Holiday Inn Midtown
The Holiday-Inn Midtown is located at West 57th Street, which is near Columbus Circle and Central Park and also not far away from the Theatre District at Broadway. The next subway stop is Columbus Circle (served by subway lines A, B, C, D, 1) or 57th Street / 7th Avenue (served by subway lines N, R, Q, W). Therefore it is easy to reach by public transportation from either JFK and LGA, tough you have
to change subway lines resp. from bus to subway.
The Hotel consist of two separate building, one taller building with 17 floors at West 57th Street and another lower building with 10 floors backwards. The hotel has 596 rooms including five suites, divided into 267 single bed rooms and 330 double bed rooms. On top of the lower building is a roof top pool, which is open May till Late September. The lobby is spacious. There are some couches and tables beside the reception desk of the hotel where you check in. There is only one type of room bookable, a standard
room.
The bar area called “Skylight Bar” is open from noon to midnight. A souvenir shop and two restaurants “Gotham Café” and “Via Strada” are also located on the ground floor of the hotel. In “Gotham Café” hotels breakfast is served in the morning, while “Via Strada” was open for lunch and dinner. A gym is located in the basement of the hotel, it is outsourced and run by another owner than the hotel. It is available for hotel guest for free.
Stay: 12 January 2006, 18 January 2006, 16 January 2009
Visited on New York and Chicago Trip 2006, Winter in
New York 2009
direct link to hotel
Holiday Inn NEW YORK CITY-MIDTOWN-57TH ST.
Arrival Date: 12 January 2006
Departure Date: 13 January 2006
Room type booked: Standard Room
Rate Plan: Advanced Purchase Rate
Room Number: 1003
Room Rate: 120.00 USD (excl. taxes)
Status of PC: Platinum
I arrived at the hotel round about 18.20. From 57th Street / 7th Avenue Station you walk approximate ten minutes, which is okay. I was greeted friendly and my reservation was pulled out of the prepared reservation while the clerk asked about my travel. The credit card was needed to cover additional charges. I had a prepaid reservation but asked to have a written receipt at check-out. A note was put to my room and then I got my Keycard
to my room.
The room was in the back tower of the hotel on the 10th floor. The floor to the room looked a little bit run down, some stains in the carpet and scratches at the wall.
The room was big. Right in the entrance part is the entrance to the bathroom with the wash basin and cupboard located before you enter the bathroom with bathtub and toilet. The ironing board is also placed in the bathroom. The washbasin was small, a big mirror and hair dryer were placed there but the space could have been a little bit wider. You do not have much space to put your stuff like razor etc. there. A few bathroom amenities were placed there, but limited to a shampoo / conditioner and two pieces of soap.
In contrast towels were available for three persons. The bathroom was in good condition. Shower head seems to be new and the shower curtain was in good condition.
The room has a grand lit with two bedside tables with lamps on it and a phone on one of them. In front of the window is a lounge chair with a small table and a reading lamp. Windows could be opened, also there is air condition available, which is noisy but could be turned off. At the wall opposite the bed are right hand side a cupboard with the television screen, a small bank you could put your bag on and the working desk with lamp and phone. Working desk was big enough to work with e.g. a laptop and also you
have some space left for additional things.
Lightning was not very good. There was only one lamp at the ceiling at the entrance and otherwise only the lamp at the bedside table, on the working desk and beside the lounge chair. You could not switch the lamps off at every lamp.
During the night, I noticed there were a least a gap of 1,5 cm between door and floor. So light from the corridor was shining in the room and the room’s corridor was not really dark, in fact you did not need to switch on light during the night. Furniture was okay, not up to date and with some scratches and smaller damages, but more or less in good condition. The carpet was also okay, some scratches at the wall but you must have a closer look to discover them.
Check Out in the morning was fast. I used the luggage storage of the hotel. I was told by hotel staff this was free, a tip was not expected but welcomed. In preparation I had put a one-dollar-note in the pocket of my jacket to hand it after I stored my luggage but staff does not open the room before he got the tip. Strange.
My overall impression of this hotel is okay. As there is only one standard room type I did not expect an upgrade. The room rate for New York and for the location was not bad at all. The location is the big advantage of the hotel. Broadway, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue are in walkable distance to the hotel, in addition you have a good connection to the airports LGA and JFK, which you can reach by public transportation in 35 to 50 minutes. In contrast the last renovation of the hotel was some
time ago and they should not wait to long for the next renovation. Especially the air condition unit is noisy, fortunately it could turned off. Staff was friendly, though the doormen should perhaps not to be too greedy for a tip. No PC Platinum recognition but I did not expect it at this hotel. I would stay there again, though it is nothing special but the rates are okay for the location on a weekday.
Arrival Date: 18 January 2006
Departure Date: 19 January 2006
Room type booked: Standard Room
Rate Plan: Advanced Purchase Rate
Room Number: 839
Room Rate: 135.00 USD (excl. taxes)
Status of PC: Platinum
I returned to the hotel for my last night in New York again. This time it was 22.15 when I entered the hotel. Check in was fast but not as friendly as the first time. I was asked, if I again needed an invoice of my stay. Therefore I think they saw my previous stay in this hotel and therefore I would have expected something like “Welcome back” or “Nice to see you again”. He did not explain how to reach my room. Perhaps he thought, I
know the hotel already and there is no need. Well, there was no need ….
This time I got a room on the 8th floor of the back tower. The room was nearly in the same decoration than my previous room. But this time a lot more damages at the wall, especially near the entrance. It seems to be there was a water damage in the bathroom on the floor above and renovation was not very good. Shower curtain was okay, though in worse condition than in the room I had on the night 12th to 13th January. Shower head was older, but okay. This time towels only for two persons and only one soap.
Check out was slow as I checked out at 11.50. Several people queuing and only one person at reception desk. There seems to be some problems with the invoice of some guests and therefore this time it took some time. Personally I do not understand why there is only one person at the main check-out time. They know, they have two tour groups in the hotel who check out at noon and only one member of staff at check-out. At least, I was checked out in less than 90 seconds as it was my turn.
This time, staff was not so friendly and especially check out could have been better. The room was okay, though not as good as the stay before. Sure, there are rooms in a hotel which are in better conditions and some are not. I expect staff knew about damages in room and I expect to get not one of the damaged rooms. On the other hand, I was in the hotel for app. 12 hours, why should I complain. The rate was okay, the location was okay, some member of the hotel staff were friendly, other not, that’s life and it
is just a Holiday-Inn.
Arrival Date: 16 January 2009
Departure Date: 18 January 2009
Room type booked: Standard Room
Rate Plan: Advanced Purchase Rate
Room Number: 814
Room Rate: 110.50 USD (excl. taxes)
Status of PC: Platinum
I returned to this hotel for a weekend trip to New York again, as the most other options were more expensive and I also wanted to earn some PC points and the hotel was in a convenient location for my needs.
This time it was around 19:00 when I entered the hotel. Check in was fast and more friendlier than during my previous visits, done by a female agent. She did explain how to reach my room, which was located in the street wing.
This time I got a room on the 8th floor of the street tower. The room was nearly in the same decoration than the ones of my previous room. Shower curtain was okay and so was the shower head. Towels were given three of each size and restocked daily during housekeeping.
The room was in good shape, a few damages at the wall near the entrance and a few scratches every here and there, but nothing really worse.
Check out was fast, as I checked out quite earlier due to the falling of snow in the night and my decision to head to LGA earlier than necessary. The invoice was prepared. Not question, if I was satisfied with my stay.
This time, staff was friendlier. The room was okay, nothing really special, but the seize is still big in term of hotel rooms in New York. The rate was okay, the location was okay, and the rooms are big.
