Location-superb; Service-awful
Location - superb. 10-15 min walk to Times Square, 5th Ave. (shopping), Broadway shows. 25+ min walk to Central Park. 10 min walk to subway. Location couldn't have been better.
Rooms - Small! We had 2 different rooms. The first room we had was super tiny. Just enough room to walk around the bed and so little room for storage, we had settled into putting our clothes on the bottom shelf in the bathroom vanity. (there was no room anywhere else, they should figure out some storage for guests who are there more than 1 night). We moved into a 2-double beds room (hubby and I) and ended up with a room about twice in size, #1708.
Beds - very comfy. Major problem though. We booked a king bed and when we settled down to lay in bed in our first room, we realized the king was actually a queen. We had paid substantially more to specifically get a room with a king and not a queen, and when we called down to let them know the error, we ended up getting back-talk, and a very rude "manager" on the phone to us, telling us that we were wrong and that he wouldn't help us. After an hour's worth of having people in our room, and arguing, (tired from our long day this is the last thing you want to be doing), we told them we will be leaving tomorrow and staying somewhere else for our next 5 days of NYC. The Manager again with a rude tone told us "good luck finding somewhere else to stay!" My husband hung up on him. All we wanted was what we paid for, a king bed so that we would get a good night's sleep. We kept telling him this but no co-operation from him.
I started to call (on cell phone) around for a room somewhere else, when the manager called our room and apologized and said he would give us one of the rooms that had 2 double beds. We were so relieved to know that at least if we can't get a king, we can get some sleep in 2 doubles.
I was really expecting to have such a great stay here. I am so disappointed with how the staff handled this. All we wanted was our king bed like we had paid for.
Minibar - they have a minibar and I asked if I could put milk in the minibar as I need my fibre in the mornings (cereal) and they even gave me a hard time about that saying it will cost me $30 just to take some things out of the fridge.. After some arguing they allowed me to do so without charging me.
Amenities - a few doors down there is a pharmacy / convenience store, so super convenient.
Other staff - wonderful, opening the doors for you, and setting up limo times etc. The fellow who moved us from room to room to room was super.
Smoke - very strange, the hotel rooms almost always smelled of smoke. Every time we came back to our room, I could smell smoke but also something of an air freshener trying to cover it up.. We found it bizarre.. but didn't complain as we felt we could handle the smell and our priority was getting some sleep.
On an aside, sites we would suggest seeing:
9/11 memorial was our favourite stop, statue of liberty, (we saw both of these from the water taxi which was a great deal and we would do the water taxi again), a broadway show (go to TKTS which is in the middle of times square) and get your tickets the same day of the show for 40-50% off. Awesome! We saw The Best Man and it was great. Also you need to try dinner at Ruth's Chris, which was amazing. "The view" restaurant (with revolving floor) was overrated. The Empire State Building was great, going to the top. Soho was nice. Shopping on 5th Ave., a must. Central park is huge and a must see. The cabs sit in traffic a lot so you're better walking if you can handle it. We took the subway a couple of times, and they are very efficient but quite dirty. NYC is super fast paced, you need good walking shoes, there is a tonne to see and do.