Took our yearly December overnight to NYC to see the holiday sites, catch a show and do some shopping. With all the decent hotels over $300 a night we stumbled onto the Bellclaire at the last second and could not believe the $185 price for a queen room. After reading the mixed reviews we decided to book it under the general consensous that the hotel was undergoing renovations but was turning into a nice boutique hotel. Apon our arrival we found hardly any renovations going on. The lobby was about 80% done it seemed and the front desk attendants were friendly and efficient. When booking the room originally there was an offer for a $9 upgrade to a King room if available so we took the chance. When we mentioned this to the attendant she seemed a bit confused about that promo but told us we could have a queen room "with a view" for the same original price of $185. Other reviews we read stated that the hotel elevator was "slow" and took forever. We found this completely false! Both elevators were fast and operated perfectly fine. We were on the 8th floor and when entering the room we did smell a strange peroxide scent that we guessed was from the cleaning solution the maids used which we did read about in past reviews. The odor was a bit much and we almost went down to ask to change rooms but we figured that's how it would be in every room so the simple fix was to open the window while we went out for the evening. Overall the room was good sized for a NYC room in the price range. The bathroom was huge though it lacked extra shelving for our toiletries and there was no fan, but other than that the shower pressure was great and it was fine. The room had a nice flatscreen with plenty of channels and free HBO. The bed was very comfortable and we heard very little noise from outside. We could tell the room was recently re-done and exceeded our expectations. Close to central park, and a short cab ride to times square it was the perfect location for us. We will be back if the price is right!
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