DCBob

I checked in yesterday at 8:00 AM and was immediately given a room on the 29th floor. This floor had just opened, so I was the first guest ever to check in to my room. The front desk clerk was being trained, so my check in took around 10 minutes. I was just happy to get a room at 8:00 in the morning.

I had to ask about late checkout and the Platinum amenity. Checkout at 4 PM granted without any hesitation. Your only choice for the amenity is 250 Starpoints. Although there are 7 suites, upgrades are not given to SPG Platinum members (per the SPG Program Terms & Conditions).

Breakfast served from 6:00 to 9:30 AM. Evening reception from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. Breakfast included juices, coffee, dry cereal, artificial bacon, scrambled eggs, and bagel sandwiches (bacon, cheese, and egg), pancakes or French toast (depends on day), etc. Nothing spectacular and hot items were served cold because someone forgot to turn on the Sterno heaters. Evening happy hour featured complimentary white and red wine and their own house-brewed beer. The appetizers were quite good (brie and peach phyllos and asparagus and cheese phyllos). The beer was OK but the white wine was horrible (tasted like wood).

Hotel has three sitting areas on the first floor - breakfast area, lounge + business center, and an additional skylight lounge (glass ceiling). There are three elevators that serve 40 floors and the rooftop. The elevators are quick, so waits were minimal. The rooftop area has beautiful views but no services, just a few chairs and small tables.

Rooms are pretty nice (although the views are not). I had a small couch in my room. The heavenly bed is very comfortable. Flat screen Philips 32-inch TV with 65 channels is next to the bed, but it also swivels 360 degrees. There is also a Philips DVD player. Heating and cooling is controlled by a wall thermostat that is connected to a large wall Islandaire HVAC unit.

The desktop features a lamp and the free internet is wireless only. Speedtest.net shows download speed at 1.03 Mb/second. Not bad but not great for a new hotel.

The bathroom features a shower stall with a huge elephant showerhead. Unfortunately, the water pressure is not good enough to take advantage of this feature. Plenty of space to put your toiletries on the counter.

The best feature here is the full kitchen. You get glasses, cups, dishes, pots, pans, and all the cutlery you would ever need. Also a full-size LG refrigerator with a bottom freezer that is huge by any standard. There is a 2-burner stovetop (no oven), toaster, coffeemaker, LG microwave oven, and GE dishwasher. Great for a long stay to be sure.

Overall, I was happy with this hotel and will come back again.





Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1748958...7625466876288/

JonathanIT

Thanks for the review. ^

Can you tell us which room category you had booked, and if it is the same category that you were given? I think there are "standard" and "studio" rooms at the base level... I was wondering what the differences are.

BTW, they are doing a good job at marketing this new property... the first weekend in Dec. (I have two FWN nights booked in a studio), they are completely sold out!

Out of my Element

Just canceled my $299/night at the Westin Times Square for this at $188 for Fri/Sat nites. Can anyone recommend good cheap self parking in the neighborhood?

stevens397

Just go to www.bestparking.com and follow the links. I ALWAYS use this when I go the NYC. Never let me down and has saved me a fortune.

Out of my Element

Done (and done so before). Nothing under $30 (we usually get $27 near the Westin), but still not bad, though 3 blocks away.

AndrewT84

Thanks for the pics and reviews! I'm looking forward to giving this place a shot. Sounds nice and the breakfast spread sounds decent for the hotel. As much as I love the Westin lounge's breakfast spread...I'll take eggs/pancakes/sandwiches/hot items over cheese, crackers, fruit, and breads anyday. ^

Keyser

thanks for the review dcbob....

abk

i have reservations here for may and when i was checking my account yesterday, one of them had disappeared and the other had a new confirmation number. the woman at spg said there was no record of my two original confirmation numbers and that new ones were created by the hotel. after a search she determined that when the hotel created the second record it neglected to add my spg number. you may want to check your reservations to make sure they are correct.

tmm1012

Thanks for the review dcbob. This solidified my decision to book here for Dec. 17-19 (on an Expedia.ca trip - I think the Element should be a step or 2 up from the Chocolat Hostel ). 4000 pts + $60 seems like a steal for a brand new hotel in Manhattan.

Out of my Element

Checked in yesterday, a few thoughts:

Got a room on the 28th floor. 11 rooms/floor (maybe fewer where there are suites?) and there are 40 floors. There's a rooftop "garden" with great river and skyscraper views. No services up there, you get a great view of the 33rd floor bar/lounge at the 4 Points on 40th street. Walked down to the 40th floor and saw WSJ in front of each door, none such on the 28th floor.

Overheard in the elevator "at least with a one week old hotel, you probably won't get bedbugs!"

Much of the time, 3 elevators is not enough. Either they come immediately (half the time), or it's a 5+ minute wait. Staff (and maids) use the same elevators, so when we checked in we had to wait until the 3rd elevator arrived, as the first two had carts/vacuums.

No problem checking in at 10:30AM on Friday. They "only had 3 rooms ready", and 28th floor was highest (we're just Gold status). Room was clean and is comfortable. Bathroom is large and very nice. TV is on that side table as dcbob told us, which is odd, as there is a desk at the foot of the bed where it would work much better (or wall mounted!). Gym in basement looked nice and large, but doors weren't hooked up to keycard, so maybe not yet open?

A few scratches on the furniture/doors of the room, probably from the buildout I would guess. If you have a view of 39th from your room and are high enough, you get a decent view of the Empire State Building and a bit of the river.

Breakfast was "interesting". Still no sterno working on the chafing dishes. Seems to be a vegetarian mix, with the fake bacon (good for what it was, but still . . .) Cold pancakes, only offered sugar free fake syup (I am reminded of the joke "the food was awful, and such small portions!"), but really weren't as bad as they seemed. The orange juice was really bad, however.

4 big computers beyond the lobby seem to have good availability. Staff is very friendly and helpful. Really seem to mean it when they welcome you back from a walk or from theater, and quick with directions when needed.

Although this is on 39th, I'd say it's better located than the 4 Points on 40th, as the Element is only about 100 feet from 8th Ave, while the 4 Points is most of the way to 9th Avenue, past a whole bunch of "transitional" space.

We usually do the Westin, but if this is $50 cheaper, we'd stay here instead, going forward.

Checking out tomorrow, so if anyone has any questions, I'll try to get answers before I leave.

jbcarioca

I never thought i'd go for element but this has convinced me to try in mid-Dec

DCBob

I just added four new photos of the public areas to my review:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1748958...7625466876288/

Out of my Element

Orange Juice: Still bad
Cereal bowls: "we only have two, but I'll wash one for you"

It's all small stuff. We'll still come back, and I hope they fix some of the small stuff.

Oh, and when you step in to the shower to turn it on (since it's a pretty big shower and the handle is on the wall furthest from the door), turn it about 2/3 of the way towards the H for best results and least scalding/freezing.

Staff is still very friendly and helpful.

DCBob

I booked a standard room, but I was checked in to a corner studio room. Standard rooms are 303 square feet and studios are 385 square feet. The housekeeper told me that studios have a couch and standard rooms have a chair in place of a couch.

DCBob

I had lots of minor issues during my stay on Thanksgiving eve and day. Just to give you an idea of the growing pains all new hotels seem to have. I was told that this was just a "soft opening" and they would be better prepared when they officially open on December 9.

1. The lobby and lounge were absolutely frigid. I complained on Wednesday night and again on Thursday morning. Turns out - if you can believe it - is that no one had thought to turn on the heating system! Not that day - but it had NEVER been turned on. The staff acted like the sub-55 degree temperature was normal ("oh, are you cold?"). Really!

2. They had no butter, napkins, or serving tongs out until I requested them. The hot entrees were cold due to the sterno not being turned on. The breakfast sandwiches were warm because they were in a separate area where an electric warmer was actually working. They had a pan filled with strange round egg white patties on Wednesday. All of them were burned and obviously inedible, but they were being served nevertheless.

3. The toaster in the breakfast area did not work.

4. The refrigerator and freezer in my room were warm. I pulled them out from the wall and saw that the cord was still in its original shipping position - not plugged in. Once plugged in, both units quickly got cold.

5. The toilet was filthy when I checked in. I won't go into the details, but that's odd for a room where I was the first guest. It took a full 2 hours for housekeeping to show up to clean it. (Flushing it did not help.)

6. The desk lamp had no light bulb.

7. The only cutlery I had was spoons. The forks and knives were missing. I didn't know this until the housekeeping supervisor started checking out the rest of the room.

All of these things are minor irritations - nothing critical - and I will be back soon.