Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Location, Price, Facilities, it's the "Waldorf Astoria" ! |
| Disadvantages: |
Mixed service levels, chaotic check - in |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
The Waldorf Astoria, one of the world’s landmark hotels takes up an entire New York block, between Lexington & Park Avenues at 49th and 50th streets.
We thought this would be the ideal place for our 4 night stay in New York in August 2003. We booked the hotel through expedia.co.uk and got a good deal which worked out at £50 per person per night (room only).
I had read a number of reviews (on other websites – so slap my hands!) and had mixed feelings about the accommodation we had booked. Some said it was great and others said it was pretty awful. It’s neither of those things, but it was an experience!
Getting to our Room:
We had booked a Limo to transfer us the 45 minutes from Newark Liberty Airport to the
hotel. The cars pull into a special garage area under the building out of site of the general public. First impressions were not good. The whole area seemed very disorganised with people obviously waiting for taxis and luggage stacked everywhere. The driver helped us with our luggage seeing as though there seemed a distinct lack of hotel staff (remember, this is supposed to be a luxurious hotel).
We found the entrance door and after a bit of searching (there didn’t seem to be any signs directing you where to go) we found the lift to the lobby.
As soon as the lift doors opened the atmosphere seemed to change. The hot, disorganised and dingy feeling of the lower level was replaced with a cool serenity of good taste and gentle music.
We wondered into the impressive reception area and after a few moments we were checked in. We were given key to our room which would be on the 29th floor. We decided to take our own luggage up to our room (we had managed this far, so we thought we may as well carry on), so we entered the elevator.
Unfortunately, this lift only went up to 27, so we went back down to the lobby. The receptionist apologised for the mix up and we were directed to the elevator bank for the “Waldorf Tower” which is separate from the rest of the hotel. We needed to insert our room keys just to call the lift and then again to select our desired floor. Apparently this hotel has its own lobby (on a different floor) and restricted access. This is where they put the people who don’t like to mix with the regular guest (is that a compliment or an insult?!).
After going backwards and forwards on our floor (the signs again weren’t very clear) we found our room. We opened the door and we found what looked like a bomb site. The room was either already occupied or very dirty, but we didn’t stay to find out.
Back to reception.
Another unreserved apology later, we were given a different room, in the main hotel on floor 12. This room was nice. It was large, but not cavernous, but nicely decorated with good quality furniture, 2 big beds and a great view of Lexington Avenue.
The bathroom was all marble and quite small, but came stocked with a good range of toiletries. The shower took some working out. There was just a dial on the wall and turning it left or right didn’t seem to do anything. You pull, and then turn (though some instructions wouldn’t have gone a miss).
The hotel (like most in the US) had a
Lodge Net system, meaning we could get a range of interactive services on our TV, which also included internet access. Because this was a business trip this would prove essential, but, alas, it refused to work. 3 keyboards and an engineer later, still nothing. We were tired, so went to bed and decided to sort it in the morning.
Back to reception again, to make another complaint and we were moved again. This time to floor 23.
The
Accommodation:
This room was much better, being half a suite. Our bedroom was on a corner and had 3 large windows. The room was about twice the size of the other, with a separate hallway, enormous bathroom and a sort of full office work area. This one also had broadband internet and plug in of the laptop presented full internet access (for free).
We also had a printer/ fax machine and the man came to set it up. We had a great view of the other buildings which towered around us and view of the air-conditioning which served the lower part of the hotel, but to me, this was part of the New York experience.
The room was finished to a high standard and we couldn’t really find any faults with it. Outside the room by the elevators had a rather dirty carpet, although this was thoroughly steamed cleaned the next day.
The Food:
The hotel has a range of restaurants as well as room service. We ate in the more informal Oscars’ brassiere and while the food was reasonably priced, it was nothing outstanding. We did both have the Waldorf salad though, which was excellent and nothing like what you get elsewhere.
We also had room service one night, which was expensive and nothing special.
The Location & New York in General
The hotel is in a great location for most things, and the 6 Train Lexington Avenue subway station is only 1 block away. Contrary to what I have heard about the New York subway the trains were spotlessly clean and felt very safe. Signage isn’t very clear and you often find yourself on the wrong train!
There is a great pharmacy (CVS) just down the street which is great for most things (and their sweets and chocolate are a lot cheaper than the mini bar).
The hotel itself is imposing, being a large art-deco building, the main entrance is on Park Avenue, but the Lexington Avenue doors seem more convenient for most things. The Citi Corp building is 2 blocks away to the left and the Chrysler Building is 5 blocks to the right!
The Empire State building is good for the view, but the building is a bit run-down. Give the Sky Ride a miss and buy your tickets before on the internet before you go.
The statue of Liberty is a must-see as well as the breathtakingly sad World Trade Center Site. If you want a great cup of tea (not easy to find) try the stand on the upper level of the recently re-built winter gardens at World Financial Center.
The walk around from World Trade to the Brooklyn Bridge takes in some great scenery and parks and it worth doing.
In Summary
If I was to go back to New York I would stay at this hotel again. Its large rooms, value prices and location offer everything we needed. If you can look past the bad experiences in this review (they were soon forgotten by us) then you can stay in a real bit of Manhattan living history.
Display pictures
Our Room (sorry 'about the quality, taken on phone) |
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