Mediocre
I stayed at The Manhattan Hotel while traveling on business, and I chose this hotel for two reasons – (1) it was three blocks from the office, and (2) it was a Starwood category 5 hotel, which I assumed would translate to a certain level of quality and service. The location is great – close to work, and in the heart of mid-town, but I was unimpressed with the hotel. The rooms were small and dingy (even though I was given a corner room being a SPG Platinum), housekeeping did not put things back in place, no club / lounge, no in-room wireless (so much for free wireless for SPG Platinum members!), no newspaper delivered to the room – I could go on and on. On the plus side, I did receive free continental breakfast (although this was a SPG benefit, not a hotel one), but the restaurant took 10 minutes to get me a cup of coffee and I’m still waiting for the glass of water! It appears that the SPG category 5 rating is purely based on how much the property can charge for a standard room.
I wouldn’t recommend this hotel for folks traveling for leisure / personal reasons (unless you can snag a room at a really low rate) and definitely not for a business traveler. Stay at the Sheraton New York across the street – it costs the same, but the service is better.