Fantastic location, more service oriented staff needed!
My girlfriend and I finally got to celebrate our retirement together and friendship of over 30 years so we decided to spend 4 nights in New York at the Helmsely Park Lane Hotel on May 24. We booked the hotel in March and requested a renovated room on a higher floor. When we finally arrived at the hotel we were not impressed with the front desk staff member who insisted that we would have to pay for an upgrade to a renovated room. We then spoke to the manager who had the same surly attitude. After viewing the proposed rms. that they had for us and trying to negotiate a better rm. since we had requested it, it was a no win situation. We ended up paying an additional upgrade per night. The room was ok- the view of Central Park was incredible and the room was renovated somewhat- new carpeting, wallpaper and comfy beds but the bathroom only had new wallpaper and a new shower fixture with an older, cracked sink, dated counter top, bathtub and flooring. Hard to believe considering that this rm. was supposed to be renovated. I have to agree with JPB Manchester who wrote a recent review re:" the rms. aren't great unless you pay for the executive rooms". The continental breakfast was also disappointing. This was also an area of contention with the front desk since we were supposed to get a continental breakfast according to our booking and the front desk kept arguing that we weren't supposed to get this with the reservation we made. I would say that we have had better continental breakfasts at other cheaper hotels such as the Holiday Inn Express. At least there was a fruit salad, bagels and croissants but no cereal, oatmeal etc. We were very tired of having bagels and crosissants everyday. Overall, disappointing and we will be looking for another hotel when we visit New york in the future.