And next year 4 night minimum from May to June. I’m pretty sure it was just 2 nights when I first looked at in 2019.
Bucket List
- Thread starter FootyLovin
- Start date
This is completely local but it's been a personal bucket list pseudo-travel item since it opened in 2017.
Saturday night my wife and I spent a night in the TWA Hotel in JFK to celebrate our 25th anniversary this week. As background, this hotel uses the TWA flight terminal, built in 1962 and designed by Eero Saarinen, for it's lobby and most public spaces. It's a fantastic space and we had a great time. I'll post a few pictures and you can go visit a larger gallery at this link if you like.
This is the only hotel on the JFK airport property. It is most convenient via walkway to Terminal 5, the primary JetBlue terminal, but I think the JFK Air Train monorail can get you to the hotel from any terminal. We saw a significant number of airline personnel there. It is not particularly close to anything else besides the airport, and so is not a great place for an extended visit. Also the rooms have limited amenities: no coffee machine, no closet(!) (just a few pegs on the wall with a single hanger), no drawer space. But it would I think be a great place to spend one night at the beginning or end of a trip, and they also offer non-overnight rates for travelers with extended layovers. We ate both dinner and breakfast at The Paris Cafe, the only restaurant in-hotel, though they also have a food court for cheaper and quicker options. There also is a rooftop pool from which you can watch planes take off and land. The interior of the plane outside the window in the first image below has been converted into a lounge. They play a selection of 1960s music in the public spaces, which my wife noticed included very little rock and roll and no British invasion at all. It was more Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley Bassey, and some soul/Motown. They definitely create a mood.
There are displays of pilot and flight attendant uniforms, travel posters, recreations of the offices of Howard Hughes and Saarinen, and more fanciful recreations of 1960's living rooms. You check in at the same place people checked in to travel, and they still have the baggage intake carousel behind those stations, though it no longer functions. I did fly out of here at least once, I think for my Europe trip after finishing law school and the bar exam in 1987. Oddly enough, when the building opened in 1962 it was immediately out of date because it had not been designed for jets, so it had to be retrofitted. The terminal closed around 2001-02 when TWA was acquired by American. The new Terminal 5 was built and opened a few years later.
Saturday night my wife and I spent a night in the TWA Hotel in JFK to celebrate our 25th anniversary this week. As background, this hotel uses the TWA flight terminal, built in 1962 and designed by Eero Saarinen, for it's lobby and most public spaces. It's a fantastic space and we had a great time. I'll post a few pictures and you can go visit a larger gallery at this link if you like.
This is the only hotel on the JFK airport property. It is most convenient via walkway to Terminal 5, the primary JetBlue terminal, but I think the JFK Air Train monorail can get you to the hotel from any terminal. We saw a significant number of airline personnel there. It is not particularly close to anything else besides the airport, and so is not a great place for an extended visit. Also the rooms have limited amenities: no coffee machine, no closet(!) (just a few pegs on the wall with a single hanger), no drawer space. But it would I think be a great place to spend one night at the beginning or end of a trip, and they also offer non-overnight rates for travelers with extended layovers. We ate both dinner and breakfast at The Paris Cafe, the only restaurant in-hotel, though they also have a food court for cheaper and quicker options. There also is a rooftop pool from which you can watch planes take off and land. The interior of the plane outside the window in the first image below has been converted into a lounge. They play a selection of 1960s music in the public spaces, which my wife noticed included very little rock and roll and no British invasion at all. It was more Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley Bassey, and some soul/Motown. They definitely create a mood.
There are displays of pilot and flight attendant uniforms, travel posters, recreations of the offices of Howard Hughes and Saarinen, and more fanciful recreations of 1960's living rooms. You check in at the same place people checked in to travel, and they still have the baggage intake carousel behind those stations, though it no longer functions. I did fly out of here at least once, I think for my Europe trip after finishing law school and the bar exam in 1987. Oddly enough, when the building opened in 1962 it was immediately out of date because it had not been designed for jets, so it had to be retrofitted. The terminal closed around 2001-02 when TWA was acquired by American. The new Terminal 5 was built and opened a few years later.
That's great stuff. I have been very curious about that hotel since it opened. A celebration of all things mid-century modern. I understand the rooms have quite a bar inside them.
How was the food? How was it hanging out in the public spaces? Room service? I'd think about spending the night there before leaving on a trip sometime.
For the curious, that's the air terminal at the end of Catch Me If You Can, where the Tom Hanks character catches up with Frank Abagnale, Jr., played by Leo DiCaprio.
How was the food? How was it hanging out in the public spaces? Room service? I'd think about spending the night there before leaving on a trip sometime.
For the curious, that's the air terminal at the end of Catch Me If You Can, where the Tom Hanks character catches up with Frank Abagnale, Jr., played by Leo DiCaprio.
The in-room bar not so much, IMO? If you look at the photo of the room I posted, back by the door, behind the hanging jackets, is a little nook where you maybe can see glasses hanging. Due to depth of field they are out-of-focus but they are there. Cool glasses and ice bucket, and an electric drink cooler, but that's it.
The restaurant food was quite good. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there but it was a very satisfying meal, priced as you would expect at a restaurant whose closest competition is miles away. No room service that I am aware of. The restaurant takes reservations via Resy, and the hotel website recommends them, but they had room for walk-ins on a Saturday night at 7pm and they didn't even ask about our reservation when we showed up. You're better off eating at the restaurant. It's more comfortable. The rooms are kind of tight; fine for a one night stay but even then you probably don't want to hang out there. If you look at the other room photos at the gallery link above, you can see there's a desk/counter surface are behind the bed, but just one chair. It would be kind of awkward for 2 people to eat together.
The public spaces were very pleasant to hang around. I mentioned the music. It was busy enough it did not feel desolated or make you wonder how they remain open, but also not crowded. There are bars and food options, but no pressure and you very much can sit in any of the spaces as long as you want without buying anything. One small neat feature - there's a photo booth to sit in and get 3 instant photos, for free. I think because the place is pretty isolated the don't have to worry about folks just coming by and constantly using up all the film and monopolizing it. Walk around a find the bank of pay phones and shoe shine station.
If you enjoy this style, and have the time and cash to add a night before or after a trip through JFK I think it's a great idea. For us living in Queens, it was a 25 minute drive, and anyone reasonably close might consider making a night of it sometime.
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We spent a few chilled hours in the public bar and exhibits areas before a long haul from T5 and it was a great start to our trip. The music, architecture, bar staff in flight uniforms etc made it a unique experience which we will definitely repeat