Amid the love- and couple-focused promos on Valentine's Day, some hotels generated publicity by hosting events for single people. The quirkiest of the bunch was the New York Helmsley Hotel's anti-Valentine's Day ball, an '80s-themed party open to the public (at $45 a pop) inside its ground-floor restaurant Mindy's. As much an opportunity to market the 27-year-old property as it was to upstage the efforts of other hotels, the throwback dance party was organized the hotel's general manager, Mark Briskin, and production firm MKG.
According to Briskin, the idea was not only to remind New Yorkers of the Helmsley but also to do something a little different and fun where guests could interact with one another. "[For holidays] hotels traditionally tend to keep to the straight and narrow—it's always the same run-of-the-mill menu, whether it's Mother's Day or Valentine's Day," he said. "Chocolate gets pushed in your face nine ways from Sunday.... We wanted to give them something kind of silly."
Using a minimum of props—the team had only a month to plan—the ball included a variety of breakup-themed games, a specialty cocktail list, an aphrodisiac buffet (organized by the hotel's executive chef, John Walsh), and, of course, a music track of '80s songs. The mixed crowd of 300 guests spent much of the evening jiving on the dance floor, chatting about breakups, and fighting over red voodoo dolls—a coveted piece of decor that decked centerpieces and walls behind the tables.
Adolescent tomfoolery was the name of the game at W Hotels, too, with a revamped version of spin the bottle through a partnership with San Francisco-based sex-toy company Jimmyjane. Hoping to draw hotel guests and the after-work crowd, the "Feel the Wuv" festivities took place at each of the living rooms and Midnight Oil bars of the Starwood Hotels-owned chain.
Beginning at 6 p.m., partygoers played with bottles filled with long strips of two-toned pink-and-white paper that offered flirty dares like "Make eye contact with someone in the room and lick your lips" or "Send someone a drink and write them a note on the napkin." (Those with a hotel key who had pre-ordered the "Feel the Wuv" package could take a Jimmyjane bottle upstairs to enjoy the more risqué pink side of the strips, along with a 20 percent discount on store items and the option of a private nude portrait session.) Throughout the two-hour event, guests were plied with cocktails and Vosges Haut-Chocolat.
