It Isn’t Too Late to Take a Short Summer Vacation: Here Are 4 Tips on How to Go About It

by Paul Riegler

Unlike workers in Europe, who receive over 30 paid days off a year including four weeks of paid vacation – and use them, Americans aren’t entitled by law to even a single paid day off from work. Indeed, while Americans get roughly two weeks of paid vacation, close to half don’t even take advantage of this potential free time.
The good news is that there is still time left in the …

Review: Demarchelier Restaurant, New York City

by Jonathan Spira

A remarkable gem of a French bistro is tucked away in on East 86 Street in New York’s Upper East Side. Demarchelier is a picture postcard of the genre with wonderfully authentic fare.
A bistro, in the purest sense, is a small restaurant offering relatively informal fare. They originally sprung up in the basements of Parisian apartments, where tenants would receive room and board. Eventually, these kitchens opened up to the …

Review: Dark Sky 6.0 Weather App

by Paul Riegler

While weather is a frequent topic of conversation for all, having an accurate weather forecast is vital to many travelers and the weather apps typically built into iPhone and Android devices aren’t usually up to the task.
Enter Dark Sky.
Produced by the Dark Sky Company, which bills the app as “most accurate source of hyperlocal weather,” the app offers eerily accurate forecasts based on either current location or inputted address. It …

Review: ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ at Nederlander Theatre

by Jonathan Spira

The adaptation of films to the stage, especially for blockbusters such as the 1990 film “Pretty Woman,” is a challenge.  Stepping into the shoes, or at least into the red dress that Julia Roberts wore in the movie that propelled her into stardom, in “Pretty Woman: The Musical,” which opened Thursday night on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre, shows how difficult such adaptations can be.
If you haven’t seen the …

Lobby Bar – August 24: Wizards on Tour, Paradise Lost, and ‘I’ll Take Best Songs to Sing in the Shower for $100, Alex!’

by Anna Breuer

Lobby Bar – Just Something We Whipped Up, Frothy and Refreshing
Life in Paradise. Residents of Hawaii haven’t had it easy recently. It started with an alert about an incoming missile sounded in error in January, followed by the national 24-hour record for rainfall set in April in Kauai and the eruption of the Kilauea volcano that started in May and continued until a week or so ago. Now the 50th state …

Dust Begins to Settle in Marriott-Starwood Loyalty Program IT Merger

by Anna Breuer

The monumental task of combining billions of data points for the 110 million members of Marriott International’s three guest loyalty programs into a unified platform was fraught with peril but, after the main integration work was completed over the weekend, things are beginning to settle down.
With perhaps one keystroke but thousands of man hours of work, Marriott combined Starwood Preferred Guests, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Marriott Rewards into one, as-of-yet unnamed, …

Review: ‘Hello, Dolly!’ with Donna Murphy at Shubert Theatre

by Jonathan Spira

The rather sumptuous revival of “Hello, Dolly!,” which opened last April with Bette Midler in the lead role to rave reviews (including mine), is closing shortly. But the Divine Miss M wasn’t the only Dolly Gallagher Levi.
In one of the more brilliant instances of alternate casting, Donna Murphy assumed the role last summer when Midler went on vacation, and then continued in the role every Tuesday until Midler was replaced …