St. Regis Spin-Off.... The St. Regis Club at the Westin Essex House
Written: Sep 29 '01 (Updated Nov 01 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Location can't be topped in NYC
Cons: All parts of this hotel do not yet work together smoothly
The Bottom Line: The St. Regis Club may have a few kinks to work out, but they are giving the 5 star game a good try.
|
|
|
| tombarnes's Full Review: Westin Essex House on Central Park |
The new St. Regis Club on the top 20 floors of the Essex House is one of the more recent entries into the NYC luxury sweepstakes. Whether or not it will win remains to be seen.
Lobby and Public Rooms
The St. Regis Club has a separate entrance, just to the right of the main Westin Essex House canopy. There is a small reception area dedicated to the St. Regis Club guests. Aside from this, St. Regis Club guests must share the elevators and concierge of the main hotel. More on this later. The Essex House is undeniably one of NYC's great landmark hotels. Its lobby is a dazzling bustle of marble and paneling. The location is certainly one of the best in the city-you just can't go wrong with a Central Park South location like this!
Dining
The much vaunted Alain Ducasse was dark when we stayed here on New Year's Eve weekend, so I did not get the chance to try it. On subsequent visits, I have made reservations, but have thought better of the matter after hearing reports from friends that it was not worth the money. Foodie that I am, I must reconsider when I hear that a $250 (per person!) dinner tab was NOT worth the money. The Cafe Botanica was tarted up for a wildly expensive New Year's Eve evening that I felt had to be missed. Surely enough, there were few revelers in the room when we passed by that evening. Nothing is more depressing than an empty NYE party. We did have room service one morning in the suite. It was very good, and beautifully served , but the $85 price tag for two was rather steep. Journeys Bar is small and comfortable, if slightly contrived. It was usually crowded until very late.
Note:
Fool that I am, I actually went to dinner at Alain Ducasse recently. If it only had been $250.00. It was nearly $500.00 for one person and was unquestionably not worth the unpardonable expense. A separate review is forthcoming.
Rooms and Suites
The first night of our stay, I was given a junior suite on the 25th floor. It had no park view, but from the 25th floor even the city views are good. A butler went through the motions of unpacking my luggage and asking if I wanted anything pressed. She did bring coffee on a silver tray (I do not think there was a charge). Though friendly, the butler service here does not have the finesse of that found at its namesake on Fifth Avenue. The room itself was a spacious, square corner room. Had it not been snowing heavily, there might have been lots of light. The furniture is soothingly comfortable in a forgettable sort of way. New luxury hotels seem to love a color palette of taupe, brown and chocolate brown. Very nice, yes, but not adventuresome. There were less Art-Deco touches here than I might have expected in an Art-Deco landmark. Nonetheless, beds are so comfortable that you could sleep all day. Baths are quarryfuls of marble and you will find all sorts of good soap and shampoo to sweep into your bag and wait for more. Great bathrobes too-very thick. The plumbing works well too at this height. In some tall buildings, it is sometimes hard to get a decent shower. Not the case here. The only problems I ever had here were from my cell phone not working. We moved to a larger suite the following day. This one had "the VIEW" of Central Park!! The same color scheme prevailed, but this was a beautiful suite. The drawing room was large and sunny, with a table for eight. Two baths this time, more mountains of marble. I cannot see that anyone would lack for comfort here.
Recreation
There is a fitness room with spa service on the third floor. They have good exercise equipment, a good steam room and a hot sauna. The staff are very attentive. There is no pool. If you can get into the New York Athletic Club next door, theirs is a good one. Start calling your friends to see if they belong....
General
I really enjoyed my stay here. The Essex House has much history and may fine attributes, Some old friends of mine said that they stayed there for their honeymoon years ago. The "ES" in the roof sign had gone dark leaving.....
Several notes on service. The St. Regis Club guests must share the main hotel's concierge (perhaps they were merely short staffed?). Thus, getting dinner reservations can be a real trial. They seemed harried whenever I called or went to the Concierge desk. Most service personnel were exceptionally friendly. There are several shops-newsstand, antiques shop etc..
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
tombarnes
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Thomas Barnes
Location: Fort Lauderdale & Washington, DC
Reviews written: 688
Trusted by: 443 members
About Me:
With Barbara in Miami, 2004
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.