In the press, I have been reading alot of favorable comments about the Peninsulas in LA and Chicago and of course HK,but nary a word (good or bad)about the NY Peninsula, why? anyone care to share your views on this property?

Terrific hotel. Service is everything you could ask for (i.e. offering, without prompting, and after hours, to provide t-shirt and shorts since I had no lugggage with me), facilities are excellent, including the health club upstairs, and they take particularly good care of returning guests.

Best hotel in New York, but just dont eat there -

You really need to get a Grand Deluxe and not just a regular Deluxe - well worth the extra space.

However, all rooms come with the standard and GREAT Pen Bathroom

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by B Watson:
Best hotel in New York, but just dont eat there -</font>

Adrienne is ok but not stellar and Gotham Bar & Lounge doesn't compare to Pen Lobby Lounges in HKG or MNL. The Pen-Top Bar and Terrace is nice though.

For haute French, two restaurants on W 55th Street - La Cote Basque and La Caravelle - are better alternatives to Adrienne.

Considering the fact that the St. Regis has Lespinasse and Trump International has Jean Georges, it's a shame that The Pen in NYC lacks a strong in-house restaurant. That said, 5757 at The Four Seasons NYC is nothing special. I'll pass on comments re Alain Ducasse.

It will be interesting to see to what extent the trend of hotels with celebrity chef restaurants will continue. Here's my brief listing (in random order):
Alain Ducasse at The Essex House NY
Vong at The Mandarin Oriental HK
Vong at The Berkeley London
La Tante Claire at The Berkeley London
Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's
Marco Pierre White's The River Room at The Lowry Hotel Manchester, England

Hmmm...perhaps Martín Berasategui will open a restaurant at Hotel Claris or Hotel Arts in Barcelona...




[This message has been edited by Mr. Strong (edited 09-10-2002).]

I haven't stayed there but, my office is across the street.

From what I've heard from friends, I would echo B_Watson's comments: go for the larger room (Amex Platinum may do the trick) and skip the restaurant. The health club is great.

As for restaurants, the hotel is a very short walk from some of the best in the country. I prefer Lespinsasse at the St. Regis (1/2 block away) to La Caravelle or Cote Basque (though both are quite good). Also highly recommend Le Bernardin (seafood only).

[This message has been edited by jtrader (edited 09-10-2002).]

We stayed there recently for fun. The room was lovely, room service salad not very good.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Mr. Strong:

Alain Ducasse at The Essex House NY
Vong at The Mandarin Oriental HK
Vong at The Berkeley London
La Tante Claire at The Berkeley London
Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's
Marco Pierre White's The River Room at The Lowry Hotel Manchester, England

[This message has been edited by Mr. Strong (edited 09-10-2002).]</font>


This does not even BEGIN the list -

Ramsey is adding the Connought this month and Ducasse has been at the HOtel deParis for 2 years. Nobu at the Metropolitain in London plus everyone in Las Vegas......

In any case, I have eaten at all of the first 5 on your list and love them all.

I have not done a round or two with anyone on Ducasse in a while - give it a go http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by B Watson (edited 09-10-2002).]

Wonderful hotel, perhaps my favorite in New York. I think I had just a regular deluxe. The room was fairly small, but tastefully furnished. The bathroom, however, was fantastic. It was 1/2 the size of the bedroom, with a television over the bathtub for soaking. The service was quite good, it had Molton Brown toiletries, and the room just had a very nice feel to it. Overall, I highly recommend it.

Thanks everyone, I'm very glad to hear all the positive replies as I'm headed to the Peninsula next week. I had been staying at the St. Regis for my New York stays over the last 6 years and like the location, but after repeated problems there, I have decided to make the change. Luckily, it's still close enough that I can easily stumble back from the King Cole bar if the spirit moves.

I will let you know my impressions upon my return.

My trip to NY was delayed till last weekend and so I have just returned.

My impressions of my stay...
The rooms are lovely, quite small as noted but well appointed with good size bathrooms.

The Pen-Top bar is quite cheesy looking in daylight and is as they say in the business a "night" room, I'm sure the large outdoor terrace area is nice on a clear warm night.

On the advice of this thread, I avoided the hotel restaurant, which was Adrianes and has been re-named "Fives" presumeably due to being located at 5th avenue and 55th street.

Housekeeping did an excellent job.

The Concierge desk has a very short attention span and no attention to detail whatever as they neglected to schedule my incoming airport transfer (which I called in 2 weeks prior to arrival)causing me to wait 1.5 hours for a car at JFK and drive into the city in traffic I had specifically tried to avoid with an early arriving flight. After they comped this transfer and apologised profusely and said this never happened at the Peninsula, they again failed to schedule my Departure to the airport.

After being burned on the inbound, I luckily had thought to re-confirm my departure with them 2 hours prior and they were able to order a car.

Sorry to say, they made a very poor first and last impression and the in-between never seemed to quite make up for it.

Slightly off topic, but to Mr. Strong:
Berasategui coming to BCN? Any hold in these rumours?