Perfect Location, Love the Amenities
This was my second stay at the Elysee and we loved it almost as much as the first trip. Perfect location just a quick walk to the subway, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, etc etc etc. Everyone we interacted with was extremely kind and helpful from the doorman who stored our luggage both before check-in and after check-out, to the lounge attendees who gladly let us hang out until it was time to leave for the airport, to the nighttime desk clerks who recommended and lent us a DVD and who changed our room very efficiently at 1 am when we realized the A/C wasn't working! On our first stay at this hotel two years ago, our room was tiny with an older bathroom but we considered it elegant and cozy; this time both our first room and the room we changed to after the a/c died were very spacious and had more modern bathrooms. The highlight of this hotel aside from the gracious service is the extremely comfortable second floor lounge which has a more than adequate breakfast buffet every morning, cookies/teas/coffees/newspapers all day, and on weekdays a phenomenal (and very long) wine and cheese offering. Unfortunately, the wine and cheese extravaganza is only on weekdays and this trip was over the weekend, drat! Both trips we made use of their almost always empty computer and printer in the library adjacent to the lounge to print our boarding passes. The wifi throughout the hotel is free and worked well. The beds were comfortable, the rooms quiet. What more can anyone ask for in New York? the elevators can get busy and slow but that is true of all the boutique hotels I have stayed at in New York (the Giraffe especially). All in all, the Elysee is comfortable and perfectly located and I would recommend it very, very highly.