Category Archives: Hotels
Ian Reisner Admits Poor Judgment
Ian Reisner,
one of the two gay hoteliers facing boycott calls for hosting an event for Senator Ted Cruz, who is adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage, apologized to the gay community for showing “poor judgment.”
Mr. Reisner put the apology on Facebook, where a page calling for a boycott of his properties, the gay-friendly Out NYC hotel and his Fire Island Pines holdings, had gotten more than 8,200 “likes” by Sunday evening.
“I am shaken to my bones by the emails, texts, postings and phone calls of the past few days. I made a terrible mistake,” wrote Mr. Reisner.
Will people forgive him?
more at New York Times
BOYCOTT Out Hotel and Fire Island Pines Project
WORST GAY NEW YORK
Gay men using Gay Money to Fund ANTI GAY Politics!
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Boycott Fire Island Pines Establishments (Pavilion, Low Tea, High Tea, Botel, Botel Barracks, Pool Deck, Harbor Club, Blue Whale, Cultured Elephant), Out NYC Hotel, and XL Nightclub after owners hold reception for Senator Ted Cruz.
FROM HRC’s WEBSITE:
Whether the issue is marriage or protection from discrimination, Sen. Ted Cruz has consistently opposed equality for LGBT Americans. And he’s gone even further, attacking fellow Republicans for marching in pride parades, and using his opposition to marriage to win his first Senate campaign.
imagine an America where gays forever stay second class citizens
.
Marriage: Ted Cruz led the charge to deny Texas couples marriage equality. In the Senate, he has supported a constitutional amendment that would prevent the federal government from recognizing marriage equality.Discrimination: Cruz has consistently opposed granting protections to LGBT Americans. Cruz has opposed both local ordinances in Texas that would protect LGBT Americans, and ENDA’s explicit federal workplace protections.Conversion Therapy: Cruz has refused to speak out against “conversion therapy” that coerces minors into “treatment” that can lead to depression and suicide.
Harmful Rhetoric: Cruz has no problem about using equality as a wedge issue against fellow Republicans – he’s attacked Republicans for appearing in pride parades and suggested that he believes being gay is a “choice.” He even bragged about intervening in a case to stop a civil union.
Significant Findings on Marriage Equality
Says marriage is between “one man and one woman”
Pledged to introduce Federal Constitutional Amendment opposing marriage equality
Introduced The State Marriage Defense Act (twice) which would cede definition of marriage to states for federal purposes
Opposed Proposition 8 ruling
Ran for Senate based on his opposition to marriage equality
Bragged about intervening to prevent recognition of civil union
Said people can “vote with their feet” if they don’t like living in a state without marriage equality.
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Model Actor Mark MacKillop ROOM FOURTEEN
Mark MacKillop is a singer actor dancer. Originally from Vancouver he studied ballet in Vancouver with Li Yaming at Pacific DanceArts and spent summers training with the Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theater in New York, both on full scholarship. After three years dancing with the Atlanta Ballet Mark moved to New York to pursue musical theatre and just finished a year on tour playing Riff with the international production of West Side Story – which leads us to this story about Mark!
Earlier this year, our good friend Michael Cavnaugh, founder of HEROnews.org and HIVhero.org interviews the very talented and handsome Mark MacKillop – the Broadway HERO of the month. Mark talks about his international tour of West Side Story, Broadway Bares, his struggle to become a performer and so much more. This man is an inspiration, smart sexy and a great guy- please check it out here!
From Huffington Post: New York performer Mark MacKillop offers musical theater fans a provocative peek at the offstage life of a working actor in his coffee table book, Rm. XIV.
The new book comprises 80 black-and-white selfies of MacKillop in various stages of undress, shot in various hotel rooms around the world while he was in the midst of an international tour of “West Side Story” last year.
Though the steamy images will no doubt set pulses racing, MacKillop sees Rm. XIV as capturing “physicality, composition, reflection” as opposed to being intentionally scintillating.
“I had just finished a year touring all over Europe and Israel with the international production of West Side Story. During the course of my time abroad i started taking pictures of myself in each hotel room I stayed in. This quickly became a staple of my experience on tour.”
“ Surprisingly traveling around with 30 cast members and a 30 piece orchestra left me feeling incredibly isolated and at times lonely. I used the photos as a way of connecting with friends who I was separated from to give them a unique, intimate look at my life on the road,” MacKillop, who originally hails from Canada, told The Huffington Post. Noting that he shot all of the images on his iPhone with a self-timer app, – which are REALLY REALLY GOOD!! “I definitely wouldn’t call myself a photographer. I would just call myself an artist exploring in various mediums.”
MacKillop, who is openly gay, said the photos also represent a very personal journey, and were partly inspired by Tom of Finland in addition to his own ballet and modern dance training.
A very successful kickstarter campaign was launched and the book was printed!
(Photo Right : is from one of the MANY fashion shoots Mark has done. Photographer Walter Kurtz Emporio Armani Underwear. See more on Pinterest.)
Having performed in the 2014 installment of “Broadway Bares,” MacKillop will donate a portion of the proceeds from Rm. XIV to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA). In addition, the book will feature an introduction by Tony Award-winning “Kinky Boots” star Billy Porter and a foreword authored by New York artist Robert W. Richards.
You can read more about Rm. XIV here. BUY THE BOOK!
Sneak Peak Video on YouTube
Instagram @markmackillop
Twitter @mark_mackillop
markmackillop.net
On a side note…..
OCTOBER 19th! Please support this event! $20 tickets. Other donations on Indigo.
The best of both worlds performing together.
Featuring performances from the brightest stars from Broadway and Ballet.
Honoring The Actors Fund, Tony Award Winner, Jerry Mitchell and Ballet Star, Stephen Hanna
A benefit for HERO – HIV Experience Resources Organization.
Sunday, October 19th, 2014
42 West, 516 West 42nd Street, NYC
8–10 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Purchase Tickets $20 General Admission – Premium seating $100 – Tables of Ten
New Yorks Chelsea Hotel goes Boutique
FROM AD WEEK
…Even by New York standards, the Hotel Chelsea—a red brick monolith that’s dominated West 23rd Street for the past 129 years—is a hostel like no other. Behind its wrought-iron balconies, an artistic who’s who accomplished their triumphs and travesties: Dylan Thomas drank, Andy Warhol filmed, William Burroughs wrote, and Sex Pistols guitarist Sid Vicious stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death.
All that, of course, is history—but it’s also marketing. A building this old with stories this deep is a brand in the making. And if developer Ed Scheetz gets his way, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
Scheetz, a veteran hotelier who cut his teeth with Ian Schrager at the Morgans Hotel Group, became the Chelsea’s sole owner last year. In addition to renovating the landmark hotel, Scheetz will also apply the famous Chelsea name to his small but growing portfolio of historic hotels in the city.
In other words: New York’s most famous bohemian landmark just became the latest entrant to the boutique hotel category.
READ MORE AT AD WEEK
Lady Gaga, G.U.Y and The OUT NYC
March 26, 2014 Lady Gaga fans will be given unprecedented access to the costumes, props, art and more from the multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning artist¹s latest video G.U.Y. when THE OUT NYC (510 W. 42nd Street) transforms into The G.U.Y. Hotel, presented by 42West, on Friday, March 28th at 1pm.
One lucky little monster will win a pair of tickets to Lady Gaga¹s April 7th sold-out show at Roseland Ballroom during the gallery exhibition. THE OUT NYC¹s nightclub, BPM, and CLICK will also play host to the singer¹s official Roseland after-party on Friday, April 4th with her producer DJ White Shadow and Steven Redant of Bent Collective spinning.
G.U.Y., the third single from her latest album ARTPOP was filmed on location at Hearst Castle in Northern California, the first commercial production at the National & California Historical Landmark mansion since Stanley Kubrick’s film ³Spartacus² was filmed in the late 1950¹s. The first single from ARTPOP, ³Applause² is her 12th top-ten Billboard Hot 100 single in the United States. Lady Gaga wrote the treatment as well as directed the video, which includes cameos from Andy Cohen and the cast of Bravo¹s ³The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.² The G.U.Y video, which launched on March 22nd on NBC and Vevo, is already closing in on 16.6 million views in just a few days.
Lady Gaga¹s G.U.Y. an ARTPOP Film can be viewed by visiting: http://vevo.ly/PQ4N4F
and her new album ARTPOP is available now at: http://smarturl.it/ARTPOPalbum
New York Hotel Worker wins $500,000 in Wrongful HIV Lawsuit
Last week a jury awarded Antonio Muñoz — a 50-year-old HIV-positive man more than $500,000 in a wrongful termination suit against the Manhattan Club, in NYC. Muñoz’s termination came in February 2011 when he received a suspicious complaint against him after filing a discrimination complaint against his employer.
He was fired in February 2011 after an anonymous — and suspicious — complaint was leveled against him.
The following year was miserable for Muñoz, who struggled to find work and lost his apartment to foreclosure..
Muñoz had explained to a supervisor that he was being treated for a chronic condition that required him to take a medication at night that causes drowsiness, his lawsuit stated and he asked to be moved to the day shift.
His supervisor denied the request. Even after he produced a doctor’s note, his supervisor not only turned him down, she suggested that he quit, the suit says.
Muñoz was eventually put on a day shift but it didn’t last.
His supervisor told him he would be put back on nights starting April 30, 2010, prompting Muñoz to file a “complaint of disability discrimination” with human resources.
Not long after, Muñoz received a scathing evaluation “full of falsehoods,” his suit stated adding that a few years earlier Muñoz r an office manager was awarded two raises and received an “Exemplary Manager Award”
On Thursday, a jury awarded him $185,000 in compensatory damages and $347,500 in punitive damages to be paid out over 3 years.
Muñoz, said he was ‘estatic’ over the verdict, but the money was never the point. ‘At least I know that I was able to tell my story,
The ROW NYC Brings back Sophisticated Galmour
The Row NYC hotel has pioneered a new era of individuality by meeting NYC’s signature urban grit with grandeur – transforming your stay into a completely contemporary experience – with a front row view to Times Square that’s truly incomparable.
Guests undeniably reside in the middle of it all, with exciting access to everything and anything – 24/7.
Located in the heart of Times Square, the Row NYC hotel was originally designed in 1928 by Herbert J. Knapp – theater architect extraordinaire – and has remained its own dramatic New York icon ever since. Throughout the last century, this striking hotel has starred as the Lincoln, the Manhattan, and the Milford Plaza before making its much-anticipated debut as the Row NYC.
The Row NYC boasts 1331 contemporary guest rooms on 28 floors, flaunting chic, Manhattan-inspired decor in white-hot hues mixed with unexpectedly vibrant custom furnishings.
WATCH BEHIND THE SCENES!
The SPA at The OUT NYC has A Hot Deal
Gym and fitness facility, steam, sauna, and hot tubs. Plus the only spa catering to men in Hell’s
Kitchen, giving you the amazing quality and service you
expect. By offering such exclusive spa treatments as customized facials
to a genuine Hamam Turkish Bath Treatment to Sugaring Hair Removal to
luxurious body treatments, you will find THE BEST services and therapists New
York has to offer.
The 5,000 square foot wellness center
includes an expansive glass-covered atrium and a 15-foot waterfall that
sets the stage for relaxation. Your spa experience starts with your
customized in-room bath amenities at our 105 room boutique hotel, and
leads to our luxury spa facilities including treatment rooms,
steam/sauna, wellness deck and private gym.
Amongst the atrium and waterfalls, you will
find everything from relaxing cabana and lounge areas to hot tubs and
cooling showers, steam room and cedar sauna.
‘The Sexual Ethicist’ Live-Format Talk Show at THE OUT NYC
Join psychotherapist and Sexual Ethicist columnist Robert Levithan at his monthly, interactive live format talk show featuring
New York Times best-selling novelist Elizabeth Flock, known for her smash hit
Me & Emma and former contributor to TIME and People magazines, in
The Study at THE OUT NYC located at 510 West 42nd Street (42nd Street between 10th and 11th Aves, Manhattan) on Monday, April 1 at 7:30 P.M.
The
forum is designed for the gay and gay-friendly crowd and invites the
audience to ask tough questions and engage in frank and sometimes
controversial dialogues on sex, sexuality and relationships as viewed
from a very sex-positive and ethically rigorous perspective.
This event is free and open to the public, RSVP’s are encouraged:
Rsvp@theouthousenyc.com.
Shame on YOU, HRC – Honoring Goldman Sachs, Really??
As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights
Campaign represents a force of more than one million members and
supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC’s vision a reality.
HRC is NOT a non profit – and in recent years, I believe, their dinners are all about who throws them the most money. For lobbying. Allegedly.
Now, with this announcement of HRC honoring Goldman Sachs, this publisher, WILL NO LONGER SUPPORT HRC.
Queer/LGBTIQA2Z Occupy Wall Street, a caucus of the NYC based Occupy
Wall Street movement, announced today that it will protest a Human
Rights Campaign (HRC) Gala honoring Goldman Sachs on Saturday February
4, 2012 at the Waldorf Astoria.
In contrast to the $650 a plate Gala, the Queer/LGBTIQA2Z Caucus will
host a “Guerrilla Potluck” on the sidewalk outside of the prestigious
hotel at 50th Street & Park Avenue from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Queer Caucus: 1. Condemns HRC for honoring Goldman Sachs, 2.
Calls upon HRC to adopt a strategy of Full Equality by 2014, and 3.
Demands that HRC create a transparent process that includes the
grassroots.
1. The Queer Caucus condemns HRC’s decision to honor Goldman Sachs in a
time of financial collapse caused by their own unethical business practices
and greed, and deplores the use of our cause and suffering for
corporate public relations. HRC honoring Goldman Sachs at this time
reveals all one needs to know about the corporate LGBT lobby, and its
disconnect from the 99% and the LGBT people it purports to represent.
2. The Queer Caucus calls upon HRC to embrace the grassroots demand for
Full Federal Equality by 2014 – the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act.
After 60 years of struggle, there is still not a single federal
non-discrimination law protecting LGBT Americans from discrimination.
More incredibly, HRC, the corporate entity that controls our strategy,
is not even seeking equal protection for our community.
To address this, the Queer Caucus calls on HRC to take The Pledge for
Full LGBT Equality to seek and secure full non-discrimination
protections based on sexual orientation and gender identify for all
people.
The right to be protected from discrimination secures a core liberty
interest. And it is the duty of government to protect LGBT Americans
from the harm caused by discrimination as a matter of public welfare,
law and conscience, as it has for decades for all other oppressed
groups.
As HRC restrains the demand for equality, discrimination takes its
insidious toll on LGBT Americans who suffer vast psychological harm
rejected by their families and society, driven to suicide at 5 times the
heterosexual norm by tormenting, minority stress afflictions, and lost
hope.
A whopping 40% of homeless youth identity as LGBT, 66% of Transgender
people have been fired or not hired for a job, 60% of our youth are
taunted and feel unsafe at school, and LGBT people are 6x more likely to
have multiple mental stress disorders due to societal discrimination.
“Homo/transphobia in America is a public health and economic emergency
for our community” said Michael Tikile, an occupier and Duke University
graduate. “We are not safe in school, work or housing. How are we
supposed to live, pursue happiness or achieve economic equality?”
3. The Queer Caucus also demand that HRC open the process with transparency and grassroots inclusion.
Currently, HRC operates under a closed, hierarchical system, controlled
by a financial elite, insulated from grassroots input. Likewise, in
Congress, Democrat House members Barney Frank, Jared Polis and Tammy
Baldwin, keep the grassroots out of the conversation, protecting the DNC
strategy from movement agitation and impact.
With this structure in place, queer occupiers know that only a handful
of privileged voices are setting the national queer agenda and strategy,
defining what “LGBT equality” means and who our friends are.
For example, HRC’s key sponsors includes a long list of big businesses
that contributed to recent economic and environmental distress,
including Citi Bank, Bank of America, Chevron, BP, Shell, Morgan
Stanley, MetLife, Deloitte, Lexus, Prudential, and Ernst & Young.
“With all of these companies, you’d expect the power to be on our side!
But instead, our community is simply a tool and pawn in the political
system” said Tanya Walker, an original occupier and tireless transgender
activist.
Simply put, the Queer Caucus demands equal non-discrimination
protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act because equality is the only
true antidote to LGBT abuse – like it has proven to be for race, sex,
national origin, religion, age and disability – long protected from
discrimination by law.
“Equality and non-discrimination are universal values that define basic
human dignity” said Todd (Tif) Fernandez, a human rights lawyer and
grassroots activist. “It is our civic duty as Americans to protect and
respect the LGBT community immediately.”
Please Take the Pledge for Full LGBT Equality (by 2014) (http://bit.ly/the2014pledge).
Join the Guerrilla Potluck (http://on.fb.me/
Join Queer/LGBTIQA2Z OWS Caucus organizing, Sundays at 1pm, 60 Wall Street or on FB http://on.fb.me/QueerOWS.
BestGayNewYork.com
The OUT NYC Gay Hotel Opens it doors in March
You have heard about…
You have read about it….
It’s HERE.
Just a few weeks away! The on again, off again project is a reality, opening it’s a doors in March. That’s 2012!
The OUT NYC
New York City’s first gay hotel.
The boutique hotel which
bills itself as an “urban gay resort,” is located in Hell’s Kitchen
(where else?). It will include 105 rooms and XL Nightclub, which the
creators say is the first nightly gay dance club to open in the city in
the last 15 years.
Brought to you by club legend John Blair, the 14,000 sq. foot XL is slated to open this month.
Plans for the hotel also include a three courtyards and a massive gym.
Rooms will start at around $200 a night, with sleep shares starting at $99 a night.
The site is up and live and taking reservations now!
Check it out!
New York City OUT Gay Hotel Will Open 2012
Manhattan’s newest gay neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen, is getting gay hotel complex, The Out NYC, late in 2012. The nightlife venue, expected to draw locals as well as travelers, is scheduled to open in November 2011. The hotel’s official opening is planned for late winter/early spring 2012. The hotel complex — an adapted 1950s-vintage, drive-in motor inn — is situated on 42nd St. between 10th and 11th Avenues. A major rehabilitation and redirected use of the existing motel will turn the property into a 105-room boutique hotel with a spa, wellness center, business center and conference rooms. The entertainment complex includes the 11,000-square-foot XL nightclub, lounge and cabaret as well as a 24/7 café and a restaurant called Kitchen.
People said it wasn’t going to happen – but Parkview Developers insist it is moving forward! And they are getting lots of press this month.
It’s New York City’s first gay hotel and, perhaps, the only gay urban resort in the country, according to developer Ian Reisner, managing partner of Parkview Developers.
The idea stemmed from a gay-focused boutique hotel in Barcelona, AXEL, where Reisner stayed a few years ago. He decided New York City needed a similar hotel and, in fact, an entire entertainment complex. – It was rumored that AXEL owned the hotel – they claim they do not – other sources say yes, they are involved, to some extent.
The actual planning started in 2008.
In 2009 a 49-year ground lease was secured for the property….a 26,000-square-foot block of real estate, in a gentrifying neighborhood. “It was perfect timing to get my hands on such a big property,” Ian says. “The great recession had put a damper on real estate and you could lock in things you couldn’t lock in, in a normal functioning market.”
Stay tuned!
YOTEL Compact Rooms Come to Times Square in New York City
Last year when flying to Prague, we had a 7 hour stop at London’s Heathrow airport. So rather than drive into London to get a room and pay for a full night, we stayed at YOTEL and were able to book a room for 6 hours. Yotel is known for their “pod” rooms in Europe. Everything you would expect from a luxury hotel in a small space. GREAT DESIGN but inside the airport terminal building!
Now the Pod hotel chain Yotel opening in New York City next year. It will be its first expansion outside of airport locations. And the hourly/pod concept of course will not be needed, but the company will focus on compact space with great design features and functionality.
Yotel Times Square, to be located at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue, will feature 669 cabin rooms (about 185 square feet), making it the largest hotel opening planned for New York in 2011.
The firm says that it will feature a restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, Club Lounge and the largest outdoor terrace space of any hotel in New York.
“YOTEL will bring a unique mix of fun, excitement and luxury to New York and all at an affordable price,” said Simon Woodroffe, founder of the YO! Sushi chain and Yotels.
(photo below from Yotel pod rooms in Europe)
With the opening one year away and the ever changing hotel rates in Manhattan, it’s hard to say what their rates will be. However the company told me “we will make sure that we are great value for money and extremely competitive. Customers constantly tell us that they don’t want to pay for lots of space in rooms that they actually never use. It’s about the quality of sleep, flexibility and quality.
The rooms will be compact but really nicely designed and with hand made organic beds, large flat screen TV, free WiFi and wired internet, the best ever rain shower, plenty of storage space. In addition the facilities of the hotel will be fantastic – the largest outside terrace space in New York, a really funky bar, lovely concept restaurant.”
The Best of Gay New York
THE OUT NYC – Gay Urban Resort Planned for the City by Parkview Developers
THE AXEL hotels, based in Spain, were planning to break
ground on a property here in NYC in 2011.
Well, NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I was in Barcelona last week and met with the Axel people, and even though they plan to come to NYC sometime in the future, it is not on the current radar screen.
It was just rumors and gossip.
Or was it…….
This week comes news that in fact another “hetero-friendly” hotel will be opening here in the city.
The Parkview Developers, run by a gay New York couple, are calling the project “The Out NYC.” (What an awful name!)
The development, to be completed by early next year, will consist of 123 guest rooms, a 10,000-square-foot dance club, a gym, spa, restaurant, and a 24/7 café. Much of the complex will be housed in the old Travel Inn, which was built in the 1960s, and is located at 508 W. 42nd St. (between 10th and 11th).
The $20 million “Urban Gay Resort” could bring nearly 80,000 square feet of new gayness to the city. If built, it will be New York’s first full-service gay hotel, and the first new nightclub serving the gay community in more than five years to have a cabaret license.
There are lots of obstacles ahead for their idea but they are getting lots of support. John Blair and Beto Sutter are also involved with the project. The most significant hurdle at this point — for the nightclub and for the overall character of the project that ends up being built — is approval of both a liquor license and a cabaret license for the nightclub.
With only three Manhattan gay nightclubs — Splash, the Monster, and Escuelita — licensed for dancing, and a total capacity of less than 2,300 patrons combined, Blair, Sutter, and the Parkview team clearly see a ripe opportunity to fill the void in nightlife options, particularly for Hell’s Kitchen’s swelling gay population.
Spains AXEL Hotel Brings Their Gay Hotel to New York City
NEW YORK CITY!
The Spanish hotelier Axel Hotels will bring its gay hotel chain to New York City in 2011.
In 2003, Axel Hotel Barcelona was the first hotel in the Axel Hotels chain and the first city designer hotel aimed at the gay community. Axel Hotel Barcelona is a trend-setter and has become an international reference for gay accommodations.
Now with 3 gay hotels under their belt, the company has decided to turn their attention to the United States. Renate Siebenhofer, development director of the hotel chain, confirmed the group’s plans to open its fourth five-star hotel in the U.S.
“We are pleased to inform you that we have been able to identify a site in New York we consider spot-on for our group: The AXEL HOTEL NEW YORK will be located in Hell’s Kitchen and is slated to open its doors to the public in spring 2011,” Siebenhofer said.
Designer chic rooms and outstanding personalized, genuine and professional service catering to guests requirements and anticipating their needs, have earned them quite a reputation in Europe. In fact, Axel Hotel Barcelona has been chosen the “best gay hotel in the world” by the readers of prestigious travel magazine The Out Traveler (USA). Through the annual survey Reader’s Choice Awards, hundreds of readers voted for the Axel Hotel Barcelona to put it in the ranking’s top position.
The hotel chain’s ambitious plans include three additional U.S. hotels to be built in its most gay-friendly cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.
Amsterdam, London, Paris and Miami are considered high priority projects.
The Best of Gay New York
