All photos by David Mitchell

The world’s first hotel on wheels is set to debut in the Hudson Valley this winter. The New York-based startup company Moliving Inc. revealed earlier this year its first model unit, which measures roughly 400 square feet and includes two outdoor decks. The company believes the movable luxury hotel rooms, which are designed to be easily installed and relocated, offer hoteliers the opportunity to build hotels faster, more sustainably, and to adjust room inventory according to seasonal demand.

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Photo via Wikimedia Commons

October 1 marks 90 years since the Waldorf Astoria opened its doors on Park Avenue. It was the world’s tallest hotel for 32 years and became perhaps the most famous hotel on the globe, too, attracting Hollywood’s elite, world leaders, and famed cultural events and galas. Since 2016, the landmark has been closed for a restoration and reimagination that will bring 375 hotel rooms and suites, along with 375 luxury condos as part of The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria. In anticipation of the reopening in early 2023, and to mark its nine-decade-long history, a new website called Waldorf Stories will “honor, document, and preserve the oral history of the world’s most famous hotel through stories told by the people that lived them.”

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Renderings courtesy of SASI Studio

A high-rise hotel and condo building designed by a former senior architect at Zaha Hadid’s firm is coming to Queens. Located at 112-51 Northern Boulevard in Corona, the 25-story mixed-use development, dubbed Eastern Emerald, will have roughly 250 hotel rooms, 191 apartments, and a conference and performing arts center. The 370+ foot project, which will break ground this month, features a futuristic, environmentally-friendly design that will reduce carbon emissions and use clean energy for heating and cooling systems.

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Photo credit: Noah Fecks

New York City is full of rooftop bars, most offering a sky-high snapshot of the Big Apple’s expansive skyline. But a new cocktail lounge on Roosevelt Island is providing an even bigger picture, with 360-degree views of three boroughs and a unique perspective of the Queensboro Bridge. Opening this Friday, the aptly named Panorama Room sits on the 18th-floor of the Graduate Roosevelt Island, the first hotel to open on the island.

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All photos courtesy of Steve Freihon Photography

Roosevelt Island’s first hotel recently opened as part of Cornell University’s new tech campus. Graduate Roosevelt Island rises 18 stories, contains 224 rooms, and boasts incredible views of the Manhattan skyline, Queensboro Bridge, and beyond. The hotel aims to offer a “scholastic retreat” for the Cornell community and New York City visitors, with playful touches like a 12-foot statue of artist Hebru Brantley’s Flyboy in the lobby and neon light fixtures inspired by a Cornell science project in the guest rooms. There’s also a ground-level restaurant and an indoor-outdoor rooftop bar and lounge.

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Photo of The Plaza via Pixabay

A sign of New York City’s recovery, The Plaza Hotel will reopen next month after closing its doors to guests for over a year. The iconic Central Park South hotel announced it will open its luxury rooms again on May 20, about 14 months after it first suspended services due to the pandemic. “For the past year you’ve been asked to stay home, The Plaza is now extending its formal invitation to return to New York,” the hotel’s website reads.

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Rendering courtesy of Waldorf Astoria New York

It’s been four years since the Waldorf Astoria closed its doors for a restoration and reimagination that will bring 375 luxury condos to the storied landmark. And since then, the team has been teasing out renderings of what we can expect when the Waldorf finally reopens in early 2023. The latest is a look at the Grand Ballroom, one of the largest in NYC (it can accommodate more than 1,000 people) that’s hosted the likes of JFK, Queen Elizabeth II, and Grace Kelly. The Art Deco space is an interior landmark, and the restoration will return it to its 1931 splendor.

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Cabin interiors; Photo courtesy of Hutton Brickyards

For years, New Yorkers have been drawn to the Hudson Valley city of Kingston for its rich history, arts and culture, and proximity to nature, ideal for both a weekend getaway and year-round residence. A new hotel just north of New York City is set to open this spring that will offer 31 individual cabins across 73 acres of lush landscape, providing a coronavirus-safe escape for city dwellers. Located on the site of a former brick factory, Hutton Brickyards has been transformed from a manufacturing property into a laid-back but luxurious riverfront resort with private cabins, a spa, restaurant, and events space.

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All renderings courtesy of Virgin Hotels

As the New York City hospitality industry continues to reel from the effects the coronavirus pandemic has had on tourism and business travel, plans are moving forward for a massive new hotel in Nomad. Fresh renderings of the 510-foot Virgin Hotel at 1225 Broadway, the first in the city, were recently released, showing off the hotel’s resort-like rooftop pool and bar.

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Courtesy of the TWA Hotel

Looking to safely hang with friends outdoors without freezing your bum off? Then you might consider heading out to the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. For the second year, the hotel is sharing its Eero Saarinen-designed mid-century fabulousness with its guests by transforming its rooftop bar into the Runway Chalet for the rest of the winter season. In addition to a tented and heated Alpine-themed restaurant and bar, the chalet offers the “pool-cuzzi,” which is heated up to 95 degrees.

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