Excellent stay until...... the fat lady sang......
Okay, first, it wasn't a fat lady, but after a wonderful time, the last few moments in the hotel left me shaking my head.
I was coming into NYC with a well known person for a party, and because of previous experiences while out with him, I have literally had his fans toss me to the side like a rag muffin so that they could get close to him and a photo, and my experience with another well known hotel the week before where I was actually panhandled by a driver and badgered unrelentlessly, I with purpose called the Le Parker and specifically requested that we be placed in an area of the hotel that might assure us some privacy and they handled our request beautifully. 
Our room was spacious and well appointed, we were never bothered by staff, and our request for an extra robe and towels was met quickly and with efficiency. Note to hotel- when 2 guest are checking into a room, it would be appropriate to have two robes available for each guest, especially with the fact that it was specifically requested that we truly wanted privacy. 
The staff upon check in were wonderful and allowed for a very quick check in with very little needed. The concierge was quick to provide an umbrella fir our use during the rain pour, and were kind enough to remember who I was when I returned the umbrella.
The bar area is beautiful, as is the pools view. The decor tasteful, sleek with a very Euopean flair. Our mini bar was well stocked and the shower in the room was a treat for a physically tired body..... I had just commuted well over 33 hours in just 4 days and was a little beaten up by it all, and the shower felt like a hundred magic fingers releasing the stresses of travel.
Everything was perfect for us, as we have both stayed at the hotel before, and my last experience had left me with a headache, this one while there did not, and for him, it brought back a rush of memories of many a night there while in tour or seeing old friends and this trip was also proving to be an experience of fondess until our check out time.
We had opted for the breakfast package where we could check out later, this giving us some time to relax before hurrying off to our next destination, which we luxuriated in. It was a wonderful treat to be able to do this..... but upon check out is when it became nasty and well turned a wonderful experience into one that fell short of what we would expect of a hotel of this level.
Instead if opting for the express check out we went to the front desk to do so. I had placed our incidental charges in cash and as we had not used anything, not even getting the breakfast that was part of the package, this should have been a very easy process. It was not. The woman checking me out was insolent, and quite frankly her behavior was unacceptable by all means.
I wasbnot rude, did not speak down to her, was not snippy, but walked away in complete frustion and with a foul taste in my mouth.
When I went to check out, I handed her my receipt for my deposit. She pulled up my info on her pc screen and asked me how I wished to pay for the reminder of my charges that I owed after she would be crediting my account with the 100 dollars for incidental charges. WHAT?????? What charges, we hadn't used anything, hadn't ordered room service, hadn't gotten the breakfast that was part of our package, had not used the minibar, had not purchased a robe, but yet she wanted me to pay an additional 299 dollars that she was stating I still owed. My mind was completely boggled now, I had pre-reserved the room, which also meant that I had put the room on my credit card and had already seen that the amount had been dedeucted from my account, how on earth could I owe another 300 dollars???? This went on and on and on... meanwhile my companion is beginning to get very restless and becoming very uncomfortable standing there as all of this is playing out.... and to top things off, we were checking out before the time we needed to as we needed to beat traffic out of the city so that he could make his next concert in an entirely different state within a few hours. 
Upon feeling his extreme discomfort and my total frustration at the situation that was unfolding I urged him to go get the car around so that we could still try to make it out of the city in time, and I pulled out my IPad so that I could pull up my account online and show this woman that the room was already paid for. At this point she disappeared for an ungodly amount of time, leaving me unattended and nervously looking at the time that was passing. 
When she finally returned she was still rude, which is when I explained that I had and have been a previous guest at this very hotel as well as the entire family if hotels that they have, which is when her tone dripped with sarcasm and actual disbelief tht I could have possibly stayed hee before. At that point I was fed up and told her that the way this was being handled was completely unacceptable on every level and if we had not been pressed for time I would have demanded to see a manager. 
I showed her on my IPad my online banking account that indeed showed the room had already been paid for, and at that point she sulkingly returned my deposit and I left the hotel completely exasperated, frustrated and no longer with the fond memories of a night spent blissfully but now only concerned about my companion making his previously booked engagement and apologetic that he had to stand there in the lobby while all of this transpired.
After my last two experiences with this hotel I am truly questioning if I would indeed be a guest at this hotel again, the only saving grace may be the location and the pool and the performance of the other staff during my stay.