One57’s Park Hyatt aiming for five stars

 Hyatt Hotels is hoping to make its Park Hyatt New York, which is opening next month at the base of One57, Manhattan’s first new five-star hotel in nearly a decade.

Plans for the Park Hyatt call for 210 guest rooms starting at $795 a night, with amenities such as an indoor pool with underwater speakers that pipe in music from neighboring Carnegie Hall, according to Bloomberg News.

“There’s a fairly deep demand for this level of luxury,” Steve Haggerty, global head of real estate and capital strategy for the Chicago-based company. “It’s very difficult to replicate in New York City, and there’s a certain barrier to entry.”

If Hyatt receives a five-star rating it would be the city’s first hotel with the coveted distinction since 2003, when the Mandarin Oriental opened in the nearby Time Warner Center.

“New York City is just hot,” said Jan Freitag, senior vice president at Hendersonville, Tennessee-based STR. “It’s expensive and is at this perfect intersection of transient business demand, group and leisure, and international demand. Everyone wants to come to New York.” [Bloomberg News] – Christopher Cameron