Some people will say it’s not a real suite since it’s one big room. If you go by a definition of a most common type of “suite”, then yes.

Otherwise it’s neither a standard suite according to Hyatt or most people here.

Back with our review of the Thompson Upper Stories suite we got with an SUA a number of months back. Overall review: meh.

I'm going to say EVERY room in this hotel is rather underwhelming, especially when compared with the Park Hyatt next door. All PH rooms we've ever stayed in, including the base king, are to me superior to every room I've stayed in at the Thompson Central Park, which includes a regular king (very narrow and cramped with no view to speak of), the "studio suite" (I guess it's called a Thompson Suite now), which is nothing special, basically a large studio with a divider, and now an "Upper Stories" 1 BR suite (despite being an actual 1BR suite, feels smaller than a PH base king room and certainly FAR less luxurious.

The breakfast was, however, excellent as always.

Honestly the Hyatt Place LIC rooms feel nicer than this hotel, and aside from the excellent breakfast and quite pleasant service I just don't find much to brag about with this hotel. It's just OK.

We did get to use the "Upper Stories lounge" which is ironically on the 3rd floor. Not very well stocked, very tiny bites of snacks when there is food. Otherwise an OK place to relax but absolutely not worth going out of your way to try to book an "Upper Stories" room.

Just in general the overall experience was sub-par relative to other Hyatt brands. I think in future we probably won't put all that much effort into staying here, despite the fact that there was nothing objectionable about the stay, at all.

Of course the PH is better. It’s a luxury brand with excellent hardware and high end design. There is no question PH is better. But that’s not always the question people ask when choosing a hotel. I would argue the Thompson is a much better value, often at less than half the price. Would people pay double the price for the difference between the two? I suspect many would say no, the PH is not that much nicer.

I think the Studio Suite which they have many and upgrade often, is one of the nicest rooms you can get in NYC. I have never stayed at HP LIC but I have stayed at plenty of HPs and have a hard time imagining how it’s better.

I’m confused, have you stayed in or looked at every room in the hotel or just the 3 you mention in the following paragraph? Agree with SP03.

And of course, like real estate, for hotels 3 important considerations are location, location and location. Midtown or Theater District Manhattan is worth WAY more than LIC (probably) to almost everyone.

FWIW, looking at prices for my annual NYC Fleet Week NYC stay, 3rd week of May: PH NY ~$1500 (45k), Thompson CP ~$700 (29k), HP LIC ~$300 (18k). All things considered, of the 3, Thompson is the best value.

(I remain quite pleased with my “earn, save and use judiciously” strategy vice “earn and burn”. I personally hope to never spend (more than) $700 of my hard earned money for a bed and a shower and, as much as I like HP bathrooms and walk-in showers, certainly not more than $300 for a HP bed and shower.

Fleet Week NYC is a perfect example of why I’m very happy having saved many arguably devalued points. If I had to spend $700/night to save myself 30-60 minutes of driving each day, I’d have to think about it long and hard. 29k points/night, or maybe 20k/night at a nearby property, makes that decision a no brainer.)

Globalist staying on 1-7 FNA, if I am upgraded to an upper stories room will I get lounge access?

Yes. Irrespective of Hyatt status

That was not the case before, but seems to be how they are doing it now. But there’s no guarantee it will remain this way.

The policies have been all over the map at this property, not just upper stories, but suite upgrades.

Had another nice two night stay here on points. They upgraded me to an upper stories junior suite, and gave me access to the lounge. The junior suite is pretty roomy. It doesn't have good separation between rooms, but there's enough room to work if you have to work through the day there. They had no trouble giving me a late checkout. The breakfast is excellent, and so are the burgers at Burger Joint.

The fitness center is nice, but there's more demand for treadmills than machines during morning rush hour. The three peloton bikes were not used as much. They also have a spa down there, but I didn't have time to check it out.

If you need to be in midtown it's a solid choice.

Interesting. I stay here regularly and have never been given lounge access (Globalist). If I don't buy lounge access, I have never -- not once -- been given lounge access. Did you ask or was it proactively offered?

Although I don't agree with most of your post, I do agree with this thought. The lounge at the Thompson CP is a giant "nothing burger." The amount of attention dedicated in this thread to the lounge is definitely out of whack. There are some free waters and occasional food. If you are in Manhattan (and paying to be in Manhattan), you should be "on the outside" eating...not in a Hyatt lounge.

I did not ask. I got the impression the access came with the upper stories junior suite upgrade.

If “never been given lounge access” how can you legitimately also write “some free waters and occasional food”? Regardless, “some free waters and occasional food” is far from accurate. And not everyone is a gourmet, not everyone wants to pay outrageously high prices (which are no guarantee of high quality) for eating "on the outside."

At this hotel lounge access is NOT a Glob benefit, it comes with Upper Stories (room or suite) bookings and upgrades.

As with almost all things, one person’s meat is another person’s poison. I like this lounge and find the offerings to be more than adequate (but I’ll not put a dollar value on lounge access, that’s a subjective individual decision). During my 4 nights described below, I didn’t spend a penny on food or beverages (brought wine bottles from home). My comments from last year are still mostly accurate: This year (as below) visited lounge 2 or 3 times during dessert, usually 2 different offerings from among cookies and/or brownies and/or cupcakes, perfect for my sweet tooth 😉.

BREAK

4 nights last week, my 4th NYC overnight for Fleet Week NYC, 3rd consecutive year at Thompson, increasing since 2023 from 2 to 3 to 4 nights. Award stay booked online 2-3 weeks prior. Studio suites available online, didn’t do it with initial booking, no option to upgrade afterwards. Called MHC immediately after booking, initially said no upgradable suite available, discussed repeat guest and Navy/Fleet Week, asked her to call hotel, long wait, success. New confirmation email with “HIGH FLOOR STUDIO SUITE CONFIRMED WITH Jane Doe FD.” Online reservation still stated “Applied Awards Suite Upgrade Award, Rate Standard Room Free Night, Room (1) 1 king Bed” with note “High Floor Studio Suite Confirmed With Jane Doe FD.”

2023 experience (2 nights, complimentary Glob suite upgrade, non-Upper Stories Studio Suite) described in post #347 and post #349. 2024 (3 nights, SUA, Upper Stories 1 Bedroom Suite) experience described in post # 502.

On the hotel website multiple different suite types are offered. “Studio Suite King” or “Studio Suite King Accessible Shower” or “Studio Suite King Accessible Tub” each of those 3 additionally offered as with or without “Upper Stories”. It’s possible that among “identical” suites on different floors there are slight variations of furniture and/or closet arrangements.

Differences between the suites I had in 2023 and 2025: This suite had 2nd (bedroom area) closet in the corner near the head of the bed and the website pictured shelves and drawers in the narrow space to the right of the bathroom door were not present, just a full height mirror (different from 2023 suite). The website pictured high oval table and 2 barstools were not present, instead a small end table and small ottoman.

I cannot recall the exact bathroom arrangement of suite I had in 2023 but compared to the bathroom of the 1 bedroom suite I had last year (“walk-in shower with fixed half-length glass wall which is effective only for flooding the bathroom floor during a shower”), this bathroom was a little wider and had a wide tub allowing for easy standing and with effective shower curtain to avoid touching the curtain while showering and the bathroom floor was completely dry after showering. I much preferred this shower/bathroom to last year’s.

Staff is still excellent. Housekeeping staff all spoke English well and were very gracious and efficient, including meeting request such as “extra towels” and/or “I’ll be out for just an hour or 2 then have to work in the room, if you could make-up the room in the next hour it would be very helpful”. Unsure if handing them a few dollars, instead of leaving on bed, greased the skids in that regard. Lounge attendants also gracious and efficient. Still sometimes long ringing times until front desk picked up.

Breakfast and evening offerings in lounge most days, no significant differences from last year. Lounge never crowded except for breakfast at about 9:30am on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend when it was packed, took a minute or 2 to find an uncleared table (to sit at).

Overall, well worth the points and SUA, I’d gladly stay here again although I hope for Fleet Week NYC next year (July 4th due to Navy 250th anniversary) Hyatt Regency Times Square will be open, shorter walk to Intrepid Museum (0.9 miles vice 1.4 miles) and most theaters and most importantly Krispy Kreme donut shop on ground floor instead of 0.5 mile walk.

(Sorry for small photos, GIGANTIC photos posted on these forums is still a pet peeve.)

A travel SNAFU had me scrambling to come up with a Plan B last night after my mom's hotel reservation at another property fell through. I called the Thompson and the front desk manager on duty worked with me to modify my mom's reservation (supported by my Guest of Honor) to let her check in two days early, while ensuring that her nightly rates were optimized. He also upgraded my mom to a King Upper Stories room on the 33rd floor with full lounge access. I'm my mom's favorite son right now (well, I am her only son, but I don't take things for granted).

To me, the biggest problem with the new Hyatt Places is not the rooms themselves but the breakfast and other amenities. Obviously it's not a full service hotel, the breakfast is barely edible, etc. But newer Hyatt Places often have rooms that are modern and comfortable, and certainly often better than rooms at higher "brand" levels (mostly because they're new). This is definitely the case with the LIC hotel (I have heard some people complain about road noise but honestly I've never run into that problem there, mostly get upgraded to upper floors). The rooms themselves are huge by New York standards - I actually prefer their king rooms over their "suites" (I got upgraded to a low floor suite last time which I should have refused as it wasn't worth it to be on a lower floor with a view of the parking lot, despite being a "suite"). I've never been to a Manhattan HP and I likely never will, but the LIC is a fabulous deal for both points and cash, if you're willing to just pay for a much better breakfast somewhere else. Even for location - it's close to four major lines (NRW, 7, E, and F) and is only 1 stop from Manhattan, not to mention all of Queens and relatively easy access by cab to Brooklyn even if you want to never ride the G.

In terms of other affordable hotels in NYC I prefer over Thompson Central Park - Gild Hall has much nicer, more stylish rooms and gigantic suites. The biggest problem is: the rooms get REALLY cold. The insulation is terrible. But I enjoy it way more than the Thompson Central Park. It would be a good option for the early fall when it's not too hot or cold. The Beekman is also a good deal - unlike Gild Hall, it's very well insulated. The rooms are much smaller but there's a certain elegance to the place I like. I'm VERY much looking forward to The Standard East Village - I've stayed at other Standard hotels and this is an exciting addition to the Hyatt portfolio. Recent stay at Hyatt Union Square was also very nice - if you can get the penthouse suite on an SUA it's beautiful and you can't get a better location.

I would say I'd choose the Thompson Central Park over the Centric Midtown. The Centric Midtown the one time I stayed there I did get a fairly nice high floor king with a good view, but the breakfast was atrocious, so given that, I'd choose the HP LIC over the Centric Midtown any day of the week. If I'm going to get a crappy breakfast why not get a much nicer overall experience?