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As a travel reporter at The New York Times and member of the Times Fellowship, a program for journalists early in their careers, I’ve written about the first run of a new high-speed train, A.I. travel tools, wildlife safety and protests against overtourism.
But it isn’t every day that I — or any travel reporter — get to cover news just a few blocks from The Times’s office in Midtown Manhattan.
That’s exactly what happened last month, however, after an editor shared a CBS News report with the Travel desk about multiple hotels under the brand LuxUrban that had suddenly shut down, at least one of which still had guests staying inside.
I volunteered to walk over to the hotels and see what was going on.
When I arrived at the first hotel, an employee inside, probably thinking I was there to check in, quickly started to explain that the hotel was closed. I identified myself as a reporter and said I was curious why the hotel, the Herald by LuxUrban, had shut down and whether anyone else was still there.
The employee wouldn’t answer many of my questions, but he confirmed that there were no other staff members in the building and that, as luck would have it, the hotel’s final guests should be checking out any minute.
A family of four emerged from the elevator a moment later. Jose Rodriguez, the father, told me that they were visiting from the Canary Islands and that, while their stay was comfortable enough, they suspected something odd was afoot when they had no housekeeping services and saw no other guests for their entire 10-day stay.
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The post ‘Unfortunately, Your Hotel Has Gone Out of Business.’ appeared first on New York Times.
