Home-Based Travel Agent - February 2008 - (Page 43)

by Brooklynites Mark Levy and his three sons, promises the “four E’s” on their tours: entertaining, educational, engaging and enlightening. LUNY offers walking and coach tours in such varied Brooklyn neighborhoods as Williamsburg, Brighton Beach, Crown Heights, Greenpoint, Borough Park, Park Slope, Red Hook and Ditmas Park, as well as iconic spots like the Brooklyn Bridge, Prospect Park and Coney Island. They have standard and customized itineraries, and all their guides are native New Yorkers. Sample rates for groups are on the web site, but the company has net rates and will do individual tours. For a customized walking tour, you may want to contact urban historian Justin Ferate (212-223-2777, jferate tours@earthlink.net), who has been lauded as one of New York City’s premier tour guides by the governor, the state tourism council, AAA and several publications. Check out his tour ideas—which are grouped by such themes as architecture, literary, landscapes and general overview—at www. justinsnewyork.com. Ferate will work with agents to create an itinerary suiting their clients’ interests and preferences, and he offers net rates for agent bookings. Hotels: When the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge (www.brook lynmarriott.com) opened in 1998, it was Brooklyn’s first new hotel in six decades. In the one decade since then, about 500 hotel rooms have been added and another 2,000 planned, with major industry names like InterContinental, Holiday Inn and Starwood jumping on the Brooklyn bandwagon. The recently expanded Marriott still has the best location. Just a couple of blocks from the bridge in Downtown, it’s only minutes from Manhattan’s financial district and not too far from midtown. Guests can walk to such neighborhoods as Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights and reach others by a short subway or cab ride. The hotel has 637 rooms and suites, as well as a restaurant, bar and gym with swimming pool. Six of its 35 stories are concierge levels. Brooklyn’s first boutique hotel opened in November. The 48-room Hotel Le Bleu (www.hotellebleu.com), at the Gowanus/Park Slope border, is not as conveniently located as its promotional material would lead you to believe—clients going to see a Broadway show, for example, would have to allow a good hour’s traveling time by either subway or taxi. But it’s a short walk to 5th and 7th Avenues—great shopping and dining streets—and easily accessible to most other places in Brooklyn. Le Bleu’s rooms feature all the deluxe and high-tech amenities associated with the boutique label; most have balconies, with either Brooklyn panoramas or Manhattan and Statue of Liberty views. A rooftop restaurant and A parlor of the Akwaaba B&B in Bedford-Stuyvesant lounge are scheduled to open in the spring, and continental breakfast buffet is currently included for all guests. Rack rates begin around $325. Le Bleu is five blocks from the subway at Union Street and 4th Avenue; just around the corner from that station is the 1½-year-old Holiday Inn Express (www.expressbrooklyn.com). Five of its 115 rooms have a Jacuzzi tub, and complimentary breakfast buffet is served for all guests. Rack rates start around $189. Opened last year, the 104-room Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge (www. comfortinnbrooklyn.com) is actually a couple of miles from the bridge, in the brownstone area of Boerum Hill/Carroll Gardens, with plenty of dining, shopping and entertainment options (including BAM) nearby. Among the in-room amenities are plasma TVs, and some rooms have whirlpool tubs. Rack rates start around $180, including breakfast. For more intimate accommodations, consider the Akwaaba bed-andContinued on page 44 FEB RUARY 2008 Home-BasedTravelAgent 43 http://www.expressbrooklyn.com http://www.hotellebleu.com http://www.comfortinnbrooklyn.com http://www.comfortinnbrooklyn.com http://www.justinsnewyork.com http://www.justinsnewyork.com http://www.brooklynmarriott.com http://www.brooklynmarriott.com

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Home-Based Travel Agent - February 2008

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