Le Parker Méridien, New York City [Master Thread] - LEAVING JAN 4, 2018
-Grossly overpriced.
-Little to no Platinum recognition.
-Attrocious HVAC (unbearably hot in the winter and like a freezer in the summer) with no individual room control.
-Extremely dated furnishings.
-Resort fee.
-Very rude front desk staff.
There are so many better options at lower prices in Manhattan. This hotel saw its best days about 20 years ago and is living in the past.
And the AC in summer is weak, at best. I'll stay in winter when I can crank open the window but refuse to stay in the summer. If they'd fix it, it'd be my #1 choice in NYC.
The Sheraton Times Square is okay in winter. Heat is good and windows open a bit. Won't stay in the summer. AC is weak and sun beats in through huge windows.
If you want great HVAC and windows that open, it's the Westin Times Square. Wish it was better located.
I'm only Gold but an SVN owner - any chance of an upgrade at check-in? For one night, I'm not very tempted to pay for an upgrade, even at these prices, but I definitely won't if odds are I can get a free one.
I'm only Gold but an SVN owner - any chance of an upgrade at check-in? For one night, I'm not very tempted to pay for an upgrade, even at these prices, but I definitely won't if odds are I can get a free one.
The description of the room are the same and both are base level rooms at 20k points, but superior seems to be a lower category room in terms of price?
Front desk, housekeeping and concierge staff were all terrific.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/di...ollection&_r=0
http://www.indianaccent.com/newyork/index.html
Le Parker Meridien New York
119 W. 56th Street New York, NY US 10019
Wow...where have they been hiding this hotel??? (0 Photo)
Le Parker Meridien New York
We stayed at LePM for 2 nights earlier this month. Booking was on points, Cat 6 (20,000/night).
I got to the hotel at 9am, without having called ahead, and asked if they could give me a room on the spot. The desk rep was very good: he said that if he gave me a room then, it would be a smaller room (and on a lower floor) than what I had been blocked for later. Since I didn't need the room then, I left bags with the bell staff and went out. (They offered to call when it was ready - but since my schedule wasn't flexible, I didn't bother.)
When we got back (5pm), we were given a room on the lowest floor of the highrise elevator bank, which makes for quick to/from elevator access. The room (2325) had partial park view from the western half of the windows (a building on Central Park South blocked the middle of the view, and another on 57th street blocked the east view). Good thing the desk staff was on their game, or we'd have missed out on the view!
The room was HUGE by NYC standards: in addition to a king bed and a work surface at the window, there was a single casual chair and the luggage rack had a carpeted seat that would have made do (had we actually put away our rollaboards). There was an open area that was probably 7' long before the bed -- big enough for my wife to do yoga without coming close to the bed or the wall on any side; it almost felt like it was missing a sofa & coffee table!
Bathroom was typical - but well designed. A small shelf 1 foot above the (larger than usual) sink counter made a place for the toiletries, freeing up counter space for your stuff. Towel rods above the sink counter got the washcloths off the counter too. Good use of tight space. Standard towel setup was 4 bath, 4 hand & 3 washcloth - so no need to call for extras.
King bed was comfortable & firm. Bedding was typical - a duvet that's too warm for summer, but no good alternative (so we cranked the air to cool the room...). Hotel pillows are always a problem for me, and these were just like all others: they flatten out too much. I need good memory foam pillows, and hotels don't stock them. Oh well...
Wifi worked well, which it had better with the $15/day facility fee. (An annoyance, but it was reimbursed so I'm not getting worked up...) In-room outlets were a bit limited: they were hidden behind the nighttables, which was inconvenient. One good design feature of the nighttables: the drawer does not have a side wall on the bed side, so you can put things in it and access them more easily while lying in bed. Since the surface is limited, and largely consumed by the phone, that helped.
Common spaces are beautiful. The lobby bar is classic, and the other areas are ultra-modern; a bit of a clash, but no big deal. We didn't use the gym or the pool.
At morning rush hour, the doorman had 2 cabs standing by right at 9am -- that's quite a feat, especially for a mid-block location (nobody cruises past them).
One negative: at about 10:30pm one night I asked at the desk for a large FedEx box to ship some things back to my office. They said that they didn't have one in the house, and I needed to walk to the FedEx store at CPS/Bway (0.3 miles, roughly) to get one. IMO, even a 4-star hotel needs to stock that kind of thing for guests.
All in all, I was extremely impressed. Most of my NYC travel puts me in the East 40s, so I usually stay at the Westin Grand Central; Le Parker Meridien beats both the NYC Westins hands down.