W New York Hotel

I recently stayed in a W Hotel. We were booked for the W New York, and I made the mistake of finding photos for the W Times Square. While it was not their fault, it was definitely an unexpected change to walk into a hotel covered in browns when I expected one bathed in blues. But since this was my first trip to New York City, I planned on making the most of it. After all, the W was a nice chain of hotels, and it would certainly be just as nice. Or so I thought. What I found was a a very mixed experience.

As I mentioned, the hotel has a lot of brown shades, and uses many natural decorations. The decor was certainly acceptable. I especially liked the elevator banks which had oversized mirrors and lights which shone in patterns on the walls. But I was not the only one to notice that the floors were not marked. Someone in the elevator commented on this.

The rooms were nicely decorated, but the view was extremely disappointing. Our entire view consisted of other rooms, and because of this, we left the curtains closed the entire time. There was a large mirror that was a nice touch, and the desk was very nice. The bed was fantastic. Apart from the styling of the bed, it was extremely comfortable. W Hotels offers their guests, or anyone for that matter, to purchase items in their hotel rooms, including the bed. This is honestly a purchase I am considering, because it was extremely comfortable. The pillows were incredibly soft, and a welcome sight at the end of a long day.

Apart from the view, there are two areas where the room failed. First, there was no way to adjust the thermostat, and it was extremely cold. I never found out whether the cover was stuck or not, and I will be the first to admit that I did not bring the problem to the attention of the hotel. But it was quite uncomfortable. Second, I was happy to see that there was a tub because I had planned on soaking my feet after a long day of walking. I was dismayed to find that the drain plug did not work. Again, I did not bring it to their attention. I was already tired from a long day and did not want the hassle and wait for maintenence to repair the problem.

The first night I was there, I received a strange call on my cell phone. The people who had booked the trip has provided them with my cell phone number so that the car could get in touch with us after our plane landed. Approximately 10:30PM, someone called my cell phone and claimed that they were from the concierge desk. They asked me if I had a limo scheduled and I said yes. Then they asked who made the booking. I told them that I did not know. This call was becoming more and more strange, and I did not want to give away any more information than I had to. Finally they asked my hotel room number. Even though I was exhausted, something sounded very fishy about this, and I told them that I was not comfortable giving out that information. They stammered and then quickly got off the phone. I realized after the call that the concierge desk had absolutely no reason to ask what hotel room I was staying in. I still do not know what that call was about.

Finally, on the day we left, we tried to buy a souvenir for a family member. Our credit card was denied. We used a different one and went back to the hotel to find out what was going on. We were told that our credit card was full because we were charged for the hotel room. That would seem to make sense except that the trip had already been paid for by a company. The front desk told us that the person who took the reservation did not record the paying cardholder's name, so the credit card we provided in case we had any room charges (such as mini bar) was charged instead. We had no choice but to return home and handle this issue from there. When we arrived at home, we contacted the company that had paid for the trip. They immediately called W Hotel and tried to fix the issue. But W Hotel had charged the car through the room, and that charge was not removed. We tried calling W Hotel ourselves and getting the matter taken care of. After several calls and lots of run around, we gave up on them. We contacted the company who had paid for the trip and explained that the car was still on there. As of the time I am writing this, we have been told that it will be removed, but it could take up to thirty days to do so. It has not yet been removed.

In short, this wasn't the best hotel stay I've ever had. While on my stay, we visited a room at the W Times Square, the one we saw pictures for. It was even more beautiful than the photos showed. I will not book a room at the W New York again, but I would be open to giving the W Times Square a try. It's difficult to complain about a room that someone else paid for, but it was definitely not the luxury hotel that W claimed to be.