New York City - Easter 2012 NYC Hotel

Hi there,

What am I looking for?
I would like to find a good hotel for 2 people (couple) for 4 nights around Easter 2012. I am looking for an original hotel, so preferrably no standard hotel chain room, at least not the very boring luxury type. Then again, I'd like to avoid the hipster boutique hotels with arrogant staff and noisy neighbours. The reason for the trip is a romantic, 4 nights long weekend in New York (no, I am not interested in roses on the bed or sex toys for hour long marathons) with a girlfriend interested in modern art and in mild shopping (as in "yes its nice to be in New York and buy cheaper products than at home" but not as in "OMG, I need the latest Gucci bag")

Budget?
I am ready to pay up to 600 USD including taxes and breakfast and for that price I'd like luxury in sense of a comfortable room with a low noise level. Not absolute silence per se, but no sleep depriving nuisances if possible.

I looked at the Standard Hotel, which is currently my favourite given the location and the views. I am wary of the club on the top floor as I'd like to have a high floor but not be annoyed by thumping bass sounds from above.

The Cooper Square Hotel seems nice as well, but the rooms small even in the pricey categories. Any experiences regarding the room types?

The Gansevoort seems to be the holy grail of the hip downtown Sex & The City area, but the same applies as for the Standard.

The W Union Square was once choosen by my parents for a short stay and they were happy, but the had to be in that location, which is not my obligation. Also the price is slightly above budget: is it worth it?

The Setai Fifth Avenue and the Andaz Wall Street are not in my favourite area (Village/Meatpacking/Soho) but seem very nice: the Setai has a fabulous design, even in the cheapest room type and the Andaz seems to be a nice young place with acceptable prices.

Finally, I personally choose the Marcel at Gramercy many times in the past, but prices kept going up and I stopped patronizing it, even though I was happy. Bear in mind that I always was on my own, so I wanted to pay less and needed less luxury.

Status
I am Accor Platinum, but given recent very bad experiences, I will stop using Accor. I am currently switching to either Hyatt or SPG, but I sleep very often in non-corporate hotels so status levels with hotels are not that easy to obtain for me, i.e. SPG 90 days challenge are not possible.

Thanks for your advice!

p.s. rate has to be flexible, prepaid is unfortunately not an option.

You have lots of choices.... I'd look into the Chatwal, Soho/TriBeCa Grand and maybe Soho House as well...

thanks for the reply, but I actually thought that with 600 USD I'd get a good room pretty much wherever I wanted, at least in that neighboorhood.

Turns out that I have to make choices, hence my post.

The Mark if you want to be on the Upper East (quiet). My pick would be The Bowery Hotel - close to the New Museum and Soho shopping/good restaurants.

Well, we've just returned from a romantic escape to NYC, a place we have been going to since our fifth date weekend...... some advice on making NYC "romantic" --- allocate money to experiences, rather that hotel room, and spend to minimize travel hassle for more togetherness.

For a relatively quiet hotel in NYC, there are two things I look for: A middle-of-the-block location on a street (not an avenue), and the least number of rooms per floor for minimal hallway traffic and most sense of privacy.

With those criteria, we've been happy with the bare-bones Marriott Fairfield Inn-Chelsea on 28th St between 6 and 7 Av. Only 7 rooms per floor, so very little hall noise. That block on 28th St is mostly flower and plant stores, so it's quiet at night.....and everyday we pick up lots of fresh flowers for the room.....that plus a few flickering candles makes the simple hotel room romantic (imho)!

The other thing my partner appreciates to keep NYC romantic is minimizing the travel hassles....money saved on hotel room can go to limo/car service to/from airport and buying an unlimited metrocard subway/pass, which is $29 for 7days, even when we are just there for 3-4 days, so there's no second thoughts about hopping on bus/subway just for short distances when feet are tired.

For art viewing, there are a couple of "old art" museums we like to see for the architecture---the Frick mansion and the Morgan Library (free on Friday nights).....and for modern art, if you can venture out of Manhattan, Judy Chicago's iconic "Dinner Party" is at the Brooklyn Museum, and the larger exhibitions from Dia are in Beacon, NY, an easy Metro-North commuter train ride
http://www.diabeacon.org/sites/main/beacon
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party/

Enjoy---- this post caught our attention because we fondly remember the Zurich Park Hyatt as highly romantic.....for both the sexy shower/bath combination and the rich ice cream place across the street!

Oh, and I'm reminded of our experience at the uber-trendoid W Union Square soon after it opened..... from their DVD library we chose "The Sweet Smell of Success" as our midnight movie, but the W's all-knowing video librarian said it was poor choice and tried to get us to change. On the elevator ridfe back up to our room, another guest noticed the DVD box, smiled and said "what a perfect Manhattan movie for a stormy night", then recited the cast list and awards......we got off on the same floor, so I put him on the house phone in the hall to finish my needless debate with the W's video desk! So, like you, we'll avoid the we-know-better-what-you-want boo-tike hotels.

thank you very much for your long post, I can definitely vouch for the Park Hyatt in Zurich. I do now better solutions in town but the drinks there are fantastic, especially the La Stanza coffehouse nearby (oldest espresso machine in Switzerland, from 1976, so perhaps even hard to find in Italy.

Coming back to NYC:

I had a long look yesterday and came to new conclusions:

- the Cooper Square is now the Standard East Village. So far so good, unfortunately they actually write pretty clearly in their newsletter that they will "extensively" redo the hotel so I'd expect pretty noisy surrounding so no thanks!

- Meatpacking/Canal = no sleep. This because you either get a thumping club above and/or below you or you get the nice patient and relaxed honking of drivers waiting to get into the Holland tunnel.

I will be spending quite a ton of money on this trip, more than I'd actually like but I guess that doing something like this on the cheaper side is a risk and because its a TATL 4 day break, I think jetlag already has the best of us.

Will keep you posted.

I would like to find a good hotel for 2 people (couple) for 4 nights around Easter 2012. I am looking for an original hotel, so preferrably no standard hotel chain room, at least not the very boring luxury type.

Strange; you named so many chains below.

Then again, I'd like to avoid the hipster boutique hotels with arrogant staff and noisy neighbours.

That's almost every place on your list.

(no, I am not interested in roses on the bed or sex toys for hour long marathons)

TMI! :)



I am ready to pay up to 600 USD including taxes and breakfast

Is that per night or for the entire stay????


and for that price I'd like luxury in sense of a comfortable room with a low noise level. Not absolute silence per se, but no sleep depriving nuisances if possible.

Quiet and Meatpacking District are an oxymoron.


The Setai Fifth Avenue and the Andaz Wall Street are not in my favourite area (Village/Meatpacking/Soho) but seem very nice: the Setai has a fabulous design, even in the cheapest room type and the Andaz seems to be a nice young place with acceptable prices.

The Andaz is on the corner of Wall and Water. That area is absolutely dead after 7:00 PM. In fact, even the Starbucks at 100 Wall closes at 8:00.


thank you very much for your long post, I can definitely vouch for the Park Hyatt in Zurich.



Funny, but with your requirements, I would have chosen the Baur au Lac, unless it has changed in recent years.

thanks for you update. I realize my requests are a bit odd, but then again you look and reply to them as a New Yorker, hence informed but biased.

For instance, when in Zurich, I'd never stay at the Baur au Lac, because its great but old and damn expensive. The pendant to NY would be the St. Regis or Peninsula, which is definitely not on my list.

I always stayed in Midtown and from dinners around Tribeca/Soho and the like, I never quite perceived the area as bustling and very loud, actually had it quite low key in mind. Hence I was wondering if the loud clubby stereotype applied only to some establishments.

I now opted for the Smyth in Tribeca, perhaps a bit too much down south but very interesting for price and decor of the place and size of the rooms.

Btw, I understand that I named hotel chains, but I was meaning "chains" as in Hyatts, Hiltons or SPGs. For me a Standard with 4-5 hotels worldwide is not a chain in the strict sense.

Thank you all for your help.

p.s. 600 was per night. My requirements for 150 per day are a bit of a dream :-)

I didn't know the East Village/Greenwich Village is now the Upper East Side? I guess I'm "Moving on up" but I don't consider my place a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Though I do suggest the Bowery Hotel as it is smaller but rather nice. Not snooty hipster at all. The bar at night can get a little loud but from the rooms I've been in that wasn't an issue.

The Mark if you want to be on the Upper East (quiet). My pick would be The Bowery Hotel - close to the New Museum and Soho shopping/good restaurants.

I would have voted for the Mercer.