Went back to Parker Meridien this week (only hotel available).
As usual no real upgrade (even if I am platinum and in the Ambassador program). Only a high floor room. It is a pity. I have been there at least 5 times and never got a suite...

Only negative aspect the baggage service.

It took them almost 20 minutes to recover my bags from the deposit...They should increase the number of people working there if it is so complex to serve the clients!

Was there for a 3 night stay using the free weekend nights.

Checked in on the 31st around 11pm. Check-in agent is polite and helpful. Upgraded to a park view room on the 34th floor. Asked about a suite, but was told the park view was already an upgrade or take a city view suite. Took the park view, it was a good choice as the view is awsome to wake up to.

Requested late check-out as my flight was 6pm on the 3rd, but was told the hotel is sold out that night and the only time possible is 1pm. No drama there, but was a little pain in the rear waiting to check my bags and later to retrieve it.

Tried the Burger Joint...For those from the West coast, the burger reminded me of In-N-Out's burger, almost identicle is taste, but at two to three times the cost. Fries are the usual frozen variety...dry. Burger is nice...Worth the 30 minute wait at dining hours? No.

My thoughts exactly! I hate reading reviews that rant and rave about this place. Definitely over priced for what it is..

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry: Opera/9.60 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.2.13216/504; U; en) Presto/2.2.0)

Can anyone else confirm whether internet access is free?

Internal data suggests that it is not.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Confirmed. I stayed there over the 4th of july weekend. Internet access is not free. I don't remember what they charged for internet access; i was on vacation so i left the laptop at home and depended on my iphone for all of my internet needs.

I had reserved two rooms on a combination of points and the free weekend nights. Both rooms got upgraded for the entire 3 night stay. The rooms are a nice size, but the furniture is a little bit dated and cheap looking. The suites do have a fold out couch which is very helpful with our daughter. The suite was the largest suite that i've ever gotten in NYC. There were only two pain points:

- At check-in I had to fill out this form with the names of the room occupants. Since I had different reservations for each night, they made me fill out multiple forms. It was a pain in the ... since we arrived at the hotel around 1am with 2 tired, cranky kids (a toddler and an infant). I've never had to fill out a form like this in the US. Not sure why it was even necessary to fill out.

- The doormen and bellmen were very unhelpful the entire time. they didn't even help us get taxis or load out our stuff into taxis -- we were traveling with two kids and two strollers, so we would have appreciated the help.

Besides those two minor annoyances, the trip was great. i complained to the manager and she compensated me with some starwood points.

all in all, i highly recommend this property. great location, great rooms for NYC.

Thanks,
-Wajih

Will be staying here this weekend on the free night promo, received email from them regarding my stay and on the right side was an offer to upgrade to Park View for $49 or Junior Suite for $99. I am only a Preferred Plus but will pass on the offer.

Anyone know what the Platinum amenity is at this hotel?

As pointed out by others it's not free, but based on my last stay in late July, the front desk was providing complimentary 24 hour pass codes to Plats who asked (myself included).

Also agree about the burger joint - 5 guys or in-n-out is just as good. All in all this is a great hotel with awesome views and a great location, service is usually pretty good, and on weekends plats are usually good for junior suite upgrades.

This was the absolute worst Starwood hotel stay I’ve ever been to, that is Starwood, anywhere, anytime. We arrived at 2:30pm and checked in. The agent was nice and told us a junior suite would be ready in ten minutes. I had an emergency for work and went into the lobby. There is no free internet in the lobby. I used my Sprint card and did some work.

An hour later we went to the desk and asked, the room was not ready but another one on a lower floor was. I did not care; we wanted to spend some time in NY walking around. The room we received was filthy. Water spots on the desk, dusk all over the place. I called downstairs and was told to come down. I was told no more junior suites. I asked for the manager and told him I did not want to stay here. I called the Sheraton Suites and Towers and they had a room. The manager said I would have to pay for the room because it was past the 3pm time to cancel. I could not believe him or his horrible attitude. This manager has no business in the business.
After complaining with the manager that he was now starting to ruin our little weekend (we were on a paid rate of $350/night), He miraculously found another junior suite (maybe because I had SPG Platium on line), where the heck was this 2 minutes ago, he outright lied.

I did check out the next day and went to the “W” on Lexington. Long story short, NEVER EVER think of staying at the Le Meridian. If this was my first Starwood stay, and I did not know how great a company they are, this would have been my last.

BTW the bed is horrible, room had no free internet.

So, let me make sure I have all of this correct:

• when you arrived, you'd been preblocked into a Jr Suite
• Room wasn't quite ready, so you waited while you worked
• You decided to forgo the suite and just take a std room (your choice)
• Room had housekeeping issues
• You went downstairs and complained; manager probably took a Jr Suite away from a PLAT member who'd not yet checked in and gave it to you
• That's the worst hotel in the Starwood system?

If that's as bad as it gets, then you've found yourself a pretty good hotel, my friend.

Which full service hotels are you staying in that offer free internet in rooms? Plus you had your air card, right?

????

With manager attitude like this in my opinion worst hotel stay I've had. I did not say worst hotel did I? Everyone can make their own decisions, I'm just trying to let people know in my opinion, STAY AWAY. Plus the bed is HORRIBLE.

All I can say from what was written you have gone ott on this one! Maybe they shouldnt have given you a room that was not the best, but they were trying to give you a Junior Suite! You made the decision not to wait for the complimentry upgrade!

Out of interest if you were so keen to see some of NYC why not leave your luggage and head out for your walk while the suite was finished off for you! I agree it can be frustrating when hotels say a room wont be long and it takes longer than they estimate but that not exactly unique to this hotel or starwood for that matter! It was only 30 mins past the checkin time at the hotel when you decided to give up on the Junior Suite, now I cant speak for everyone but if a hotel has a 15:00 checkin time and they say wait till 16:00-16:30, even if its at second time of asking I would do that for a Junior Suite rather than a standard room, especially in a city like NY where the rooms are not known for being the biggest or best!

I am not saying the hotel was blameless but it certainly is not in the "absolute worst hotel I’ve ever been to, that is Starwood, anywhere, anytime" bracket!

Indeed you did. You later edited it out. Toddml and I both quoted it and it stands in black and white.

There was dusk everywhere? Damn solar cycles! :)

Ok, I did make a mistake on my first post.

It Was the worst hotel stay for a Starwood I've ever had. I have been Platinum since the program and this must mean a serious situation for me.

I did end up in a junior suite, I've said that in my posts.

If when I checked in they would have said Hello Mr. THEPLA we have a Jr. suite and it will be ready in an hour. That is not what they said, they said it will be ready in 10 minutes. If they would have said it would be an hour I would have done my little work, left our bags and walked around the city. That is not what happened. I was even told that the gal at the desk would come and get me in 10 minutes to give me the key, etc.

After an hour I went back to the desk and she said still not ready and gave us another room. This room, also a Jr. Suite was filthy. Table had water marks, dust all over the place,disgusting. I went back down to the desk and talked to the manager. I already called the Sheraton and knew there was a room.

The manager told me no other rooms, I told him I wanted to cancel my reservation and go to the Sheraton. He refused, to me that is crazy, first almost every property in the world has a 6pm rule, sometimes a day earlier but still 6pm. This hotel has 3pm. He refused to let me out of the room without paying.

I than called Starwood to confirm the 3pm rule at this hotel, while on the phone a asked to be transferred to the next level and voice a complaint. When the manager heard this he all of a sudden found a new room, sure it was a Jr. Suite but who cares, at this point, IMO, the damage was done. I've NEVER had this happen, and I mean never.

I did not care I had a suite at this point, he could have given me the penthouse suite and I still would have been upset. The manager was rude, remember I was there. Even the gal at the front desk showed the expression like she has to put up with this all the time.

I am just trying to warn other people here that this is a arrogant type property. Read other posts I don't seem to be the only person not happy with this property. People should read here and help with decisions and in this case their decision should be to stay away. PERIOD.

I strongly disagree with the above poster.
It's the BEST hotel I've stayed in. The hotel was recommended to me by SanDiego1K so I was prepared for a good visit.
At check in, I asked what the long queue was and I was told that was for beefburgers. I told the clerk that i had read about how good they were but that was a very long queue. "Not to worry" he said. He would go through the back and get my order and bring it up to me. He did!
I took unwell near the end of my visit and they couldn't do enough for me. They kept sending up hot drinks, soup and toast as I wasn't eating and this at no cost to me. I had to leave early but promised them that I would be back.
Since then, I've had an email from them asking how I was and I also received a lovely card through the mail.
I believe that the treatment I received was outstanding but not unusual for this excellent hotel.
I wonder if the alleged bad treatment of the poster above was perhaps due to his own treatment of the staff.
I thoroughly recommend this hotel to everyone. PERIIOD! :)
Margaret

If you complain about dust and water spots in the room, I guess it takes housekeeping an hour at best to clean the room, it is not like replacing a carpet, because one is disgusted by some stains. They could have comped you a meal at the restaurant and everyone would be happy.

Especially, at hotels of this caliber and especially considering that you are a Plat member, serving you a drink on the house while waiting for a room would increase your satisfaction while the costs for the hotel are very low. Sometimes, it is so easy satisfying a customer at very little cost..., but hotels still do not get it right.

The US are known for very good customer service, bordering on the ridiculous quite often, at least if you come from other countries, however when customers are turned down, reactions like yours are often the norm, although companies are just simply playing by the rules and/or use common sense.

I just witnessed an 18 year old trying to return an ( obviously used ) hand bag at Nordstrom, she was turned down by a very friendly, but firm manager, who had to endure a 2 minute verbal abuse after that...

The hotel also played by the rules, 3 p.m. on the day of departure is okay, many hotels indeed have 24 hours cancellation deadlines, 6 p.m. would be more customer friendly, but you make your reservation, they clearly state the rules...

Judging from quite some experience, people tend to be always really angry, when they expected something amazing and were turned down....so I fear there is more to the story, otherwise you are really overreacting, because some hotels really screw ones experience. This was a relatively minor issue, the housekeeping problems should be addressed, they should have comped you a drink while waiting and that's it.

Worst stay ever, worst property ever is probably another league...

I had stayed at the hotel and the employees were OK and provided friendly and good service for the most part. BUT, it was no where near W standard. The rooms, yes jr suite, are mediocre at best and were in need of a serious renovation. But then again, everything in NYC is overpriced. It's an average hotel. Would I return? If the rate is good. Otherwise, there are far better choices in town.

Couldnt agree more with your post! The 10 min waiting turning into over an hour from 14:30 is annoying, but it happens at just about all hotels from time to time. I would suggest maybe at the St.Regis you would not get it but I have experienced it at many hotels, escpecially when checking in early or getting an upgrade! I think housekeeping often dont keep front desk informed very well!

The op also states that the thing that really annoyed was the manager and yes he could possibly of handled things better, but you also say before even speaking to him you had called the Sheraton to check they had a room! It would seem your mind was already well on the way to moving hotels long before he came along which makes me wonder how you treated him as if he was truly as bad as you say I cannot see him lasting long in the NY hotel business!

At Le Parker Now
 

I actually just checked-in to the hotel this morning. Arrived at 10:30a and was helped by a very friendly woman at the front desk. Despite the early hour, I was offered choice of city view jr. suite or standard, high-floor park view room. After unsuccessfully trying to talk my way into a park view suite, I took the standard park view room.

Doing some work at the desk in my room now. Great view of central park; clean, standard NYC-sized room. Would like to see a wall-based flat screen instead of the huge entertainment unit that's in the room now but otherwise no complaints. Haven't tested the hardness of the bed yet though.

While not the best option in NYC by any means, I don't see any reason not to stay here again for the right price.

I can appreciate where this poster is coming from. We've all had the experience of a room not ready only to have the 10 minute wait turn into something considerably longer. It's a pain - the frequent check ins with the front desk, calls to housekeeping...who knows what's really going on behind the curtain.

I would offer up that demanding to move to another property is the hotel service equivalent of throwing a grenade over the wall. Probably not the best way to show that you rationally want good customer service. (Especially for one of the NYC Sheratons - I haven't stayed at the LPM, but I have to imagine that it can't be worse than those two rat traps. I'd stand inline for two hours just about anywhere to avoid either of the Sheratons.)

I am just stunned by all the whining for the smallest things people complain about just to get some Star points. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I don't know what W you are referring to, but this place is much better than 3 of the W properties in NYC.

Is the property in serious need of renovation? Absolutely not. The bathrooms are nice and fresh, the carpets are good, the furniture are in great condition much better state than the W on Lex, W The Court and Tuscany.

What the need to replace are the beds. The TV entertainment center serves as a privacy divider in the Junior Suites, I have no idea why anyone would complain about the TVs being old as long as the picture is fine.

Anyways, 3 stays in a month, the last this weekend.

Had a Saturday to Tuesday stay and the hotel was a lot calmer this weekend.

Plenty of door men who always are ready to get a cab for you and help you with luggage

Even if we arrived on a Saturday afternoon with the hotel sold out this weekend, a Junior Suite was held for us. No lines to check in, Platinum amenity offered immediately, professional and courteous check in staff.

Junior Suites are great, especially if you are two friends traveling together or have kids because the living room has a pull out couch.

Great insulation and heavy doors makes this place paradise for people who actually want to sleep.

The only minus remains the same: The beds are not what you expect from a Starwood property

I also don't understand the complaints. This is a very good hotel in a good location with good service and a fun spirit. The junior suites are great for families and, combined with the rooftop pool and burger joint, make this a great SPG option for those with kids.
I like the beds, too. Not unlike those you often see at nice hotels outside the US.

I booked two rooms for the period aug 10-16.

Enjoyed my stay there. It was a big change of style from the W TS, at which I was staying before, but nevertheless nice and cozy.

Arrived at 10 am, both rooms upgraded to city view Junior suites. One jr st was ready, the other was ready after an hour or so.

The hotel hall is amazing, btw.
Regarding renovations: the two jr st I had were definitely ok. No spots on the floor, everything was clean. As somebody said before, the rooms are a liiiiittle bit on the Ikea side, but it's not something that would discourage you from staying here.
The swivel tv was a nice idea to separate the living room from the bedroom, works pretty well.

The view from the roof is outstanding. I recommend going up there at least to get a view of the park. The pool is quite small, so when I went up there it was full of kids playing and I just gave up.

Burger joint is definitely good. Ate there twice. I recommend having your burger cooked well done, not medium, because basically the person cooking the burgers "parks" your medium-cooked-burger on a surface close to the grill, waiting for the other well-done-burgers to be ready. As a result, you'll probably have a burger that's either semi-warm or tastes like burned (having a lot of burgers standby on that surface makes them drip, for the following burgers to pick it up).

Overall LPM gets a A-. Definitely would stay here again, except if it'd match the price of a W, I'd go with the W.

Stayed one night here this past weekend, got xx03 room, fine, CRT tv, room size was very decent for NYC. No upgrade as expected since I am only PP, but got early check in at 1pm and late check out at 4pm.

AC was not running that well, especially since it was a hot and muggy weekend in NYC. Shower was good and umbrella in room was a nice touch. I like the location too and it was quiet at night. Will stay here again.

You seem to like W the Court and Tuscany a lot, and those 2 are the absolute worse W hotels IMO, ever. So, is LM better than W Tuscany and the Court? Absolutely. But, W Times Square is far superior than this hotel. The fantastic suites (which I always get) can't even be put in the same category as the junior suite at Le Meridien. Even W Hoboken's standard room beats LM out of the water.

Ah--I knew you were talking about those 2, again, worst W in the system. W Lexington, well, we all know how bad that hotel is. I like the bathroom at Le Meridien, but everything else in the room needs to go. It absoslutely needs a renovation, so do W Court and Tuscany.

YMMV, as always, but I guess I've been to plenty of outstanding hotels in the Starwood system in the last few months - W South Beach, W Washington DC, W Hoboken, W Hong Kong, Westin Sydney, etc (feel free to look at the pics in my album) that I can no longer tolerate mediocre properties like Le Meridien NYC.

Are the standard rooms really THAT small?
 

As an SPG Gold, I had a room booked for 5 nights Xmas time using points. I must have neglected to add the 2 kids onto the reservation when I made it online.

When I spoke to the SPG Rep on the phone, he wanted to update the reservation to insure that we were given the necessary 2 bed configuration. Both his computer and a call to the property says that the rooms have a 2 person max. "Apparently, the 2 beds are more like singles than 2 doubles or queens."

I cannot rely on a junior suite upgrade and don't want to get 2 rooms.

Are the rooms really THAT small that they cannot accommodate more than 2 bodies????

This relates to the fundamental assumption SPG makes regarding award reservations (paraphrasing is mine): "When redeeming points for a room for one's family, the member will take his or her spouse, or a child, but not both. It's two bodies -- period."

Personally, I would make the reservation for a room with two beds, for two people, than call the hotel and ask them what the configuration of the room will actually be (without saying anything about the kids). I honestly have a hard time imagining that this hotel is going to give you a room with two twin beds in it. I would bet they will be at least doubles, if not queens. (Booking an award room online shows either a king bed or '2 double beds'.) Then you will know what you're dealing with and can move your reservation to another property if necessary.

It is possible they will charge you extra for the bodies in the room beyond two. I would be surprised if they did, but clearly the rules provide for that possibility.

A different view of the Le Meridien Parker
 

We have now moved to NYC but during the move
we stayed at this hotel thru Priceline. It is by far the
best Priceline hotel I have stayed at. Now that we live
in NYC, we go there all the time because it is an oasis of
Europe in NYC. Seppi's French (Alsace?)
restaurant is one of the few Manhattan restaurants that
in my view does not serve food that is basically NYC deli
Italian no matter what type of food the restaurant claims.
The French wine is good. Although it is true that the
Jazz musicians who play at Seppis seemingly only know
3 songs. The hotel bar is great with good music
and a great European feel. Obviously this summer NYC
has not been a good place to visit because of the
constant rain and humidity, but the posters complaints
are complaining about a hotel that 10 times better than
normal NYC rudeness. We are still trying to get the
mud out of our clothes from the taxi drivers who
intentionally speed into puddles to get people wet.

I was here a few years back and that was what they told me too. I ended up getting a roll away so my wife and 2 kids (small) can share the king. As I and others mentioned in past post, the beds at this property is not the best - very thin. Some might like it but I suspect most perfer the Westin beds.

I just completed a very pleasant three-night stay using my two free weekend nights plus a 2009 Plat thank you weekend night gift that I'd forgotten about but found on SPG's website. Got a Plat upgrade to one of those city-view mini-suites, which I found to be very nice. The hotel managed to be pleasant in spite of the efforts of an infestation of French tennis players and their fans, which was no small feat at times. Check-in and service were very pleasant and the gym, located deep underground, is very good.

Perhaps the percentage of foreign guests was unrepresentatively high this weekend, but I found it odd that the TV selections had only one non-English station, and that was Spanish.

The TV selection is definitely weak at the hotel, one of the worst in the *wood fleet, never the less I am a frequent guest and glad you enjoyed your stay.

How ironic. I too just completed a 3 night stay this past weekend thanks to the free weekend nights promo. I too was upgraded to one of those city view suites. Decent size and the photos on the website are accurate. I don't know if it's part of being in a suite or what, but the wireless internet was free from the room.

As for the foreign guests, you might be referring to the French guests. Apparently the majority of the French contingent at the US Open is staying there. Don't know if you ever went out the exit on 57th Avenue, but there were often times multiple US Open vehicles lined up.

Other than being underquoted the wait for my suite to become available I was happy with my stay. On past trips to NYC, I have stayed at the W Times Square, W Tuscany, W Court, and the Westin Times Square. There isn't one hotel that offers more than the other with the exception of the Le Parker Meridien which did offer free internet although I don't know if that's the norm. I am a price sensitive traveler since I do this on my personal dime so if the Le Parker Meridien was the cheapest of the bunch I would stay here again.

I vaguely recollect checking the wireless and it wasn't free. I was on 15, so maybe it was because of the floor that I was on. In any event, I have an air card, so I didn't use the wireless.

Yes, I fought my way through the mob at the 57th St. entrance on a number of occasions. The narrowness of that entrance made it more difficult than maneuvering through the smokers outside of the 56th St. entrance.

Kluau, since i have not been back for some years, how is the bed compare to the other NYC hotels - specifically WTS and Westin? I am a stickler for beds as you might notice so i am trying to decide which hotel offers the best. I wonder if the renovated rooms have new beds at the Parker. Do anyone know?

IME, the bedding at the Parker has not been recently upgraded. I've not seen a report anywhere that indicates that any of these rooms have new bedding. That said, I don't dislike the bedding there now. It's not ultra-plush like most upscale hotel bedding is now (i.e. tall, pillow-topped, etc, etc), but the linens were fine and the bed itself was B+ in my book. Westin and W beds will feel more luxurious, if that's something that's essential for you.

I really loved the bathroom in our Jr Suite at the Parker. Very up to date and surprisingly spacious for NYC. At least 6 folks could've fit in the shower at one time --- and, no, I didn't try it.

Just called to inquire and they said the wall paper and carpet are being replace. Also the linens. Everthing else remains the same.

I love the location and views of the Parker but the bed i can do without. So back to the Westin for me.

The bed was fine, but not as plush as the Westin or W bed.