock but at closer inspection it's bottle service among the billboards. With uninspired decor on the main level- semi-private booths and curved cocktails tables against the windows- we were trying to put our finger on what the place reminded us of, the lounges at any W Hotel, definitely (you can even see the huge W sign from the bar), but something else. Then we got it- Ghost Bar in Vegas, another bar high above the city, within a hotel and notably full of people who can't see the view from the scene. more ›

It's always been one of our dreams to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade from a hotel room overlooking the parade route-- and then to jump on to the top of the Big Bird balloon, and ride him (her?) triumphantly down Broadway to Herald Square. If you have similar ambitions, you should definitely check out Hotel Chatter's list of hotels on the parade route: more ›