So disappointing.
I've never written a bad review for anything before but I found the Empire to be such a let down. We were staying in NYC for 8 days and decided to stay in a couple of different hotels to keep it interesting and see new locations. We booked through Agoda.co.uk for 3 nights after reading about the rooftop pool and roof bar. It sounded amazing and was pretty much the main reason for our stay. I also loved the look of the interiors with the Art Deco decor and sunburst mirrors. 
When we checked in we weren't told much at all, and we were not informed that the pool and bar would be closed for the duration of our stay (We found that out later when we threw our bags into the room and ran up to the 11th floor to find both locked) and when we rang reception to enquire about this we were told it was advertised on the website. That's great that they advertise that on the Empire website, but nowhere on any agents website was it mentioned. That's something we would have noticed because it was the main reason we wanted to stay at the hotel. When I checked later it was definitely not advertised on the agents websites. They should probably do something about that because I met a family in the elevator later on that were equally as disappointed for the exact same reason. 
The room: When we initially walked it the curtains were half drawn, lights were off. Not very welcoming. We had booked a suite so it was a nice size but when I pulled back the curtains, I found a pile of rubbish under the radiator from the previous guests, Starbucks cups, water bottles etc. One of the lamps was broken and the bottom shelf in the tattered chest of drawers kept sliding open by itself and I kept tripping over it and eventually used some cardboard to keep it shut. I love antique and vintage furniture but this was just shabby and scuffed. The wallpaper was peeling in places and grouting in the bathroom was old and stained. The whole room was just not taken care of very well.
I tried to turn on the TV and it didn't work however when we went down to reception to ask for help they sent up a lovely guy straight away who fixed it for us. When we eventually did get the TV on the reception was awful, like I would have gotten better if I had shoved a coat hanger in the back of the thing. Why bother with a huge flat screen TV if the reception is that bad?
The window was broken and didn't close properly which meant that the noise from outside was insane, especially in the morning when they were doing roadworks right under the window and because it was right by the bed I caught a nasty cold. 
On the first night when we pulled back the covers to get into bed there was someone elses hairs all over the sheets. They were not head hairs, I'll just put it like that. We didn't get robes until the last day, when we got 1 between two of us. 
The location: The location is nice if you are going to something in the Lincoln Centre and it's only a couple of block to central Park. There is a subway stop pretty much right outside which is great but in general there's not a huge amount to do or see around. The Starbucks downstair has free wifi which was really handy because The Empire charged $12.99 PER DEVICE for 24 hours of wifi and when I eventually caved in and paid for it, I only got 10 hours out of it before it expired. 
I found that after long days sightseeing and shopping and whatever, I dreaded going back to the room. It really reminded me of a Holiday Inn or Travel Lodge, sorry guys :(