The InterContinental New York Barclay is an icon of Midtown Manhattan. Since opening its doors in 1926, the hotel has welcomed distinguished guests, hosted memorable moments, and played a part in New York City’s vibrant story.
Recent industry research shows that nearly 70% of travelers believemodern hotels have lost their individuality, citing an overreliance on standardized layouts and interchangeable design. More than 90% of luxury travelers now say they seek cultural immersion and heritage-rich stays. Rather than more amenities, guests are looking for places that feel rooted in history, in culture, and in intent.
Today, the competitive edge belongs to properties that deliver something more to their consumers: something unexpected. For discerning guests, authenticity, history, and a genuine connection to place transform a simple stay into a cultural highlight.
At nearly 100 years old, The InterContinental New York Barclay has never struggled with identity. What has changed is how guests expect to access information.
Printed directories, static signage, and one-size-fits-all hotel apps no longer meet the moment. Today’s guests want clarity, autonomy, and context without having to ask for it.
The Barclays answer is a STQRY-powered digital guide that brings together history, wayfinding, amenities, and local discovery in one beautifully designed, easy-to-use experience. It’s about more than telling the hotel’s story. It’s about making the stay simpler, richer, and more self-directed.
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A Guide for the Stay You’re Having and the Place You’re In
Open the app, and you immediately understand its purpose: this is a complete guide to both history and hospitality.
Guests can:
- Navigate the hotel with self-guided tours and visual maps
- Explore the surrounding neighborhood with curated recommendations
- Access amenities, dining, and services without calling the front desk
- Move seamlessly between practical information and cultural context
Everything is organized, searchable, and available on demand. Whether a guest wants to orient themselves within the building or understand the story behind it, the app meets them exactly where they are.
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Walk Through the Years
One of the app’s most compelling sections, Walk Through the Years, invites guests to explore the Barclay’s history decade by decade.
From the first stone laid in the 1920s to today’s city stories, guests can discover:
- Archival photographs
- Architectural milestones
- Moments that shaped the building and its role in New York City
The experience is designed to fit naturally into a stay. Guests might uncover a single detail while waiting for a meeting, settling into the lobby, or winding down for the evening — like learning how the hotel’s pre-opening advertisements were originally aimed at long-term residents, with annual rental rates ranging from $1,200 to $5,550.
Stories are presented in short, digestible segments that work well for a global audience, including guests visiting from across the country or around the world. With both skimmable written content and optional audio, guests can choose how they engage — whether that means reading closely, listening on the go, or simply browsing at their own pace.
Because the content lives in a mobile, self-guided format, there’s no set path and no pressure to consume everything. The result is history that feels approachable and relevant — accessible by design, and available exactly when guests want it.
This kind of thoughtful, self-guided access is one of the many ways hotels can create more inclusive experiences for every guest, regardless of how they prefer to engage.
Meet Perle: A Digital Host With a Past
At the center of the experience is Perle, the app’s virtual hostess.
Named in honor of Perle Mesta, the legendary 20th-century socialite known as the original “hostess with the mostest,” Perle guides guests throughout their stay, answering practical questions, surfacing stories, and pointing guests to what they need, when they need it.
Linked prominently within the app, guests can connect with Perle via text message, creating a direct, low-friction way to ask questions or get guidance without navigating menus or making a phone call. It’s hospitality delivered in the format guests already use every day.
Rather than feeling automated, Perle makes digital access feel personal. It’s a small, thoughtful detail — but one that reinforces the Barclay’s approach to service: attentive, human, and intentional, even when delivered through a screen.
Services, Amenities, and Staying Oriented — Without Friction
The Barclay app functions as a palm-held directory, eliminating the need for repeated front-desk calls or printed binders. For example, the app provides operating hours for the rooftop garden and private cabanas, reservation links for the in-house cocktail lounge and fitness center, and information about the water-saving bee cutouts placed on nightstands.
Guests can easily find:
- Concierge information and services
- Spa offerings and minibar details
- Sustainability initiatives, including the hotel’s composting system and water-saving programs
- On-site programming like Jazz on Lex
- Special offers and seasonal events
Wayfinding helps guests navigate the hotel and surrounding area with confidence — particularly valuable for larger properties or business travelers moving between commitments.
This is convenience done quietly. The technology doesn’t compete with hospitality; it supports it.
A Guide That Evolves
The Barclay’s guide is designed to evolve along with the property.
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Sections like Holiday Happenings highlight seasonal programming — from festive décor and dining to pop-ups, special events, and limited-time experiences. Guests visiting in December encounter a very different experience than those arriving in the spring, all reflected directly in the app.
What makes this possible is STQRY’s no-code builder, which allows hotel teams to update content quickly and easily without relying on developers or external vendors. New events, seasonal messaging, and timely updates can be added or adjusted in real time, then published instantly across the experience.
The result is a digital guide that reflects what’s happening now.
Hidden Gems & Exploring The City
The Barclay app is designed to surface more than logistics. Through Hidden Gems and Exploring The City, it helps guests discover the layers of character that make the hotel and its surroundings feel personal and memorable.
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The Hidden Gems section highlights stories that give the Barclay its depth: notable guests and appearances in film and media. Guests can explore how figures like Ernest Hemingway once checked into the Barclay while working on For Whom the Bell Tolls, or how the hotel has appeared on the big screen and in the public eye.
Exploring The City shifts the focus outward, helping guests explore New York based on their interests. Organized into intuitive categories like Arts & Culture, Restaurants & Bars, Parks & Recreation, Retail, and more, the app makes it easy to discover what’s nearby without defaulting to generic recommendations. Whether a guest is looking for a historical walking route, a quiet park, or a little retail therapy along Fifth Avenue, the information is already at their fingertips.
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One of the most thoughtful examples of this personalization is Bark-lay, a dedicated section created for guests traveling with pets. From nearby dog parks to pet-friendly services, amenities, and special touches at the hotel, Bark-lay reflects the hotels welcome of guests furry friends, and even introduces Bowie, the Barclay’s resident pup and unofficial ambassador, whose presence adds warmth, personality, and a sense of welcome that extends beyond policy into culture.
These thoughtful touches exemplify how a digital guide can respond to different curiosities and needs — history lovers, city explorers, business travelers, pet parents — without becoming cluttered or overwhelming. It’s a reminder that thoughtful curation, when done well, helps guests feel seen rather than segmented.
Guest Stories, Reviews, and Returning Rituals
The app provides a dedicated space for guests to reflect on their stay, whether through reviews or by exploring #MyBarclayStory, a collection of personal experiences shared by guests in anticipation of the hotel’s 100th anniversary.
One such story comes from Jonathan, visiting from England, who has stayed at the Barclay regularly since 2003. He describes extending his business trips by a day to enjoy a familiar Saturday ritual: a morning run through Central Park, coffee in the foyer watching people come and go, brunch nearby, shopping along Fifth Avenue, and ending the day with a martini in The Parlour, greeted by bartenders who remember his name.
Stories like Jonathan’s don’t function as recommendations or testimonials. They capture how guests actually inhabit the hotel over time, how a place becomes familiar, personal, and worth returning to.
This separation matters. Discovery content helps guests find their way. Personal stories help them imagine themselves staying longer, coming back, and building their own rituals.
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Feedback and reviews can be captured in context, at moments that feel natural rather than transactional. Hotels rely heavily on online reputation and loyalty programs.
82% of travelers report reviews are essential to their booking decisions. By capturing positive feedback, the hotel reinforces brand affinity and improves overall review scores.
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What This Means for Hotels & Properties
For hotel teams, the value of a digital guide like the Barclay’s is both experiential and measurable.
When guests have easy access to information, stories, and recommendations on their own terms, the stay immediately feels smoother. Fewer questions funnel to the front desk. Guests move more confidently through the property and the surrounding area. Most importantly, they feel more connected to the place they’ve chosen to stay.
That connection drives satisfaction, and satisfaction drives sharing.
When guests discover a meaningful historical detail, a perfectly timed seasonal event, or a thoughtful touch like Bark-lay, they’re far more likely to share it: with travel companions, on social media, or in post-stay reviews.
It also shapes how guests remember a stay. Rather than recalling only the room or amenities, they remember moments:
- A story uncovered while sitting in the lobby
- A nearby walk or restaurant they wouldn’t have found otherwise
- A detail that made them feel recognized, whether traveling for business or leisure
Those moments are what bring guests back.
Shareable by Design and Measurable
Guests share because the experience feels personal, the stories feel authentic, and the recommendations feel considered rather than generic. Whether it’s tagging a favorite moment, passing along a hidden gem, or recommending the property to friends, the guide helps extend the stay well beyond checkout.
Behind the scenes, STQRY’s analytics give hotel teams visibility into what resonates most. Teams can track app downloads, see which stories and features guests engage with, and understand how content performs over time. This insight helps inform where to invest next — whether that’s expanding a popular tour, refining amenity information, or highlighting programming that consistently drives engagement.
The app provides a way to understand guests better and respond with intention.
A Blueprint That Scales Across Properties
This is a model any property can adopt: one digital guide that brings together wayfinding, amenities, storytelling, and local discovery in a way that feels cohesive, useful, and distinctly on-brand. The experience doesn’t rely on constant staff intervention, custom development, or one-off solutions. It’s built once, then evolves alongside the property.
The same no-code STQRY Builder powering the Barclay also supports experiences at properties like Le Beauvallon, where guests explore art across a historic private estate in the South of France, and and iconic destinations such as Hotel del Coronado and La Compañía, where immersive digital guides bring interactive maps, curated recommendations, and on-property discovery together to elevate the guest experience.
For a global brand, this approach allows consistency without uniformity — a shared framework that still gives each location room to express its own character. For an independent hotel or resort, it offers a way to deliver a polished, modern guest experience without adding operational complexity or technical burden.
In every case, the goal is the same: make it easier for guests to engage, explore, and connect — and easier for teams to manage, update, and measure.
Built for Guests. Valuable for Teams.
A digital guide like this supports what hospitality teams care about most:
- Guest satisfaction, through clarity, autonomy, and ease
- Shareability, driven by meaningful moments guests want to talk about
- Repeat visits, shaped by familiarity, memory, and emotional connection
- Operational insight, through analytics that show what guests actually engage with
With STQRY, teams can track downloads, understand which stories and features resonate, and make informed decisions about where to invest next — whether that’s expanding a popular tour, highlighting seasonal programming, or refining amenity information. The result is a guest experience that improves over time, guided by real behavior rather than assumptions.
From Stay to Story — and Back Again
The best hospitality doesn’t just meet expectations. It leaves guests with a sense of place — something they remember, share, and return to.
At the InterContinental New York Barclay, STQRY helps turn history, service, and design into a seamless, self-guided experience that feels both effortless and meaningful. It’s practical in the moment and memorable long after checkout.
More importantly, it’s a blueprint other properties can follow.
Discover how STQRY can help your property bring its story to life — and turn every stay into a reason to return.