Dear Untapped New York Readers, Insiders, and Tour Guests: We hope you are all staying safe as we collectively navigate the coronavirus COVID-19 situation here in our city (and for those who had plans to visit us here). As an organization that is dedicated to exploring New York City, this situation is a painful one. We hope each and every one of you is taking the recommended precautions and staying as safe as possible.
In this time of uncertainty, we will be increasing the level of output on our online magazine, and hope to provide everyone with interesting pieces to read that will still enable you to discover New York City, albeit virtually! We will try to do what we do best, provide historical and well-researched context to current events, along with surprising information to make you smile or see the city (virtually) with a sense of wonder.
We have been following the situation very closely, getting the front line news via our press relations with government agencies. In addition to updates from Governor Cuomo, Mayor De Blasio, the MTA and local officials, we are particularly paying attention to the updates from NYC & Company, NYC’s official destination marketing organization, in terms of best practices for our in-person experiences.
As of now, Friday March 13th, this is how we are handling our upcoming scheduled events for the next week:
- Edge at Hudson Yards has closed, so our tours there this weekend are postponed. Guests have all been contacted.
- Any large indoor gatherings will be postponed, this includes the Insiders 2nd Anniversary Birthday Party next Friday, March 20th and the FiDi Arsenale Curator tour on Thursday, March 19th.
- The TWA Hotel tour is currently still on the schedule for next Saturday, March 21st but we will have an update on it next week
- As of now, tours with small group size are being maintained, but evaluated one by one, based on the level of comfort of the organization or person(s) giving the tour, the number of guests, feedback from you, and other factors. For each event, we will be reaching out to all the guests to provide updates. Our Untapped New York guides have been trained on best practices for interacting with guests given the current situation. If you are in the risk bracket, feel potentially ill, or are simply nervous to be out in the public, please do what you feel is best for you and your loved ones. We are here to accommodate any changes.
- At this time, none of our staff, tour guides, our guests have been diagnosed with COVID-19, are in quarantine, or self-quarantine.
- If you have bookings to our public tours that are being postponed, we are offering rescheduling and credits. These credits can be applied to any of our experiences.
Rest assured that for the events we need to postpone, we are working actively to get them rescheduled for a later date (provided the location or exhibition will still be accessible). We are also working on adding public tours and Insider events for May and through the summer, so you can look forward to experiences like accessing the Little Red Lighthouse, the Marble Cemetery, and many more very exciting events which will be announced shortly! You can keep on the lookout for our schedule of Insiders events here and our public tours here.
The best way to reach us is through email, as our customer service phone line has been inundated. For questions about tours, contact tours@untappedcities.com. For questions regarding our Insiders member events, you can email insiders@untappedcities.com. For editorial and general comments and questions, email info@untappedcities.com.
Untapped New York was created as a community, and this remains our utmost priority. Do not hesitate to reach out to us for any reason, even if to chat. We can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and by email.
Michelle Young and the Untapped New York Team
