Originally Posted by
escape4
The issue for PH is that it's in the price range of St.Regis and at that level StR performs better based on what I read. Expectations are very high when you pay close to $1k, hence the "complaints", possibly. Personally I can overlook problems and instead praise a $100 hotel that drops the ball on several small issues, yet I might "complain" about the $1k hotel which makes only one significant mistake. I could consider PH with points rather than cash however, but I am more hesitant to pay 30k pts per night if a hotel is not close to perfect given that it's the same points requirement as PH Tokio or PH Sydney.
It's worth pointing out the the regular rooms at the PHNY are the size of suites at many hotels. There is no seperate living room, but the whole thing is extremely spacious.
Also, while the room rate is often in the $1000 range (or even above), it is sometimes in the $650 range, and also, they have an abundance of standard rooms, so booking with 30k pts (or a cat 1-7 cert) is easy.
So, while I agree with you that $1000 is too much to pay for this hotel, realistically there is rarely a reason to actually pay cash. I think it makes more sense to have a discussion about whether it's worth 30k pts.
Even if other hotels in other cities give better value for the 30k points, that doesn't mean that this hotel is not worth that price. The fact that you can get a better hotel in Tokyo or Sydney for the same price is irrelevant if you have a trip to NYC. It only makes sense to compare the value to other NYC hotels.