No Clue

Interesting that they are moving it to the lobby level but at least it will be easier to remember what floor it's on. Never heard it referred to by that name.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I'm not 100% sure when the initiative to rebrand the lounges started, but you can see Marriott's marketing for them here: https://marriott-hotels.marriott.com/experience/m-club/

Many of the mainline Marriotts I have stayed at have them built, but they have never been open due to the pandemic, such as the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter and Boston Marriott Copley Place. The new trend is that many of the new M Clubs are located on or near the lobby level - I have seen FTers suggest that this is due to proximity to hotel kitchens and to serve as an aspirational advertisement to other guests.

No Clue

Interesting, thanks for the link. It would appear to be an improvement over the standard concierge lounge.

bennos

The other reason I heard was to increase convenience for the business traveler set, who could easily head out after breakfast without having to get back in the elevator, though that wouldn't apply here with the lounge on 8F. (At least all elevators serve 1F and 8F, so the wait should be shorter, and if you end up on a low rise floor you don't have to change elevators anymore to get to the lounge.)

More cynically, moving the lounge downstairs frees up higher value square footage for direct income generation. The M Club at LAX is a notable exception, retaining its top floor location overlooking the runway.

mikebor

It's not an improvement over the regular concierge lounges imo, it's a flashy name with much less than we used to get. Before the pandemic I stayed at a few hotels that had M Clubs and usually the night food consisted of very very very small plates of only 1 or 2 choices that weren't very appetizing. The old concierge lounges gave us much more food, bigger portions. I spoke with a GM who confided in me and told me that the executives didn't like how much food the lounges were providing because it was taking away business from the restaurants and food outlets.

Luckily there are still some regular concierge lounges still around but because of the pandemic you gotta wonder if it will ever return to how it used to be.

Bottom line is the M lounge sounds fancy and exotic and that's what good marketing does - however the food offerings suck compared to what it used to be in the regular lounges and that's done purposely. I can't speak for the breakfast part of it though because I haven't gone in there during that time.

No Clue

That's a shame. I would always grab breakfast at the concierge lounge but rarely substitute it for the other meals.

bennos

While this might be true of the property you visited, I don't think this generalizes. Of the M Lounges I visited pre-pandemic (SFO, SF Marquis, LAX, DC Marquis), each was at least comparable to the regular lounge offerings (and most of them were better) and all had 24/7 access for the basics (soda/coffee/tea and light snacks) which was a significant improvement over the more limited hours of the older lounges.

TBD of course how the NY Marquis will turn out.

Kacee

Agree. "M Lounge" is really just a rebrand to accompany physical refreshes. The food offerings at individual lounges, whether branded "Concierge Lounge" or "M Lounge," have always varied from property to property. And it's certainly not true that all "Concierge Lounges" had great or even decent offerings - I've been to some truly pathetic ones.

Who knows what we'll see post-pandemic. It's a pretty safe bet though that there will continue to be significant variations from property to property.

Jon Maiman

+1 Pre-Covid the M Club Lounges I experienced were usually slightly better than a typical concierge lounge. Side note, while many M Club Lounges are 24x7 access for self serve items (drinks, non-perishable snacks, etc.), not all of them are. Some have hours that are comparable to the traditional concierge lounge hours. TBD what the offerings and service will be like Post-Covid. YMMV...

--Jon

Noppasit

Does anyone know Platinum benefit at this hotel (specific benefit set by the hotel)?

cali-gal

I was there a few weeks ago and am also platinum. I was just given some points since the M Club wasn't open until the latter part of my stay. It is open now, so you will get to use the M Club at least. I wasn't upgraded-- even though I also requested a suite night award upgrade for my stay. It wasn't terribly busy at first until the U.N. General Assembly started.

lucycan

Is it possible to get a QUIET room at this hotel? Yes I know its location is not quiet.

cali-gal

I honestly didn't find it too noisy at all. The area was certainly buzzing all around, but the hotel room seemed well insulated. Even the one restaurant that was open was pleasant and not too loud. By the way, I thought the buffet was very good-- probably not $38 good, but considering it is New York and there were no other in-house restaurants open, it was a nice option when I didn't want to leave the site. Through the 21st, I think it was, there was no individual ordering, there was only the buffet. There was a very nice variety of food to choose from at the buffet, so I did enjoy my breakfasts there. They had room service, but I didn't order from there so can't comment other than to say it was available.

respectfulhelper

So, do I understand that the M lounge is now open? Full service (I mean, as full as it normally is)? Thanks for any DPs. Planning visit in late April and looking for a place I'll have lounge access.

silverforumsurf

How was the club? And breakfast at club or vouchers?