Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Good location |
| Disadvantages: |
Rack rate quite high |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Last year for Christmas we decided to use the time off to do something a bit different. We ended up booking a holiday to the USA with two stops in New York and Boston. This review is of the hotel we stayed at in New York, The Radisson Lexington.
++++++++++Booking++++++++++
I booked our stay through Expedia www.expedia.co.uk and was paid upfront, I managed to get the hotel for an average rate of £82.22 per night for Christmas eve and Day, this went up to £123.59 for the 26th December, on top of the room rate there is also the tax and charges which were £17.55 per night.
The hotel is part of the Radisson chain and can be booked through their website www.radisson.com, as with all
hotels I would recommend going through a broker site as the rates will be a lot cheaper, due to them buying rooms in bulk.
++++++++++Location++++++++++
The Radisson Lexington is located at Lexington Avenue and 48th street, which is on the east side of Manhattan. Nearby to the hotel is the Waldorf Astoria on Park Ave.
The Hotel is almost parallel with the Rockerfella centre, a few avenues away and can be walked to in under ten minutes. Also nearby is St Patrick's Cathedral, which is worth a visit if you do stay here. Other nearby attractions include Grand Central Terminal used in a
number of famous films, and the architectural master piece the Chrysler Building.
This is a very good base for exploring the city as there are attractions within walking distance and public transport can be accessed from the Grand Central Terminal. Also in the area are some good restaurants, with a wide variety of dining options.
++++++++++Formalities++++++++++
Standard check in time is 3pm which is later than some hotels but is reasonable and was fine for our trip as we didn't arrive till around then. The reception counter is very large and there were three people working when we arrived so we were seen to very promptly. Our reservation was found with no problems, and was prepaid as expected, a swipe of my credit card was taken for any incidentals we might choose to have such as the bar, restaurant or an in room movie. The hotel has the modern credit card door entry system so two door keys were given to us, to allow us both access the room.
I had booked what the hotel describes as a petite room, which is cheaper than a standard room as it is very small. The receptionist informed us that we would receive a complimentary upgrade to a standard guest room, which was a nice surprise.
The standard check out time is 1200, and checking out was a painless as checking in, I elected not to use the express check out as our additional items on the bill were only a call for a few cents to the bus company to arrange our pick up.
++++++++++Room++++++++++
The room we had was a decent size although not massive, I dread to think what the petite room would have been like, but for our stay it was only a place to sleep so no real problems. The room had a double bed, a desk area near the window, the desk has provision for a broadband connection if you have your laptop with you, although this was not complimentary. As you would have expected the room had a large TV, with movies on demand and internet access, there was also a complimentary safe in the room. One thing that was missing more to my partner's annoyance was any tea or coffee making facilities, there is a Starbucks in the lobby but you can't walk down there in your pyjamas.
The view from the room was not spectacular, over looking the roofs of a few buildings and garages, but this is Manhatten so unless you pay serious money then you settle for whatever view you get. The cleanliness of the room was excellent and it was serviced every day as you would expect. The selection of towels available to dry yourself with was vast with at least six for each of us, of course of varying sizes. The hotel had the these days standard policy of having to request your towels to be changed by placing them in the bath, they also had a similar policy with the bed clothes where a card had to be placed on the bed if you wished them to be changed.
++++++++++Facilities++++++++++
The hotel has 700 rooms and has a number of communal facilities, which I will go into, the lobby was decorated with a large Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations. There are the standard services you would expect from a hotel, complementary luggage check, free in room safety deposit boxes and a full concierge service for ordering a taxi or booking a restaurant.
There is a main bar in the hotel just to the left of the reception desk, we didn't use this during our stay but it did look popular with other guests. The lobby has seating areas for when you are waiting from people or your transport there a number of complementary news papers for guests to read. There is also a small shop where gifts can be purchased, I assume that because of it's location in New York, there is a Starbucks in the lobby. There are two restaurants located within the hotel, Dynasty (Chinese American) and Raffles (American), we never had a meal in these as we wanted to eat out in the city for our meals.
Other facilities that the hotel offer that are more aimed at the business traveller than the tourist are:-
• Valet Service
• Laundry Service
• Business Centre
• Fitness Centre
++++++++++Opinion++++++++++
This hotel was reasonable for the
price we paid, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay the rack rate for the room, as I felt this would be far too expensive, as we were supposed to be in a petite room but received an upgrade.
When I go back to NY if I can get a decent rate for this hotel I would stay here again, as it's location is perfect.
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