Have $10,000? Rent Out A Lounge For New Year's!
Live in New York or Chicago, looking for something to do New Year's Eve, and have at least 90 friends and a wheelbarrow-full of cash? Then you might just be the right person to take over The James Hotels' bar and lounges in their New York and Chicago locations, now for sale on eBay.
In New York, $25,000 will get you full access to the SoHo hotel's penthouse lounge, JIMMY, with cocktails, a DJ, a champagne toast at midnight, appetizers from chef David Burke, and 360-degree views of Manhattan thrown in. The bidding war is raging (well actually, there are no bids as of press time), and if you bring 99 friends that means that access to your party will only cost them about $250 each.
Over in Chicago the situation is the same, except for the fact that the price has been chopped to $10,000. Up to 97 people can take over the JBar in that city's James Hotel, and they'll get the same deal. When you do the math, $100 per head is actually a pretty good deal when compared with other prix-fixe New Year's Eve "parties" around town.
And it's not all for show, either: The hotel chain will be donating 10 percent of proceeds to Hurricane Sandy relief.