Overall I was really unimpressed with the W. It has a great location in Times Square that's adjacent to dozens of tourist attractions, but it was really just an unpleasant experience.
First, the ground floor lobby has a beautiful water feature, but it smells musty and stale. After the first few trips through the lobby the novelty of it wears off and all you can do is hold your nose as you run to the doors. The elevators are tiny - the only one that wasn't cramped was the far left which I can only assume is the service elevator. Judging by the smell it hasn't been cleaned in a while. I've worked in kitchens whose grease traps smelled better than that elevator. When you're relieved by the smell of NYC streets you know there's something wrong with your hotel.
Additionally, hotel guests are required to switch elevators at the 7th floor to get to their rooms. Again, a great security feature, but it really gets annoying after the twelfth time you have to wait for the second elevator and cram in with guests and their bags again - just to get to your room or the ground floor.
The entire hotel is decorated and lit like a night club - which would be fabulous if it wasn't also so cramped and tiny. I know NYC isn't the place to be looking for wide open, spacious expanses, but if the hallways on each floor rival the tight quarters of my upstairs bathroom hallway shouldn't you attempt to open it up with light colors? These hallways are painted dark gray with minimal lighting. I felt like I was going spelunking every time I went back to my room.
The rooms themselves are about the size of postage stamp. I was staying at the W with my sister and brother-in-law and let's just say we got to know each other really well. The room has few amenities - no refrigerator (unless you crack open the Fort Knox that is the mini bar), no coffee, no tea. Essentially the amenities are capped off by the ice bucket sitting next to the $10 bottle of Fiji water.
Another word to the wise, if you're staying there with someone who isn't your spouse beware of the glass enclosed bathroom. Sure it's frosted, but who really wants to see a silhouette of someone doing their business first thing in the morning?
Combined with the toilet that would start running in the middle of the night so loudly that I had to get up three times the last night to fix it (removing the lid and working with the internal floating mechanism), the sliding bathroom door that should come with your own personal Hulk arms to close it (and sounds like screeching nails on a chalkboard when sliding), and the shower that lost most of its water before it got to rinsing your head by pouring out the bottom of the showerhead like a bucket (with a lovely and relaxing tone reminiscent of a pressure washer to perk you right up) - well, let's just say I won't ever be staying at this, or any other, W hotel in the future.
I will point out that one person was great, though. Julian at the front desk was a doll and really helped me out of a few jams when we first arrived. He's an asset and they'd do well to retain him for as long as they can. I think he's actually the only person that saved this trip from being an entire wash. He gave great recommendations for local spots to eat and grab a drink, too. The other guy, whose name I can't remember but starts with an N, was polite but ultimately useless at getting my problem taken care of.
The Acura Experience driver, however, is temperamental. So much for using this amenity to see a new part of town. He'd just gotten back from being stuck in traffic so he "didn't feel like taking that drive again," but he'd be happy to take us about fifteen blocks - of a 45 block trip. No thanks, buddy - I'll take the subway. Lucky for him he wasn't so tired and petulant the next day and actually was willing to take us down to Soho. Too bad we'd already been. I wouldn't have taken that guy up on the offer anyways, but I might want to apply for his job. Any job I only have to do when I feel like it sure sounds nice to me.
hotel reviews