quant88

I'm spending a week in NYC in April with my parents. I have gold status and will use a travel package. Breakfast/lounge is nice but not a necessity. We've been there many times before so will skip typical touristy stuff other than parks and museums which we enjoy. Definitely want to avoid Times Square as well. So far I'm considering:

(1) Residence Inn Downtown/WTC: Cat 7 rooms are relatively spacious with queen beds and good reviews although immediate area is boring
(2) Courtyard Downtown/WTC: Cat 7 was able to book a Premium 1 WTC View, Larger Guest room, 2 Double, Corner room but reviews are not so great and immediate area is boring
(3) Courtyard Soho: Cat 8 location great location but otherwise unremarkable
(4) Renaissance Midtown: Cat 8 nicer hotel with lounge but room sizes seem on the smaller size
(5) JW Essex House: Cat 9 + 5k/night supplement most luxurious but many more points and they seem strict on elite + 1 lounge access

Currently leaning towards the RI Downtown/WTC or Ren Midtown but would appreciate other opinions/suggestions if people have them. Thanks!

No Clue

I have only stayed in the Essex House out of all of those but I really enjoyed it. I expect they needed to do something with the lounge access because it was becoming way too crowded, especially at breakfast. It is a great location on Central Park South and convenient to shopping, transportation, etc.

hockeyinsider

I really wanted to do the Renaissance Midtown because it is almost brand-new, but my colleagues wanted the J.W. Marriott Essex House as it overlooked Central Park. Plus, there were some affordable paid rates for the Renaissance Midtown whereas the J.W. Marriott Essex House's rates seemed to vary considerably with rooms on some nights well over $600.

DELee

How many rooms and how many people per room are you considering?

How often will you return to your room(s) after leaving in the morning - really, how much time will you be in the room(s)?

Are you paying with points or cash?

Is free breakfast and/or MClub/Concierge Lounge important or are you willing to forgo these?

How mobile are your parents? Any younger kids travelling?

David

bitburgr

quant88

Thanks for all the advice!

Just myself and two parents who are in good health and enjoy walking. Planning to share one room using using a 7-night travel package. I guess we will probably go back once in the afternoon although might vary. Breakfast is not that important although a nice lounge to chill in would be a plus.

Kacee

For me, it's important to consider which part of the city I'll be spending most of my time in. I've found that if I stay all the way down in the WTC area, but spend any considerable amount of time midtown or uptown, l get really tired of the long subway and/or uber/taxi rides. On a coming stay, I booked at Renaissance Midtown at a cost more than 2x the Conrad for precisely this reason.

pvn

The Ren Midtown is nice, the rooms are a bit on the smaller side but not ridiculously tiny. But if you have your whole family with you, note that the showers (at least, in the king rooms) are glass walled, you can see into them from the bedroom area. There's some frosting on the glass so it's not a total peep show but it still could be awkward. Perhaps the double queen rooms are different, I've been here three or four times but always in a King.

It's a good location for a family trip, you're right there at MSG, you can get anywhere pretty easily, the lounge is nice. It's one of my favorite properties in the city.

25milesfromhome

I'm interested in why you say the Courtyard Soho is unremarkable. The only feedback I can find on it is Tripadvisor where the reviews are largely positive. Very little on FT.

Also, wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the Courtyard Manhattan Central Park vs. the Residence Inn Manhattan Central Park. Going in February. I'm platinum so expect a decent room, though probably can't count on a corner.

Eujeanie

The Courtyard is on the lower floors (but still high), so the RI has ostensibly better (higher) views. Like all CY's and RI's, RI provide free
breakfast, CY does not. CY has the Bistro which can be accessed by RI guests, but CY guests cannot access the RI breakfast room (different keys).

We stayed at the RI, our bedroom was small but the kitchen/bathroom area (which was connected, weird) was pretty spacious. We did not have a corner but still had a great view to the south and west.

hockeyinsider

The J.W. Marriott Essex House executive lounge is too small to "chill." It can get very overcrowded.

Plus, the staff are useless because of union contracts. For example, a lounge attendant cannot get a cup from the attached restaurant for coffee in the lounge nor can a waiter in the restaurant bring a cup from the restaurant to the lounge, due to the hotel's union contract. Only managers are allowed to do this. The same goes for attending to food, cleaning things up and so forth.

Eujeanie

If you are looking for a lounge to "chill", the RICP has their breakfast room open all day - the area with the food is closed, but there are many tables, sofas, etc. available all the time. One time we got a take-out lunch (from the Soup Nazi 2 blocks away) and brought it back to eat. While we were there we saw someone conducting job interviews. So it's really a nice space to escape from your tiny room at any time. You might have to have them cleaning, vacuuming around you, but it's fine.

Kacee

You mean the same Essex House which offers probably the best free breakfast buffet of any Marriott in the U.S.? Yes, the staff is basically useless, but the breakfast itself is excellent.

quant88

I read about this issue on Oyster but it says that it should be fixed by now https://sg.oyster.com/new-york-city/...midtown-hotel/. Maybe someone can confirm whether the privacy blinds have been installed or not?

Rooms are of average size and limited facilities/elite benefits.

Lovethecabin

We had the opposite experience.

I agree with lounge could get crowded but the staff did an excellent job keeping tables cleared and managing the crowds. For example, we were a party of three and every morning, the attendant found us a table for breakfast, rearranging tables and chairs to maximize guest seating. In the late afternoon, the attendant spoiled our son with various treats and sweets procured from the restaurant kitchen.

The breakfast buffet off the adjoining restaurant. The quality and selections were excellent and far, far, far above any other Marriott lounge I visited over the past several years.

We had a suite (can't remember the category) that was very large with a pullout sofa (perfect for our son) and a huge closet.