Most Fters on this board tend to agree that the RC Central Park, RC Battery Park, Four Seasons, and Peninsula tend to be the best in the city. Trump Int'l Hotel and Towers gets good reviews as well. The new M-O has gotten very mixed reviews.
Perhaps the OPs son would prefer a more trendy hotel like 60 Thompson, SoHo Grand, Tribeca Grand, Hotel Gansevoort..... not luxury hotels but very trendy and not too bad, excepts, perhaps, for some additional noise.....