The hotel with the largest generator in NYC

If you're stranded in Manhattan due to Hurricane Sandy and staying at the luxury New York Palace, don't stress out about losing power.

While it's common for hotels to have generators, this luxury hotel on Madison Avenue at 50th Street has an unusually powerful one capable of running the entire hotel for several days, David Chase, the hotel's general manager, tells me.

That's no small feat, considering that the hotel — with panoramic views of St. Patrick's Cathedral — has 899 hotel rooms.

The generator, located on the roof, is the size of a truck but cost a lot more than one.

The hotel's former owner, the Sultan of Brunei, who still owns luxury hotels under the Dorchester Collection umbrella, installed the heavy-duty system after New York City's blackout nearly a decade ago.

"We're the only hotel in the city that has a generator that for a few days can run everything in the hotel," Chase told me. "They spent $8 million on it."

The hotel, which has been renovating its guest rooms, tests the system regularly.

"We're absolutely good to go," Chase says.

During the blackout in 2003, Chase says he was hotel manager at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park and that hotel at the time had emergency power that allowed limited lighting in the lobby, hallways and some other areas.

"To know I could run this hotel normally for several days was just unprecedented," he says.

How full is the hotel?

The hotel is about three-quarters full right now. Last night, Chase says, it balanced cancellations with new business.

Some residents of evacuated areas in New York, such as Battery Park City, checked into the hotel, while some visitors delayed departure because they couldn't fly out of New York.

Today, many people had breakfast late, giving the hotel the lazy feeling of a Saturday or Sunday as opposed to a bustling midweek day, he says.

Given the deteriorating weather conditions, the hotel tonight will beef up its dinner service since guests are expected to hunker down indoors.