Celebrity hotelier Robert De Niro's hugely anticipated and high-priced lodge, the 88-room Greenwich Hotel, officially opens for business today in Tribeca.

And talk about excellence in hospitality!

A Curbed tipster reports from the scene:

there are three staffers outside the hotel, guarding against photographs. OF THE EXTERIOR. I managed to get a few shots, and one through the glass of the lobby, before a nice Asian lady nearly popped a blood vessel and grabbed at my camera. Bobby D, you've done it again, sir.

The first retail casualty of the embattled Chelsea Hotel's 2007 managerial coup d'etat has reopened on West 36th Street, near Macy's, according to British newspaper The Independent [via Living With Legends]:

For 44 years, Capitol Fishing Tackle lived next to the notorious Chelsea Hotel....  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/nations-weirdest-tackle-shop-resurfaces-near-macys#comments Real Estate BD HOTELS Chelsea Hotel Retail SULTAN OF BRUNEI Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:52:15 -0500 Chris Shott 62856 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2007/hotelier-predicts-lot-pain-building-boom

Today's New York Sun examines the potential side-effects of the city's ongoing hotel boom.

Between 13,000 to 18,000 new and renovated rooms are expected in the coming years, which sounds great for consumers but some proprietors aren't so stoked.

Hotelier Richard Born, who is quoted at length, foresees a lot of doom and gloom with the boom, declaring, "There will be a lot of pain."  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/hotelier-predicts-lot-pain-building-boom#comments Real Estate BD HOTELS Hotels Retail Richard Born Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:11:58 -0500 Chris Shott 61188 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2007/chelsea-hotel-manager-quits-myspace-0

So much for the Chelsea Hotel's resident "eurotrash beachbum."

Glennon Travis, the new director of operations for the embattled bohemian enclave, whom The Observer profiled last week, has scrapped his revealing MySpace page following the article's publication.

Nevermind that part about "[d]espite the teasing, Mr. Travis has yet to remove or even alter his MySpace presence."

Yet the new guy continues to provide more juicy gossip for writer Ed Hamilton's blog about hotel life, Living With Legends.

Mr. Hamilton further reports that Mr. Travis is engaged to be married: "Congratulations Glennon!"

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/chelsea-hotel-manager-quits-myspace-0#comments Real Estate BD HOTELS Chelsea Chelsea Hotel GLENNON TRAVIS Retail STANLEY BARD Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:33:51 -0500 Chris Shott 61035 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2007/stanley-bard-ousted-history

The new managers of the historic Chelsea Hotel have launched a revamped Web site for reservations and information about the iconic lodge on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

The "History" section drops the usual references to famous hotel inhabitants Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious but makes no mention of the old manager, Stanley Bard, whose ouster after nearly 50 years stirred up so much controversy this year.

"It’s hard to deny that, besides being one of the chief celebrities of the hotel, he had a little bit to do with making this place the unique artistic attraction that it is today," writer and hotel watchdog Ed Hamilton said on his blog, Living With Legends.

Mr. Bard used to say that getting into the Chelsea was harder than getting into an Ivy League school. Now you can check-in with the simple click of a mouse.

Quoteth hotel frequenter Bob Dylan: "The times they are a-changin.'"

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/stanley-bard-ousted-history#comments Real Estate BD HOTELS Chelsea Hotel ED HAMILTON STANLEY BARD Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:08:47 -0400 Chris Shott 59442 at http://www.observer.com