Pools, bathrobes, free breakfast?those amenities are only the most obvious of New York City hotels' offerings to their guests. We hunted around for the quirkiest hotel amenities being offered in New York City. Did we miss one? Let us know, and we'll add it to the list!
Pillow Menus
There are at least three hotels in the city offering pillow menus, which are exactly what they sound like?menus of pillow options for hotel guests to try. Trump Soho mentions a pillow menu on its website. The Affinia Hotels have a menu of six options, from the basic feather and down pillow to a sound pillow?which has speakers inside and plugs into the guest's MP3 player?to a Swedish memory pillow with self-molding foam. The most extensive pillow menu of all (shown above) belongs to The Benjamin and includes snore-no-more pillows, water-filled pillows, magnetic therapy pillows, and five-foot body cushions. Can't decide which pillow to get? The Benjamin's sleep concierge will recommend one?and send you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on banana bread.
Bees and Their Honey
The roof of the celebrated Waldorf Astoria has six beehives. The bees are eventually meant to supply 500 pounds of honey per year, and that honey will be used in the hotel's restaurants. The hotel has also built a garden around the beehives in collaboration with the Horticultural Society of New York.
Turntables
As befits its hipster vibe, some of the rooms at the Ace Hotel come with turntables for guests' use.
Light Reading
The notably literary Algonquin Hotel was the birthplace of The New Yorker, and the magazine is still free to the hotel's guests. (Newspapers are complimentary, too, but that's so?low-brow.)
Fragrances
The Carlyle Hotel began a Fragrance Butler program last year. This amenity, too, is exactly what it sounds like: a butler who will bring 10 scents up to guests to try. The fragrance menu is meant to suit the city in which the hotel located (the amenity is offered at several hotels in the chain), so NYC's offerings include Hermes Eau de Mervailles.
Pets
Several hotels boast of their pet-friendliness, but only one that we've found, the Tribeca Grand, offers pet goldfish to guests on request. Presumably the hotel also takes care of feeding it.
· Hotels Week 2013 archive [Curbed]