After months of delays and several projected opening dates that never quite happened, Andre Balazs' Standard NYC finally opened its doors to guests yesterday. It's a soft opening, which means people who book rooms for $195 a night still won't have access to a restaurant, room service, or gym. Nonetheless, the reservation line (212-784-5530!) has been switched on, which we'll count as a victory in these scary, recessionary times. [HotelChatter]

The Plaza has been hit with lots of bad press in recent days. (Like here and here.) But the fabled landmark has a plan to redeem its rep! Book three nights through the end of the year (at rates of $875 per night and up) and they'll give you an extra night free! Plus they'll throw in a couple of free tickets to Radio City's "Christmas Spectacular" show, too. Just don't mind the shoddy construction work and fake marble in the bathrooms, please! [WSJ via TRD]

So much for Andre Balazs's plans to open an outpost of the Standard in the meatpacking district this week. HotelChatter is reporting that the launch will be pushed back by a week "unless a miracle happens." [HC]

Much has been written about the Plaza in recent weeks: Several people who purchased condos in the newly-renovated landmark have since sued the Plaza's owner, El-Ad, over various imperfections and unmet promises. Then there's the ill-timed "luxury mall" which recently opened in the building's basement, which features a store that sells cell phones for $310,000. If you've been having trouble keeping track of all the goings-on at the fabled building, here's a brief list of the Plaza's most notable moments from its debut in 1907 up to the present day.

Andre Balazs may be having trouble filling rooms at his collection of boutique hotels and his Standard NYC will open this week without a lucrative bar or room service operation in place, but it seems he's come up with a new way to keep the cash flowing: He's unveiled a series of limited-edition Standard T-shirts. Balazs commissioned three artists to design the $55 tees, and they're now on sale in the lobby of his hotels as well as on the Standard website. [notcot.com]

Andre Balazs' long-awaited Standard NYC is opening its doors beginning on December 10th with rooms starting out at just $195 a night. The catch? Construction on the hotel hasn't been completed as of yet, so guests will probably have to dodge a bit of dust and debris for the first few weeks. Oh, and room service won't be available when the hotel opens, although Balazs promises that "guests will receive an in-room binder consisting of our favorite local restaurants which will provide delivery service." At least tourists can be grateful that the Standard won't be slipping them under their doors.

Art Basel Miami, the most talked-about art event of the year, is in full swing and all the usual suspects have turned up. At a party on Tuesday night hosted by the Times' T magazine and hotelier Andre Balazs, faithful scenesters like Calvin Klein, Takashi Murakami, Naomi Campbell, Rachel Zoe, Yvonne Force Villareal, Dasha Zhukova, and Ingrid Sischy all put in appearances. So how is it all going? It sort of depends who you ask! Judging by the breathless coverage on sites like Fashion Week Daily, all seems to be fine and well. It's "bigger than any recession-concerned naysayers could have predicted," reports Adam P. Schneider in a piece titled "The Best of Times." Over at Dasha's table, for example, the "important topic" on everyone's lips wasn't the recession; it was the "internet craze surrounding Shiba Inu puppies." Of course it was! Unfortunately, that cheerfulness escaped New York's Alexandra Peers, who reports that the fair itself had about half as many people as last year, and that everyone is still waiting for the gazillionaire buyers—like, say, Dasha's boyfriend, Roman Abramovich—to show their faces."Everyone is asking, where are the Russians?" Yes, Miami is very much empty at the moment, as we confirmed when we made a few phone calls this afternoon.

It's not just dealers and artists who will be feeling the effects of a much more subdued atmosphere at this year's Art Basel. Further evidence that the annual art event is not going to be teeming with hedge fund moguls, Russian billionaires, and party scenesters as in years past: Rooms at Miami's top hotels are not at all hard to come by, judging by what's available on sites like Expedia and Orbitz. A run-of-the-mill room at Andre Balazs's Standard Hotel, for example, will cost you $426 a night if you arrive on Thursday and leave on Sunday. And there are availabilities at a number of other spots that would normally be booked months in advance, including the Delano, Sagamore, Shore Club, Four Seasons, Gansevoort, and Ritz-Carlton. If you're thinking of making a last-minute trip south, you need not worry about transportation either. Seats aboard flights from NYC to Miami are still up for sale, and although we didn't call to check, we're guessing that NetJets customers won't have any trouble booking a reservation either.

The problems are piling up for financier Steve Rattner. Two weeks ago, the media investor and Quadrangle Capital co-founder announced plans to shut down one of the firm's hedge funds; last week, it was revealed that Rattner's Alpha Media Group, which publishes Maxim and Blender, had fallen behind on payments to the company's creditors. Now the publishing company has been hit with a lawsuit by a hospitality company that claims Alpha Media failed live up to an agreement to promote a resort in the Dominican Republic bearing the Maxim name. The company, EMI Resorts, is now seeking more $80 million in damages. The full suit is below.

The Morgans Hotel Group has no plans to stand idly by as the economy crumbles and overpriced, miniature hotel rooms go unsold! The boutique hotel conglomerate launched a new ad campaign, the super-simple tagline for which is on your left. The company started up a new website, too, recessison.com, which, it turns out, is not a reflection on the grammatical abilities of Morgans' marketing staff, but because it stands for "Recess Is On"—or please, please book rooms at our dimly-lit, Philippe Starck-designed hotels and put it to your credit card, even if means you won't be able to pay your AmEx bill at the end of the month. After the jump, two of the videos Morgans uploaded to YouTube to get the silly marketing campaign off the ground.

Members of Soho House will have a new place to mingle with Eurotrash by the end of 2009: The private club's parent company, Soho House Ltd., has acquired the The Sovereign Hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach and says it plans to turn the property into its latest outpost, with a boutique hotel, rooftop bar, pool, spa, and screening room. [GlobeSt via TRD]

The city is looking for a developer to turn to the Bellevue' Psychiatric Hospital on 30th and First Avenue into a luxury hotel. Really. [Curbed]

Just in case you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket and you happen to be totally obsessed with Jonathan Adler, W Hotels has introduced the "Design Dream" package. The basic promotion includes a "stylish" room rate and a basket of Adler-branded goods. But for $10,000 more, "design-daring guests" will get a "personal one-on-one session with the legendary potter himself" when he joins you for lunch and then accompanies you on a "private shopping spree at one of his stores in New York City." Alas, no word on whether you can throw in a little extra and get Simon to show up, too.

The Mayflower in Washington has quite the offer for anyone interested in going to D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration. The "Ultimate Presidential" package includes a three-night stay, limo service, "his and hers inaugural jewelry," Dom Perignon champagne, in-room massages for two, 24-hour butler service, and his and hers "inaugural garb" from Burberry ("to keep special guests warm during the inaugural ceremony"). And it's only $51,000. What a steal! As for whether you'll be staying in the same room where Eliot Spitzer shared some special time with Ashley Dupre, you'll have to call and ask. [HotelChatter]

Perhaps you're bullish on the local economy and the city's ability to lure tourists to NYC no matter what experts say? If so, you may be interested to hear that two W Hotels on the same block in Midtown are now up for sale. It's a package deal: You'll get the W New York Tuscany and the W New York Court for $150 million and $160 million. [NYP]

As you probably suspected, luxury hotels are feeling the pinch as the economy spirals downward. It's not just the fact that tourists are no longer interested in paying $1,750 a night for a room when their brokerage accounts are imploding at the same time. The corporate travel market is shifting, too, and some companies are shying away from sending employees to fancy hotels for fear that bad press will follow when people find out that these are the same companies laying people off right and left. Imagine that!

If you're looking for a cheap but stylish place to put up your relatives this holiday season, you now have a new option to add to the list of possibilities: the Guggenheim. The "theanyspacewhatever" exhibit, which opens today, features a "Revolving Hotel Room," an art installation that doubles as an actual hotel room. The space sleeps two and rates for the room start at just $259 a night, making it as affordable as the Holiday Inn in Midtown.

Have you heard the one about the ghost who haunts the Bowery Hotel and makes the elevators go haywire every night at 1 a.m.? We hadn't either. But that's what a vampire expert is telling people, and just in time for Halloween, too! [HotelChatter]

Now that he has the Thompson LES to promote, hotelier Jason Pomeranc has all sorts of great things to say about the Lower East Side. In fact, "the Lower East Side is my favorite neighborhood in New York," he tells Fashion Week Daily. No word on whether that means he'd actually live there himself—his loft happens to be located in SoHo—although if he does decide to move and elects to stay at the Thompson LES while in transition, we'd recommend that he not use the hotel's WiFi. [Fashion Week Daily]

It seems hotelier Jason Pomeranc (left) and his two brothers have more to worry about than construction delays or declining demand for overpriced hotel rooms south of 14th Street. According to court documents filed this week, someone hacked into the Thompson Hotels email system two weeks ago by impersonating an employee, made off with confidential company documents, and is now threatening to disclose them to the public. The identity of the hacker is unknown, and the U.S. District Court complaint does not specify what sort of information was obtained—although judging by Thompson's reaction, we're guessing it wasn't a revised room service menu. Thompson's suit against "John Doe" after the jump.