JumboD

What's the fitness center like? They don't have very good pics on the hotel website and I haven't heard a report yet.

DCBob, thanks so much for the pics, those were very helpful. I booked a studio with cash/points for the first week in December and am really looking forward to it.

While it may have been cost-prohibitive, I would have loved, loved, loved to see them install those LG combined washer/dryers in place of the dishwasher. Much easier to do some dishes by hand than clothes (and you can start those things in the morning and come back to clean and dry laundry at night).

Anyone know what the upgrade rate is to a suite if using points (doubt they'll let me on a cash/points stay, but who knows)?

Overall, very much looking forward to this stay and not sorry I passed on the 4Points Chelsea in favor of this!

Out of my Element

Fitness center has at least 6 pieces of cardio equipment, including treadmills. Doors (on both ends) were locked, so we couldn't go in. There was a pile of fluffy towels, so either it wasn't supposed to be locked to guests, or someone forgot to unlock it. Didn't see what weight equipment there might be. There were at least 2 of those big pilate balls (you're asking the wrong guy here for specifics on these things!). Room is nearly the length of the hotel (which isn't saying much), but the equipment was definitely not jammed in there.

As we had a couch, apparently they gave us a studio!

I talked with a woman who was at breakfast with her husband and two small children, about how they did the property with a family. Turns out they switched from the Westin due to price and had no idea the size of the room. "Luckily, they are small children", she said.

There is a Guest Laundry, also in the basement. $1.50/load, but the machines had signs on them that said they were not in service.

Toaster was back on this AM, but sterno still was not.

Lobby/lounge were comfortable. Elevator lobby on 28 temp was in the 50's.

jrzyshawn

As other have already stated, I had similar "minor issues" with my stay, but I will most likely return if the rate is reasonable.

We arrived at about 2:30pm on a Saturday to check in, but we were told that no rooms were available and we would need to wait until 3pm for a clean room. We decided to wait in the living room/lounge in the back of the hotel which has a nice glass atrium/roof, but it was absolutely freezing. We were talking and surfing the internet when we noticed that it was now 3:15 so, I went to the deck to complete check in. I know the SPG T&C's about upgrades at element properties, but I figured I would ask anyway. I was informed that all of their suites were occupied and they were at max capacity for the night, but SPG was allowing me to book 9 rooms under a dummy booking .

At check in they explained the features of the property and told me to make sure I check out the rooftop patio in the 41st floor for pictures. They also explained that breakfast was in the lobby from 7am to 10am on weekends.

There are only 2 public elevators and 1 service elevator for 40 floors, but they are super fast, so I never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes.

As a platinum, the front desk agent told me they I had been pre-blocked in corner studio king on the 40th floor. Apparently a studio king is the largest of the room types other than the several suites they have. The room was spacious for NYC hotel standards and had a great view of uptown. The bathroom is ridiculously small compared to every other element property that I have stayed at, but this is NYC so that should be expected.

I found the room to be "slapped together in a hurry". The paint on the trim was not neat. There were paint splatters on the floor and wall. There was no garbage can in the bathroom and the protective film was still on the cabinet doors. It seems like they opened sooner than they should have.

On Sunday morning about 8:45 we went down to the lobby for breakfast, but when we opened the hot buffet trays, they were all empty except for the pancakes. I notified an F&B attendant and they told me that they are not putting out any more food since breakfast ends at 9:30am. I explained that we were told breakfast was until 10am and the F&B attendant stated that they were on a modified schedule this week . We then asked for forks so we could eat the pancakes but apparently they were all dirty and they did not have any clean ones available, so we ended up leaving and going to a deli for breakfast a few blocks away.

It seems that there were some communication problems with the staff and guests because I spoke to a few unhappy groups in the lobby who also missed out on breakfast as they arrived at 9:15am because they told it was open until 10am.

When checking out the front desk staff asked be about my stay and if I encountered any problems. I took this opportunity to let them know about the breakfast issue, but they seemed very disinterested and quickly dismissed my issue/complaint stating that the hotel is new and they have some communications problems to work out

jrzyshawn

I figured this out this morning when I tried to use it. It works in the sense that the convener turns and will heat the broad to toast it, but the bread falls to the back and is never returned to the retrieval chute. I looked in there and saw at least 15 slices or OLD bread. :-:

DCBob

I am not surprised. Either the staff was NOT trained to report problems they discover or they don't care. To get anything fixed, I had to report most problems at least twice. If you do go to breakfast here, take your cold pancakes to your room and microwave them. There is also a working toaster in each room (hidden in the cupboard).

And one new issue. The Starpoints for my stay have not yet posted and it's been 4 days since I checked out. I was a little suspicious that my folio made no mention of my SPG account, but since I had booked my stay on spg.com, I thought the points would definitely post. Now I am sure I will have to fill out a missing points request or call in.

ma91pmh

Thanks for all the feedback on the property. I stay here next week. Sounds like it's having some big teething problems. Fortunately at this kind of price point as long as my aircon and shower work and the bed is comfy I don't have any other expectations

jrzyshawn

The A/C did not have a Heat/AC setting. It was just on heat. I had to open the window to cool the room to my liking.

Out of my Element

Our room was warm when we got in, thermostat was set at 72. We pushed it down to 68 and got nice, cool air out of the machine.

I think the system may shut off when you're out of the room for awhile (or sound asleep) as it appeared to have motion detectors on the thermostat.

sfozrhfco

Total meltdown at the hotel tonight. Computers went down and unfortunately this was the first time our employees were staying at the hotel. One gave up after waiting until 8PM and another arrived later but did not get into a room until 11PM. Unfortunate as the location is a block from our board meeting location but don't know if I will be able to get anybody to go back there for a while.

DCBob

I would feel better if someone above the hotel manager is aware of the problems with this hotel opening going badly. Starwood Lurkers - Is there anyone doing something about these problems? I have a reservation to go back, but now I am thinking about staying elsewhere.

DCBob

To follow up, as of today, my points still had not posted. I chatted online with SPG Customer Care today and my points were posted by the end of the chat session.

JonathanIT

I checked in yesterday and they are very busy this weekend (sold out online). There weren't too many issues when I checked in (let's just say I found out in the course of my conversation with the FDM that there are 31 SPG Platinum members staying here ). Received a corner King "view" studio, very similar to the pictures posted by jrzyshawn (north/west corner room facing uptown, mine on the 31st floor).

Sometime in the course of the evening (although I heard from one guest it's been happening all week), the elevators went berserk. One is completely out of commission right now, the other two require an employee operator to manually go to each floor for pick up (this morning they posted notices on each floor to call the front desk for an elevator).

This morning, I was caught in one with no operater, and it was stopping at EVERY floor on the way down. I got on at the 31st floor, and it was a very long ride. I would have wished to be on a lower floor, but I was lucky to make it on, as it was already full and unhappy guest were at almost every floor (some with luggage) waiting for a ride down.

I see now why they were offering the super cheap rates...

Keyser

tried to make a reservation here for this weekend but no availability....infact, there are very few properties in ny showing availability....the only 3 at the moment are the st. regis, sheraton & the 4 points in soho....

4Health

I just returned last night after a 1 night stay here and I don't know if it was because the hotel was sold out or that they just completed construction two weeks ago, but the hallway of the floor I was on was filthy. Never have I stayed in a hotel that was so disgusting in my life. The hallway was littered with what appeared to be strips of white paper and plastic all over the place. Then, in front of the elevator, there was four full bags of trash that I'm assuming house keeping was too lazy to carry down the steps since the elevator was so slow / or broken. The trash smelled terrible and it remained there for my entire stay. I will not be staying at this hotel again unless they somehow manage to get their act together. I will say that overall, the room was fairly clean, but the floor of the bathroom and shower were also dirty. I'm wondering if they didn't hire enough house keeping staff to clean when the hotel is fully booked.

Sam P. Goodman

Wow, the hits just keep on coming. I've stayed at a few elements (including Summerlin, NV on it's second day of operation) and always found them to be fantastic. Sounds like they have a lot of work to do at this one. I have a couple of stays there in January. I hope they clean up their act before then.