Between Bells is taking a Summer Friday at The Crown, a Gerber Group Rooftop, at The Hotel 50 Bowery. 

Ryan Fender, General Manager at Hotel 50 Bowery, joins Cheddar News to discuss top urban destinations this season.

Between Bells

Hyatt Sees Surge in Top Urban Destinations This Summer

All right, welcome back everyone to Between Bells were here at the crown the Gerber group rooftop over at the hotel 50 bowery as summer travel demand continues to heat up like these temperatures right now more specifically hotel chain Hyatt is seeing a surge in summer travel to urban areas even despite the rising costs and flight cancelations that summer, the summer travel demand still incredibly high. People want to get out. Yes people want to get out. Now helping us break down the top urban destinations to travel to. This summer vacation is Ryan fender, general manager, hotel 50 bowery. So thank you so much for joining us today. Now we recently passed some of the biggest summer holiday travels this summer Memorial Day and Independence Day. So how do you think the travel demand really fair and our people continuing to do so this summer. Yeah, absolutely. First of all it's a real pleasure to be able to welcome you guys and all of the viewers to the rooftop hotel 50 barry part of J. D. V. By high it's independent collection and yeah we're really seeing leisure travel return nicely all the way from international to hyper hyper local And we're seeing international, predominantly european driven many first time nyc visitors which is fantastic but also people have been here a number of times being all throughout the different neighborhoods. They want to experience something new and authentic. And then at the other end of the spectrum we're seeing people come from all over the country but new york city is our single biggest driving markets staycation. People want to celebrate milestone events get away for the weekend. Really really fantastic. That's absolutely right. Which is also interesting because I've noticed people ditching sort of the tropical locations, nobody's going to Mexico as much right now. They're going to the more popular urban destinations for travelers right now. That's sort of interesting that they're not really wanting to go to the beach right now. We're seeing a great resurgence in urban travel. The data right now shows that places like new york Seattle dc boston, they're really seeing a nice uptick in urban travel staycations. These are some of the places that were hardest hit during the pandemic. So it's so wonderful to see people return to these markets and hired specifically has a great footprint not just with our independent hotels but our legacy brands as well across all of those markets. How do you think people are now selecting their destinations? Like what do you think goes into that process? I know obviously new york has been successful but what else has been successful? You think people are really looking for hyper local authentic experiences And I think that's the strength of our independent collections not just J. D. V. By higher which is where we're at today but also the unbound collection destination by Hyatt. Every single hotel is really a brand of one. What we're trying to do is we're trying to bring the feel the you know the vibrancy the people from the neighborhood into the hotel, through design and experiences. We also want to be a great launch pad. So people come stay with us and they go out and experience these amazing neighborhoods. You know, we're rooted in chinatown right here, but we're also at the crossroads of five or six iconic neighborhoods. You've got Soho Tribeca, lower east side, straight across the bridge, you're in dumbo in Brooklyn. So people want something that's centrally located. So this is actually so perfect. So you can experience all that. I'm curious though, what you think is leading to this increase in urban travel demand that people would rather come to a new york city than they would go to Mexico Right now. You guys spoke about it earlier, There's still challenges with international airlift. You know, there's some concerns with, with those long haul travel, flights, delays and cancelations and you know, so many people didn't have the opportunity to travel during the pandemic. You know, they have a few days. They say I want to go do something. I want to get out of the house and you know, for many people in the tri state area may be as far as boston and, and Chicago. They say, okay, I can make a quick trip to new york city. We ask every single guest, what are you most excited about for this trip? And it is so amazing to hear the stories, but it's all about the people. I'm gonna be with visiting these places that I've missed over the last few years. It's all about the experiences they want to have. Absolutely, I feel like everybody just wants to go and explore as much as they can. But there's also that subject of inflation, I mean it's been a big topic this summer. How do you think that people are really making the most of what they can with their experience here inflation is impacting every industry including travel. I think there's a lot of really great tips for travelers out there first of which is like join the loyalty program, you know the world Higher loyalty program is an excellent example of that. You can join for free. You can immediately start earning points. Members get exclusive discounts only for members. Um And then over and above that you know there's a lot of other small tips. You know if if your dates are flexible and you can book far in advance you can get a better deal if you can lock in those dates. Maybe pre paid. A lot of hotel companies are offering a discount for people to pay in advance. You book direct as well. You may find some really great deals directly on the hotel's website right now, 50 bowery we're offering you know parking included or a breakfast included package that you can get right on the website and that appeals so much to these people in the tri state area who want to get that quick weekend away and make it really seamless because every little bit of savings adds up after at the end of the day. Are we expecting Ryan this to continue through the summer into the fall. Obviously some are sort of an anomaly right now, but are we expecting for the rest of the year? We're seeing really strong demand. Um and it's not just from the leisure, but also business travel is coming back, which is great to see for so many hotels throughout the city, those sort of Tuesday Wednesday we can, you know, weekday business warriors. Not just the big multinational companies, but even the small creative firms that you know are really present in this type of neighborhood. They're coming back to. Absolutely. I mean where's where's your favorite place to travel? We talk about all of these options. What about Yeah, right. New york is such a fantastic place to explore. And even having lived here for many years, I still find new things that I did not know. It is such a walkable city. I would encourage anyone when you come to new york just go out there and walk, You can go so many places you can get from here to Central Park and you will see so many amazing things. That's a long walk. But it's a beautiful walk. Ryan, thank you so much for joining us. Ryan Fender. General manager at Hotel 50 bowery, thank you so much again for