The Gild Hall, a luxurious Hyatt hotel tucked away in Manhattan’s Financial District, is the only ILGTA Accredited hotel in the U.S.
Book a stay at the only IGLTA Accredited hotel in the U.S.
STEVEN LINDSEY | Contributing writer
StevenCraigLindsey@gmail.com
The most LGBTQ-friendly hotel in the country may not be one you expect. Tucked away in Manhattan’s Financial District, Gild Hall, a Thompson Hotel by Hyatt, has a distinction that no other property in the United States can boast: It’s the only hotel in America that has been IGLTA Accredited.
Since its founding in 1983, the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association has been the gold standard for LGBTQ+ tourism, creating a global network of businesses that welcome and actively seek out queer travelers.
IGLTA Accredited is one of the organization’s newest initiatives, allowing businesses to pay a small fee to be reviewed for and possess all eight essential criteria: diversity, equity, inclusivity, policy, community, advocacy, transparency and sensitivity. If a business demonstrates a genuine commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusivity, it earns the distinction, the eight criteria of which must be met annually.
Of course, I had to experience the features of such a hotel for myself, so I took my husband along for a long weekend in Manhattan earlier this summer. We’d never stayed in FiDi (a nickname we discovered few locals actually use), but we love exploring new neighborhoods every time we visit NYC.
Due to weather-related flight delays, we showed up to the front desk close to midnight. Our travel stresses immediately disappeared the instant we were greeted by a very friendly gay desk clerk and an adorable dog, who came out from behind the desk for some much-deserved petting.
After a quick check-in, we took the elevator to our lovely, high-ceilinged room and discovered several rainbow-branded items from Hyatt, as well as a publication titled Queer All Along: A Short History of LGBTQ Life in Lower Manhattan.
We read up on some of the significant places and people in the book and learned a lot of new information. Meanwhile, to take full advantage of being so far south on the island, we woke up early one morning to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and make the short trek to the Statue of Liberty the next. (When in FiDi, right?)
Because Gild Hall is located in just about the lowest part of Lower Manhattan, we rode the subway for most of our ventures into Midtown and the theater district. However, spending each night in one of the quietest parts of Manhattan was a welcome trade-off for using public transportation to most of the places on our Broadway musical-packed itinerary. Say what you will, but we love the New York subway system because it’s so often faster than rideshare or taxis.
Would we stay at the boutique, 130-room Gild Hall again? Absolutely. And not just because it’s a 5-minute walk to the nearest Joe’s Pizza.
We somehow expected the hotel to be full of LGBTQ guests who, like us, had discovered the property because of the IGLTA accreditation. However, it was a more subtly queer experience, marked by the occasional gay or lesbian couple in the lobby, as well as warm hospitality from every member of the staff.
It’s a vibe we can totally stand behind, too, because we don’t always need an attached bathhouse or on-site drag brunch to feel seen as gay travelers. After all, this business’ leadership team took the time and resources to seek out this particular IGLTA seal of approval, so we would 100 percent book a room here again to acknowledge the hotel’s support of our community.
To book a room at Gild Hall, search for the property at Hyatt.com.