Kimpton Eventi - New York City (Master Thread)
Jul 18, 2021, 7:44 pm
Stayed here two nights, incredibly enough, on IHG Free Night certificates. Booked a room with two double beds as that's what showed up on the site, front desk asked (and I accepted) a shift to a king room. Lobby is small and also serves as an entry into The Vine cafe/bar - the vibe in the lobby was nice and was energetic without being overbearing or flashy, which was a nice contrast to some other hotels that try to be painfully hip (looking at you, Moxy). Staff said they'd reopened recently, but the hotel already seemed really busy.
I had a room on the 12th floor with a nice view of 6th Ave (which is the front of the hotel). This was the base room with the first level of upgrade being a "city view" room on higher floors. Room layout is a long corridor-type space housing the closet, walled in by the bathroom wall, opening into the bed area. First impressions were very good, the decor is very tasteful (heavy on dark tones, wood, chrome accents). The bed was incredibly comfortable, and the location made for a good home base as it was easy to walk to most transit hubs. Overall, a great experience and a place I'd be happy to return to. It's especially good as a points value - it comes out at 40k/night, and cash rates seem to be a minimum of $250-$280/night. It's infinitely preferable to the many nearby HI/HIX and EVEN hotels nearby, for sure.
Positives
+ The rooms are relatively big by NYC standards
+ Solid design and quality for the hard product - nothing seems or feels cheap, lots of tasteful wood accents
+ Location - 10 minute walk from Penn Station, 4 blocks south of Herald Square - just far enough away to avoid the downsides of those areas, close enough to walk to various transit options
+ Huge working desk
+ Robes!
Neutral
/ No daily housekeeping - I didn't mind, but some might
Negatives
- Rooms that face 6th Ave can be a little noisy - honking cars, etc. come through just a little too loud for comfort
- Shower only, no tub
- Pointless amenity fee
Aug 30, 2021, 5:51 pm
Eventi Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel
Eventi Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel
851 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY US 10001
Kimpton Eventi New York = Nice Suite but Service Lacking (6 Photos)
Eventi Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel
I am not very familiar of the Kimpton brand but based on my positive stays at Kimpton Bangkok earlier this year I was interested in trying another Kimpton and I booked at Kimpton Eventi. My stay was mixed; I liked the room but service was more in line with select service hotels, not full service.
Room
Considering the room rates in New York City, I was surprised to find out that a 40k free night certificate could be used at this hotel, and I was equally surprised that it booked into a Deluxe room rather than the entry level room. Suite upgrades for loyalty program elite guests at various hotel chains in NYC are not common and technically IHG properties don’t have to upgrade Spires on a free night award so I did not expect anything but I received a suite upgrade anyway.
The suite was not huge but 500 square feet is not bad at all for NYC standards especially considering the numerous hotels with small entry level rooms who do not upgrade generously. The bathroom was well done with marble everywhere and a spacious walk-in shower with good water pressure. I also liked that the room had minimal use of carpet to give a clean feeling. They also had Atelier Bloem bathroom amenities and Frette bathrobes.
Service
Service is where the hotel came up short in my opinion. During my stays in Bangkok, when chatting with Kimpton’s General Manager he mentioned that the brand positioning is intended to compete with St.Regis, Park Hyatt, and Waldorf Astoria, and for Bangkok I would say they are not far off. However at Kimpton Eventi, keeping in mind that service standards in NYC are not what they are in Asia, nonetheless the hotel felt more like a select service than a full service hotel so it’s not anywhere near those other brands.
First of all due to covid there was no room service, however the restaurant was open so it’s not like they don’t have food, and the covid excuse would be more suitable if they suspended dinner in the restaurant instead of room service. It was more a matter that they didn’t want to send their staff to guest rooms. This theme repeated itself when I needed documents to be printed. When I stay at a limited service hotel like a Holiday Inn, I go to the business center and I do everything myself, but if I am staying at a full service hotel I do not hesitate to send a document by e-mail to front desk and ask them to bring it to my room when I am busy. I do not recall any full service hotel ever refusing such demands so I was surprised when they told me I had to pick up my printout myself at reception. No big deal but it does not give a feeling of a service-oriented hotel and to make matters worse, guests are charged a 20 USD amenity fee which is supposed to include business services so one more reason to feel their refusal was a bit awkward.
Unfortunately this topic did not end there. I had the “do not disturb” light on while I was in my room on various days but housekeeping came knocking on my door at least once a day – the complete opposite attitude than their colleagues at reception: coming to my room when I did not want them to. To make matters worse, one day there was even someone from security who came knocking on my door not long after housekeeping did and said it was because I had the DND light on the last couple of days so it was a health check. Never mind that if they had accepted to bring my printed documents to my room they could have seen themselves that I was doing just fine, plus the fact that staff at front desk saw me alive and kicking when I picked up my documents. So obviously they do not intend to respect DND signs and also do not communicate with front desk either.
Wifi
Wifi worked without interruptions with download speeds of 10 Mbps.
Overall
Overall I would say Kimpton Eventi can be a good fit or a bad fit depending on what guests value the most. If someone wants a room and nothing else, I thought the value for the money was excellent especially if paying with points, also a daily rate of 200 USD was quite competitive as well; for about the same price at Hyatt Herald Square last month, the room was far inferior to Kimpton. However if people expect top service from Kimpton then forget about it. In the end what matters most is whether they deliver in line with price and they do, even if they might fall short relative to what the brand is supposed to be.
Aug 30, 2021, 11:32 pm
Kimpton BKK might provide superior service on par with the upper class, but as is usually the case in Asia, service at a Courtyard or Four Points will often meet or exceed the service levels you’d experience at an InterContinental or JW Marriott [or more premium hotels yet] in the US.
khabah
Aug 31, 2021, 5:05 am
Perhaps the GM was speaking of competitors for the Bangkok market specifically, where Kimpton is a much closer match to StR than W, but I found that in NYC Kimpton Eventi is not even LC or EDITION level. Perhaps W though.Thank you for the screenshots.
Sep 2, 2021, 10:39 pm
Mar 6, 2022, 3:46 am
Have used 35k points for a booking (cash price minimum of £269), but will be keeping an eye on prices and other options in the meantime.
Just me, so as long as it's half decent, I'll be fine.
Added: looked again this morning, and it's now 42k points and the Times Square IC has gone from 41k to 42k.
Last edited by xenole; Mar 7, 2022 at 10:54 pm
Mar 23, 2022, 5:34 am
First impressions are good! Asked about upgrade to a suite at checkin, agreed 100 bucks per night. At almost 2000 bucks for the three nights if paid for, I thought that was very good. Lovely room too.
Will report back post stay.
Mar 25, 2022, 4:48 pm
Apr 17, 2022, 2:44 pm
Not easy to spot from the street as a lot of greenery hiding things. Wasnt even sure if I'd walked into the hotel reception or a bar.
Small reception desk with 2 staff, and one customer. Few others about.
Apparently upgraded to what I've no idea, but it on the 21st floor on the opposite side to the ESB.
Room wise, nothing special to be honest.
Small, buy big enough for me for the night.
No coffee machine or kettle.
Bottle of water, teo glasses and a bottle opener.
Mini bar with no price list.
Tube of Pringles.
Phone.
TV is slow, and one of these that doesn't tell you what you're watching.
Bathroom is a decent size.
Last edited by xenole; Apr 17, 2022 at 2:55 pm
Apr 17, 2022, 5:20 pm
On the room for improvement side, the hotel does not have the Kimpton free wine social hour nightly: it's only 5 days a week, with nothing offered Sundays or Mondays. Seems like an easy cost cutting move by the hotel. Similar to that, the morning coffee is by attendant only and the service incredibly slow: the same staff member pouring the free coffees also takes care of all the people trying to get Grab and Go breakfast items.
The room itself was as good as any, but the service standards are definitely not Kimpton. Morning coffee and the nightly wine reception are two of Kimpton's hallmarks, and the Eventi falls woefully short in both of these.
For a free stay, probably worth it. But to pay the $400 a night rates last week the hotel had would definitely warrant a "Pass" since the Kimpton standards aren't being adhered to.
Apr 17, 2022, 10:17 pm
Snacks:
Black truffle crisps $7.50
Chocolate chip cookies 11.00
Dried fruit 9.50
Energy bar 7.50
Gummy Bears 7.50
Kit Kat 7.50
peanut m&ms 7 50
Pringles 6.00
Reeses 7.50S
Snickers 7.50
Large water $8.00
Small water 6.00
Soda 3.50
Sparkling water 3.00
200ml vodka $25.00
50ml Tequila 12.00
50ml vodka 12.00
Beer 8.00
BTL SVC Cocktails 16.00
Bit of a queue on the street for the steakhouse early yesterday evening and looked full inside.
As mentioned above, you can open a window in the room. Nice to get some fresh air, and it keeps most noise out Sirens less so, but infrequent.
Elevators are pretty slow to be honest and dark surfaces and low lighting may not be to everyone's tastes.
Last edited by xenole; Apr 17, 2022 at 10:23 pm
Apr 18, 2022, 1:45 am
We'd booked a basic room on points and was up sold a full suite at $100 a night which I felt was a good deal so accepted. Radom date checks for 3 nights in this room type appears to be around $2000.
I really liked the decor and hard product here. Service was just OK. Nothing wrong at all but just the basic given to get through the stay, nothing above and beyond.
I would stay here again although due to the massive choice, would go elsewhere just for something different.
(trying to upload images of the suite but it's failing. Will do so when back home).
Apr 29, 2022, 7:52 pm
The happy hour wine quality seemed better than some other Kimpton's I've stayed on the east coast. Amazingly I chatted with two people separately, who were long time Eventi regulars. One was over 15 years! She said that things were going downhill since IHG took over, but I reminded her that she had a huge world of other properties she could use her new Diamond status with. And indeed she has a stay coming up at the Regent Berlin. But she noted that before COVID the happy hour was up on the 3rd floor and had food items, different wine types and specialty cocktails.
The only negative was that the front desk rang my room around 1pm to ask when I was checking out. I said around 3 or 4pm. They claimed that the 4pm check out for Inner Circle is based on availability. I asked them to go look at their website which says it is Guaranteed 4pm check out. But they insisted it is based on availability. As it worked out I agreed to check out by 3pm and they said OK to that. I guess they only have a few suites and someone had booked that one.
I also tried out the Skirt Steak restaurant, which is part of the hotel, but not owned or managed by the hotel. You can charge the bill to your room. Apparently this is a local hotspot. They do not take reservations and intentionally keep a line of people out front waiting to get in. We bought in and luckily arrive at a time when the line wasn't too long. Later we saw the line very long. But when we got a table, there were a number of empty tables inside. Anyhow, it is prix fixe and the steaks were good. Kind of a fun spot.
Apr 30, 2022, 3:04 am
The truth is that while the original Kimpton concept was interesting, the first properties (notably the Palomar and Monaco ones) had a questionable design to say the least.
Since the takeover by IHG, it is clear (cf. Kimpton Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, Taipei, Bangkok, etc.) that the brand has moved upmarket to reach the best standards in the world.
The recent transformation of the Kimpton Banneker in Washington is a striking illustration of this move.
Last edited by nicolas75; Apr 30, 2022 at 4:42 am
Jul 22, 2022, 7:20 am
We liked the hotel and location a lot. At checkin we were offered an upgrade to a higher room for $25 per night, we declined but I think they gave it to us anyway. We had a corner room on the 12th floor which had views of Hudson Yards (we could see the Edge) and Empire State.
Room was ok, a good size for New York. Wine hour was ok, although a bit confusing as the location and time changed most days. Free morning coffee was decent and a large cup.
Asked for a late checkout but was only offered until 12.30 as they were fully booked for a conference.
Housekeeping has been restored. Didn't eat at any of the restaurants, but Skirt Steak had long queues most evenings.
All in all, for the right price we would stay here again.
Close to Hudson Yards, ESB, shops etc. Also some very nice bars and happy hours nearby. We found it a good central location as we could do most places by foot and the subway was close by for everywhere else.