Great location, great staff, great hotel.
We stayed here after reading all the favourable reviews and we weren’t disappointed. We had a room on the 10th floor at the front and, whilst you could hear traffic, it was never loud enough to keep you awake. Mind you, we crammed so much in that staying awake wasn’t an option anyway – New York is such a great place to visit.
The hotel staff were excellent – always friendly and helpful – and the breakfasts were very good. The afternoon tea and coffee (wine as well during the week) were excellent too – it’s great to come in after a day’s walking around and sight-seeing and have a cake or biscuit with a nice cup of coffee or some wine with cheese and biscuits. The free wireless is a bonus too – I had to keep up with a few work emails whilst there and it was great to not have to think about the costs etc.
We went to the Waldorf Astoria whilst we were traipsing around and whilst it is grand and very opulent it’s also a bit of a rip off in the bar and they certainly don’t give you much for free. The Elysee by contrast is more humble but just felt really comfortable and homely. Our room was a King Deluxe I think and had a massive bed and lots of space. The bed was really comfortable and the sheets were nice and soft. There’s the odd review around talking about bed bugs – I think these are from 4 or 5 years ago so they may have been true but there was nothing of the sort whilst we were there. The whole place is very clean and well looked after.
It was my 50th birthday – the reason for the trip – and the hotel gave us a nice bottle of wine and some chocolates. It was a really nice gesture.
We’d go back in an instant if we ever go back to New York – and we probably will!