NYC Four Seasons Hotel Offers Free Housing To Healthcare Workers

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers responding to the coronavirus outbreak in New York City will be able to live at the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for free during the duration of the outbreak, the hotel and nurses union officials announced Wednesday.

Hotelier Ty Warner, whose Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts owns the Four Seasons, pledged to aid the healthcare workers on Wednesday after New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on private businesses to aid in efforts against coronavirus.

"Our health care workers are working tirelessly on the front lines of this crisis," Warner said in a statement. "Many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days. They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate."

Cuomo thanked the hotel in a Twitter post on Wednesday, saying it is "the first of many hotels we hope will make their rooms available."

The I.M. Pei-designed hotel on West 57th Street normally charges visitors staying at the hotel rates upwards of $1,000-per-night, according to its website. The hotel shut down on March 20 and halted all reservations until April 15 due to social distancing measures encourages by New York State.

"The New York State Nurses Association thanks Ty Warner and the Four Seasons New York for stepping up for the nurses – it means a lot to see people helping first responders who are working day and night during this worldwide pandemic," Pat Kane, executive director of the New York State Nurses Association, said in a statement.