Once my favorite - now time to say goodbye
When the RCBP opening in 2001, its was an incredible jewel. Sadly though, it was built to serve the World Trade Center community and many of the wall street firms that have moved to mid-town. During the 11 years the hotel has been open, the ups and downs of the economy have hurt it, such that it went from a 5 star hotel in Manhattan where you could stay for $400-500 in beautifully appointed rooms with magnificent views, having drinks during the summer at what was a hard to be paralleled bar named Rise overlooking the Statue of Liberty, to what is now a poorly maintained hotel with shoddy rooms, saggy, slanted beds, and an incredibly garish and cheap lobby carpet that replaced a green and gold work of art. It takes capex to maintain a hotel, and all of the owners who have been waiting for a demonstrative economic upturn never saw it, and so are still holding back when it comes to their downtown hotel, waiting to put their dollars in. Look prospective guests, if you want to stay in a Ritz that's begun the process of being turned into a 3rd class Marriott, this is your hotel. If you would like instead, like me, to remember what was an excellent hotel in a unique location, by a beautiful park with incredible views, you need to look elsewhere. It hurts me to say it after spending probably 300 nights there, that I will stay there no more. Bottom line, if you want to stay at a Ritz Carlton that has Ritz standards, you have to stay in midtown. I was always willing to make the trip, but sadly, I have said my goodbyes.