Back around 2007, I flew from Frankfurt to the US...for a high-school reunion. For the first time in my life....I was flying into JFK (NY City), and was supposed to sit around for four hours....then fly onto Nashville, then drive the rest of the way.
Well....this was the summer with fantastic lightning storms, and upon arriving at JFK....I came to discover that everything from that time (around 1:30 PM) was cancelled. Nothing was to move.
In fact, they were hinting that things were so bad (for the previous day, storms had already messed up things)....that I might not be able to leave NY City for three to four days.
Around 4 PM, I gave up on arranging things and begin to work on accomodations in the city. What I ended up with? A one-night stay in the Roosevelt Hotel (3-star) at $249 (military retired discount). This also meant having to rig up some type of transportation from the airport to mid-town area (to run around $45).
The Roosevelt? Well...historically, it was a fine place which had probably started to decay in the 1990s. The room wasn't bad.....it just didn't match up to what I considered a three-star in Germany or Greece.
The breakfast? $32.
It was a unique experience and around 2018....the wife and I flew back into JFK....experiencing the Roosevelt for six days. It was a harsh six days....my German wife was pretty ballistic at the cost factor and the crappy condition of the hotel.
Back in 2020, as Covid arrived....the Roosevelt shut-down. The talk was that it would probably be converted into condo situation (probably a decade down the road).
This past week, I noticed the Roosevelt in the news....the city had worked out a deal with the new owners (Pakistani Airways, oddly enough).....for the hotel to be re-used as a refugee/migrant facility. No one says the amount, but I'm guessing the city pays a million per month, to serve in this capacity.
How long will this go on? It wouldn't shock me if this went on for a full decade.
