For my days off I will be staying at the Staybridge Times Square. I have found this gem in our last visit to the city. Now, I have told you I am a Hilton kind of guy, and this hotel is Priority Club hotel, not Hilton one. Back in the days Hilton had devaluation of their redemption's scheme, Priority Club had given status and points to Hilton members. Then they had their Crack the Case promo which allowed me to receive quite a few points with relatively easy stays. In addition, I got the Priority Club Visa with a nice sign on bonus. This card comes with 45 dollars annual fee and would be one of the few annual fee’s credit card I will have, as you get a certificate for a free night in any of the chain’s hotels. Any night I will choose to stay in a hotel, especially in the high end (as the Intercontinental) would be worth much more than 45 dollars. In addition, you get 10% rebate on the point you redeem and 5 points per dollar for hotel charges and no foreign transaction fees. Pretty good deal for 45 dollars.
What I like about Priority Club (apart from the fact it is amazingly easy to accumulate points) is the way their redemption is working. Now any other chain base their redemption table on the location of the hotel – that would make a NYC hotel much more expensive than let say a middle of nowhere hotel. Not so Priority Club. They based their redemption table on the chain in which the hotel is. So a Staybridge will cost you 20,000 points a night, whether the hotel will be in NYC or somewhere in the middle of nowhere. That makes the redemption in a big city in NYC extremely cheap. In addition, Priority club allows you to buy 10,000 points when redeeming an award, so basically a night in NYC can be had for 8,000 points (20,000 a night – 10,000 bought for 60$ and 2,000 are given back as 10% from the Visa card). You cannot beat that in any other chain. On the other hand, their elite levels are quite useless. As Platinum member you don’t get much apart from bonus points. That said it is so easy to achieve the status that one cannot expect much out of it.
The Staybridge is close enough to Time Square to be called a Time Square’s hotel, but it is a couple of blocks away. The hotel is new, and its shows. The rooms are small (but this is NYC, everything is small) but include a mini-kitchen. Breakfast is free and so are evening receptions throughout the week.
In the morning in which I had to switch, I had my early morning at the Hampton Inn, and walked over to the Staybridge, several blocks away. It was not too bad of a walk, about 20 minutes. I have called ahead of time to make sure I can drop my luggage and upon arriving it was not a problem at all. I was checked in at that time without a problem, though did not receive a room yet. I was invited to help myself to breakfast, even when I was not entitled to it, which was a nice touch.
I already had breakfast but had some time to kill before my business meeting, so I took the time to make a comparison between the Hampton and the Staybridge. The brands might not be completely equivalent, but are close enough. The breakfast at the Staybrige is of a higher caliber – there are more food choices, at least two warm dishes as at the Hampton, but more choices of cheese, more fruits, and better quality of rolls and pastries. One of the significant differences is that one gets real China and real silverware; while at the Hampton, it is all throwaway plastic and paper. It might not be much, however it does create a better atmosphere at the place.
Checking in again later in the afternoon they apologize they only had a room in the 14th floor. The room is better designed than the Hampton. It includes a small kitchenette. The shower is small but functional, and the room is of a size that one expects in NYC – that is not that large. There are several annoyances with the hotel – the elevators are small and slow. Three elevators are just not enough during the rush hours. The wifi is free, but require to log in every time you open the computer from a sleep mode – minor annoyance.
All in all, this is still one of the best values one can get with redeeming priority club points. I will be coming back again.
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