My wife and I spent the weekend of September 8 at the Barclay, and were quite impressed. I'll start with the pros:
Location! The hotel is right in Midtown, near Grand Central Terminal. It's a short walk to the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.
Nice room. Good size, for NYC, and great climate control. The shower had a lot of pressure and was HOT.
The best part, in my mind, was the New York Times. Instead of the usual USA Today pseudo-newpaper, they left us the Times in the morning. I actually wasn't expecting a paper at all on Sunday, but they left us the early edition of the Sunday Times, which we loved.
Now, for the cons. I want to start with a caveat that these things didn't actually have much of an impact on our trip, but I know some people who would be bothered by them.
We got there late-ish, around ten PM, and there was nobody there to meet us. We pulled up out front, got our luggage out of the car and walked inside. While we were checking in, we asked about the valet and the gentleman behind the desk called for one. My guess is they don't keep people outside that late, but we were hoping for somebody to be there to guide us through.
We live in Boston, so we're used to a certain amount of noise. Even though we were on the eleventh floor, it was loud. New Yorkers, it appears, love their horns, even at midnight. Again, this didn't bother us, being city folk ourselves, but I could imagine that it would make things difficult for someone used to a quieter environment.
Finally, for the cons, the place was expensive. Not the room, which we got for a very reasonable price on Priceline, but the rest of it. It was 45 dollars a night to park. It's New York, so we expected to pay a lot to park. But 28 dollars for a cheeseburger is criminal, even in New York. My recommendation is to leave the hotel bar/restaurant to someone else to try and wander around to find a better place to eat or drink.
So, that's about as objective a review as I can give. In the end, though, we had a great time. The hotel was very nice and very relaxing and very expensive. Would I stay there again? Not at the rack rate. At the rate I paid, though, I would go back in a heartbeat.
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