Never again, never, ever!
The spin goes that the Hudson “was” a dormitory redesigned by Philippe Stark into a haven of high design for the hip and well heeled – “the next generation of Cheap Chic – stylish, democratic, young at heart and utterly cool”.. I’d say that the Hudson IS a dormitory/flop house where form definitely trumps substance. The problem with all these sharp, pristine design places is… what do you do when they are no longer neither sharp nor pristine? They start fraying at the edges and slip in clientele.
I can get the Hudson as a fun hang out for 20 something’s from the world over arriving in town and NYC being their oyster, I get the Cheap Chic, young at heart and cool references … but if it is the young uber cool tribe that they wish to attract then these walk in wardrobes of rooms should be at a lower price. USD 495 for a tiny room with no mini-bar and minimal service is neither Cheap nor Chic to me.… I get the feeling that the Hudson is more filled more by Priceline than Facebook or the hip and well heeled. And this is why a generationally specific environment gets filled by other generations who will feel like fish out of water. People like me! …. people who do not want to deal with a blaring empty disco vibe in the lobby and every night and elevators all day and who may react weirdly to “Hey dude” from bar staff.
Apparently I was lucky, the nice Korean lady assigned to cleaning my room let me know that I had “one of the biggest rooms in the hotel” ..; I was neither feeling my luck nor the love of the Hudson. My room was very small and dark. No bath only a shower with a curtain that did a very bad job of containing the water – brought a whole new spin on the “wet bathroom” concept. It took the longest I have ever experienced for the water to heat up once I ran the shower. Very annoying sheer net curtains served as the doors to the closet and to hide acces to the bathroom as well as a thematic anchor for the décor. The got stuck constantly! Wifi worked well though the hotel web site was somewhat misleading in giving the impression it was free for my room category. Room service was sporadic with something forgotten or mistaken on each of the two times I used it for breakfast in four. On two occasions I had very important messages from business contacts not reach me from the concierge desk to the clear detriment of the organisation of my trip.
Yet .. I feel like a grouch .. I am in my forties and past it probably! (yet I shared this view with many I spoke with over the music in the elevators) ….I know many younger people in the creative or high tech fields who would have a blast here .. but not at the prices the Hudson demands. They need to rebuild the demographic of their clientele here and get with the hip rather than foisting the Hip on an unsuspecting past it clientele… like me.
hotel reviews