soitgoes

Some of those reviews look like staff-provided fakes.

wsflyer

+1. On TripAdvisor, there are several brand new members who seem a bit too effusive in their praise. I'll wait for the FT review.

Barry Bethal

Ditto,

Think you need to look no further than the employees named in the reviews for the authors!

Someone's after employee of the month.

BA97

I'll be there on Tuesday on rewards nights (until I can get a flight back to London!) so will report back on my experience.

budblab

We stayed there April 5-10 and were very impressed. The staff was anxious to please, with many manager types present and mingling with guests. The rooms are brand new and clean. Each room has a full kitchen. The free breakfasts and happy hours were extensive and quite good. My only complaints were that there were not enough elevators for the number of floors (3 small elevators for 35 floors), and breakfast was very crowded at 9 am, without enough seats for everyone. It was stated that breakfast ended at 930, but I did notice that they kept it open longer because of the crowd, and even refilled the food past the stated ending time. On a points stay this hotel is a true bargain for NYC. It is a short walk to Times Square and the subway station. It is across from the Port Authority, so at times the neighborhood was a little scary at night for about half a block. There is a security guard at the entrance. I would definitely stay there again without hesitation.

Allitali

we stayed 3 nights at the Staybridge- the first night was paid, and the other two were reward night stays. Although nice and new, the place really fell short in several areas: only 3 elevators for ~32 floors (I think, we were on the 28th) Often, we would get on at our floor, and by two floors down the elevator would be full, yet it took forever, because we stopped at every other floor. Numerous times I tried to get in, and service personnel or bellhops had the elevator full. The walls are paper thin, and a family was up every morning at 7am with their noisy kids in their room and in the hall way- it was as if they were shouting at me from the foot of our bed- we heard doors slamming all night long. The breakfast and reception looked good, but there was far too little seating to enjoy it. Wifi was steady and reliable, but had to call down to get the password. Check in was okay, but unfriendly- I inquired about merging the reservations and was told I would have to come back down after the first paid night and checkout and back in. Okay, but turned out to be annoying as every time I went to the frontdesk it was four people or more deep. I think the place will be fine in some areas once they can work out the growing pains, and it was unfortunate we were there during a time where many guests stayed put due to their unforseen travel changes (volcano) I overheard they had to turn people away with reservations because people weren't checking out. Our TV didn't work, but a call down and they sent someone right up- I think our room may have never even stayed in before. Turns out it wasn't hooked up properly.

The pluses: they had decent wine at the reception and Stella Artois on tap. The place was nice and new and the bed was comfy. We had a nice view of the Empire State building when looking out our window. Also, the had a nice area to store our bags on the last day and were very accomodating about holding them and arranging a car back to the airport.

All in all, not overly impressed, but certainly not bad, especially for the money, new condition, and general location (The street is somewhat seedy, but not unsafe, and definitely close to the action of Times Square)

KathyWdrf

I've got a stay booked in June -- mostly on points, one night paid. I'll be annoyed if I actually have to check out and back in again!

I would have booked the Candlewood Suites on 39th (only 15,000 points/night), where I've stayed a couple of times before, but it wasn't available for an award stay for most of my stay. At 20,000 points/night, the Staybridge on 40th looks like a very good buy. (BTW, I don't have a problem at all with these slightly seedy streets near the Port Authority terminal -- the convenience of the location and the reasonable price outweigh other things.)

One question for those who've already been at the Staybridge: the evening reception is listed as a three-times-per week event. Is it on Mon/Tue/Wed eves, or?

soitgoes

The Staybridge standard is Tue-Wed-Thurs.

budblab

Tue-Wed-Th is correct.

When combining points and paid stays, we notified them of the two consecutive reservations, we did not have to check in and out of our room. However, we were locked out of our room at noon at the end of the first reservation, and had to go to the lobby to get our keys reprogrammed.

KathyWdrf

Ah yes, the old cardkey reprogramming problem. It's happened to me at a lot of hotels in various chains. Perhaps has something to do with the front desk clerk forgetting to put the correct end date on the cardkey.

As long as my stuff is still in the room and no one else has moved into it (), I can handle the occasional cardkey lapse.

JCBIII

The Staybridge website mentions "executive floor" but gives no info - does anyone out there have details (lounge, snax, etc)?

Also, are any perks given for Platinum status?

(Booked for one award night on 5/18 - looking forward to it!)

Thanks
-J

weinberg81

My wife and I plus baby stayed at the Staybridge Suites Times Square April 19-20.

The hotel is right behind Port Authority bus terminal, but you dont hear a thing. The rooms are very well designed so they dont feel cramped (built in features to the tv wall unit and dresser. Rooms look similar to Indigo Chelsea but smaller. Also, all rooms are basically identical so room upgrades mean nothing. The whole hotel has a great modern feel to it. Walkable to most midtown attractions.

Side note: I booked the 10k bonus and never received the extra points. I even checked that it was on my bill when I checked in, which they told me it was, but nothing ever posted. Guess I will be calling...

I have stayed at CP and Indigo in NYC, this place rates #2, CP #1 and Indigo was pretty awful.

weinberg81

No plat perks. No exec floor. I stayed on 28, but moved 15 min later to 31 since the power wasn't working properly. Both were fine rooms but no special upgrade.

KathyWdrf

weinberg81, thanks for your review, but you aren't the "First FT to Stay" at this hotel! At least two other FTers, Allitali and budblab, have also stayed there (before you) and posted feedback on this thread (and at least one other promised to after their stay in April)....

masteo

I'll be here from 20 to 26 june.. When I come back to Italy I'll post a review..

Stay tuned!