Aloft Harlem – Opening October 21, 2010
Many Harlemites have seen the work in process. The first hotel to open up in Harlem in over 40 years! When this Starwood boutique hotel called Aloft opens in Harlem in the next week, it will be the neighborhood’s first major hotel since the famous Theresa closed in 1967. Incredible and exciting – yes!
If you are not familiar with Aloft Hotels you soon will be. They are a part of the W Hotels. Other members of their family include the well known Sheraton, St. Regis, and Westin. You can expect this hotel to reflect the chains fast growing and youth oriented feel to also have a sassy attitude. There about about 40 Aloft Hotels around the country – each offers the style that they are know for distinctive style and urban vibe.
Back in June the hotel put together a uncommon way of hosting a job-hiring fair. They invited interested parties to come down to a sound-stage at the Apollo and mingled with the other 75 applicants while the hiring managers and executives had the difficult task of choosing only the 25 that they needed. It should also be mentioned that a large part of locating the best suited for the job came from our local Workforce1 Career Center in Harlem.
I did some searching and found out some really interesting facts about Aloft in Harlem:
- Designed to appeal to this demographic include a check-in process that allows you to bypass the front desk by registering online for a card key that’s sent to you in advance.
- The room has a high-tech jack box that connects iPods, iPads, cameras and other devices directly to the flatscreen TV
- Funky amenities like an old-fashioned clock with an analog face instead of a digital glow
- Eco-friendly dispensers in the shower for shampoo and soap rather than tiny bottles that often offer too much or too little of what the visitor needs.
Aloft’s will be offering introductory rates and they are below similar hotels in midtown Manhattan! $239 at the Aloft for a king room compared to $375 at the Four Points $499 at the Sheraton Towers and $512 at the Westin Midtown. The hotel will have a soft opening Oct. 21 with a grand opening later this year. The hotel has 124 rooms and they are located on the first six floors of the 12-story building. (A developer will be offering 44 condos on floors above, priced from the mid-$300,000s and up!)
It is exciting to see such beautiful change and new things coming to Harlem – to top it off it even helps bring jobs to our city – and then in turn traffic, tourists, and a stronger feeling of community!
To find out more on Aloft’s opening in Harlem please visit their website: http://bit.ly/aBoJTT