ual1k

Detjason:

I am on your side, I have enjoyed every visit to the Marriott Marquis. The Concierge Lounge is one of the best. And, the hotel is in the middle of the action on Times Square.

JBDouglass

Curious because of this thread, I just spent Sunday night at the Marriott Marquis. My experience included courteous staff, a large, clean room, a great concierge lounge, no waits over 2 minutes for an elevator, awful food at the 48th floor buffet, and tourists who tended to impede progress. It was interesting, but no real competition to the Renaissance only a couple of blocks away at the north end of Times Square. I love the excitement and variety of Times Square, but enjoy the excellent service and relaxation of the much smaller Renaissance. If I were bringing my family, I would consider the Marquis for the "wow" factor, but am not tempted away from the Renaissance for business travel. By the way, if anyone ever needs to stay in the Meadowlands area, the new Renaissance is great. Large, nicely decorated rooms, great service, a good concierge lounge, and a fantastic steak house on property.

RichG

This is a fascinating thread. First of all, it's truly amazing to see Times Square heralded as a tourist attraction. It has truly become Manhattan's outdoor mall and theme park. Sometimes, I miss the old Times Square of "Midnight Cowboy" and countless other movies, when we would warn tourists to be extra careful there during the day and avoid the place like the plague after dark, but the economy certainly benefits from its current incarnation.

I don't claim to be an expert on New York City hotels, since I never stay in one (except once at the Essex House), but FlyerTalkers have shown in the past preferences for the Marriott Marquis, the Essex House, the W at Union Square, and the new Times Square Hilton, among others. Of course there are any number of absolutely top-class hotels here, such as the Carlyle, the Regency, the Pierre, and the Sherry-Netherland, which you will never see mentioned on FlyerTalk, since they don't give points. The Waldorf-Astoria is a Hilton, and the Plaza used to be (I think), but their otherwise impeccable reputations are marred by numerous FT references to small rooms.

I would think that anyone coming to the City primarily for Broadway theatre probably ought to stay near Times Square. If your main purpose is Fifth Avenue shopping there are plenty of hotels on the east side, or on sixth avenue (and even one or two just off fifth avenue) that will be more convenient. However, the subway and bus systems pretty much make everything accessible from everywhere else, even the hotels down near the World Trade Center (which often have attractive weekend rates).

sfpaul900's post made me hysterical: the tourists are really getting bad when they annoy the other tourists. But I guess I'm the same way when I go to Europe: I avoid places where I think I'm going to run into lots of Americans.

So enjoy Times Square, and remember: the "real" New Yorkers find it just as remarkable as you do!

ontheroad

Sunday nights are not typical for TS hotels ... Broadway shows are only in the afternoon, not the evening ... Most tourists are on their way home ... business travelers are arriving late or not until Monday.

If you want to really experience the Marriott TS -- elevator waits and all -- try a Wednesday or Friday night.

jtrader

I've never stayed at the hotel, since I live in NYC. However, I've been there many times to meet out of town guests or attend meetings. I hate the place for reasons above (hordes of groups, elevator wait). Also, I really can't see staying in Times Square unless you have a meeting right there. It's surely convenient for the theater but other hotels are much better for museums, shopping, restaurants, etc. with substantially better (IMHO) environs.

Muerz

I've also stayed at the Marquis some time back. It was on my last leisure travel to NY with the family a week starting Christmas 1998 and ending 3rd of January 1999. I personally liked the hotel. We had great clean and large rooms with partial Times Square view. We did not try out the concierge lounge. I liked breakfast in the atrium, everything cooked to order. I had no problem with the staff. The only thing we did not like was that sometimes, but only sometimes we had to wait for the elevators to get down to Times Square from our room (28th floor). Going up was no real problem. But after some days we found out a trick: When you want to go down, and all elevators coming from the upper floors are full, then take an elevator going up. When the last guests leave you push to go down. This can save you as much as 10 minutes according to our experiences. One more thing about location: Marriott Marquis surely has the best location in town for shopping and theatre although when going on Business, try to get rooms at one of the Marriott's near World Trade Centers, these offer much better rates. (Marriott Financial Centre & Marriott World Trade Center)

Muerz

Danko

To: detjason, JBDouglass and Muerz...many thanks for you great comments about the Marriott Marquis; and thanks to all of you who posted comments on our level of service. At Marriott, we value all comments from our guests, whether they are positive or negative -- feedback from our guests helps us to improve our quality of service wherever possible. Thank you again.

bdschobel

Wow, it's really great to hear from an apparent Marriott employee! Two-way conversations are the best ones.

Even though we live in New Jersey, my family and I stay at NYC Marriotts from time to time. We'll be at the Marquis for 5 days over Christmas. I like the hotel very much, especially the Concierge Lounge (as I said above).

Bruce

SimonC

Welcome! Nice to see you! Now maybe you can tell me why the San Mateo Marriott has stopped providing bottled water in the rooms ?



SimonC

[This message has been edited by SimonC (edited 08-22-2001).]

[This message has been edited by SimonC (edited 08-22-2001).]

Endor

On the subject of bottled water, the Trumbull, CT Marriott still offers bottled water in the concierge level rooms (and does an excellent job of restocking the rooms daily), but no longer stocks bottled water in the concierge lounge. That's very disappointing to me as a gold member when there is not a concierge level room available.

fcrit

I've stayed at the RR probably 2-3 times per year over the last 5 years. It's still an excellent hotel - good sized rooms, with a real bedroom, and a huge bathroom. Fantastic showers with the good Speakman showerheads. The "rundown" note may have had something to do with a renovation around a year ago - they were maybe 6 months later than they should have been in refinishing the rooms (for most high end hotels this is a 5-6 year cycle). Some rooms were in better shape than others, but none were bad. This is where I always stay - close to the park, walk to Times Square, and 1/2 block to Stage and Carnegie deli's.

SimonC

Well I found out that they still stock and replace in the concierge tower, but no longer in other rooms, regardless of level... sad I think ... however the concierge assurred me that on my next stay to let her know and all would be taken care of, regardless or room location ... a nice touch I thought ... FWIW in the lounge at SMM, they still stock plentry of cold bottled water..

SimonC

wigstheone

GUESTS at the new Ritz-Carlton hotel at Battery Park who have jet lag from hopscotching across continents can call for a bath butler to draw a personalized tub — featuring scented oils for women or a cigar for Wall Street capitalists — for them to relax in.

This may be carrying the notion of individualized service to excess, but the point is well made. The company, the recipient of two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, will go to almost any length to coddle its high-paying guests. The Battery Park hotel will also offer the services of a water sommelier, an expert in bottled waters. Those who ask for it will even be able to have their drinks chilled with ice cubes made from the water of their choice.

When the Battery Park hotel opens next month, it will be Ritz-Carlton's return to the New York market after an absence of almost four years. It will be housed in a building that combines, in a formula seen increasingly, luxury condominiums coupled with a five-star hotel and health and fitness facilities.

The developer, New York's Millennium Partners, is applying this formula to the building at 50 Central Park South that was formerly the St. Moritz and to projects in Boston, Washington, San Francisco and Miami. A similar combination exists at the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle and is planned for the AOL Time Warner Center across the circle.

Matthew Hall, a spokesman for Millennium, said the availability of luxury hotel services enhanced the value of the condominiums on the upper floors of the building, while the sales of the apartments reduced the overall debt of the project, enabling the hotel to operate profitably.

Although the Ritz-Carlton name is closely linked to top-of-the-line hotels, the company does not own property. It is actually a management company that operates hotels under contract with landlords.

It was a dispute with a landlord, the Saudi Arabian businessman Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, that resulted in Ritz- Carlton's lowering of its lion's head flag at the hotel at 111 Central Park South and three others outside New York in 1997. The company has been looking for a way to return to the New York market since then, hotel consultants said, and concluded a deal with Millennium for the new building at the southern tip of Manhattan and the renovation of the old St. Moritz.

(The former Ritz-Carlton went without a name for about six months, changed ownership, became a Weston and is now an Intercontinental.)

"It was important for Ritz-Carlton to get back into New York, because it was the New York hotel that helped establish the name," said Sean Hennessey, director of the hospitality practice of the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm in the metropolitan area. And, he said, people who stay at Ritz- Carlton hotels in other cities expect to find one in New York.

Although it does not advertise the fact, Ritz-Carlton is a subsidiary of Marriott, under whose ownership the chain has expanded in the United States and worldwide.

There are 39 Ritz-Carltons in operation with 18 more under development, said Manfred Timmel, the general manager of the Battery Park hotel. Marriott's central reservation system and promotional programs give Ritz-Carlton what Mr. Hennessey calls "corporate firepower" that independent luxury hotels lack.

The new Ritz-Carlton features views of New York Harbor and the Hudson River, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Telescopes have been installed in all of the rooms facing the water, so guests can get a close-up look at what is happening around the harbor.

The building holding the hotel and residences is almost two structures in one. The lower 14 floors, which house the hotel, are curved to maximize the waterfront views. The condominium portion, floors 15 through 39, is a slender tower rising from the broad base. The building was designed by Gary Edward Handel & Associates; construction was managed by Bovis Lend Lease.

The hotel has 298 rooms and suites. The tower contains 113 condominiums, with as many as five bedrooms. "The developer originally planned more units but found there was a lot of demand by families," Mr. Timmel said. "So they started combining units to make them bigger."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/re...te/02COMM.html

sfpaul900

I have been a frequent guest of the World Trade Center Marriott over the years since Marriott took over the Vista (since the last WTC tragedy). I am not a religious person, but I cannot help but to pause and say a prayer for the safety of the guests and the wonderful people who work at that hotel, and their sister hotel, the World Financial Center Marriott.
Paul

Sweet Willie

AMEN