Hotels
A Reporter at Large
Should Hotel Chains Be Held Liable for Human Trafficking?
For decades, franchised hotels have been a common scene of sex-trafficking crimes in the U.S. A new legal strategy is targeting the corporations that collect royalties from them.
Kitchen Notes
The Ridiculous Egg Machine That Changed My Breakfast Game
It breaks all my kitchen rules, and yet, here I am, every morning, making myself a fussy little hotel breakfast.
Shouts & Murmurs
How Dare You Steal My Soaps and Mints?
Your stay with us was temporary; the shame lasts forever.
Under Review
Sophie Calle and the Art of Leaving a Trace
The French artist has attained celebrity—and attracted controversy—by pursuing the objects of her obsession. What is she really after?
Rabbit Holes
The Pleasant Head Trip of Liminal Spaces
The lockdowns seem to have sharpened our appetite for parking garages, gas stations, dead malls, shuttered Kmarts, and paintings by Edward Hopper and David Hockney.
Our Local Correspondents
Behind the Scenes at a Five-Star Hotel
For years, employees of the Pierre enjoyed some of the most enviable union jobs in New York City. How much of that will survive the pandemic?
Books
When the Barbizon Gave Women Rooms of Their Own
The story of New York City’s most famous women-only hotel is also a story of class and sexual politics in the twentieth century.
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Poll: Ninety Per Cent of Republicans Would Book Rooms at Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City
Those surveyed characterized reports suggesting that the Trump property would be less than an ideal place to stay as a “hoax.”
Legacies
Trump Tower, Historic Landmark?
With Trump Plaza Casino about to be demolished, a question arises: Are any of the former President’s edifices worth preserving?
The Front Row
“The Broken Hearts Gallery,” Reviewed: A Rom-Com Showcase for the Great Geraldine Viswanathan
The film, directed by Natalie Krinsky, relies on a concept so high that it rarely touches the ground.
Wyoming Postcard
Who Is Kanye’s Running Mate?
Residents of Cody, Wyoming—where Kanye West has a ranch—compare notes on Michelle Tidball, the local mystic who works in a dentist’s office and says she can communicate with God.
Free Room Dept.
The Four Seasons Goes Green Zone
During the pandemic, some of the city’s high-end hotels are offering medical workers the high-thread-count-sheet treatment—minus the turndown service.
Discoveries Dept.
When Toscanini Went to Mohonk
Newly found films at the grand old resort in the Shawangunk Mountains show greased-pole logrolling, balcony diving, and other bits of ye olde derring-do.
Bar Tab
The Promise of Transformation at Mykonos Blue
Loud music, bronzed bodies draped on white couches, and Martinis with cucumbers, on a rooftop in Chelsea.
Shouts & Murmurs
What to Expect from Your Affordable-Hotel Experience
Fiction
Stay Down and Take It
Fiction
The Boundary
“After just a few hours, it’s as if they’d always lived here. The things they’ve brought for a week in the country are scattered all over the place.”
Fiction
The Hotel
Flash Fiction
Smithereens
Fiction