Nice hotel, great staff, noisy
This is a nice small hotel. Pros: great staff, service oriented. In particular, the staff in the club room for breakfast and the wine hour are just wonderful. Rooms are nicely decorated. Club room a great amenity. Location is pretty good, although a number of restaurants are closed on weekend (guess because it is more of a "business" area). Breakfast is excellent.
Cons: noisy. We had a room on the front of the hotel and there was a renovation going on in a building across the street. Constant noise from garbage trucks picking up the debris until at least midnight. But 54th is also a noisy street with traffic and garbage trucks early in the morning. Also, the air conditioning has only one setting: HIgh. A hotel maintenance person told me that it was because there is no central air and the units under the windows require this. Also, if you want to open the window, the noise from the other air conditioners in the building adds to the street noise. Granted, this is New York and air conditioners do make noise. One would just have to decide that street noise and the air conditioning are something they can live with. I understand there are rooms on the back of the hotel that are quieter but when I looked into them as they were being cleaned, they appeared dark. The trade off appears to be a light airy room with noise or a darker dim room with relative quiet.
Overall, if you can stand the noise and the air conditioning blasting away, then you might enjoy this hotel because there is a great breakfast, nice staff and nice decor. if not, think twice about booking a room. These were both issues for me.