mackenzie77

This is the funniest thing I've seen all day......

jaejaez

It's a lap pool, meaning that you swim against the current when you switch on the jet.
but yeah it's small and i wouldn't use it...

Condition One

After a decent, but unimpressive stay at the St Regis, I figured I’d try the Chatwal as an alternative. The hotel is literally a block away from Times Square environs, and is very convenient to the theater district. It’s a smaller hotel than I was expecting – more like a boutique hotel. There are only 9 rooms per floor. I booked a junior suite, and was given one in the corner of the building. It was a large square shape and was well furnished. The carpet is starting to show it’s age; it was noticeably faded and stained. It’s nicely padded though. The bathroom is large and spacious, but the sparkly tilework is starting to look outdated. The toilet is a Toto washlet. The sinks look cool, until you realize that it splashes water back on you. Asprey toiletries are provided, which are similar in quality to Elemis (not that great). I was pretty pleased with my room. WiFi was 5Mbps.

If you opt for continental breakfast as your platinum amenity, you’re given a voucher for basically a $32 credit towards anything on the menu. I found it to be more than sufficient to cover a full breakfast. Food was good and high quality.

The gym is on the bottom floor, and is pretty small. Just two treadmills, two bikes, and an all-in-one weight machine.

Where this hotel shines is the staff. Housekeeping was incredibly friendly, and remembered my room number. Front desk staff were helpful and unusually friendly for NYC too. I found the Chatwal to be worth returning to, especially if I were to come to town for a broadway show.

bhrubin

Condition One

Yup, had a solid dinner at the Lamb's Club in between theater acts. Food was excellently prepared, and the presentation was great. The St Regis was good - just nothing remarkable in terms of room. I would go back back to both properties. Just a little harder to justify the rates at the St Regis for what I received during my stay last year.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the info. I'll update the exec lounge sticky.

Cheers.

nsummy

I'm sure discussed ad nausem elsewhere, but since I typically dont stay at marriott properties: Chatwal vs Ritz Central Park on NYE? Using points so its 60k either way, but as far as standard rooms and service go, what is the opinion? Status is Platinum Elite.

spgplat21

Standard rooms are pretty poor (i.e. interior views) at both, but Ritz Central Park standard rooms are quite a bit larger. Both properties have upgraded me on almost every prior stay, but for NYE I think you are smartly assuming the worse by looking at standard rooms. Chatwal will give you a nice free breakfast vs. nothing at Ritz, and the Chatwal rooms are nicer/newer in my opinion. The Chatwal is also much smaller, so the service has generally been a bit more personal.

But both are great properties though at the current points price so I'd probably choose based on location, unless you really value the larger Ritz standard rooms or the free breakfast at the Chatwal. Based on my experience, if you are travelling with someone else and/or taking a bunch of luggage the standard room at the Chatwal can feel pretty cramped. The Chatwal is also very close to Times Square, which may be a terrible thing on NYE. It's already very difficult for car services, etc. to pick up and drop off in front of the hotel during busy times because of traffic crossing Broadway/7th Ave, and I've had to get dropped off/picked up on 6th Ave several times.

Aventine

I would definitely always recommend booking what you can live with here (higher cats the better), especially, on a date like NYE.

nsummy

Thank you. Great solid advice weighing the pros and cons. Sounds like I'm swayed more toward the Ritz. As much as I like free breakfast, I never seen to wake up early enough haha

platbrownguy

Had a really lovely 3-night midweek stay here a little over a week ago. SNAs cleared 5 days out into a junior suite (had booked lowest available room at either AAA or other advance discounted rate -- ~$500/night versus the $800+ they were asking on short notice). Of course, the junior suite here is really just a slightly larger room with a couch and a reading chair, but still a great use of the SNAs IMO.

Room wasn't quite ready when we arrived around noon, so we had lunch on the mezzanine, the duck confit was great (and an outstanding value at under $30 -- it's two full legs/thighs and easily shareable). Got into the room around 2. Bed was still as excellent as ever, bathroom and Japanese toilet are top notch. We were only on the 3rd floor but with the shades drawn we could have been in the depths of a cave -- dark and silent. Way better than the poorly soundproofed Park Hyatt. Really hard to fault anything. Butler service was great even if no coffee service like the St. Regis -- return of shined shoes, pressed clothes, ice, etc., all happened on time every time no exceptions and with a smile. Camilo was the morning butler each morning and his energy helped get the day started right each day. Can't wait to return.

Titanium breakfast benefit was worth it -- it's just the continental and you can't buy up to the next level breakfast -- but having the coffee, OJ, pastries, and parfait under the continental comped made it a very affordable proposition to then try an egg dish to share or order a side of smoked salmon, etc. Obviously a dollar-value credit would have been nicer (we asked, they said no) but we still enjoyed breakfast in the Lambs Club each day. We also went to the bar for a drink on two occasions and had a great time.

Final note -- one night, I ordered a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Rose to be delivered via drizly.com -- when it arrived, the doorman handed it off to room service, which put it in a champagne bucket with ice and had it sent up to the room before I even knew it had arrived -- all unprompted and no charge (we tipped of course). Really hard to find let alone beat that kind of service ^

bhrubin

@platbrownguy thanks for that wonderful review! We had a similarly wonderful stay in a junior suite (complimentary upgrade) several years ago in my first years as Plat/Ambassador with SPG.

FWIW, I often dine at the Lambs Club when in NYC even when not staying at the Chatwal. It's one of my favorite restaurants for dinner in the city. And I love that bar!

SHLTP

I don't get hotels don't offer some sort of buy up for breakfast. A good breakfast for me is probably more important than room upgrade

platbrownguy

Thanks!

Think of this place as a modified buy-up -- you're just paying for the breakfast entrees, rather than paying for them plus juice plus coffee plus pain du chocolat (as you would if there was no voucher at all). Lambs Club is great so I have no problem with the current breakfast setup.

And in any event, unlike some places' continental breakfasts, the continental here was pretty darn good on its own -- fresh OJ, Valrhona hot chocolate available instead of coffee, excellent pain du chocolat and jalapeno/corn muffins, and homemade granola on the fruit and yogurt parfait. Spending another $20-30 for some additional breakfast items to round out the meal isn't much different from paying $10-15/person to buy up from a cold breakfast to a hot breakfast at certain other properties.

Kacee

Breakfast benefit comes across as a bit tight compared to generosity of StR.