Ok, so its one of the newer hotels for IHG in New York, still struggling to find its footing. However, the people that put this hotel together were obviously in a rush to make a buck. There were 2 big issues during our stay, the first being the NOISE and the second being the LIFTS.
The noise issue is not only the normal external sounds you associate with New York, such as the rubbish truck that comes calling at 12am, the bottle collectors that come at about 3am and then the tour buses that sit outside the hotel idling from 6am - we would have thought double glazing was a minimum standard here. But the biggest issue is the inside noise of other guests and of the doors closing in neighbouring rooms. There are 10 rooms on a floor, and every time someone opens or closes their room door you will hear it, everytime someone is waiting for a lift (all the time, more on that later) and talking - you will hear it, and everytime the maids start yelling in the corridors you will hear it. So bring ear plugs, you'll need them. It wasn't like we were in the hotel room a lot, but when you are - you will wish you weren't.
The other big issue is the lifts. The hotel has 25 floors with roughly 10 tiny rooms on each floor, so you can imagine how long you will wait for a lift to get up and down! A high floor will be good for less noise, but you will sacrafice time waiting for a lift. There also appears to be no staff lift, so often staff will clog the lift's use using it to go up a few floors, the maids getting to their floors in the morning, calling a lift then deciding to take the stairs and so on. Plus if a Porter needs to use it with a trolley, it will take up half of the lift leaving room for only another 3 or 4 people. It really is frustrating. As a result many people resort to having to use the stairs, but you can't get to the lobby level by stairs you have to go to the basement or to the outside fire exit., oh and watch out for all the floor's rubbish that the maids have put in the stairwells as well waiting for collection.
The hotel also really struggles to handle groups, as the group all arrives at once, as the lobby is so small there is no where for them to wait, then they all cram into lifts, the lobby is full of luggage, and so on - just not group friendly.
Staff didn't really interact as well, generally not friendly or helpful, no apologies for a few things they stuffed up - just no attitude of caring.
Overall very disappointing. Won't return. Tiny, tiny rooms - be very aware.
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