One year later, and Starwood completely redoes New York City

What a difference a year makes.

When I was at Cornell last year, I spent my weekdays hunched over a desk flipping through textbooks and killing time on Facebook when I should have been cramming for exams. Come weekends though, I made the trek to NYC from Ithaca, and after a 5+ hour drive

including bridge and tunnel traffic into Manhattan (myself included), I would check into the not quite glorious but comfortable Four Points Times Square on 40th between 8th and 9th.

Now look what the new kids escaping from Cornell on the weekends get to stay in. This year Starwood opens up nearly 2,000 new rooms in 6 brand spanking new hotels in NYC, including the following in order of my would be favorites if I were still there:

• W New York Downtown – August 1
• Element New York Times Square West – October 14
• Aloft Harlem – October 15
• Aloft Brooklyn – October 21
• Sheraton Tribeca – November 11
• Four Points Long Island City – October 21

You’ll notice that Aloft and Element make their debut in the big apple.

With these additions, Starwood is actually opening up more hotels in NYC than in any other city in the world. I thought China would have taken the cake here, but it looks like NYC comes out on top and 75% of the Starwoods there will be either brand new or completely renovated come 2011. According to analysts, these new builds will contribute one out of every four newly opened rooms of all the new hotels coming live in NYC this year. Is that bullish or what?

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