The Roosevelt Hotel: Try it for location, return for value!
Written: Aug 03 '03 (Updated Nov 11 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice lobby, decent price, great midtown location, friendly staff
Cons: Occasional waits for service
The Bottom Line: Great location, nice room, beautiful lobby, good price.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: The Roosevelt Hotel |
We needed a hotel for a Saturday night in NYC in August. Since it was a last minute booking, I used Hotwire to see if I could get a good price in midtown. The lowest price on Hotwire was $93 plus tax and, when we took that price, it turned out to be The Roosevelt Hotel.
THE LOCATION
The location is at 45th and Madison. It is a 10 minute walk to Times Square. Fifth avenue shopping is close by and the Museum of Modern Art will be nearby when its Manhattan location reopens. From this location, many other tourist sights are only, at most, a $5 cab ride away.
THE LOBBY
The Lobby is beautiful with an elaborate carpet, shopping arcade, carved ceiling, marble everywhere and a Mezzanine to overlook it all. It has a very stately New York feel. The lobby was also very clean.
THE ROOM
The decoration in our room was tasteful in a beige sort of way. There were no design risks to be seen. Everything was clean and functioned well. It was large enough for our family of four. My only mild disappointment is that it lacked that NYC edge - some interesting design or style that reflected the city itself.
Our room had two double beds. The beds had these heavy bedspreads on them that appeared to be made of natural materials instead of the polyester that you usually find in this price range. The beds were very comfortable.
The room had air conditioning, a tv with cable, a small closet with safe and a desk with phone books.
Overall, it was clean, functional and very basic. The hotel was not a destination in itself but a good place to stay after a day of adventures.
CHECK IN / CHECK OUT
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and there was only one person at the front desk. He checked us in promptly and had our Hotwire reservation in his computer. He was very pleasant and fake-flirted with my 7 year old daughter (at least, it better have been fake flirting!!). Since we had paid through Hotwire, the hotel did not require any credit card on check-in.
We checked out on Sunday and there were 3 people working the front desk. Again, the service was friendly and efficient. The whole process took about 3 minutes.
OTHER SERVICE
The Roosevelt has hundreds of rooms. However, there seemed to be almost no employees working at the hotel. There was only one doorman to valet park, unload arriving guests, call taxis and give directions. The concierge was never around. There was generally only one person at the front desk. When we tried to get a wakeup call, we had to wait through multiple rings. However, when the front desk finally picked up, he was pleasant and correctly took our request. The quality of the service did not seem to suffer due to understaffing although we had to wait for the doorman and the wake-up call. In fact, the employees all seemed happy and friendly. It just seemed odd that there were so few employees around.
PARKING
The hotel does not have its own parking. We had to pay $40 per day for the doorman to valet park the car in a lot down the street. Since there was only one doorman working at the hotel, we had to wait about 10 minutes before he could take our keys and arrange for parking.
The $40 does not include "in and out" so the car is stuck in the lot for the duration of your stay unless you want to pay $40 repeatedly.
There was some free street parking in the area and, since it was a weekend, there were a few cheaper lots within a few blocks. However, we were willing to pay extra for the convenience of valet parking since we we were toting luggage and children.
OTHER INFORMATION
There are restaurants in the hotel although we did not eat there. We noticed other guests had ordered room service. There is a fitness center but we got our exercise shopping and sightseeing.
PRICE
We got our reservation through Hotwire.com for $93 plus tax for double occupancy, Saturday night in August.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This was a great hotel for location and price. The room was big enough for a family. Although the hotel was not particularly exciting or interesting (except for the lobby), it was a comfortable spot to spend the night after a day of sightseeing and shopping.
MY MINI-GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY
Things to Do:
The Metropolitan Museum
Ellis Island
The Statue of Liberty
Places to Eat:
Lucky Cheng’s has Chinese food for adults.
Ruby Foo’s has Chinese food for families.
Pipa is next to Manhattan Mecca ABC Carpet & Home.
Starlight Diner is where singing servers bring your burgers.
Rue 57 fuses French and Japanese cuisine in Midtown.
Places to Stay:
The Hudson
The W on Lexington
Sheraton Manhattan
Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
New York Hilton
Broadway:
TKTS sells half-price tickets to Broadway shows.
Gypsy is Broadway at its best.
Rent is an unusual Broadway rock musical legend.
Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz.
Chicago is a classic.
Sweet Charity has a 60’s vibe.
Recommended:
Yes
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modernmarvel
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Can anyone recommend a western family dude ranch for a vacation this summer?
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