New York, Oct 10 (AFP/APP):John Farrell and his wife booked a $1,000 room in the morning and were in New York hours later for their one-night stay. The couple is part of a new local and last-minute clientele keeping the lights on at the city’s most luxurious hotels now that the coronavirus has chased off the international jet set. The yellow taxis and limousines that used to pile in front of swanky hotel The Pierre are gone. So are the crowds of foreigners mingling in the lobby. The Central Park hotel once hosted galas and welcomed celebrities — everyone from Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor to, more recently, Lady Gaga. But with the coronavirus pandemic in full swing it is a shadow of its former self: Following six months of closure and the travel industry’s near collapse due to Covid-19, it reopened in mid-September to smaller crowds and fewer members of the glitterati. “The hotel, it’s kind of like the streets; it’s lacking the hustle and bustle and the presence of people,” said Farrell, a 38-year-old construction entrepreneur who drove two hours from the suburbs to get there. Usually this time of year the city’s hotels are packed, with an … Continue reading Bereft of jet set, NY luxury hotels welcome last-minute locals