Lovely hotel in the heart of New York City
We love getting away for an overnight date in the city! I was thrilled to be a part of a fabulous competition called Art Takes Times Square and decided to use Priceline.com to get a hotel. You put in the amount you're looking to spend and the number of stars, your credit card number and then take whatever they give you. I put in $150, 3 1/2 stars or higher, the neighborhoods I preferred and up came the Empire! 
We were thrilled with the location (right across the street from Lincoln Center) as it's close to everything, including the parking lot we use on 12th Avenue and 60th Street. It was a beautiful day - we strolled through Central Park to the upper East Side, down Madison Ave and back through the Park. That evening we walked to dinner with friends in Times Square - went to all the festivities associated with the great event, and walked home. A perfect day in New York!
It appears the entire hotel has been nicely renovated and all the rooms refurbished. The lobby is gorgeous and our room (although on an interior air shaft) was clean and well appointed with a beautiful new bathroom. We didn't expect a view of the park at that price - AND - we didn't really spend much time in our room anyway, but enjoyed it even without a view.
I would definitely choose this hotel in the future - and highly recommend it to others.