MountainManDuy

Just got back from staying at the Radisson New York Martinique

What is your Club Carlson status?
Gold

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
We booked standard, but was upgraded to the 18 floor penthouse. I was hoping for an amazing view, but room 1816 is on the other side facing away from Broadway. However, the free upgrade was a nice gesture that I did not ask for.

Did you receive elite benefits?
I received the free room upgrade. I asked if there were any benefits to being a gold member after he told me that he upgraded me. I asked if there were free breakfast involved, or late check out. I think he sensed that it was our first time in New York, so he gave them but said not to say anything about it since they would have given it to us if we stayed three nights, but we were only staying two. We fell asleep in our room and heard a knock, and one of the concierge came back to drop us off a box of chocolate (4 pieces) and they tasted nice.

How are the rooms?
Calling a room a penthouse is quite deceiving, but given the room was a free upgrade and it was in the Broadway and near a Korean town for late night eats I could not complain too much. The bathroom door could not be locked. The room seemed standard nothing special. It was clean.

What was good and what was bad?
Good:
You are close to many main attraction. The empire state building is about two blocks away. There are a few subway stations nearby in case you want to go to the MOMA or other NYC attraction. Club Carlson personnel were friendly, especially the doormen and the bellhop. Korean town literally next door, so you can get food anytime you want. Penn Station is a couple blocks away if you flew in from Jersey and took the train there. The breakfast was surprisingly good, and not because it was free. There were variation of egg dishes offered. The bacon was okay, but the sausage was impressive being that it is a buffet.

Bad: Lots of smokers standing outside the front of the Radisson. The 2nd elevator was busted.

Overall, I was happy with my first stay at the Radisson in New York. I know that there were complaints about the lack of acknowledgement of gold members, but I feel the proximity of the hotel and the food options nearby would convince people to stay there.

toomanybooks

LOL. It was busted the first week of March, too. Wonder if it ever got fixed?

carraher

I was told by a gentleman who lives in the hotel that he was in the elevator when it broke down. It has been that way since last July!

Nirvana91

Yeah it was broken when I was there in January.

Gold member? Congratulations! We have upgraded you to a higher floor with lounge access. Feel free to use the lounge to wait for the elevator, which will take approximately 9 hours to get to you during peak periods.

If you get the top floor, it's probably best to walk down a flight to the floor below, where you can at least get access to two different working elevators.

toomanybooks

I think the busted Martinique elevator deserves its own FT thread. Every time someone sees it, he/she could post.

We could have a pool as to when it gets repaired.

Aren't there laws in NYC about repairing elevators in public places?

Mbcijim10

Wow that elevator was busted in January. Use the elevators in the back. Line is much shorter for them!

MountainManDuy

The elevator that you are referring to is near the restaurant "Petit Poulet" right?

toomanybooks

I am talking about the elevator bank just to the left of the front entrance. It was the elevator on the right (there are 3 there as I recall).

Mbcijim10

If you're asking where the short lines are, the answer is yes. Only problem is they stop at the 17th floor for some reason. Staying on the 18th floor I still found it quicker to use the back elevators and walk up the stairs.

MountainManDuy

Thanks. Has anybody ate ate Petit Poulett? It got pretty good reviews.

Mbcijim10

Great breakfast. Excellent. Nice ambiance too feels very European.

Firewind

^

I liked it a lot. Fine impression of a French bistro. Reasonable prices* for New York, too. FWIW, if one is on a French bistro quest, the one attached to the Hilton Garden Inn off of Times Square (used for their buffet breakfast, though that's not French) is also authentic.


* high

Firewind

By the way, Club Carlson, if you're watching, would you be getting this FlyerTalk buzz if you hadn't stepped up and into the loyalty program arena with your wonderful promotions of a couple of years back? The Martinique is emblematic of aspirational and the consequent unmeasurable loyalty program buzz. @:-)

smilinganddialing

Been searching for rooms on points and the hotel has almost no availability on points for the next 5 months. Only "Classic Room - King" counts as a "Standard Room" and was told by CC reps that the "No Blackout" statement on the website is incorrect.

Two different CC reps called the hotel only to have the hotel say it has reached its "allotment" for free rooms.

Pretty bad showing from CC. Get your hotels in shape or fix the wording on your website to be honest.

Back to SPG for now.

N_Phoenix

Agreed, this hotel actually cut off all rooms a few weeks ago. The only time I actually want to use CC points and they pull this stunt.

No more CC for me.