Disappointing, did not meet expectations
After three nights in New Jersey , we were off to the Plaza. (The Doubletree Tinton Falls was actually quite nice for what it was, with very friendly service, comfortable rooms, and a generous breakfast amenity for Diamonds.)
We dropped our rental car at the location closest to the Plaza, and called an Uber SUV. A very nice driver with a late model Chevy Suburban soon picked us up and we were on our way. (Uber was consistently very good during our stay. Quick, nice drivers, nice vehicles. Call your driver immediately once you know who it is to let them know exactly where you are. GPS a little flaky.)
We pulled up in front of the hotel at about 11:00 PM, the driver unloading our (6) bags to the sidewalk. Nothing from the Plaza. What? We waited a minute or 90 seconds, still nothing. Very poor form. Lugged our bags up the stairs with half of them through the revolving door into the lobby when finally a doorman decides to show up. He insists on taking our bags for us so we left them all and went to check in.
All other times the doormen were there and available to help. Thanks Freddie for putting us in the house BMW to dinner when those incompetent construction workers were blocking the street!
Easy check in, agent explained the FHR benefits: breakfast for two each day, $100 credit, late checkout availability. We were also on an FHR pay 2 stay 3 rate.
I asked about FHR upgrade availability, and the gentleman said "You reserved such a high level suite, we can't upgrade you further." We did book an Edwardian Fifth Avenue Suite, with only Plaza, Terrace, and Royal Terrace suites in a higher category. Regardless, the way he said it made me feel like we should have booked a lower level suite, and then they could have upgraded us to a higher category (the one we were in). We got the room we wanted, so we weren't too unhappy about this.
Up to one of the highest floors and in to our room. A very nice Platinum amenity awaited us - grapes, nuts, dried apricots, figs, crackers, three types of cheese, and a large glass bottle of Evian.
Turndown had already been done, with the sofa bed made and a bottle of Fiji water left for each of us (4). Turndown was equally nice each night with water, slippers, bed prepared, etc.
The suite was adequate, but not as large as I expected. They advertise 900 - 1000 sf, and it was probably that, but the entry area / hallway to the half bath took up a lot of wasted space. The fact that the sofa bed was never folded back up during our stay made the small living room even smaller. (Isn't it normal for morning housekeeping to put the sofa back together, and evening turndown to make it up in to a bed? That has been our previous experience.)
In the entry hallway area also a wet bar, counter space, cabinets, a microwave (in a cabinet) and a medium sized refrigerator. A closet as well.
Master bedroom was nice, with a side chair and ottoman on one side of the bed by the two windows. Bed and covers / comforter extremely comfortable. We loved it. Two pocket sliding doors to completely close the bedroom off from the living area. A sideboard type cabinet across from the foot of the bed, under the TV, with the mini bar inside it. Short hallway from bedroom to the master bath with closets on on side and a small table / desk for working. No extra plugs! I had to unplug the one lamp to plug in my computer. (The other plug was for the iPad with the very flaky room controls. iPad room controls would be a great idea if it would work. As it was, flaky and a dumb idea.)
Bathroom was nice looking mosaic tile with a tub in the main area, a toilet with a door, and a separate walk in shower with rain shower head. Caudilie toiletries - large size shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion containers. There was a small bottle of Scope as well, but it was opened already and half gone. Gross. Towels were very nice, high quality. Two sinks but all four water handles were loose and wobbly.
Our room supposedly included butler service, but they did not reach out to us once. ("As a Suite guest you will enjoy Butler Services") I don't really know what we would have done with a butler, but at the very least they could have contacted us once to ask.
There were two windows in the bedroom and one in the living room facing down on to fifth. Unfortunately, there was a very large obtrusive cement railing outside the windows which took up the bottom quarter of the window and prevented us from actually seeing Fifth Avenue or the fountain. We could barely see the top of the Apple store glass cube looking down across the street. This was certainly not what we expected, but we did not notice until the next morning and we were completely unpacked. Did not feel like requesting a different room.
Breakfast in the Palm Court was a highlight. Pleasant service, great buffet, good menu selections with tasty and high quality food.
Room service was OK, but slow. When we ordered room service breakfast, they gave us a $80 credit off our bill (did not remove the entire amount) for FHR.
We tried go to the Rose Club for a drink one night, but after 5 or 6 minutes waiting we decided to enjoy some of our own wine in our room instead. Rose Club furniture appeared old, worn down, and stained. We walked through the Champagne Club (between the lobby and the elevators) a few times, but never stopped to check it out.
Workout room in the basement was small, but very nice. High quality cardio machines, weight lifting equipment, and a nice stretching / yoga room with a hardwood floor. Steam in the mens locker room.
The Plaza food hall (including the Todd English area) looked fantastic when we walked through, with a great variety of options. Appeared very busy and popular. We were never here at mealtime though, so did not try it out.
The location of the Plaza was perfect for this trip. MOMA, Lincoln Center, Eugene O'Neill theater, Times Square, and of course Central Park itself! We had a couple of great runs / walks through the park. Further north, all of the pathways were clear. South end, near the lake, they do not use salt so it was still kind of icy. It was fantastic to see Central Park covered in snow! Beautiful.
We walked all the way down to the High Line one day and walked the entire length. A great public space!
I used Fairmont Fit for the first time on this trip, and they provided very nice new shoes (Reebok) as well as shorts and a workout shirt.
Overall, the location of the hotel was perfect but many other aspects left a lot to be desired. This clearly is an old Grand Dame type hotel, but it really seems to have lost much of its luster. While everything was old, fancy, and 'antique', it was also worn down, dusty in places, missing pieces, and scratched up.
The room was adequate, but as I mentioned the layout left something to be desired and we were not happy with the rail blocking our view out the window. iPad room controls poorly executed - why bother?
We don't regret staying here (once), but will look for other options for our upcoming trips.