Nearly a decade ago, I stayed at the then brand-new Axel Hotel in Barcelona, a groundbreaking, 66-unit boutique "lifestyle" hotel that was aimed at LGBT travelers but advertised itself as "hetero-friendly" -- a surprising term for that time.
This March, New York, by many measures a more popular LGBT destination than comparatively tiny Barcelona, finally got its own updated and expanded equivalent of the Axel: The Out NYC, a 105-unit urban resort on West 42nd Street in Manhattan that goes the original, pint-sized Axel several better by also offering a world-class nightclub, full-service spa and fitness center and conference facilities. (There are now two other Axels, in Berlin and Buenos Aires.)
Like its trailblazing Spanish forebear, The Out NYC also offers a restaurant and outdoor decks for city sunbathing. And it, too, professes "straight-friendliness."
Co-owner Ian Reisner said he and business partner Mati Weiderpass wanted to build a gay hotel, for gay people by gay people, but one that would welcome non-LGBT guests, as well. He originally envisioned an 80% gay, 20% straight client mix.
"We've been open for two months now, and it's played out almost perfectly according to that playbook," Reisner told me. "We've had about 7,000 guests stay with us since we opened our doors, and actually about 30% ... have been straight."
T
he property's mainstream guests haven't just wandered in unawares and then beat a hasty departure, either.
"We advise guests at booking and check-in that we're a gay-oriented hotel, and almost unanimously they tell us that's why they chose us," Reisner said, adding that about a third of straight guests at The Out NYC hail from relatively more liberal European countries.
"Europeans have a much different sensibility about gay venues than do most Americans," he said. "When it comes to gay vs. straight, they couldn't care less."
Even the hotel's 14,000-square-foot, on-site dance club, XL, run by legendary Gotham gay nightlife impresario John Blair, is seeing 25% straight business. The Out NYC is also home to an orientation-neutral, 400-member social and arts club, called the Outhouse, "for whom we bring in artists to hang art and arrange book signings, music performances and dance from companies such as Paul Taylor Dance Co.," Reisner said.
David Paisley, senior projects director at Community Marketing in San Francisco, said that while U.S. cities and resorts have long offered smaller, less upscale all-LGBT accommodations venues, The Out NYC and a similar new property in Miami Beach, Lords South Beach, are the first instances of a higher-end, gay-but-straight-friendly property along the lines of an Axel Hotel.
"All eyes are on these two properties to see if they can pull off this concept," Paisley said. "The question is, can it be [done] in America?"
If The Out NYC and Lords South Beach thrive, "expect a little baby boom" in this phenomenon, Paisley said, adding that Community Marketing has fielded calls from hotel developers interested in the model.
"I'm not expecting to see 20 all-gay hotels in each U.S. city, but major destinations should be able to support one or two of them," he said.
The Out NYC is also innovative in that, in addition to traditional guest units such as deluxe rooms and one-bedroom suites, it's offering four-bed, youth hostel-style "Sleep Share" rooms priced from $99 a night per person. Guests in those units enjoy free WiFi, a personal 22-inch TV and a workspace but share a common bathroom.
In addition to XL, on-site facilities include Revive, a 5,000-square-foot spa and fitness center; Ktchn, the hotel's restaurant serving New American cuisine for brunch, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks; and the Courtyards, three outdoor spaces that include a sun deck, garden and Great Lawn.
The Out NYC is affiliated with Genre Hotels, a Los Angeles-based marketing group of nearly 30 lifestyle properties in the U.S. and abroad.
"They're our sales, marketing, GDS code, our booking engine, our everything," Reisner said. "They're basically out there combing the world and talking with people, including LGBT and straight travel agents."
For more, visit http://theoutnyc.com.