Every year, my best gal pal and I try to make a trip to the Great White Way to see a few shows, do a little (read: a lot) of shopping, and stuff our faces with culinary delights. This year, we're planning our trip for the weekend of Mother's Day (sorry, Mom!) so that we can worship at the altar of Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises (a.k.a. the Jack McFarland and Glinda the Good Witch show).
Right now, we're looking into hotels for the weekend. Amidst my searching, I saw the news about the first gay boutique hotel potentially opening in Lady Liberty. Check this out: work and life partners Ian Reiser and Mati Weiderpass of Parkview Developers plan to call their project “the Out N.Y.C.” The hotel will include 123 rooms, spa, restaurant, cafe and shops, as well as a 10,000 square foot dance club that can hold up to 750 party-goers.
This is a smart business move, for both the duo behind the idea and the city itself. Last year, the city announced a tourism campaign centered on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall that targeted the LGBT travel dollar to help with the city's $14 billion budget deficit. In 2008, an estimated 47 million people visited the city, a record high that generated $30 billion in spending, with the LGBT crowd contributing about 10 percent of those figures. And, this past year, New York was the top choice for LGBT travel.
But, the city and the hotel will have to come up with some creative marketing strategies in this tough economy. In the same report that said NYC was the top LGBT choice, we also learned that the LGBT community is choosing "stay-cations" over vacations because of the current financial landscape. One avenue that Out could consider is creating a space inside the new hotel that can serve as a conference center for LGBT-focused educational events and conferences. Many non-profits and LGBT activist groups hold annual meetings, and finding a space that is both affordable, and inclusive, can be a challenge. If Out marketed itself not only as a fantastic hotel, but also as a space for education and outreach on LGBT issues, it could attract a whole new customer base.
Unfortunately, the hotel won't be ready for my Broadway sojourn, but I will certainly be following the ground-breaking. In fact, I hope that the hotel itself can be ground-breaking by redefining the hospitality industry as a hybrid of pleasure and corporate service.
What do you think about the plans? Would you check-in?
Happy Friday.
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