dennism

They do now have a toaster.

SkiAdcock

Any Marriott elites get invited to the celeb kick-off on June 2nd at the hotel?

http://news.marriott.com/2016/06/wyc...-living-hotel/

Cheers.

Carpboy823

We had no clue the event was happening, but my fiance and I checked into the hotel during the commotion (and they were very kind about all the noise and hysteria). I have to say that I'm disappointed that they chose Wyclef Jean, given his extremely dubious "charity" history, but that's neither here nor there.

Big fan of the property overall - amazed that it's only a Cat 8 being in Midtown Manhattan, right across from Penn Station and just a few blocks from Times Square. Lounge offerings in the evenings were sparse (charcuterie plate, bread, and cookies were about all), but breakfast was expansive and impressive. Lounge is "closed" on weekends (after 9am Friday until Sunday evening), but is actually still open for self-service beverages, which was great. They had Coke products (!!), boxed water, San Pellegrino, Perrier, and some juices/milk available in the large refrigerators.

As far as noise, we didn't care for the volume of the HVAC unit, and we could hear folks next door a couple times, but really not a big complaint for either of those. Our view was gorgeous, looking out toward 1 Times Square and the Bank of America Building - Times Square wasn't really visible from the hotel (blocked by other buildings), but I was fine with that honestly.

I would definitely stay here again. I'm not sure about price, though, since we did a points redemption for the 5 nights.

joshua362

Looks like it was open to elites! Because of the 375,000 points required, you best be an elite to afford it...

https://www.experiencesmarketplace.c...to-the-renaiss

SkiAdcock

VIP Experience includes:

VIP Access to the Renaissance NY Midtown Grand Opening Party on June 2nd, with performances by Grammy Award Winner Wyclef Jean and The Knocks
Two (2) nights accommodations at the Renaissance NY Midtown Hotel on June 2nd & 3rd
An exclusive culinary experience with James Beard Winner, Chef & TV personality, Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channels Bizarre Foods
A curated Renaissance NY Midtown Garment District Experience with a renowned fashion designer and CFDA Winner, Timo Weiland
Backstage meet & greets with performers
Experience is for two (2) people


But hey, that's less expensive than the "Hamilton" experience, which costs 975,000 points

BTW - the Ren Wyclef experience was sold out, so some folk anted up the points.

Cheers.

lucycan

Going back for my second stay next month. On the noise, you can turn the AC fan ON and its quite loud, but good for me (white noise). The floors are small (like 10 or less rooms) so limited traffic. Great all around hotel.

C17PSGR

For an upcoming stay, my choices are the Marriott Downtown and the new Renn Midtown. Both locations are not particularly convenient to where I need to be but the rates are the same.

Which should I pick? Isn't the neighborhood around the new Renn pretty grimy?

Non-NonRev

Also a great location for Javits Center events.

nsummy

Just checked in. I'll give a full write up but a few thoughts/observations

- Someone else asked about the area, Streets around it are a little grimy, but not dangerous, and its a block from Penn Station. Good area, but a little too close for comfort to times square for me. The hotel is secluded enough but still had to walk through the hoopla, no big deal though.

- FDC said lounge is open every day of the week, its just that they dont serve breakfast in it. Haven't went in there to look but I'll take pics, its right next to the lobby.

- Restaurant is 5th floor, then open steps to the 6th for the lobbby.

- For upgrades I was jockeying for a terrace room (Im a gold member through united partnership). The guy seemed a little hesitant but he said since its my first time and only staying one night he could do it. I thought he was going to make it happen but its turns out one wasn't available at the moment (checking in at noon). Got upgraded to a skyline view room on the 29th floor.

- I'm not a big nyc tourist so i don't get too excited about the view, but I will say its pretty nice. What ruins it though are completely filthy windows that look like they have been washed in a long time. Not worth complaining about but I would probably be upset if I booked this type of room and paid extra for this reason.

- Shower is frosted glass, whch isn't that big of a deal to me, but be comfortable with who you stay with because the room is tiny, and the toilet is right on the other side of the shower, and it has one of those thing sliding doors for the bathoom. In short you will be able to probably hear any noise coming out of the bathroom.

If anyone has specific questions let me know and I will get them answered. My first impressions is that this is like a lighter themed W. Rooms are just as tiny and expensive, and the place is trendy, but it doesn't seem like it will draw in too much of a young party crowd like Ws (It pains me to say young at 34 years old). To be honest so far it looks like the W Downtown offers a better value, but the problem is that it is downtown, not midtown.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

ohmark

Is sliding door glass?

DELee

Yes. The whole shower is glass. The door to the shower is glass. The door to the bathroom is glass. The floor and ceiling are not glass - see below. (Shots are from my 1 night stay in April 2016 that I'm still trying to turn into a review).

Side view of bathroom door - shows an oblique view of the bathroom door plus the sliding rail for the door on the right side of the image (also shows the entryway from the room's front/entry door):



Detail of bathroom door (glass) with sliding/support rod (steel):



Shower Details:

Back view of the shower from inside the room:



Inside view of the shower from the middle of the bathroom:



Steel support/sliding rod for the glass shower door - note what's glass, what's marble (ceiling neither) but shower head is a rainfall:



View out of top of shower wall - anyone over 6 foot tall can see through the non-frosted portion and into the room and obviously out the window:



Marble floor of the shower (note that the parts of the bathroom that are not glass are marble):



Just to prove that we got lots of glass, here's a view of the bathroom at night from the bedroom with the bathroom lights turned on:



As well as a shot of the closed bathroom door at night to show its true glassy nature:



David

DELee

What the ceiling and floor of 3004 looked like in April 2016:

Ceiling: Cast concrete:



Floor under and next to bed: Under bed - some laminate, adjacent - carpet squares:





Rooms per floor: usually 12. Some floors fewer (37th/top floor has I think 4 suites)



Lounge (6th floor next to front desks/podia): MLife, baby:



Evening snacks/repast (more on the charcuterie side, no dessert):



Empty MLife Lounge (since no desserts - see empty marble/stone table):







Drinks and yogurt fridges in MLife:



Breakfast in MLife:







View from MLife:



More to come later...

David

SkiAdcock

David, thanks for all the pictures. Much appreciated. Did the room have a desk? I just saw a decorative, small round table in one of your pics above.

Cheers.

DELee

Sort of. I call this "the ledge":



...which continues along the wall under the flat screen TV:



It is not a true desk. As the top picture shows, that's not a real office chair either.

One reason I haven't completed my review is that there are photos from the lobby lounge area (which is generally accessible and not the MLife Lounge) which are on one of my phones that I need to download and prep for posting that seem to be where our good designers who work for/with Marriott International seek to have you sit and be social (even when you don't want to).

FWIW, here is where the set of photos from this trip to the Ren-Midtown are/will be.

David