Located at 150 East 34th Street. It’s between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. This 30+ floor hotel is very pleasant. We booked a one bedroom suite with King. This was essentially two rooms, one with a king size bed, en suite bathroom, loads of closet space.
The separate sitting room had a fold out double couch, and a little kitchenette. The kitchenette had cooker, large fridge/freezer, microwave, dishwasher and sink. There was a large TV in both rooms.
There was also a little storage room with enough space for all suitcases and the ironing board was kept here too. There was also hanging closet space in this storage room.
The suite had everything required for a comfortable stay. Room Safe, phones, lots of good lighting a desk and chair, internet access was an optional extra. The bathroom had a decent bath and good shower. Toiletries and towels were plentiful and replenished as needed. There was a hair drier in the bathroom. There was also the dreaded mini bar, but more of that later!
Hotel reception is bright and modern. Reception and concierge staff are friendly and professional. There is no bar at this hotel. There is free flowing iced tea and fresh fruit available from the reception counter, a nice touch but unnecessary I felt. The one time I did go to try some iced tea there were no little plastic cups available.
On the second floor there is a fitness suite but we never had time to look for it never mind try it out. There is also some kind of Spa treatments available but I’m not sure if these are in-room or whether there is a separate spa treatment room.
The hotel seems to organise weekly meet and greet sessions with their guests. We got an invite to this but could not attend. A nice touch I thought.
Another nice touch is the complimentary morning newspaper and yet another is the guest survey which they email to you very shortly after you arrive home.
Next door is the Barking Dog restaurant where you can sit and eat or order room service from. We did neither as the menu did not entice us enough.
On our last day we considered the Barking Dog for breakfast but with only 3 tables occupied at 10am, we decided against it and went around the corner to Gemini Diner which was very good with a varied breakfast menu but unfortunately a sullen staff.
I requested a room on a high floor and got floor 11. I would not consider this a high floor in a 37 floor building. However the room we got, while it had no views to speak of was fairly quiet as we were not facing directly onto a street.
The main King size bed was amazingly comfortable. I loved it. There was a pillow menu, which is probably a good idea. We did try the Swedish pillow but were unimpressed, however this did not spoil our stay and the fault was probably ours for not being pillow geeks.
The ‘sitting room’ was a much more pleasant cool temp than the bedroom during our stay in August when the temperatures outside were quite high. We could not manage to adjust the temp in the bedroom and yes we could have called reception but to be honest it didn’t bother us that much, just one night was particularly sticky, after that it was ok.
Location of the hotel was good for us but might not suit everyone who wants to shop a lot and drop bags back to the hotel at intervals. It’s about a 10 minute walk along 34th street to 5th avenue and a further 5 to Macys. It’s on the same street as the Empire State Building. For the purpose of our trip - sightseeing, the location was fine.
In any case getting a cab was very easy and cheap and the concierge was always on hand to hail a cab
Nearby there is a very good selection of local shops and mini markets selling everything you could possibly need? Just across the road and down a little is a Duane Reade pharmacy.
If I had to complain it would be about two things. The first was the mini bar. I really dislike a mini bar especially in a hotel where the items can be purchased much cheaper locally. But I mostly dislike them because I am invariably charged on my final bill for items I have not taken from the bar. This time $16 was added to my bill for mini bar. OK, so it won’t bankrupt me, but that’s not the point. When I told the receptionist that I did not take anything from the mini bar she politely told me that she would remove the charge. This did not alleviate my embarrassment however. I would have preferred the incorrect charge not be there in the first place.
I believe hotels should give guests the option of having/not having a mini bar. This would be a very simple thing for housekeeping to organise.
The second issue I had was with the housekeeping lady who repeatedly told us that we were not displaying our ‘do not disturb’ sign correctly. She insisted on day one that we always display the sign outside our door. I thought that this was rude and also unnecessary. I have not come across this previously in other decent hotels.
Also, on the last day when we were just getting ready to vacate our room at 11am (checkout is 12pm), she knocked on our door and asked us what time we were leaving at.
The reason our sign was not displayed correctly is that the darn thing kept falling off the door handle as it wasn’t a very well designed sign. If the Affinia Dumont place such emphasis on their ‘do not disturb/make me up’ signs then they should have better signs or at least signs that don’t blow off the handle with every puff of air. I have been in a hotel where there is an electrical switch used for this purpose.
It still bugs me that I left her a decent tip,
Overall though, I would definitely recommend the Affinia Dumont, we had a great time there and the few little annoyances were outweighed by a very pleasant stay.
I do think the majority of staff there goes the extra mile to ensure the guests enjoy their stay.
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