Old but nice hotel in Upper West Side!
First I need to say that this building was originally built in the 1920´s as an apartment building. Only in the 70´s it became a hotel, but there still are some people that didn´t want to sell their places and still live there.
That said, the hotel is very good, given its age. The main lobby is quite beautiful, and the front desk was always helpful and fast when we needed. There´s a Cuban restaurant inside the hotel, Calle Ocho, but we didn´t eat there.
The location is absolutely PERFECT! You´re a minute away from the 81st St. subway station, and you can be in Times Square in 5 minutes. In 10 minutes you´re in SoHo and in 15 minutes you´re on Wall Street. The hotel faces the Museum of Natural History, its across the street. There are inumerous great restaurants and joints nearby (Luke´s Lobster, Shake Shack, Coppola´s, etc.) so eating is not a problem. It´s a very quiet neighborhood, loads of runners passing by on their way to the Central Park (which is also a minute walk), lots of people walking their dogs, many children on the streets also.
The gym room is surprinsingly good, quite large for a hotel, quite new equipments also. The only downside is they turn off the lights after about 8 p.m. because of the neighbours complaints.
The room itself is rather small I guess. Flat screen TV was good, they have a safe for your belongings, not much space on the closet though. The bathroom is clean, nice hot shower, but the great disappointment is that there is no fridge in the room. The bed was on the small side also (as we´re used to king beds on the Fairfields, Courtyards and Springhills we use to visit) and the floor was a bit noisy, not too much.
The air conditioning in my room was VERY noisy, so loud it woke me up frequently at night and i´m a heavy sleeper. It also made the carpeting beneath it wet, don´t know why. The breakfast is not free and very expensive here (20 bucks I think), it´s better to cross the street and grab a coffee and a panini in Starbucks. In the end, the location and the staff make this hotel worthy.