How The Mark Hotel Preps for the Met Gala 2025

While the Metropolitan Museum of Art is where the actual Met Gala takes place, everyone knows that the festivities begin properly in the lobbies of two of New York’s most iconic uptown hotels, The Mark and The Carlyle. 

For the team at The Mark, the work begins a full year in advance. 

“The day after, we always get together and see what we did right, what we did wrong and we go over it to make it even better for next year,” says Michel Heredia, the director of sales and marketing at The Mark. This year, the hotel received their first booking from a brand in August, and come day of the Met are booked fully with Met attendees. 

A few weeks out from the gala, The Mark team will start to gather as much information about their upcoming Met guests as they can. A common personal touch is flower preferences, but they also try to stock a favorite beverage — which, as it turns out for an overwhelming number of celebrities, is Mountain Valley water.  

The hotel will also embroider initials on all VIP’s hotel robes, and gift their signature baseball hats — which are not for sale — to guests. 

“People get crazy for the hats,” Heredia says. “They love them.”

The hotel receives nearly 10,000 flowers the day prior to the Met, which the staff then arrange themselves into floral arrangements. Close to 40 staff members are required to map out and track a celebrity’s path from their room to the elevator, down through the lobby and out into their respective black car. The journey of course includes navigating the hotel’s own red carpet, which is laid out by a team of 10 to ensure precision. 

As for room service? Between the hours of 6 a.m. to noon on Monday morning, the staff brews 48 cups of coffee every 15 minutes, delivering more than 200 coffees to guests. Coffee remains the most-ordered item. 

“You would think Champagne, but no, it’s coffee,” Heredia says. “But then at certain times people love burgers, so it depends. Some talent are very healthy, some are not. Last year, a lot of people ordered caviar because we have Caviar Kaspia [here at The Mark] and they love the Champagne and caviar,” Heredia says. “Or some people want crudité because it’s healthy.”

After the gala, when everyone returns to the lobby, health concerns go out the window. 

“Our lobby is very fun and we always have hot dogs and french fries,” Heredia says. “I think everybody, even if they’re super healthy, they’re starving [after the Met] and they eat our french fries.” 

The outfits are of course the main event, and sometimes the look brings with it its own logistics. 

“Last year, Cardi B had this beautiful dress that was humongous, and she was like, ‘I need a photo from a [high up] place,’” Heredia says. The team at the hotel suggested using the atrium in The Mark restaurant, from which an aerial shot of Cardi’s full dress could be captured before she was hidden in umbrellas and whisked out onto the carpet. 

“You always have to listen and be present,” Heredia says.