fivesixseven

It looks expensive...

Yoshi212

Just got back to Brooklyn via using the PATH from Jersey City. In the S-Bucks there was a flyer for www.nyc-jc.com which does private rentals. Take a look if you need cheaper rates.

choptliva

So some good and some bad experiences. We're thinking about a stay, but are concerned about room size. Seems like very small rooms. Did anyone stay in a King + sofabed Jr Suite? Is it a good size room?
Thanks.

patchan8984

I have stayed in the King + sofa bed...the sofa bed is the ikea type, comfy too that you just fold down to become a bed (not a real sofa with a bed built in). It is quite roomy for NY standards, and I find it very comfortably furnished. It was definitely comfortable and we did enjoy our stay. Decor is definitely a lot better than the Marriott Marquis or Marriott Downtown. Bathroom is compact but there is no "real door", just a wood sliding panel which I did not like.

Seems like electrical problems are quite common, we asked for an upgrade to a SkyLoft but was told electrical problems prevented the rooms from being occupied...now that I recall, they offered to downgrade my junior suite (booked) to a double room only and give me a discount, and it SUCKED. I threatened to have them walk me to another hotel with a real junior suite and they finally found one for me...??? weird staff - dont really like them. very blech but it may have just been the wrong weekend

choptliva

Thanks very much for the info!

MyTravels

Some rooms are quite small (it in NYC) but we were upgraded to King + sofabed Jr Suite (without prompting)

Unlike most people we had great experiences with the staff. Even when the lounge was closed they kept the refrigerator stocked with beverages (juice, milk, carbonated).

tikiboy

I will be with my teenager for either 1, 2 or 3 nights in NY during February. I'm trying to use as few points as possible. One of the nights he wanted to host a small get together, so I was thinking of the Residence Inn in Manhattan, as they seem to be typically situated for having people over. He is expecting friends from Brooklyn and Long Island, so I DO want Manhattan and not other boroughs or NJ.

I do have one or possibly 2 VISA certificates for a Category 1-4, but there do not appear to be any Category 4 properties in Manhattan, so I am considering using the certificates for the Courtyard in Jersey City and then staying 1 or 2 nights in Manhattan.

One of these certificates will expire a few weeks before my planned stay, and I've heard different answers whether it will be valid for the stay or if I can get it extended, so if I have to use points in Jersey City I'd rather spend a little more and stay in Manhattan.

Suggestions??????

Thanks in advance!

LonePine10

Others will probably have a lot more info for you re: best bang for your buck on point redemption/stay certificates, but if you are looking for something that is easy for your teenager's friends to get to... something around Penn Station (anything close to Madison Square Garden... it will show up on the marriott nyc map) would be your best bet. The LIRR comes into Penn (for the LI folk) and you have the A,C,E,1,2, and 3 all coming in around there (for the Brooklyn people to get in on the subway). Taking a quick look at the marriott website the options look like:
1) Ffld Inn New York Manhattan/Chelsea (Cat 6)
2) Ffld Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Fifth Ave (Cat 6)
3) RI New York Manhattan/Times Square (Cat 7)
4) CY New York Manhattan/Fifth Ave (Cat 6)
5) CY New York Manhattan/Times Square South (Cat 7)
6) Ffld Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Times Square (Cat 6)
7) Algonquin Hotel, Autograph Collection (Cat 8)

If you are looking to burn the visa certs, the CY in Jersey City looks like it might be a good option, as it is a cat 4. I haven't personally done the trip into the city from there, but friends have said it is quick and easy to get into the city. As you suggested, you could try splitting your stay to save some of your points.

I hope that helps in your planning. I'm new on FT (although I have been a longtime lurker) and am only in nyc on the weekends, so others would probably have a lot more insight. Probably not giving myself the best street cred by posting at this hour on the weekend, but it's been a burner of a weekend cranking out work, so I had to find something to do to procrastinate for a bit. Feel free to shoot me a PM or just reply to this if you have any questions I could help you with.

tikiboy

@LonePine10-Thanks. I am an ex-NYer and know my around the city and looking forward to a little time with my teenager.
I've been to the Jersey City CY and it's one stop on the Path train into NYC and is very easy and safe.

I see that the Fairfield Inns are lesser points and I'm not sure of the room layouts at those hotels. The RI's I've been to are usually good for hanging out.

hhoope01

It can't hurt to try and get your certificate extended, and while there have been one or two here that have stated they were able to do that, the vast majority (myself included) were not successful. So my suggestion is to try, but plan on not being able to extend the cert's life.

Note that if you try, you will be able to "attach" an e-cert to your reservation even though the cert's expiration date is before the actual stay. This does NOT mean that the cert's life was extended. That is is a limitation of Marriott's system. When the cert expires, it will drop from your reservation and you will then not have any cert "attached". If you don't go in and order another cert with points or attach another existing e-cert to the reservation within 7 days of the actual stay, Marriott's system will do that automatically for you (if you have the points.) If you don't have the points, you might receive a call from Marriott.

tikiboy

Any suggestions on how to get the certificate extended? Last time I had one of these and I tried, Marriott Rewards said it was a Visa certificate and they couldn't extend it. Thanks for any ideas. I have a cheap stay coming up in the next couple of weeks that I don't want to waste the certificate on, but if there is no way to extend it, maybe it's better than losing it.

hhoope01

Unfortunately, I don't. As mentioned in my first post, I was unsuccessful in extending any of my Visa e-certs. But maybe someone who was successful can help out with their secret.

MoxJr

apologize for a bump from 3 years ago but... just booked a 4 night stay at this hotel during thanksgiving weekend.

any updates/recent reviews of this place? or should i change my reservation? thx

more4less

I stayed with Mrs Saviox for 3 nights in this property aprox 15 months ago.

The rooms had recently been renovated so they were fine. If anything, the bathrooms was very small.

I was MR Gold at the time of check in and they gave us a nice corner room, not big, but it had a nice view of the Chrysler building, on of our NY favourites, so ^.

What I did not like was that the lounge was closed on weekends(Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon) so we could only have breakfast there one of the days of our stay.

kneeto

My family and I recently stayed at he Marriott Marquis in Times Square New York. It was the best service I have received in a very long time. We were taking tours kid to NY for the very first time. My wife and I had been there before but this was the first trip for the kids. I had requested in advance a complimentary upgrade(if possible) since we were very close to celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. I also mentioned in my email that this was a family trip and we would appreciate any assistance since we wanted to make this trip extra special for the kids. I arrived first since I was coming directly from a business meeting. Upon arrival I noticed we had been upgraded to a center view room. Our view from our room of Times Square was just outstanding. Shortly after arriving I heard a knock at my door and was shocked to see a large table with an iced champagne bottle, 2 glasses, several bottles of different kinds of juices for the kids, a box of imported chocolates, a basket of snacks for the kids and a nice 'welcome to our hotel" card from management. I'm already a Marriott client and I often stay at Marriott for my business trip but this was beyond what I expected. The hotel management also provided us with concierge lounge access which was very useful. I'm so impressed with the management there and this type of service and is the reason I keep coming back to Marriott. The NY Marriott Marquis was extra special. The hotel is centrally located as well. Nice clean rooms, attentive staff and they have the best workout room I've found in any hotel. While I've enjoyed great service at most Marriotts this was by far the best and the most attentive. It's so nice when you plan a trip and don't regret your choice of hotels. Thanks again to the NY Marriott Marquis management. You've done well and have earned my loyalty.