Fine hotel, but it does not take my breath away
Written: Nov 23 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: convenient location, nice decor, friendly personnel
Cons: Stiff rates
The Bottom Line: Choice location for both business and pleasure trips. Not ideal if you like to be quiet. Pluses outweighs minuses, but daily rates are a little bit stiff
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| icio's Full Review: Shoreham Hotel |
Another business trip, another hotel, another review.
Location - vote 9/10: excellent for business or for vacation. W 55th Street, between 5th Ave and Ave. of the Americas is one of the choicest locations in NYC: close to 5th Ave shopping, subway lines, Central Park, quite a few restaurants.. Famoust NYC establishments such as The Regis Hotel, the Peninsula, are just steps away. So are Tiffany, Cartier, Prada, Louis Vuitton and all the other super expensive 5th Ave stores that are always ready to welcome you and take some weight out of your wallets. Of course, it means also that you are going to be in one of the busiest parts of town and if you like it peaceful and quiet then you are in the wrong spot. Also not convenient if you have business to do in downtown as it requires quite a bit of commuting.
Lobby - vote 7/10. A little bit small and non descriptive. Interesting modern decor with some artistic decoration. They offer you a glass of champagne. I suppose they would not if you are underage.
Elevators - vote 8/10. There are two of them. Never had to wait more than 30 seconds to get one. Clean and well kept.
Personnel - vote 8/10. The first adjective that comes to mind is .. friendly. Usually personnel at NYC hotels is stiff. They often seem to think that they are just doing you a favor letting you stay in their hotel (part of it is NYC arrogance, but now that their Wall Street is crumbling and the spectre of a recession could be imminent they seem a little bit less so. I guess that gone are the days when people in finance were splurging using corporate accounts and the money of shareholders). However, the staff at the Shoreham was extremely friendly and easygoing and I liked it. Only negative, when my collegues were about to leave they had to wait over 10 minutes to get their luggages. That is not acceptable. I think that they just piled them up in a small room and then finding them could become a task for Indiana Jones.
Daily rate - vote 6.5/10. It must be said that prices change dramatically from week to week. I stayed in a Superior Plus King room. Well the price, as I write would be $379/day. While I was there less than a week ago it was instead $459/day. Add another $50 with state, local, district, school district, parochial taxes. Therefore when all is said and done, it is expensive. As a matter of fact, for such a price you can stay in luxury hotels in 99% of destinations around the world, but in NYC you must pay for the pleasure to share an already overcrowded town with millions of other desperate people, enjoy the traffic jams, the perpetual honking of cars (NYerkers are very musical people and they love to play their horns any chance they have).
At least my room was on the 9th floor. I believe that only penthouses are above that level. Overall I think I overpaid by at least $75/day from my experience.
Room decor - vote 7.5/10.
- Bed: extremely comfortable. Too bad I had to get up for business early in the morning, otherwise I would not have minded to spend more time on top of that nice mattress;
- TV 32 inch flat screen TV (no HD, but I hardly had the time to watch it anyway);
- minibar: dutifully equipped, prices a little bit steep, but I have seen worse;
- complimentary high-speed wi-fi internet access..: Woohoo.. I hate those hotels that still charge you for using wifi (in particular those s.o.b. hotels in Europe);
- Sharper image massage chair: ... and it works. I never had a chance to try one.. I know that a lot of people liked to go to Sharper Image stores, try the chair for 15 minutes plus and then leave without purchasing anything (which is a big reason why Sharper Image had to file for bankruptcy in the end), but not me. This time however I tried it, twice and enjoyed it;
- working space: too small, almost impossible to sit in front of the desk. True it is a wifi connection, but I do not like to work on my bed or with my laptop on my lap (despite it is what the name would imply it is for). That is my main reason for the grade to be 7.5 instead of higher;
- bathroom: quite spacious for NYC standards were most things comes in size mignon unless they ask you to pay through the roof. However, non-descriptive shower head, tiny basin that makes it nearly impossible to wash your face without also washing your feet at the same time. The tub had significant scratches, not acceptable when you are in a 4 star hotel and pay that kind of money, in my opinion;
- safe: available and spacious. Can fit a 17 inch screen laptop in it and more;
- cotton robes.. very posh, but I do not use them as I prefer to basically walk around the room in my underwear! I know .. I have poor manners.
Room service - vote 7/10. They have one "restaurant" on the premises, but in my opinion the choice is very limited. Prices are stiff, but still within reason (at least in Midtown NY). I would complain more about the choice, perhaps. But, let's be honest here, in NYC you can just walk out of the door and find 2-3 restaurants within a 2-300 yards radius. Maybe more.
Is the room dark or bright? - vote 6/10. Unfortunately it is quite dark and you need to have the lights on all the time. I was at the 9th floor so, I assume, that at the lower floors it was no different. When you are surrounded by tall buildings, floors 1-10 are not high enough to enjoy the natural light. When I lived in NYC I did have natural light, even too much of it, but I lived at the 30th floor. Considering that on average, it is said that the rent you pay in a high rise tends to go higher by approximately $25/month per floor, you understand why lower floors are a little bit cheaper, i.e. more noise and lights always on.
Taxis availability - vote 8/10. Fairly easy to get one, but not too easy. As you know or should know, travelling along the Avenues is way faster than travelling across the streets (east to west). Since you are on a street and in a very busy location, you might have to wait a bit to find a taxi for hire. In NYC, when there for business, I rather book a limo, it costs more (not that much) and it is all for you. If you need to go outside Manhattan, besides, it might be your only choice as the yellow cabs could either refuse to take you there or ask you to pay prices that in some countries are a small fraction of the national GDP.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
icio
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 6 members
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