Ultra-wealthy travelers are splurging on luxury rental apartments in NYC — only to spend a few nights inside
NY Post
You probably know there’s a ban on short-term rentals in New York — unless you’re rich.
Recently, a penthouse atop Trump Park Avenue rented for a record sum to a certain jet-setting sultan. Complete with a library, a formal dining room and a woodburning fireplace, the furnished five-bedroom aerie went for $52,500 for the month — the minimum stay under New York City law.
Still, the renter, an unnamable public figure of Middle Eastern origin, made certain changes.
“They didn’t want to sleep on a bed that anyone else had slept on,” Lisa Simonsen of Brown Harris Stevens, who handled that deal, told The Post. “They didn’t want anyone to touch their sheets. They didn’t want anyone’s shoes in their space. They didn’t want contamination of any sort and even fragrances could not be worn in the home. We had a new bed brought in, but they brought their own bedding and left it there.”
The purpose of their meticulous stay in this nine-room perch, steps from the ultra-luxury retailers of Fifth Avenue?
“They only came for two or three days of shopping,” said Simonsen.
