A man lived for free throughout the pandemic in a 5-star hotel in New York

When New York was locked down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fire department announced that in the event of problems, there must be one person on the territory of the hotels. At the five-star Chatwal Hotel in Midtown, the man was Robert Mallia. He told how it is - to live in a huge luxury hotel all alone. Writes about it New York Post.

Mallia was not the first choice of the owner of the 76-room hotel, but when several other people gave up out of fear or in favor of their family, Mallia - a 36-year-old childless bachelor - agreed.

“Being able to live in the building you worked on is awesome,” said Mallia, architectural designer at Dream Hotel Group, which owns a portfolio of Manhattan hotels, including Chatwal. "My apartment is quite modest compared to a luxurious five-star hotel."

In the 14 months that he lived in Room 307, the space at least became familiar.

“As the weeks turned into months, I got used to my room,” he said. "At first it was weird, completely quiet."

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With all 59 hotel staff gone, Mallia was in charge of cleaning. When it comes to food, he mostly relied on takeout food.

“Nothing too glamorous, I'm afraid,” he said.

His daily schedule includes getting up at 05:30 and doing various chores like sorting mail, finding leaks, and other maintenance issues. Once a week, he flushes all the toilets in the building; includes all souls for 10 minutes twice a month.

His only companions are shift guards and the building's chief engineer, who visit the building on a weekly basis to confirm compliance with fire safety regulations.

Other owner hotels started opening this month, and Chatwal is likely to follow suit soon - good news for Mallia.

“I miss home,” he said.