Stayed for 2 nights and booked with hotel collection through American Express. Booking through Amex gives perks like free breakfast for 2 people per room each day as well as a $100 hotel credit per room.
Check in was fast but the front desk attendant was curt and not very friendly at all. It was disappointing because the other people at check in seemed super friendly and kind to other guests checking in. The lady checking us in spoke so fast and tried to quickly breeze through the complimentary upgrade with Amex. She almost seemed irritated and I don’t know why. We were smiling and friendly with her.
We booked 2 studio king rooms with a pull out couch. She said this was the “best room” and there were no other rooms that are better to upgrade to.
Not accurate at all. And very disappointing to be told this. Something felt off about check in, so later that night I looked up all the room choices for our stay (with our dates) online. The “regular rooms” at this hotel are up to the 22nd floor with those elevators in the main lobby. The “VIP rooms” are accessed in a different elevator area and these rooms have access to the VIP lounge which has complimentary food and beverage. These rooms also have views of Central Park. This hotel is the FIRST HOTEL we have stayed at that DID NOT UPGRADE to a higher floor room with lounge access for us using Platinum American Express. Very disappointing. Even if the upgraded room was not available, they could have given lounge access for the Amex platinum guests as a gesture. Really disappointing.
The lady at check in just threw us a paper about Amex perks, spoke so fast and threw us our keys and we were on our way. I did not complain or say anything at the time. Looking back, I should have.
As far as the rooms, they are spacious but the bathrooms are designed horribly. Also, not very clean. When I first entered the bathroom, there was a URINE stain on the toilet seat. I had to use my own travel Clorox wipes to wipe down the bathroom. It was so gross. And super obvious. There is no way a housekeeper could have missed that if they ACTUALLY cleaned the toilet. The shower only has half the glass, so there is no shower door to close. This allows the water to go all over and flood the bathroom floor. The bathroom door has water damage 2-3 inches high on the bottom of the door from repeated excess water damage. Also, where the outlets are for the hair dryer is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! To set the hair dryer down, you have to have the ELECTRICAL CORD stretch over the sink, and the faucet easily turns on. It’s quite scary and definitely a hazard for someone to be electrocuted.
The beds are comfortable, although the bedding is just a cover sheet and a duvet, no top sheet. So if you like a very thin layer to sleep, this bed is for you. The room is VERY quiet for being in the city, so that is a HUGE plus for staying in NYC. Our 11 year old son used the pull out sofa, and he said that it was comfortable.
The breakfast in the restaurant by the lobby was excellent. It took a little time for the food to come, but the server was super friendly. Highly recommend!! The cappuccino was really good too!
Valet parking is not really valet parking, which to
their credit, they say in advance that there is no “in and out”’. But it’s $100 a day. Pretty standard for NYC. What’s ridiculous is that the day we checked out, our car was pulled up to the edge of the driveway where the parking garage is. About a half block down from the hotel entrance. On our morning walk, we said “wow, that will be an easy check out with our car here already”…we were wrong. We checked out and it took the valet people almost 30 minutes to FIND OUR KEYS. We kept saying and pointing that our car was within sight and no one seemed to understand. It was frustrating because the valet kept pulling all these other guest’s cars AFTER us, and didn’t take the proper time to just look for our keys. The valet refused to pull the car around for us to put our bags into our car in front of the hotel. The other thing that was crappy about the check out experience was that nobody was there to help us with our bags. We had to drag them down the street to the garage where our locked car was, while we waited for the keys. Finally when they found the keys, the valet had parked the car sooooo close to the wall of the garage, we couldn’t get into the car. But hey, it’s New York and that’s how it had to be done…I guess.
All in all, it’s a nice hotel, but could use some improvement on a few things like customer service, cleanliness and the valet experience. The big plus is that it’s quiet at night, the beds are comfortable, the rooms are spacious for NYC and the restaurant there is really good for breakfast!
