The Surrey

I stayed 5 nights for business. The rooms were big for New York and were nicely decorated. The bed was big and very comfy and it was nice to be able go up to the rooftop for drinks. Staff were really friendly and the free water each night was a nice touch.

We had decided that we wanted to take my daughter away for her birthday and give her the full gossip girl treatment that she wanted, so we chose the Surrey. I spoke to the hotel before going just to make sure the room was correct as we were 3 people and i was asked if it was special occasion of which i told Krystle that we were here for my daughters 12th birthday. When we arrived everyone was very friendly, the receptionist wished my daughter happy birthday (there must have been a note left on the system about this) and when we got to the room she was absolutely blown away as the hotel had arranged cupcakes and balloons which was a lovely gesture. The room was a good size for the three of us (two queen beds) the bathroom was spacious and we had a good view from the window. It was a great position for walking straight on to Madison ave and also the park which was what we wanted if i had a complaint it would only be that the room next to us had ordered room service but their tray was sat outside their room for over 24hrs, we didn't need to see that everytime we walked to our room.

Nice and quiet hotel on the UES. Great roof deck - very comfortable rooms. The work out facility is tiny and could use some extra space. The restaurant is delicious but quite expensive - would recommend breakfast elsewhere if on your own dime.

The hotel has gone terribly down hill this past year with poor service, reduced menu with overpriced sandwiches (literally. There is nothing else on the menu) dusty rooms and run down hallways. This hotel is mediocre at best.

I would give the hotel itself an A. Lobby is nice, good sized rooms, wonderful rooftop bar. Service, however, gets a D. Not an F because I think the staff was trying. They were just trying and failing. Examples: Check in is at 3:00. We arrived at 2:00 and were told the room would be ready at 3:00. At 3:15 they apologized and said it would be another 30 minutes. They had upgraded us to a suite (sounds great!) and there were not other suites available. At 4:00 they brought us to our suite. The view looked directly onto an air conditioning unit. You couldn't see anything else besides that. So not only were we delayed an hour but got a room with a HORRIBLE view. If you get "upgraded" to room 501 you should pass. We asked to be moved to a regular room with a better view which they accommodated. However, by this time it was 4:30 and it totally screwed up our schedule and timing for the evening. There were two other parties in the lobby also waiting on rooms at 4:00. The staff seemed unable to figure out why it was taking so long to get people into their room. The rest of the customer services failures were a bunch of small things. However, the small things add up. Good, expensive hotels SHOULD pride themselves on getting service right. The Surrey got it wrong at every turn. Minor examples: I went to the bar around 11:45 PM to get a cup of ice (no ice maker to be seen in hotel). I was told the bar was closed. I said I just wanted a cup of ice and the bartender said they had no ice. His attitude was as if I had asked him to seat me and serve me a 5 course dinner just as the restaurant was closing. I asked if he seriously had no ice. He looked and lo and behold, they did have ice! He just didn't want to serve it to me. I asked if they had ginger ale and he said yes, but it was hot and flat so I should not get it. I didn't. Next example - we were told we'd get the NY Times in the morning. We didn't. Next example - we ordered a glass of champagne at the rooftop bar and were brought a Moscow Mule instead. Next example - while waiting for our room, we wanted to go to the rooftop bar. I asked the concierge if there was a bathroom up there and was told there was. There is not. Next example - their electronic key system sucks. You have to put the key in and out of the key slot on the elevator several times to get it to recognize your key and allow you to your floor. At one point my key stopped working entirely and needed to get a new one. Next example - at 11:45 on Sunday morning I asked the concierge if I could get a cup of coffee from the restaurant in the hotel. She said they would not have coffee at that hour. It was 11:45 on a Sunday morning!!! Outside the horrible check in, all the other issues were not major, but when combined together it made for a horrible service experience. If you enjoy good service while staying at a hotel, avoid the Surrey.