Cassa’s strategy was to tap the talents of top architects to create a first-class residential presence in two centralized and exciting Manhattan locations. And the team agreed that few urban settings could match Times Square and Midtown for excitement and unmatched amenities.

To ensure residents truly feel at “home,” Cassa offers a full palette of hotel amenities, a la carte, to owners and renters, thereby avoiding the inconveniences of apartment maintenance. Another plus, according to an article in The New York Times, is that owners don’t have to worry about paying a fee for amenities they might not otherwise take advantage of, therefore allowing them to only pay for what they want, when they want.

“When we first envisioned the Cassa brand, we wanted it to be different than most places in New York,” said Solly (Salim) Assa, president and CEO of Assa Properties. “Being that a lot of our guests and residents are international, we wanted it to still feel like a place they could call home, no matter how long their stay. They have access to whichever hotel amenities they want – maid service, child and pet care, fitness centers, etc. – as well as the amenities of the bustling neighborhood locations.”

History of Hotels: How they became part of real estate

This is an interesting article, originally published on houzz.com

The first new types of hotels emerged in London in the mid-eighteenth century, back in 1760. Paris followed shortly after, opening accommodations under the name “Hotel Garni”. At the end of the same century, the hotel expanded throughout all cities in Europe. In North America, the hotel came in the early nineteenth century, spreading throughout the whole continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The evolutionary step from the tavern (“inn”) commodities to hotel commodities was instant, happening simultaneously on the old and the new continent. In the nineteenth century hotels become the social centers in the community. In the period from 1850 to 1950 there was a considerable growth in the number of passengers, who did not stay in hotels because of business reasons, but because of personal reasons like leisure and tourism. With the development of traffic and accompanying infrastructure, the need for hotels only grew.