Marriott is picking up a new property in New York at Hilton’s expense, and it’ll have a rather generic name…
Details of The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown
Some time back, we learned that the Conrad New York Midtown would be leaving the Hilton portfolio as of June 4, 2024. At the time we didn’t know what the future held for this hotel, but we now we do — this property will become a Marriott.
Specifically, as of June 5, 2024, the Conrad New York Midtown will be known as The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown. The Luxury Collection is Marriott’s collection of independent, luxury properties, but most of them have a unique name, which finishes with “The Luxury Collection.” In this case the hotel is just named “The Luxury Collection Hotel?” A bit odd, but…
The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown features 562 accommodations. The reason many people liked this property as a Conrad was because a vast majority of the rooms are suites. So this is one of the luxury properties in New York where you’ll get extra space at a reasonable premium.
The hotel is located on 54th Street, so is convenient for those looking to visit Midtown. As far as dining goes, the hotel has a single all-day dining restaurant named Dabble, serving American cuisine. So it’s not exactly a dining destination, but rather is all about getting heads into beds.
For some further background, this property became a Conrad back in 2019, and prior to that was independent, and was branded as The London Hotel NYC.
The hotel is now bookable through Marriott channels. Of course you can book with cash (and if you do, it makes sense to book through Marriott STARS), or alternatively you can redeem Marriott Bonvoy® points here.
This is a curious rebranding…
I’m curious what exactly motivated this change. A couple of things immediately come to mind:
- This was one of two Conrad properties in New York City, with the other being the Conrad New York Downtown; so I wonder if the hotel owners felt there was some cannibalization from this
- The Chatwal New York used to be a Marriott Luxury Collection property, but was rebranded as a Hyatt; so despite Marriott’s massive footprint in New York, the brand hasn’t had any hotels belonging to The Luxury Collection
More hotel options are always a good thing, so I’m sure some Marriott loyalists will be happy to see this change (while some Hilton loyalists will be unhappy). I will say, this really exemplifies how the major hotel groups are really happy to brand a hotel in any way that will please owners. As a reminder, here’s how Marriott describes The Luxury Collection:
The Luxury Collection, part of Marriott International, Inc., is comprised of world-renowned hotels and resorts offering unique, authentic experiences that evoke lasting, treasured memories. For the global explorer, The Luxury Collection offers a gateway to the world’s most exciting and desirable destinations. Each hotel and resort is a unique and cherished expression of its location; a portal to the destination’s indigenous charms and treasures
Look, the Conrad New York Midtown has been a great points property with spacious rooms, but describing this hotel as “a portal to the destination’s indigenous charms and treasures” is kind of absurd. This hotel is as generic as they get. Then again, I’d say that’s a ridiculous way to describe a vast majority of the brand’s properties.
Bottom line
As of June 5, 2024, the Conrad New York Midtown is becoming The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown. We’ve known for some time that the property would be leaving the Hilton portfolio, though we didn’t know what the future would hold. I guess in many ways it’s good that this will at least continue to be associated with one of the major global hotel groups with a loyalty program.
What do you make of this rebranding?
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