Nice Renovation - still got poor marks!
For the price - this hotel is worth trying as long as you do not have high expectations. My reasons for not being impressed are as follows:
1. We were greeted by front desk personnel who was lacking any personality, and did not have any interest in making a good first impression. No eye contact, no extra conversation here - barely spoke an extra word. First hint that being treated like we were at a home away from home was non-existent.
2. Okay - so it's New York - I can deal with the lack of love. Now, onto the fact that we were early so we needed our bags checked for a few hours........No favors here.....this hotel charges their guests to lock up their bags! Thanks a lot. This was the first hotel that has ever done this to me before.
3. Now that we are checked in - first impressions behind us......maybe the room will make us feel better? First thing I see is a large makeup smudge on the new wall paper in our room - almost looked like blood at first, but at closer look I determined it was makeup. I wonder why the cleaning dept didn't see it? Okay, gross. Then I see a letter on the bed - it's announcing that there has been an emergency water shut off in the hotel and that we have no water! What? I have to call downstairs - they said nothing to me about this. After waiting for what seemed like forever for them to answer, I was informed that the letter was old....it was dated three days prior. 
4. The fridge we ordered to be in the room was there - yeah! We were hot and tired and couldn't wait to open it to find the drinks I had pre-ordered to be there for our arrival via the website a week ago. Inside was nothing. I had to call again downstairs - asked where my pre-ordered beverages were? They said that nothing was on the order. I wonder why? They informed me that they would send some drinks up later - after 6pm when room service starts. I told them to cancel the order - I wanted the drinks upon arrival! By 6pm, we would have quenched our thirst somewhere else. We went out for a few hours.
5. Upon our return to our room at 9pm guess what was in our room? Our drinks! Had to call down again to make sure that I would not be charged for them! They agreed to remove them from my bill - THANKS for the aggravation!
6. The next morning - walking through the lobby to go out for breakfast, we were greeted by a huge cockroach strolling through the lobby. He wasn't in a rush.......he was just crawling around. We immediately informed the consierge - he stepped on it. GROSS!!!!!!!!! I couldn't get this image of the large black bug out of my mind for the remainder of my stay!
I will not be returning and I am sorry that after all of the renovations this hotel has recently undergone, which in my opinion, have been executed nicely - it still lacks far too greatly in almost every other way.