Bentley Hotel, New York City

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Clean, nice rooms  -  amazing views from roof top balcony
Disadvantages:	24 Hour coffee bar was actually a vending machine !  !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My lovely husband booked a short stay in New York for my “surprise” 30th birthday. This was in 2002 and we went there at the beginning of October of that year. Just as a side note before I start the review of the hotel, the weather was fantastic and for much of the time we went out regularly in T-shirts.

Anyway we stayed at The Bentley Hotel for the whole of our stay and overall we were impressed and enjoyed our time there.

**ABOUT THE HOTEL**

The Bentley is a 3 star hotel which was built in 1904 and last renovated in 2002, however I have a feeling some renovation may be going on now as the roof top restaurant has been closed until further notice.

It has 197 rooms in total, which range in quality depending on which sort you book. We had a regular room but found this to be very satisfactory. There was plenty of room from the end of the queen size bed to the edge of the dressing table and either side too. The bathroom was pretty small, but all you really need in terms of that is somewhere to go to the loo and somewhere to wash. This fulfilled our needs on both accounts. The bathroom was kept very clean and was always stocked with essentials like loo roll and toiletries. The shower was powerful and hot water was good and produced a nice shower.

The queen size bed was lovely, and we were given sheets and blankets. I wish hotels used duvets but I guess they are harder to keep clean. Anyway we were comfortable enough and warm enough at night.

Under the window there was a rather large unit, which was a heater and air conditioner in one. We did actually use this for both things whilst there, as it was really warm in the day and when you get back from 7 hours shopping it’s rather hot so you need to be cooled down. In the evening though it was a bit nippy so the heating was needed. This unit worked well for both although it was a little noisy.

The room also provided us with a TV, (pay per view movies as well as normal TV), a phone, a hairdryer, ironing board and tea making facilities.

There is a roof top restaurant with huge windows all around which allows for a panoramic view of the city while you eat. We were a bit let down with the restaurant though as it seemed old and a bit shabby. The tables were not laid out nicely and seemed to be a bit higgledy-piggledy. We only ate breakfast here and this was a help yourself affair with no staff on hand to fill up empties etc. The food was quite nice though. There was a door that led out onto the balcony round the roof of the hotel though and this was fantastic. We went out there to smoke after breakfast and the views were amazing. We were right near the Queensboro Bridge and you could watch the cable cars going up and down. You could see Roosevelt Island and the East River quite clearly and also a lot of rooftops of other buildings etc. We went up here on a few occasions, day and night and were never let down.

The only thing that really disappointed us was that they advertised a 24-hour cappuccino bar. This supposedly served tea, coffee and pastries etc 24 hours. When we arrived we were in need of a hot drink and to our amazement the 24-hour bar was actually a self-service vending machine in the lobby. You even had to get your own large plastic milk carton from the small portable fridge to add to your chosen drink. A let down but it was wet and warm!

The Bentley provides quite a few services for it’s guests, which I will tell you about, but we never used any of these so I cannot comment on their usefulness or how good they were.
Laundry/Valet service
Room Service
Safety Deposit boxes
Hotel parking at a charge of $20 for 24 hours.

Children under 10 stay free here but we were lucky enough to be able to leave our son with the in laws for the few days we were there, so it was just hubby and me. We paid roughly £60 each per night if memory serves me correctly, which we thought was quite reasonable at the time.

You will be required to provide a photo ID when you check in so make sure you have your passport handy. The reception/lobby is beautiful. There are large relaxing chairs you can use while waiting to check in and the whole décor is quite regal. Very inviting. The staff where friendly, as all New Yorkers seemed to be, and helpful and the whole check in procedure was quick and easy. The staff are bilingual – although this was not needed in our case – but handy to know if you do not speak English.

**LOCATION AND CONVENIENCE**

Well, The Bentley Hotel is situated on the Upper East Side of New York, on East 62nd Street.

It is 15 miles from JFK airport – (which is where we flew in from)
10 miles from Newark airport
8 miles from La Guardia airport.

Everywhere we went to (and that was a lot of places in 3 days!) seemed easily accessible by cab. This was an experience in itself, the driving, the honking and so on, but the hotel itself is situated very close to Roosevelt Island and the East River. Many of the views from the hotel look out over the East River and this is a fairly unique view for a New York hotel.

It is 7 blocks from Central Park, where you can almost imagine you are no longer in a built up metropolitan city. We took a helicopter ride around the city while there and Central Park looks very very strange from the air. Like a large slab of green in the middle of a grey island full of buildings. Amazing.

From our room we had a view of The Queensboro Bridge. It is quite amazing at night when all the lights are on. Incidentally this is the bridge they used in Spiderman, where he saves the people in the cable car. We watched Spiderman after we’d been to New York and it was instantly recognisable.

There is a large area at the front of the hotel where your cab can pull up out of the way of the main traffic. This where we arrived and then the luggage was carried in for us.

**OVERALL OPINION**

Overall we would recommend this hotel for anyone travelling to New York and spending a few hectic days there. We went mainly for the shopping experience (well I did anyway) and the sights so we rarely spent large amounts of time in the hotel itself. It was ideal for us, although I do not know what the meals would have been like as we ate out every night in the City itself. The rooms where clean and had enough space to try clothes on! Hee Hee. The bathrooms were more than adequate and the views from the balcony were amazing.

I will be back there like a shot when I’ve paid my debts from the last spending spree.!