Photo The Out Hotel, a gay-themed hotel in Midtown West, has been sold, and its buyer is said to be planning on rebranding it as a general boutique hotel. Credit Santiago Mejia/The New York Times
It was a bright and sunny Wednesday afternoon in August, the kind that calls for a relaxing glass of rosé, enjoyed at an Instagram-worthy spot at your vacation hotel.
But at the Out Hotel in New York last week, not a sipper was to be seen lounging at the hotel's outdoor courtyard, with its white couches set on kelly-green AstroTurf and its look-above cityscape views.
Down on the ground floor, someone at the Lindeman, the restaurant and bar that can be accessed directly through the hotel's lobby, must have agreed it was a pink-wine sort of moment: The bar was offering a rosé-and-oysters happy hour special.
There were a handful people at the bar — including a woman in sneakers and shorts who ate oysters as she skimmed Facebook on her phone, with the help of a magnifying glass she laid over it — and about five employees of the hotel and bar.
A reporter was present as well, but upon making her profession and affiliation known, and asking questions about the hotel's vitality, the group of employees disbanded and disappeared.
This, perhaps, is not the scene that Out Hotel's owners, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, pictured when they set out to create a gay-friendly hotel on West 42nd Street in New York. And this, perhaps, is part of the reason that the hotel is being sold, with its buyer, Merchants Hospitality, planning on rebranding as a general boutique hotel, according to news reports. (A spokesman from Merchants declined to comment for this article.)
The hotel stands in something of a no-man's-land between Times Square and the Hudson River. For a while, its big nightclub, XL, drew a crowd. But its relative popularity was short-lived.
So, too, was that of Mr. Reisner and Mr. Weiderpass in the gay community. The two business partners (and onetime life-partners) learned the bitter taste of internet notoriety last spring after hosting an event at their home attended by Sen. Ted Cruz, then a Republican presidential candidate, who has been an opponent of marriage equality for gays and lesbians.
As The New York Times reported in May, "gay activists went ballistic." The businessmen, who said that the dinner was not a fund-raiser but just an informal get-together, engendered more anger when Mr. Reisner, in an interview with New York magazine, blamed the Out Hotel's intended clientele for its lackluster economic performance: "This has not been a profitable venture. Gays are cheap."
The hotel tried to play up its gay-branding in certain special events and in its lobby art. Earlier this summer, the lobby walls were adorned with Barbie doll dioramas that depicted various dolls in same-sex situations: two male dolls walking hand-in-hand; two women — one in a white gown, another in a white sleeveless tuxedo — at their wedding.
The opening for the show, called "Legal Vows" and created by the artist Pamela Bennett Ader, took place just after the mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Fla., attracting about 100 people, Ms. Ader said. "It was poorly attended," she said. "The community was sad and a little frightened about coming out."
Ms. Ader spent a lot of time at the hotel, installing her art and looking in to witness reactions to it. "It was a very mixed group of tourists," she said. "It wasn't necessarily a place for the gay community."
The neces sity for a so-called gay hotel in the center of New York City was never entirely clear. "Gays travel a lot and for anyone who travels a lot, the hospitality industry goes out of its way to be very hospitable," said Nathan Lump, the editor in chief of Travel & Leisure and editorial director of Time Inc.'s lifestyle group.
He added: "I have traveled with my husband in some countries that are not super gay-friendly. But when you check in to an international hotel, you know they are not going to treat you terribly when you ask for a king-sized bed. The industry as a whole is very inclusive."
Attracting gay travelers is an imperative for hotel groups. Many hotels and hotel chains have diversity officers who oversee the process of educating employees and making properties inclusive of all travelers. Hilton published an advertisement in the June isse of Travel & Leisure showing two men, dressed, wearing wedding rings and cuddling in bed. (A social-media backlash to the ad developed several weeks after it was p ublished when a group called the American Family Association started an anti-Hilton petition.)
As for the future prospects of a new hotel in the location of the soon-to-be-former Out Hotel, there is potential, said Steven Kamali, the chief executive of the Hospitality House, a food and beverage advisory firm. Luxury hotels and apartment buildings are being developed near the Hudson Yards, and any nearby establishment offering quality food, drink and ambience is positioned to benefit.
"The most interesting portion of the hotel is the interior courtyard," said Mr. Kamali, who has toured the space. "Having access to outdoor space in Manhattan that is off the st reet is incredibly unique," he said.
Certainly, a nice spot for a summertime glass of rosé.
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