I’ve been to a few hotels in NYC and Newark, NJ that have a similar layout as the Liberty Hotel and the Brunswick. One such hotel that I stayed at in Manhattan did have their front desk on the ground level and that was all that was on that level. To get to even any salon/eatery areas, you had to go to the second level. All levels above that were meeting spaces and the hotel rooms. For other properties, it was the second level where the front desk resided.
If you have ever been to Crown Center in Kansas City, you will see a very unique, and profitable, set up. Crown Center itself is basically a mall. It has three levels. On either side of the Center is a hotel that are linked together by a skywalk called “The Link”. The Hyatt Regency is on one end, the Westin Crown Center is on the other. An addition to “The Link” was added in 2000 that linked the Westin Crown Center to Union Station, a very prominent train station and historical landmark that gets thousands of tourists every year, not to mention being a working train station. For both the Hyatt Regency and the Westin Crown Center, people are brought to the second level of these establishments by “The Link”. If they are checking in, they have to go down to the ground level.
The problem with the Brunswick wasn’t the location of its lobby. I was at the Brunswick a couple years ago and yes there were a number of things my untrained eye saw that needed improving, but it had nothing to do with the lobby’s location. The Brunswick had a lot of potential, probably still does. What it needs is the right person to take over, pick it back up and restore it to the glory I’ve heard it once had. Unfortunately, we are in an economic time that isn’t going to see that happen right away. I, for one, would be saddened if it never happened. Hotels with franchise designations do tend to go the distance, but there is something to be said for non-branded properties that have a uniqueness to them. It’s a shame that Brunswick can’t find that uniqueness again.
The biggest problem facing the Brunswick is its location, surrounded for a city block in all directions with next to nothing for people to see or do.