Standard Deviation

Travel Blog  •  Alexander Basek  •  01.28.09 | 3:15 PM ET

standard hotel, new york cityPhoto of the Standard Hotel by gargola87 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

André Balazs is the subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Observer today. The man’s swanky hotels and dapper look would have made him a celebrity in the hospitality industry even if he had not dated Uma Thurman for a time.

Smack dab in the Meatpacking District in New York, Balazs’ first completely new build hotel, the Standard, is slowly coming online. Technically it’s open, but without the food and beverage situation resolved or any floors above the tenth available to guests, it’s not complete by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, Balazs is still sorting out details like embedding pennies in the floor of the restaurant and—shudder—video art in the elevators. Let it be said once and for all: video art and sound installations in hotel elevators are scourges that should be stopped at all costs. An elevator ride can be awkward as it is; subjecting guests to whale songs or crazy images isn’t a conversation starter, it’s just irritating.

Nonetheless, time will tell whether the property is good enough to succeed despite the economy or instead will be viewed as a monument to an era of excess long since past. One thing is for sure, though. They worked very, very hard to bring the sexy to New York, according to the lead architect of the project:

About three weeks ago, I was walking up Washington Street,” said the architect, Mr. Schliemann. “In one of the windows, the shades were pulled back. I could see the bed because the bed is very, very close to the glass. The bed was messed up, you know, it was just dueling white sheets. And the curtains were wide open. I noticed there was this little maid in the room. And, you know, André‘s got the maids dressed up in little maid skirts that are very, very short and have some very nice stockings. So the maid gets between the bed and the glass and bends over—bends over!—then basically puts her behind right on the glass as she’s making the bed because she had to. And I thought, ‘Fabulous! There it is! That’s it!’

The Standard: They’ve got assets.

Tags: Architecture, Celebrity Travel Watch, Hotels, North America, United States, New York, New York City, News and Briefs

Alexander Basek is a food and travel writer based in New York City. He is the Best Deals reporter for Travel + Leisure. His writing has also appeared in the New York Post, Time Out New York, and Fodor's.


1 Comment for Standard Deviation

Celebrity Gossip 01.28.09 | 9:54 PM ET

Wow! great achievements, you made our dream possible..Congrats to you Balazs.

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