Originally Posted by nba1017

To answer your question briefly--yes. There are people who pay $600/600EURO for a room in New York and Paris.

You're right that the Essex House is perfectly decent and central; for some, having a five-star hotel experience is as important as the vacation/business itself. On the business end, if a self-employed entrepreneur is negotiating a deal worth millions to his company, a couple thousand out of pocket to ensure absolute physical comfort in his down time doesn't seem egregious. Regarding leisure travelers, I know plenty of people who get a great deal of pleasure out of a solitary weekend in a great hotel--eating, using the spa, decompressing, etc. Obviously, couples/honeymoon travelers' needs are similar.

$600 in midtown Manhattan is not a luxury property rack rate ! There are a significant number of people who have their assistant book them at the place they want to stay, never look at the bill and couldn't tell you what a given room costs.

Same thing for all the threads on FT starting with "who pays for domestic F?" The answer is many.



Regarding how many of these rooms are corporate rates and how many come from out of pocket, I don't have an answer. Perhaps one of the travel agents on this board would have more detailed knowledge of the actual numbers.