A hotel made special by its location andexcellent customer service, but not without flaws.
Hotel Casablanca- brilliant location (just off Times Square); really friendly and helpful staff; lovely wine and cheese reception from 5-8pm every night, and pretty good continental breakfasts. However a couple of negative points. Firstly, the suite we had was lovely and comfortable but pretty small, and also quite dark but I guess possibly this is the case in many hotels in NYC due to all the surrounding high buildings. I think we had been spoiled as we came to the Casablanca from provinicial New Jersey, where our standard room in a Hilton hotel was bigger than the entire Casablanca suite and much airier and lighter. Secondly, a warning about the noisy air conditioning- not sure if all the rooms are like this. I think we were in room 609 (it was a double bed suite). The first night, we shut the air conditioning off as it was so noisy, but even when off, the unit sounded like it was on and was making a noise. I asked at the reception about it, and the reception manager came up to our room to see what was the problem. He said that the noise from the unit when it was off was actually due to a very large air con unit that could be seen from our hotel window and that belonged to a neighbouring restaurant. Apparently they were meant to shut it off at midnight but they didn't always do this. Anyway, the issue was never properly resolved; our second night there, the noise did seem a bit less but it was still noticeable, and though my sister did sleep through it, I had to wear ear plugs to block it out!! I think I was disappointed as I was drawing a comparison to the Hilton in New Jersey, which had very quiet air conditioning- and it was completely silent when you switched it off!The air conditioning units in the Casablanca looked quite dated. I guess I just expected little niggly things like that to not be a problem as the accommodation at the Casablanca was what I would consider fairly pricey, and I think I expected the suite to be brighter and roomier, but perhaps I am asking too much from a hotel in such a great location in one of the best cities in the world. All this said, I would probably consider staying here again due to the location, helpfulness of the staff, and the cheese and wine reception, but would choose a standard room rather than a suite due to the price and would try to ask for a room that does not overlook the neighbouring restaurant's noisy a/c unit!