Want to be served food prepared by a celebrity chef while in your PJs? A growing number of hotels across New York City are now offering just that. After you've doled out a cool $600 for a truly sumptuous room, it can be hard to leave. And when New York City's world-class cuisine can come right to your door, you don't have to.
"The trend right now from most luxury hotels is to get a high-end restaurateur that's known, whether it's Jean-Georges or maybe some other famous chef, and open one of their restaurants, and also to combine that with private dining service," Phil Columbo, Asset and Managing Director at Bryant Park Hotel, which offers in-room dining from Koi, says.
So not only is it de rigeur these days for a luxury hotel to have a destination restaurant helmed by a renowned chef, it's standard practice to offer in-room dining from the same kitchen -- often at any hour of the day. Never mind that the economy has caused some hotels to cut back on room service, or eliminate it altogether: In the luxury market, it's a key competitive aspect.
"To have a chef, to have staff, 24 hours a day, just for the guest who may or may not call, is very expensive. But in a luxury hotel I think people expect that. I know I would," Columbo says.
Michael Rawson, General Manager of the Mercer Hotel, echoed that sentiment. " I would argue that you must offer 24 hour room service to be a luxury hotel," Rawson says. "If a hotel decides they're not going to provide it, they instantly eliminate themselves from the top of the market."
So if you're dreaming of dining on the creations of Jean-Georges Vongerichten or Daniel Boulud while snuggled up watching reruns, you're in luck. Here is Oyster.com's list of the most decadent room service in New York City. Introduction and captions courtesy of Oyster.com.
