Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers provided my worst hotel stay in New York
Written: Jun 25 '05 (Updated Nov 12 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Location
Cons: Room was dismal, broken furniture, tv didn't work, internet didn't work
The Bottom Line: The room in this hotel was so crummy I can't recommend it. There are so many other better choices in NYC.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers |
I stayed in the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in June 2005. Let me start off by saying that I am very loyal to the Sheraton brand. I have Starwood points and have been generally happy with all the hotels I have stayed in under the Starwood umbrella. This stay, however, was one of the worst I have ever had in any location in any city.
LOCATION
The hotel is in a great location - just a block or so from Times Square proper and there are lots of Broadway shows, not to mention restaurants, comedy clubs, bars and other entertainment within a ten minute walk from the hotel. The location is one of the best reasons to choose this hotel.
THE ROOM
I have to describe the room early on because it was such a horrible disappointment. My room was on the 20th floor overlooking some industrial rooftops. The upside is that I had minimal street noise. However, I also had no view. My room was located next to the elevator bank so I heard the dings of the elevators all day and night. I also heard a very loud domestic dispute at 2am that kept me up for half an hour.
The room itself had minimal furnishings. There was a queen size bed that was actually very comfortable. There were five pillows on the bed that gave me a nice choice of various fluff levels. There was a desk on one side of the bed. On the other was a nightstand. There was a minimalistic bench along one wall that I used to put my clothes on. The only other piece of furniture was a large chest that housed the tv. This chest had three teeny drawers to store clothes but could not have held even one change of clothes. On my chest, one drawer front was broken off. The piece lay inside the drawer. There were sharp, exposed nails along the edge of the drawer. To avoid getting scratched, I stayed away from that storage. Surprisingly, there was no other dresser or other drawers to store my clothes. The furniture in the room looked worn and was dented or scratched in places.
My room had a big closet with about ten hangers. There was also a safe that I did not use. The bathroom was small but adequate. They provided a cheap hairdryer that did not work very well. The bathroom was very clean but the room was dingy, although not obviously dirty. The room had a dismal design anchored by a gold wallpaper in a basic stripe. The bedspread and curtains were maroon with a gold windowpane pattern. It definitely did not have the daring decor of many boutique hotels in New York. The additional odd thing about my room was a large trap door directly over the bed. For those with monster-in-the-closet issues, this room would have been a little freaky.
NOTHING WORKED / BROKEN PROMISES
My biggest disappointment in this hotel was the room. My TV got almost no reception and the picture was horribly fuzzy. I tried to order a movie but Lodgenet never connected. I quickly gave up on the TV.
The toilet was one of those low flush models that barely functioned.
I ordered high speed internet for $14.95 a day. It kept clicking off and also did not seem to work. I know it wasn't my laptop because my laptop worked in other areas of the hotel.
My 8am wake up call did not come until 8:45. I put the request in through a menu system on the phone. A live person did the wake up call and apologized for the lateness saying there was something wrong with the wake up call system. It is a good think I woke up on my own or I would have been late to my meeting.
I was supposed to get USA Today each morning. I only got it one of the two mornings.
As I mentioned above, the furniture in my room was broken leaving a lot of exposed sharp nails.
HOUSEKEEPING AND DOOR STAFF
I saw the housekeeping staff frequently during my stay in the halls and elevators. They all seemed friendly and did a great job cleaning the room. One nice staff member even told me I looked nice when I was dressed up for the theater.
The door staff was overworked as is typical in many New York hotels. When I arrived, they did not greet the cab or help me with my bags. However, they were very good about getting cabs and assisting with my bags on my way out.
CHECK IN / CHECK OUT
I made my reservation directly on the 1-800 number with Sheraton. They emailed me a confirmation. When I arrived, I brought a print out of the confirmation and they had no trouble locating my reservation. Check in took about ten minutes, mainly because it took the staff that long to enter my information into the computer.
Check out was kind of strange. They never slid my receipt under my door. I couldn't use the TV because it wasn't functioning. The lines in the lobby were long. Since my options were thin and I didn't want to stand in a long line, I called the front desk from my room and told them I was checking out. They said fine and that was that.
THE LOBBY AND OTHER AMENITIES
The lobby in this hotel was nice but nothing special. There was a lobby bar with some chairs and tables. We got a pre-theater drink here and the service was friendly and fast. There are a couple of other restaurants and bars and a prominently-placed jewlery store. Generally, the lobby was so packed, it wasn't a pleasant place to hang around.
I walked by the fitness center. It was large and had nice equipment that seemed to go unused by hotel guests.
There is a business center that I didn't use.
There is no pool. However, guests in this hotel can use the pool at the Sheraton Manhattan across the street.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I was very disappointed in this hotel. My stay was really lousy for business purposes - the internet was an extra charge and didn't work anyway. I didn't get my newspaper. Plus, the room was dismal and dingy with broken and dented furniture. There are so many other options in New York City - I would skip this hotel.
MY MINI-GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY
Things to Do:
The Metropolitan Museum
Ellis Island
The Statue of Liberty
Places to Eat:
Lucky Cheng’s has Chinese food for adults.
Ruby Foo’s has Chinese food for families.
Pipa is next to Manhattan Mecca ABC Carpet & Home.
Starlight Diner is where singing servers bring your burgers.
Rue 57 fuses French and Japanese cuisine in Midtown.
Places to Stay:
The Roosevelt Hotel
The Hudson
The W on Lexington
Sheraton Manhattan
New York Hilton
Broadway:
TKTS sells half-price tickets to Broadway shows.
Gypsy is Broadway at its best.
Rent is an unusual Broadway rock musical legend.
Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz.
Chicago is a classic.
Sweet Charity has a 60’s vibe.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
modernmarvel
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