Le Meridien New York, Central Park

I'll echo what many others have. The good: the location is stellar, with a grocery store two doors up, and Central Park (and uptown) incredibly close/easily walkable. Shopping is close too, Nordstrom's, Bergdorf's etc.. The hotel is small and relatively quiet - surprising given its location. I also appreciated the Paris restaurant, which adjoins the hotel; the staff and food/coffee there were great. The mediocre: the staff. Most of the time, there was no doorman (or if he/she was there, they were not noticeable). The staff was fine - not abrasive, not helpful. I stayed four nights (for a total of $3000) and no one seemed to notice or care. The bad: there is virtually no lobby, which might not be an issue if the rooms were not so small. The rooms are very, very small and very worn. My room was clean, for sure. But if you are looking for any space at all to move around, this is not the hotel for you (I stayed in a mid-sized room, I believe). I was there on business and the desk from which I was working was tiny tiny and the chair was incredibly uncomfortable, so I went elsewhere to work. Another really disappointing thing: the windows in the rooms are almost opaque with grime. I could barely see out of my window across the street. It feels like the windows have not been cleaned in years. For reference and in contrast, I checked out of the hotel and into a mid-town hotel today and my room feels positively palatial. And the windows are spotless.

The hotel location is great, although the rooms are in need of an update. The elevators can be very slow, especially when the roof bar is open. We waited in the lobby for over 15 minutes one evening. But especially concerning is the $40 destination fee added to the daily bill. We were told it could be used towards a drink on the roof (see note about elevator) or in the adjacent restaurant. However, the fee was never applied to our second morning breakfast. We were told the final bill would be reconciled when after our check out. Despite phone calls and emails to the hotel management, the error was never corrected. I was given several reasons - my favorite being "it could not be applied as I'd already checked out" - when I was told at check out a final correct bill would follow. It seems to be the intention of the hotel to never apply to 'destination fee' to a hotel charge.

NYC hotels have become more and more overpriced relative to stays anywhere else in the country or parts of the world with the additional fees per night being accrued absurd. That commented being noted, the location was good, the room was clean and quiet (get a non street facing room), the gym was good as was breakfast and the top floor bar had a great view. The room was very tiny for the price even for NYC standards. Would I come back - probably but this is relative commentary given the decline in value for dollar spent in NYC.

We came back for the rooftop bar, which we found out upon arrival was closed on Sundays and Mondays. They claim they upgraded our room. But I booked a high floor room and we were put on the 9th floor. Plus, the drain was broken in the bathroom sink. They could not fix it. My cocktail at Paris Bar was by not what I ordered. After a great experience the first time, this was disappointing.

No refund of MoMA tickets even though they said it was part of destination fee. Even though im a marriot bonvoy member, and I gave my details, they did not credit the stay into the system. And no receipt given. I can't even see what I'm paying for! room is also terribly small even by NYC standard.