My husband and I booked an easter weekend break at the Omni Berkshire
after reading the great reviews about the hotel on this site. Some of
it is true: the location is great, close to shops, subway and major attractions. The Preferred Guest perk of free room service drinks in the mornings is a fabulous touch that we really appreciated. The hotel is clean, and the housekeeping was certainly up to scratch. We were able to get a late check out which helped with our night flight home, and the Business Centre let us check in for our flights online without charging us standard usage rates (just as well - the standard
rates are ridiculously high!) The Fireside bar/restaurant was a nice spot to stop for a bite or a drink too - if only the rest of the hotel was as stylish as it's bar.
The bad stuff did overshadow our stay. Luckily we were there over a holiday weekend, which meant that we weren't aware of the noise from major construction going on outside our window until 6.30 am on the morning we were checking out. But what noise! I have always lived in downtown locations, so am used to a bit of background noise from the streets below. But we were on the 14th floor and the noise was deafening! If the hotel aren't warning guests of this in advance, they should at least be offering ear plugs instead of chocolates with the nightly turn down service. I did think about stuffing my ears with the chocolate wrappers! Had we been staying there mid-week when the construction was ongoing, I would have had to request a change of rooms. This construction site is huge and looks to be ongoing for some time to come, so be sure to check ahead and request a room away from the noise, or get earplugs at least.
Worse than this though, was that my parents had arranged for champagne and strawberries to be sent to our room as a surprise since
it was our wedding anniversary during our stay. I didn't find out about this surprise until I got home and my parents asked about it - we did not receive it. The hotel appear to have delivered it to the wrong room, despite my mum confirming all the details with them on the day we checked in. I called the hotel when my mum told me about this arrangement to find out what happened - the staff on the phone were not helpful. I had to repeat my story to at least four different
members of staff. A manager did not call me back as promised, and when I eventually made enough follow up calls, all I got was a weak apology. They did not call my mum to apologize at all. This is not the level of customer service this hotel seems to pride itself on, and my experience of their issue management was very unsatisfactory.
On the whole, a lot of the positive things that have been said about the Omni Berkshire on this site are true, but I still wouldn't choose
to stay here again, and definitely not until the construction at 53rd
and Madison is complete. It's lacking in style, the staff overlooked some pretty major things during our stay and handled a problem situation very badly indeed. There are enough good hotels in NYC to prevent the Omni Berkshire being a top choice.
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