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| Three ways New York could help visitors love the city even more. |
By Michael Skapinker
It is 42 years since, as a teenage exchange student, I emerged from the Port Authority bus terminal and looked at New York in wonder. The city thrilled me then, and after many visits — six in the past 18 months alone — it still does.
People complain that New York, like many large cities, has become too expensive for most, including the creative types who gave it its edge. Those who have lost out — the derelict, the homeless — are distressingly visible, but New York at least feels safe, which is a remarkable change for those who knew it in earlier decades.
And, whatever some locals say, it still feels wonderfully vibrant: the art, the theatre, the excellence of neighbourhood restaurants, the sense of possibility as you step on to the street each day.
Many visitors feel the same, and the city last month produced figures to prove it. An estimated 58.3m people visited New York last year, up 1.8m on 2014, Bill de Blasio, the mayor, said. Both domestic tourist numbers, at 46m, and foreign visitors, at 12.3m, reached all-time highs.
This year, though, will be tougher. “With the continuing pressure on the global economy and the strengthening dollar, we will need to work even harder in 2016,” NYC & Company, the city’s marketing body, said.
So what can New York do to make its visitors happier?
I am not going to moan about JFK. It takes decades to improve airports, at least in democratic countries. Nor do I have a problem with the taxi drivers. Contrary to myth, I have never found one who does not speak English.
The first improvement New York needs is in its hotels. The city has some of the worst I have ever stayed in.
Arriving at one, where rooms cost more than $300 a night, I spent time poking around before calling the front desk to say I could not find the closet. My room didn’t have one, came the reply. Where was I supposed to hang my clothes? There was a chest of drawers.
After complaining that I needed a hanging space to unrumple my suit and had never come across a hotel without one, I was moved to a room with a closet — and a window jammed open, in midwinter.
Another tantrum produced an apology and a move to a capacious suite. Leaving it the next morning, I waited for the familiar door-clunk. Failing to hear it, I investigated. The lock had been jemmied out.
You may have your favourite boutique hotel. I have now found mine — a book-lined bibliophile’s delight — but looking at this year’s room rates, I expect the expenses people at the Financial Times will start objecting.
Sean Hennessey, a tourism specialist at NYU School of Professional Studies, told me there was a construction surge of reliable mid-quality properties, and I should look at the Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn or Courtyard hotel chains.
My second suggested improvement is breakfast, particularly in hotels. While we have learnt to love food from all over the world for lunch and dinner, breakfast remains culturally specific. That is why Asian hotels offer a choice of local or western.
I am not suggesting New York’s hotels do the same, although, as China is now the city’s fastest-growing source of visitors, they might consider it; nor am I suggesting they offer full English breakfasts, even though the UK sends more tourists to New York than any other country. I am just, in the these health-conscious times, asking for cereals and baked goods that are less sugary.
My third suggested improvement is to the subway. It is a magnificent system. It is extensive, it runs through the night and, while the stations are dank and gloomy, the trains are air-conditioned and clean. The problem with the subway is that it is incomprehensible. Lines have three or four different services. It took me several trips hurtling towards, I feared, the Canadian border to work out the difference between local and express.
Some carriages have lighted maps showing where you are; others do not. It is hard to see which exit to use. There are signs that say: “To Metropolitan Av weekdays & eves. Other times take F to Delancey St for J.”
I suspect native New Yorkers take a secret delight in everyone else’s befuddlement. It is like being able to do a cryptic crossword or understand the rules of cricket. Clearer signs would help preserve those tourism jobs. Just a suggestion. From a friend.
It is 42 years since, as a teenage exchange student, I emerged from the Port Authority bus terminal and looked at New York in wonder. The city thrilled me then, and after many visits — six in the past 18 months alone — it still does.
People complain that New York, like many large cities, has become too expensive for most, including the creative types who gave it its edge. Those who have lost out — the derelict, the homeless — are distressingly visible, but New York at least feels safe, which is a remarkable change for those who knew it in earlier decades.
And, whatever some locals say, it still feels wonderfully vibrant: the art, the theatre, the excellence of neighbourhood restaurants, the sense of possibility as you step on to the street each day.
Many visitors feel the same, and the city last month produced figures to prove it. An estimated 58.3m people visited New York last year, up 1.8m on 2014, Bill de Blasio, the mayor, said. Both domestic tourist numbers, at 46m, and foreign visitors, at 12.3m, reached all-time highs.
This year, though, will be tougher. “With the continuing pressure on the global economy and the strengthening dollar, we will need to work even harder in 2016,” NYC & Company, the city’s marketing body, said.
So what can New York do to make its visitors happier?
I am not going to moan about JFK. It takes decades to improve airports, at least in democratic countries. Nor do I have a problem with the taxi drivers. Contrary to myth, I have never found one who does not speak English.
The first improvement New York needs is in its hotels. The city has some of the worst I have ever stayed in.
Arriving at one, where rooms cost more than $300 a night, I spent time poking around before calling the front desk to say I could not find the closet. My room didn’t have one, came the reply. Where was I supposed to hang my clothes? There was a chest of drawers.
After complaining that I needed a hanging space to unrumple my suit and had never come across a hotel without one, I was moved to a room with a closet — and a window jammed open, in midwinter.
Another tantrum produced an apology and a move to a capacious suite. Leaving it the next morning, I waited for the familiar door-clunk. Failing to hear it, I investigated. The lock had been jemmied out.
You may have your favourite boutique hotel. I have now found mine — a book-lined bibliophile’s delight — but looking at this year’s room rates, I expect the expenses people at the Financial Times will start objecting.
Sean Hennessey, a tourism specialist at NYU School of Professional Studies, told me there was a construction surge of reliable mid-quality properties, and I should look at the Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn or Courtyard hotel chains.
My second suggested improvement is breakfast, particularly in hotels. While we have learnt to love food from all over the world for lunch and dinner, breakfast remains culturally specific. That is why Asian hotels offer a choice of local or western.
I am not suggesting New York’s hotels do the same, although, as China is now the city’s fastest-growing source of visitors, they might consider it; nor am I suggesting they offer full English breakfasts, even though the UK sends more tourists to New York than any other country. I am just, in the these health-conscious times, asking for cereals and baked goods that are less sugary.
My third suggested improvement is to the subway. It is a magnificent system. It is extensive, it runs through the night and, while the stations are dank and gloomy, the trains are air-conditioned and clean. The problem with the subway is that it is incomprehensible. Lines have three or four different services. It took me several trips hurtling towards, I feared, the Canadian border to work out the difference between local and express.
Some carriages have lighted maps showing where you are; others do not. It is hard to see which exit to use. There are signs that say: “To Metropolitan Av weekdays & eves. Other times take F to Delancey St for J.”
I suspect native New Yorkers take a secret delight in everyone else’s befuddlement. It is like being able to do a cryptic crossword or understand the rules of cricket. Clearer signs would help preserve those tourism jobs. Just a suggestion. From a friend.
