Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Location |
| Disadvantages: |
Decor & facilities |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
I stayed here with my girlfriend, her sister and their parents for New Year 02/03. I did loads of online research to try and get us a decent deal (everywhere is really pricey during Chrismtas & New Year) and eventually plumped for the Bentley as it was well situated and looked pretty cool on its website - the attraction of its 'roof-top restaurant' was a clincher. Also, the majority of reviews that I read seemed to give it a thumbs-up.
My girlfriends' sister actually lives in upstate NY so had the opportunity to go in person to the hotel a couple of days before we arrived to make two requests:
1. That both our rooms had a river-view.
2. That we could have a table in the restaurant on New Year's Eve.
No problem on either count, she was assured (you can see what's coming, can't you?.....)
Only one of our
rooms had the river view and it was 'impossible' to find us another. Our New Year's Eve Booking was also a non-starter - the whole restaurant had been booked for a private party and would therefore be closed to hotel guests all evening!
Aaargh!!!!
I could now go on about what a hassle we had to get booked in somewhere last-minute on the busiest night of the year, but I won't - I'll stick to the review of the hotel.
The hotel staff are split into two groups - and these are like warring factions. We lost count of the amount of times that conflicting advice/information was given from the reception staff and the concierges - it got to be quite comical after a couple of days. "Don't listen to them, they know nothing" was the concierge's favourite catch-phrase!
Nice touch in the hotel's lobby is a machine that makes tea & coffee. Pity it was out of order for 2 of the 4 days we stayed.
There's also a complimentary breakfast buffet in the aformentioned roof-top restaurant. You can have anything you want, as long as it's bagels. And get there early because they run out. The restaurant itself is very, very disappointing. Old, rickety chairs and miserable bar staff - none of whom have the desire or ability to carry out simple tasks like keep the place clean and tidy. Great view, sure, but that's it. We visited just the once, had one drink and then left. Says it all really.
The rooms themselves are fine - clean, reasonably well equipped and decent bathrooms. Nice big bed too. However, despite the fact that it was snowing outside, the room was so hot that I thought the furniture might start to melt. The a/c was useless - this was the case in both our rooms.
Some of the furniture (particularly in the lobby) looks like it has seen better days, and that could also be said for one or two items in our rooms. Basically, the whole place is in desparate need of a re-furb.
Now onto the hotel's best attribute - it's location. Five minute walk to all the huge shops (Macy's, Bloomingdales etc) and not much further to many of the big-name attractions like the Empire State Building and Central Park. There are plenty of bars & restaurants within easy walking distance too, catering for most tastes and budgets. The Tramway Diner at the foot of the Queensborough Bridge was our favourite for breakfast - fantastic!
Overall, disappointing. I was hoping for better. I had tried to book in at the Mansfield (which is only marginally more expensive but far nicer) but they were full. I'll definitely be back to NY but will be looking elsewhere for somewhere to stay.
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