I have learned a difficult lesson which should have been obvious; when a hotel is ranked closer to the bottom of a list of hotels than the top in a particular city there is usually good reason.
The W New York underwent renovations in August 2008, but do not be fooled; the service remains sub-par. In other words, when the W New York wishes to play the role of fairy godmother and asks what is your wish, the magic wand disappears when you have the audacity to make one.
My modest wish over the Superbowl weekend was to watch Superbowl XLIII in high definition in the comfort of my hotel room. To avoid misunderstanding, I contacted the hotel on three separate occasions prior to booking to confirm that I would be able to watch the game in high definition. All three times, employees assured me I would be able to do so.
You can imagine my frustration when I learned that while the new flatscreen televisions were high definition capable, none of the programming being broadcast was in high definition, other than the initial hotel welcome channel. When I informed a manager about this misrepresentation, he offered nothing more than a credit of one hundred dollars.
Other frustrations included being billed thirty-two dollars for minibar consumption despite never having consumed anything from the minibar and housekeeping staff being instructed to knock on our door half-an-hour before check-out and again a few minutes prior to check-out despite a do not disturb sign having been placed on the door.
If there was a positive note during the stay, it was W New York's association with Acura called the Acura Experience. This gives any guest who stays two consecutive nights at the hotel the opportunity to be dropped off in a chaffeur-driven Acura MDX virtually anywhere in Manhattan during your visit free of charge.
Upon my return home, I received an e-mail from the hotel suggesting that while it expected I had a spectacular stay, I could write about anything that was not satisfactory. I took the hotel up on the offer and wrote at length about my disappointment.
To date, I have received neither a response to my e-mail nor the modest credit offered during the stay.
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