My family and I stayed at The Mark last month for one night as part of a New York business trip for my husband. I was a little concerned as we were taking my 17 month old son with us, and I have had bad experiences taking a toddler to a hotel that mainly catered to business travellers.

The Mark is a luxury hotel owned by Omni Mandalay and located on Madison Avenue at 77th street in New York City. Here are a few of my impressions of this hotel from my very quick stay:

The Mark

Location

The Upper East Side of New York City where this hotel is located is very ritzy with lots of designer boutiques and expensive restaurants. If that's not what you are looking for, the beauty is that this hotel is a short 15 minute walk from more affordable shops and restaurants and also Central Park. The area is a great place to take a toddler out in the stroller to watch the world go by and you don't have to worry about negotiating the glass doors with the stroller, thanks to a very helpful and patient doorman.

The Hotel Decor and Guest Rooms

The Mark is decorated beautifully - very elegant and rather European. The corridors are narrow and the elevators are wood paneled. The guest rooms are spacious with king size beds, business desk, dresser, walk-in closet and entertainment center - a fax machine and internet connection were also provided. All of our furniture was solid wood and the windows had extravagant drapes. The bathroom was very cool and striking in black and white decor. We had a white bathtub and a separate glass enclosed shower stall, along with the other usual hotel bathroom amenities. Fresh pink orchids were placed next to the sink.

The Staff

The staff at The Mark were fantastic. Bags were bought to our room immediately, and our request for a crib for our son was carried out within minutes - I have had major problems with this in other hotels. I was delighted that the hotel was very accommodating towards families with children and was surprised that there were indeed so many families staying there. One noteworthy point is that when ordering your car to be brought around from the garage it is important to give the concierge 30 minutes advance warning. This is because the garage is a distance from the hotel and New York City traffic is not always so accommodating! Reception did advise us of this when we checked in.

Room Service

Well, the menu looked great but the prices are out of this world! This is to be expected in this kind of hotel, particularly in New York. We didn't try anything on room service - we preferred to walk to a more reasonably priced neighborhood and eat there. However, to give you a flavor of the inflated room service prices:

Pot of Coffee for one - $12 (including service charge and tip).

I ran across the street and got a large cup of coffee from a street vendor for $1 - even on a business trip I can't pay those kind of prices!!

In Conclusion....

The Mark is a fantastic hotel - it is luxurious, beautiful and the service is wonderful. However, all this comes at a hefty price which I think is worth paying if this is the kind of hotel you are looking for.

All in all The Mark is highly recommended for business travel as well as pleasure with the family, just make sure you've got your check book!!



Recommended: Yes