A Review for One of the "Luxury" Hotels in New York City
I booked a room at The Empire Hotel, one of the "four star" hotels in New York City through Priceline Express. You can find cheap hotels deals on this site by buying your reservations without knowing which hotel you're actually staying in until after you pay. Sounds a bit scary but with the right research/friends (Thanks Candace!) you can guess the hotel before you actually buy it.
The Empire Hotel is a swanky hotel located on the Upper West Side/Lincoln Center. Conveniently located a block away from the 66th St/Lincoln Center subway stop (1 train) and two blocks away from 59t/Columbus Circle stop (A, B, C, 1 train).
We arrived to our hotel in New York before our check in time (3pm). Luckily, they were able to hold our luggage for free while we explored the area. Unfortunately, we did not get our room until an hour or two after our designated time (3pm).
The elevators were tiny. The lobby, bar and mezzanine seemed fancy. Some of you may recognize The Empire hotel from the popular show Gossip Girl. (Chuck Bass "bought" the hotel and the hotel was featured frequently). This New York hotel also features a pretty small rooftop pool with a lounge/bar area with an amazing view.
The room and bathroom were very small (typical for NY). The room came with a desk, dresser, closet space and cable TV. There was also a mini-fridge in the room stocked with over-priced travel-size drinks. The hotel charged a ridiculously fee to clear out the contents of the fridge so we were unable to refrigerate any drinks or snacks (that we bought at a nearby Duanne Reade/Walgreens.
The shower was clean and the bed comfortable. We had a window with a terrible view of a brick wall.
Overall: I would not pay full price ($400+) for this "four star" hotel in New York City. It was highly conveniently located. If you find the right deal, The Empire Hotel in New York City is definitely worth it.
