NEW YORK — In this city's super-competitive hotel business, marketing gurus are always looking for an angle, a special amenity that will draw hordes of guests -- whether it's proximity to Central Park, upscale shopping or five-star dining.
As it emerges from a multimillion-dollar renovation, the historic Algonquin Hotel is betting that literary nostalgia and a $10,000 martini will do the trick.
It was here, in New York's theater district, that America's famous literary salon was born 85 years ago. What started as a serendipitous lunchtime meeting of young writers came to be known as the Round Table, a chummy midtown gathering that featured Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kauffman, Edna Ferber, Alexander Woollcott, Harpo Marx and other American celebrities in the 1920s.
The Algonquin "has had more famous writers in its lobby than you'd ever believe," said Hank Lyons, a bellman for 45 years. "But we had to bring the place up to date."
Indeed, the ghosts of writers and actors fill the hotel's oak-paneled lobby. Over the years, the Algonquin has been a major attraction for literati touring New York -- with plaques in the lobby, walking tours of the neighborhood and musical revues saluting the scribes who held court there.
But is nostalgia enough to boost the fortunes of an establishment that must compete with three other hotels on West 44th Street and cannot offer the amenities of larger, more lavish rivals?
For decades, the Algonquin has been known primarily for its bustling lobby. Its 174 guest rooms and suites, however, were another matter. Magazine critics and tourists writing online reviews complained that the quarters were small, old and stuffy. The "Gonk," as Parker dubbed it, began to fall out of favor.
So the hotel's owners, Denver-based Miller Global Properties, recently spent $3 million to renovate the building. They are gambling that this upgrade, coupled with a marketing campaign based on nostalgia, will breathe life back into the Algonquin.
"There was quite a playground here in this hotel 85 years ago, and America never had such a collection of literary people meeting in one place," said general manager Anthony Melchiorri, sipping tea in the lobby.
"What we're trying to do now is bring back the excitement -- for anyone who ever loved the history of this place, and for people who want to feel that the literary world, the world of writers, still lives on here," Melchiorri said.
