Wales Hotel is one of those hotels that fits in the very broad and vague definition of "boutique hotel." The Wales represents itself as a four-star hotel, the equivalent of a Loews or Hilton, but it certainly is not. Holes in pillowcases and bedsheet, sheets not changed, worn carpet, electricity to half the room supplied by a cheap and dubious-looking 2-pronged extension cord buried under the carpet, cracked plaster walls and loud window unit air conditioners are neither charming nor quaint. The rooms are tiny -- a "superior" room is perhaps 12x12 -- about half the size of a regular hotel room in a four-star hotel, even in Manhattan. There are a number of discrepancies in the hotel's description. The hotel does not have a restaurant, period. It is NEAR restaurants. It does not have "complimentary" espresso drinks and internet access is $14 per day. Indicative of the level of hotel amenities was my request for an ironing board and iron. The ironing board brought to me (the room did not have one) was a dorm-sized table-top ironing board - wholly inadequate. The hotel's location provides excellent access to central park and museums; however, if you are paying $250 per night (before tax) for what is represented to be a four-star hotel, you are going to be very disappointed.
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