If, by chance, you are interested in checking in for a few nights, you'll be glad to find that hotels have begun to push the envelope on amenities and services. To robes and stationery have been added contemporary telecommunications hardware and high-speed Internet access. Besides offering extensive catalogs of movies on demand, televisions are enabled to surf the Web, and many are outfitted with DVD players. Traditional concierge service has been supplanted by elite teams of hospitality commandos who will scour the city to satisfy any request. Nondescript soaps and boring shampoos have been replaced with products containing exotic botanicals never tested on animals.
Lighting is low.
Minibars stock gourmet junk food. New York is on a pace to boast more than 63,000 hotel rooms by 2002, a 5 percent increase over 1998 levels. Occupancy has soared to as high as 84 percent. That's steep, but in many cases the expense seems justified, given the range and quality of services. And besides, it's New York, where few pleasures come cheap.