How The Mark Hotel Gets Ready For The Met Gala, From Check-in to Red Carpet

[gentle music]

[buzzer dings]

Welcome to The Mark as we prepare

for the busiest day of our year, Met Gala.

I'm Leily Cantone and I'm the Director

of Marketing for The Mark.

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[elevator bell rings] [upbeat music]

The Mark is situated in a beautiful 1927

landmark building on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The hotel was renovated and reimagined in 2009

by a group of amazing artists and artisans,

led by the legendary, Jacques Grange.

The Mark has become an unofficial integral part

of the Met Gala for so many reasons.

It's become the place to see and be seen

and step out on the pre-read carpet

before you get on the red carpet.

The energy and the buzz is unmatched

and it's seriously the place to be.

It takes The Mark 365 days to prepare

for something like this.

Once one Met Gala ends,

we're onto the next gala.

I'm gonna show you an insider look

on what it takes for us

to prepare for the Met Gala.

[upbeat music] [elevator bell rings]

Welcome to the crown jewel

of The Mark, the penthouse.

It's the largest penthouse suite in North America

featuring 12,000 square feet of space in total

with a price tag of $75,000 per night.

Let me show you around.

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We are in the great room of the penthouse,

one of my favorite rooms,

features 26 foot tall ceilings.

We're actually inside the green cupola

that you see when you come to The Mark.

The space behind me was actually

meant to be a banquet hall

so it makes for the perfect

after Met Gala watch party or after-party,

where we'll bring up our famous hotdog cart

for hotdogs and french fries

to dance the night away.

This penthouse has five bedrooms,

two of which are primary suites.

Six bathrooms, a formal dining room,

a chef's kitchen, a library.

And upstairs, you see a beautiful outdoor terrace

with 2,500 square feet of space

with sweeping views of Central Park

in Midtown Manhattan.

This suite is completely unmatched

in New York City.

You feel like you have your own house

with the access to all of the perks

of staying at a hotel.

This suite actually offers 24 hour access

to Bergdorf Goodman.

So if the shopping itch arises,

we can take care of that for you.

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Rooms and suites at The Mark

are typically booked by brands

and they often use the suites

in so many different ways.

So they'll say, Okay,

I need all the furniture removed

because this suite is going

to be used as a sewing suite.

Oftentimes they'll say,

Oh, I need absolutely everything removed.

So every piece of furniture at The Mark

is made specifically for The Mark.

So we tag the furniture.

We have two storage locations throughout the city.

The end table is marked Room 1401.

That end table is moved into storage

and put back exactly

where it is the very next day.

The next day, it's business as usual

and so many guests are checking in

with no notion of what happened here

the day before at Met Gala.

So we have less than 12 hours to flip the rooms

and make it look like absolutely

nothing happened here the day before.

[upbeat music]

[door knocking]

Room service.

[soft drink hissing]

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[Leily] As the rooms and suites

are booked by brands, we often don't know

until a couple of days before

who's going to be occupying those suites.

That means we don't receive riders

until a day or so before they check in.

A rider is essentially a list

of requests or special needs

that a VIP or a celebrity talent

might need during their stay

that is kind of out of the ordinary

be it a special volcanic water from Hawaii

or a guest who was actually staying

in this suite wanted KFC replenished every hour,

on the hour regardless

of whether it was eaten or not.

So we wanted to make sure

that chicken was fresh.

We also had a brand who wished

for one brand of tea throughout all

of their guest rooms and suites.

Being in New York, we thought

we had a nice selection of teas,

but we were wrong.

We scoured the entire country

for this brand of teas

and found one cafe in San Francisco

that had the tea

so we had them overnighted

and we made the magic happen.

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The Mark offers an incredible array

of amenities for its guests,

including 24 hour room service by Jean-Georges,

a John Lobb shoe shine,

Frédéric Fekkai Hair Salon,

picnics in Central Park in the summer,

an incredible 70 foot sailboat

to take in the summertime.

It's one of my favorite things to do.

And we love to not take ourselves too seriously,

so we have our beloved hotdog stand outside

and the pedicab rides

which is kind of what we've become known for.

A fun fact is that no one from Met Gala

has ever used our pedicab rides

to go to the Met before

but they will get there faster than walking,

taking their car service.

You'll be there in three minutes,

no traffic, highly suggest.

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[light music]

[upbeat music]

We're here at the iconic Mark Hotdog Cart

by Jean-Georges at The Mark Hotel.

Met Gala at The Mark

is an extremely busy period for us,

probably the busiest sales day for food

and beverage with both our restaurant

and our penthouse normally booked for events,

accompanied that by room service

as we are fully sold out throughout the hotel.

Today, I'm gonna give you a brief overview

of what makes this our signature hotdog

here on the Upper East Side.

We have two variations of the hotdog,

the Schaller & Weber uncured beef hotdog

and [indistinct] organic chicken hotdog.

Accoutrements for the hotdog

starting with our caraway seed sauerkraut.

Then we have our yuzu pickles.

And lastly, our kimchi accompanied that

by the iconic mcMark french fries

which have been a staple within the Met Gala.

Creating a high-low moment

after you come back

from such a prestigious gala

and one of probably the most fashionable events

throughout New York City,

relive the glory days of your childhood

by indulging in a hotdog and french fries.

[light music]

[upbeat music]

The lobby of the hotel

is considered ground zero

for all of the chaos, fun,

and commotion on Met Gala Day.

The lobby is easily covered

with up to 2,000 people,

glam squads, photographers, videographers,

you name it, talent, obviously,

they're here in the lobby.

This year's theme for Met Gala

is Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty

and we're super excited

because we are lucky to feature original prints

of Karl Lagerfeld in many of our suites.

[indistinct] design these floors.

I think these floors are obviously

such an amazing nod to Karl.

The red carpet at The Mark

is completely custom made for us

from the length to make sure

it doesn't go over the edge onto the curb

to even the thickness of the height.

There's even half moons cut out

to accommodate our planters.

It takes a crew of 10 men to place it.

It's placed on the night prior

to make sure all the kinks are worked out

and covered with film to make sure

it's in immaculate condition

for the talent that's walking out.

The elevators are shut down completely

30 minutes prior to the guest departure.

We know down to the minute

every VIP's arrival time to the main red carpet

and we send the elevator up

according to their departure time

so it's seamlessly executed

and we can get everybody out

in the most coordinated way we can.

[Photographer] Anna.

[indistinct] Thank you so much.

[Man] Thank you, Anna.

[Leily] Managing the paparazzi

is obviously a big job.

We keep them barricaded

on both sides of the red carpet

and we invite up to 40,

maybe 50 pre-approved paparazzi to kind

of take a part of the action that day.

95% of the hotel is consistent

of Met Gala guests.

The other 5% are extremely loyal guests of The Mark

which they know what they're getting into

and they kind of love being a part

of all the magic and excitement on that day.

[upbeat music]

[buzzer dings]

Thank you so much for joining me.

I'll see you on the red carpet.

[upbeat music]