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| N E W S L E T T E R |
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| N E W S L E T T E R |
News & Views from New York City's Premier Destination Management Company |
Summer/Fall |
The Panic of 2001You know something is amiss in New York when:
Leading Economic Indicators? You bet. You can also bet there has never been a better time to negotiate a good deal in New York. For overseas buyers, the new low rates offset the strength of the Dollar. Here's an example of a pre-Christmas shopping itinerary designed for a client with 50 incentive winners, a tight budget and four star tastes. DATES: HOTEL TRANSPORTATION DRINKS ITINERARY Day Two Day Three Day Four Price: $530 per person, double occupancy, single supplement $190. Boutique Boom In the middle of the worst year for the lodging industry since (the infamous) 1991, a host of new hotels have put Frette sheets to beds. Now these hotels are struggling to fill the beds. Bottom line: Great prices at great properties The Dylan The Library The Giraffe The Bryant Park Hudson New Venues --The Vaults at Vine, a former bank vault lined with safety deposit boxes, is the kind of place that provokes ooh's and aah's as guests enter. The spectacular vault doors (an irresistible backdrop for photos), and great chef make the Vaults perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner in the Financial District. Seating in the Vault itself for up to 120. --The NASDAQ Marketsite's curvaceous Broadway marquee is already a famous new symbol for Times Square . Less well known is the exchange's spectacular balcony overlooking Times Square. Accommodating 100 for a sit down dinner or more for cocktails, the balcony is the perfect perch for a pre-theater dinner or am exclusive viewing stand for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Broadway Update The 2000-2001 theater season is full of hits. Must sees are: The Producers; the stunning revival of 42nd Street; Holding their own are Chicago, The Full Monty; Contact, AIDA. In the wings are Mama Mia (opens October); Oklahoma!. The Producers: The Broadway version of the film of the same name, the production swept the Tonys with twelve awards. Stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are irresistible.. The show is a spoof on financing Broadway shows: Two would-be producers sell 25,000% of a new musical hoping for failure so they can take the money and run, no questions asked. The plan backfires when the show is a hit. Forty-Second Street. A stunning new revival of the Gower-Champion girl-from-small-town-gets-lucky-break-on-Broadway show. The Full Monty. Another celluloid-to-Broadway venture. Set in Buffalo, NY, the musical follows 6 working class heroes from factory to the a Broadway strip joint. Contact. Three short stores accompanied by a delectably eclectic jukebox of recordings with choreography by Susan Stroman. Chicago. Murder, corruption, adultery, and treachery. Sounds like American presidential politics, but this is a musical choreographed by Bob Fosse. It sizzles. AIDA. Elton John and Tim Rice teamed to turn this timeless tale of a Nubian princess who falls in love with her captor into an award-winning Broadway musical. Fall openings… Mama Mia. The songs of Abba, accompanies this musical in which a young woman and her mother reflect on the past and look to the future on the eve of the daughter's wedding day. Oklahoma. Acclaimed Royal National Theatre revival of this Rogers & Hammerstein musical. Opens Fall 2001. To top off the evening, why not invite the cast along to dinner or dessert after the show. For a small contribution to Equity Fights AIDS, cast members will mingle with guests turning that slice of New York cheesecake into an event. FAM 2001 MANHATTAN PASSPORT is proud to showcase New York with partners Delta Airlines and NYC & Company on a whirlwind FAM trip, August 28-30. Many of our clients have asked to see the itinerary. With the help of our generous suppliers, FAM participants will discover what New York does when it is not sleeping-and why so many natives wear running shoes with their business suits! Delta Showcase FAM 2001 ITINERARY SUMMARY Day Two: Breakfast at the hotel; Be in pictures on Times Square at the NASDAQ; Swing and sway at a Harlem gospel service; Bicycle around Central Park; Grab a hamburger or hot dog; Enjoy free time (not much); Eat drink and be merry all over the Grand Central Terminal; Jazz for those still standing. Day Three: Al fresco breakfast at the Hudson Hotel; Helicopters!; Caviar lunch at Petrossian. Farewell. ACCOMMODATIONS The Dylan is one of the many new and wonderful boutique hotels in Manhattan. The look is sleek, the appointments luxurious, the location on 41st between Park and Madison Avenues superb, and the service marvelous. It is the perfect hotel for small, VIP groups. TUESDAY, AUGUST 28 Time to freshen up, before departing for Windows on the World for a cocktail while gazing at the New York Skyline and The Statue of Liberty and the twinkling lights of New York Harbor and our famous bridges. www.windowsontheworld.com Back at sea level, we head for dinner at City Hall, a classic New York steakhouse in a turn of the century warehouse whose flexible space includes a frenzied barroom, a serene dining room, and two glorious private venues. www.cityhallnewyork.com After dinner, it's another contrast: An intimate carriage house turned romantic restaurant, for dessert and a nightcap. www.oneifbylandtwoifbysea.com WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29 After breakfast we set off for the NASDAQ for a VIP tour of this state of the art exchange and souvenir pictures of each participant on the NASDAQ's dramatic curved Times Square billboard. www.nasdaq.com Our coach awaits for a tour of the Upper West Side and Harlem, with a stop for a rousing gospel service at the Riverside Church. Next, we explore Central Park from the seat of a bicycle: Strawberry Fields, the 3 acre international garden of peace honoring John Lennon; the "medieval" Belvedere Castle; the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir; the Shakespeare garden; and great views everywhere. Cameras a must! Lunch is fast food at the Boat House, a lovely restaurant overlooking a lake in the park. www.thecentralparkboathouse.com. (Website is a work in progress.) A few hours free time for a peek at the nearby Metropolitan Museum or the elegant shops of Madison Avenue (Ralph Lauren and the usual suspects) before the evening's activities. Our Grand evening begins with an insider's tour of Grand Central Terminal whose $200 million renovation, spearheaded by the late and much missed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is a wonder of marble, glass and glamour. Your guide is the incomparable Justin Ferate, architectural historian, raconteur, and Midwest native turned passionate New Yorker. Our dinearound starts with cocktails at Metrazur, a wonderful addition to Gotham's bar and dining scene .On the balcony overlooking the dramatic main hall, Metrazur specializes in "New American" fare. For our clients, Metrazur is love at first bite. www.metrazur.com/ Dinner will be served in the Oyster Bar, justly famous for succulent seafood served in the terminal's vaulted and vaunted underbelly. www.oysterbarny.com. Dessert at Pershing Square, a new event space and restaurant, under the Park Avenue ramp and with views of the frenzied entrance to Grand Central. www.pershingsquare.com A drink at the intimate Coleman Apartment, a little-known hideaway in Grand Central, caps the dining experience. For those still standing, we will point you in the direction of trendy clubs, live jazz dens, and other 24-hour spots. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30 Liberty Helicopter is your host for an 11-minute aerial tour that swoops around the Statue of Liberty and hovers over the canyons of Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. www.libertyhelicopter.com A quick stop at the Paramount, the Ian Schrager hotel that put hip into hotels. www.ianschragherhotels.com For our grand finale, lunch at the incomparable Petrossian, a swanky Russo-Continental affair that specializes in caviar, vodka and more caviar. www.petrossian.com. Transportation to the airport. Sleep. Published by
MANHATTAN PASSPORT Ltd. 310 East 46th Street, PHT |
