Big Time in the Big Apple!!!
Written: Sep 05 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Polite, Friendly employees ... Tidy rooms
Cons: Parking fee!
The Bottom Line: I would stay there if you have the resources or get a discounted rate any day. A great hotel.
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| junebugz's Full Review: The Waldorf=Astoria? |
It was our first time going to the Big Apple. We were on the way out to Connecticut and decided to stay the night in New York. After the first time bomb staying in a city called Binghamton about two years ago, we decided to stay in the Big Apple this time. So I jumped on priceline.com to find a great bargain!
After about four bids and no success at a ludicrous price that I entered, I finally found a room for $100 at the Waldorf Astoria. What a great price I figured!!! You could probably pay that much for a very low rated hotel in the area. I was excited at being able to stay at this historic and well-known hotel. So we got our plans all together and started out on our adventure last week.
After driving across Pennsylvania which seems like forever it was just a short while until we hit the Lincoln Tunnel and ended up coming out of the tunnel into a concrete grid of streets. It took almost no time to get to the hotel. There is an entrance on 50th St you can go in and take advantage of the valet parking if you are planning on driving. The valet parking was $45 to stay over night ... WOW almost half as much as I paid for the room. I looked around to different parking garages in the area and the cheapest I could find was $47. This was a cost I did not consider when getting the room on priceline, but I still think it was a good value.
All of the employees we met were extremely helpful and friendly. The lady who checked us in was a little on the sparing side when it came to offering information but we only knew this because the lady beside her was going on and on with information on the area and the hotel.
Keep in mind we were just staying over night. We arrived at the hotel at 9:30pm on a Wednesday night and left around 10:30am.
The lobby is very nice. The wood and furniture and ceiling are all very good to look at and is very inviting. The elevators are extremely fast and very nicely carpeted and have wood and gold/brass highlights. There are a few restaurants within the building and are said to be very good restaurants but can be a little pricey for us folks not used to the big cities.
We were given a room with a queen sized bed. It was just the one bedroom and had a little area just inside the door before getting to the room. Inside the room was a armoire type piece of furniture with doors opening on the top for the tv and a separate compartment with the mini bar (different drinks and candies in the mini fridge) ... there was also four jars above it filled with jelly beans, pistacchios, and other nuts I believe for about $13.50 each. Below the top part were several drawers to open and put your clothes in. Next to the armoire was a desk with a phone, lamp, and fax machine. Sitting on the desk was the hotel information in a nice leather type binder. Along the far wall was windows with very tastefully decorated curtains. A chair was sitting along the wall with a small table beside it with two or three New York area magazines. Facing the tv was the queen bed with a maroon upholstered sitting bench alongside the end of the bed. There were obviously two end-tables with lamps at both sides of the head of the bed. In the far corner was a walk-in closet that contained the ironing board and iron.
The bathroom was very nice. It had marble floors and a lot of space to keep your various bathroom items. One thing my wife noticed was a bar of soap that was not still in the packaging in the shower area, but since we really do not use the hotel soaps anyways it was not a big deal to us. The shower was easy to use and did not either pelt you too hard with the water or make you wish the water was more then just dripping ... just the perfect pressure.
Having our two-year old son with us we needed to get a crib. He fell asleep in the car on the way there and was ready to go to sleep in the room when we got there. We called and requested a crib and within five to ten minutes a hotel employee brought up a Graco pack-n-play type crib for him to sleep in which made him more than happy to see.
The queen size bed was very comfortable and the sheets and comforter were of good quality. The comforter was already "turned down" when we got there ... I only know this because my wife said so. I had no problem sleeping in the bed at all.
In the morning we got ready and then went out to see what was around. Out on the street there were donut vendors and many people walking to work, or wherever else they were going. We walked a few blocks and saw Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios, and went in the Rockefeller Center which had different shops and a Starbucks we stopped at. There was also a couple of Godiva Chocolate shoppes which we ended up stopping at. Down from the Radio City Music Hall they were setting up for the MTV Music Video Awards and there were people already sitting in line to get good spots I guess for the stars who would arrive later that night.
Anyway, I was very pleased with the service at the hotel and the quality of it. We had to call a half-hour ahead to have the car retrieved from the parking garage, and then just waited in the room. There was a "Zip-out" checkout form under the door which we used to checkout of the hotel. It was very convenient since we just took our stuff out of the room and left the keys there. Would I have paid full price for the room there? Probably not, but just because I am not interested in spending $200-300 on a hotel room we will be in for 12 hours or less. But this stay was very enjoyable and extremely good pricewise too.
I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone. Just keep in mind the parking!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
junebugz
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Location: Mansfield, OH
Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 2 members
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