Great Location, Nice Hotel, But a Little Tired
We stayed at The Benjamin this past weekend. I have to say it's a really nice hotel, but that's all I could describe it as-Nice. The lobby area is quite small, but decorated nicely. The rooms are huge-suites, with large sitting rooms with sofa bed and desk, flat screen TV, and a large separate bedroom. The decor is nice and elegant, but could use a little updating. The bathroom is tiny-very small sink area with toilet, and shower/tub combo. There is also a small separate closet for luggage and clothes. The bed was really comfortable and the linens were very nice. There is a "sleep menu" that you can choose which type of pillow you would prefer-they had everything from foam, to water filled, to magnetic, a body pillow and the typical down or feather pillows. You could order a silk sleep mask, slippers and even a noise machine to drown out the city noise. There is also a small kitchenette with a refrigerator, sink and microwave. We were given a room on the 3rd floor, which I normally wouldn't have wanted, but we arrived around 11am (we moved from another hotel that was sold out) and they had this room available for us. It was very noisy. I was so grateful for the early check-in that I didn't have the heart to ask for another room. We didn't have drink in the bar, but it seemed to be a busy place later on in the evenings. We did eat breakfast one of the mornings and it was good. The National Restaurant is a little like a diner, with good food and lots of choices-no buffet though. We got an awesome deal on our room rate. We booked at the last minute (24 hrs in advance) and the rate was $279 a night, NOT including breakfast. All in all, The Benjamin was a nice hotel, but in my opinion, not a great hotel, there also seemed to be a lot of older people staying there, it's a fairly quiet hotel. The W is across the street and we went there for drinks in the bar for a little more action. I would stay here again, but it wouldn't be my first choice.