In a recession, frugality can spawn nostalgia in such a way as to make it seem fashionable.
Lucky for Tarrytown House, 2009 is celebrating like it”™s 1964 ”“ and old, blue-collar beers like Pabst, Schaffer and Rheingold are “selling like hotcakes” by the pool.
“This year we”™re celebrating our 45th anniversary as the nation”™s first executive conference center, so there”™s a bunch of different packages,” said Joe Santore, general manager. “We have a special menu that the chefs pulled from the old conference menu from the 1960s, and we”™re offering guests a three-course dinner for $19.64.”
The menu, which includes classic favorites like Steak Diane and Chicken Cordon Bleu has been a real hit, Santore said.
History is popular at Tarrytown House this year, too; the conference center recently began offering a weekend package featuring tours of Kykuit, the nearby Rockefeller estate.
“Kykuit has been a very big attraction for Tarrytown and the lower Hudson Valley for over a decade now,” Santore said. “It”™s an incredible hilltop estate made of granite with incredible sculpture gardens overlooking the Hudson. Since we noticed a lot of our guests  were coming to Tarrytown House for that historic feel, but they wanted to visit the historic attractions, whether it be Kykuit, Lyndhurst, Sunnyside, Phillipsburg Manor or the old Dutch church where the headless horseman supposedly rode, it was just a natural evolution to have everything in one package so that the customer could get the overnight room, the breakfast for two and tickets for two to Kykuit in one seamless price. It”™s been hugely popular.”
Last summer as Santore started to see signs of the recession beginning, he noticed Tarrytown House was getting more unaffiliated weekend reservations.
“They weren”™t part of a wedding; they weren”™t part of a group. They were coming up and using the property as a mini-vacation,” Santore said. “It”™s a whole marketing mix that I never even thought about, but with this recession, Manhattanites and people from the five boroughs and certainly Long Island are taking the Metro-North train here from Manhattan. It”™s a nice scenic ride on the Hudson line.”
Going along with the historical theme, the conference center recently restored six guest rooms in the property”™s King mansion to their historic nature.
Santore said, “Two of the bedrooms have private veranda decks. It truly is very special for the weekenders.”
Celler 49, a restaurant at Tarrytown House that opened last spring, is only for guests ”“ but Santore is trying to change that.
“I am working with the village to get us truly open to the general public,” Santore said. “Because we sit in the historic and residential district zone in Tarrytown we”™re not treated like a commercial hotel, which is very nice for our guests, but we”™re surrounded by almost 200 neighbors and we want to be a little more accessible to our neighbors who want to come here.”
Westchester Manor, a 12,000-square-foot catering hall in Hastings-on-Hudson, has also adjusted to the economy.
Owners Enrico Mareschi and John Gresia spent up to $80,000 sprucing up the place since they bought it five months ago.
“We have an outside patio, which was just re-done, and a brand new tent,” Mareschi said. “We use it for ceremonies and cocktail hours, and we just re-did all of our landscaping. One of our rooms fits up to 350 people; a second room fits up to 140 people, and we use them for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, anniversary and engagement parties, communions, and corporate events.”
Mareschi and Gresia, who have 35 years of catering experience between them, specialize in Italian and American cuisine. Mareschi said his customer base is focused on the average couple. Per-person rates for weddings range from $65 to $110.
“We lowered out prices to accommodate all the brides and grooms,” Mareschi said. “We have packages where we include the DJ, flowers and our services. We”™re really trying to fit the budget of a future married couple.”
Still, Mareschi would like to get more corporate work. Westchester Manor is equipped to accommodate corporate functions from 50 to 400 guests. Wireless microphones, projection screens and Wi-Fi are included in all corporate packages.
In Yonkers, the new Yonkers Hampton Inn & Suites is the first new hotel in the city in 40 years, according to Darren Piercey.
The hotel has 150 rooms, an indoor pool and offers a full hot breakfast buffet.
It also offers business accommodations.
“We have meeting space,” Piercey said. “There”™s one large meeting room that has an air wall that can be sub-divided. It”™s really nice because we have a huge outdoor deck, which is good for breakouts.”
The hotel, located inside South Westchester Executive Park, has attracted a lot of walk-in business from Yonkers companies.
“Obviously the economy is not the best in the world, but we”™re very pleased with our numbers so far,” Piercey said. “This is the first hotel opening in Yonkers in over 40 years, so there”™s a lot of interest. We are in the process of purchasing a shuttle now, and we will offer shuttle services from the train station.”
