Unique Sleeps: The Maritime Hotel New York

Unique Sleeps: Amazing hotels hand picked by Expedia Experts. The Maritime Hotel, New York.

As a tourist in New York, you’re usually pretty happy if you find yourself with a nice-looking room, a comfy bed, clean towels each day and enough toiletries to last your stay. So, when you find yourself in a hotel with a truly unique atmosphere, it’s always pretty special. And The Maritime Hotel has personality in spades.

Atmosphere

The Maritime hotel is more than a hotel. Staying here is like stepping into the imagined world of a Wes Anderson film. Housed in a building once owned by the National Maritime Union of America, the hotel has a distinctly retro, nautical theme – from the original porthole-style windows in every room to the fun, vintage decor in the main lobby. The hotel’s staff are equally quirky – we met one concierge who would not have been out of place at a casting call for The Grand Budapest Hotel, in the most brilliantly entertaining way!

Originally built in the 1960s, the Maritime Hotel building was originally designed by New Orleans-based architect Albert C. Ledner. In 1987 the building was sold and became a drug-rehabilitation centre for young people. Colloquially, there is a theory that certain floors of the hotel are haunted (!) – a hangover from these years when the building operated as an educational facility and home for troubled teens. Don’t worry, we didn’t see any evidence of supernatural activity during our stay!

In 2001 New York entrepreneurs Sean K. MacPherson and Eric Goode bought the building and began converting it into a hotel, which opened in 2003.