The Hotel Rooftop: Expensive Drinks, Priceless Views On weekends, he said, many of the hotel’s guests “stay only to get to the rooftop.” Mr. Brandman of Journal Hotels said hotel rooftop amenities “truly create a connection.” “The rooftop is really about an extension of the community,” he said. Priority access is given to guests at the Envoy Hotel, a 136-room Autograph Collection hotel in Boston, whose Lookout Rooftop and Bar became that city’s “place to see and be seen” after it opened several years ago, said Neil H. Shah, president of Hersha Hospitality Trust, the Envoy’s owner. Earlier examples in New York include the Salon de Ning rooftop bar and terrace at the Peninsula on Fifth Avenue and the Plunge Rooftop Bar and Lounge at the Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC hotel. Developers are taking those social media moments into consideration when building a rooftop experience, said Jonah Chusid, vice president of hotel operations for Espresso Hospitality. Beverage sales are the second-most profitable part of hotel operations in the United States, after room revenue, he said, adding that hotels can charge a premium for rooftop drinks, making them even more profitable.
