Hi all. See below for the email I just sent to my travel agent who arranged this stay. Sorry for the late report. Have tried to post some pics too from Facebook. Thanks!
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We had a fantastic trip to New York! Really is a great city. When we visit again, we will definitely look for something in TriBeCa / SoHo / Meatpacking. That area was just too cool and where we found ourselves drawn most days we were there. We got one of those NYC City passes so ticketed of The Met (great), Natural History (so boring), Statue of Liberty Cruise (long, crap boat and boring but nice views), Top of the Rock (great views – did late afternoon) and Empire State (great views too – did at night). Missed the MoMA (closed the day I wanted to go…). Didn’t do the heli thing after all and kind of glad we didn’t.
Re The Benjamin, we had a good stay here. I would probably rate it four-stars. It’s definitely not in the same league as other properties we have stayed at. Location-wise, being at Lex/51st was close enough to all the Mid-Town attractions and the high end shopping along 5th (Madison is better though). It was a good location I think for a first visit as we found it quite central given we’d sometimes go from Downtown to Upper East in one day. We used taxis everywhere. The subway was disgusting so we didn’t feel like venturing down there after the first experience.
The hotel itself was nice enough. I’m not sure what style I’d call it. It wasn’t contemporary, it wasn’t old school, but it was somewhere in between. Similar to what I remember the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur being like – but probably a rung down the ladder in terms of standard. Seems like it had recently been refreshed slightly so that was good (public areas). The room was in keeping with the feel of the public areas. I was surprised at the size – we were given a great One Bedroom Deluxe Suite with a huge terrace with two table sets (no loungers as I guess no one uses in winter). The living room and dining areas were great to relax in. Not luxurious in feel, but adequate (again, comparing to the Ritz in KL, it was a similar style, Ritz room (I think we had their Premier Suite?) bigger and better floorplan and felt more luxury in terms of furnishing and decor). The kitchenette was a nice touch and would be great for a long stay. We didn’t use it. The bedroom was a good size. The bed was really comfortable and the pillow menu was a nice touch although the water one leaked one day while we were out. From here the room went a tad downhill… The closet space wasn’t big enough for two people for more than a night or two especially in winter when travelling with a number of coats and jackets. The bathroom… Shocking. Far too small for a room let alone their second top suite. They should have taken space from the bedroom, sacrificed the ‘walk-in’ dressing area and expanded this. Single vanity with no storage space, cramped toilet and old style shower inside a very small bath. Not ideal for two fit guys both 6ft2… And the small size Elemis toiletries irritated me. Other than that though, the room was a bargain for NYC I feel – we had so much space for the price so I’d still give it a good bang-for-buck rating.
Food was pretty good at the hotel. Included breakfasts were nice. Had steak and eggs most days. Nice to be able to order a la carte and of course servings reasonable. Coffee was rubbish and tasted burnt. Wifi was not great in the restaurant – found it almost impossible to hold a signal on my iPad. We had dinner one evening which was okay. It was very busy – something to do with NY Restaurant Week I guess – but they managed an okay job. Service wasn’t great – they needed more wait staff as we barely saw our guy which was reflected in a low tip… I wouldn’t visit again for dinner but we were tired that evening and couldn’t be bothered going out.
Service overall was okay. All the staff were nice. Concierge was reasonably helpful but when I asked where some nice boutiques were for shopping around SoHo / Chelsea, she just sent us to a street which had all the major brand boutiques. I kind of expect in a shopping city for concierge to know if a customer asks for trendy boutiques and not single brand concept stores that they know what you mean. Housekeeping was not good. Turn down didn’t happen two nights – I called one night, didn’t bother the other night (our last). There were cigarette butts on the terrace I’m guessing from guests on floors above us that were not cleaned. And as a test, I left a Starbucks cup on the terrace table for three days which did not get thrown out. I mentioned this to the lady on check-out, not sure she grasped my level of annoyance!
So… Would I recommend… Yes and no. Yes to people looking for a good value place that will give them some good space for their money. Have to be happy to sacrifice some service levels though (expect four-star). No if you are used to higher end properties which Virtuoso is generally known for. I am not sure that this property should be Virtuoso, but I’m glad it was as the perks received were fantastic. I wouldn’t stay again (a) second time visit I’ll hang out basically in one area of NYC and (b) it wasn’t really for me…
Final tip – tell clients to book (well in advance) dinner at Little Owl in West Village. AMAZING. Had drinks at Top of the Standard before this which was a nice way to start the evening.
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Room:
Terrace (wrapped around room bedroom):
View from terrace:
