The Staybrige chain is part of the Intercontinental brand,
on its lower end. It is an all “suites” hotel, which means you have a small
kitchen in the room. As it is on the lower end of the brand, redemption rates
are very competitive. Especially in New York City the hotel represents a great
redemption value. Now a night cost 25,000 points (I booked the rooms before the
devaluation and got them at 20,000). As you book with points, you can buy
10,000 points during the booking process. In the end, the room cost only 8,000
points (after the Chase PC credit card 10% rebate), which is a great deal for
NYC.
Despite the name, the hotel is not in Times Square (but
close enough). It is located across the street from the Port Authority, on 40th
street, between 8th and 9th Avenue, which is about 10 minutes’
walk from Times Square. It is close enough to anywhere you’d like to go in the
Times Square area.
Check-in experience was less than stellar. Despite being a
Platinum member (which I realize means absolutely nothing despite being the
highest status in the chain), checking-in around 2:30 PM, the room was not
ready yet. Everyone else around us seems to get a room just fine. Short and
long, by the time we decided what we want to do (about 10-15 min later) a room became
available. As the reservation was made months in advance I knew I we were upgraded
to a city view room. Frankly, I don’t know what that means because all rooms
have the same view, apart from being on a high floor, which we were.
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| Small but functional Bathroom |
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| King Bed room - small but extremely functional for NYC |
The problem with being on a high floor though, is the elevators.
There are only 3 of those, and the cleaning staff uses them basically all times
during the day as well. It means that waiting for an elevator can be a very
lengthy situation, especially in the mornings when everyone tries to get to
breakfast. This time around there were several instances that I had to wait
10-15 minutes to the elevators. Compound that with the fact that the doors are
not sound proof and when people congregate waiting to the elevator and talk,
one get a wake up “call” early in the morning just from people talking as they
wait for the elevator.
At check-in I got the “platinum welcome gift." It was
couple of candies and a note welcoming me as a gold member (but I’m platinum).
Those welcome gifts are a joke. I would rather get a note addressing me by name
welcoming me back than those gifts.
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| "Platinum Welcome Gift" |
Another problem we encounter during the stay is how housekeeping
treats dirty glasses. We used two glasses (one gets full stocked kitchen). The
next day when we came back to the room, the glasses were in the dishwasher
which for the next hour or so made so much noise cleaning those two glasses. Even if one disregard the guest inconvenience,
the absolute waste of water and power to wash only two glasses seems excessive.
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| View from the Room |
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| View From the Room |
That said, those are only minor negatives. The hotel is a
very good deal on points (room can cost $500-$600 easily), located pretty well.
There is good fast free WiFi available throughout, free breakfast, and free
dinners (reception) some days during the week. Despite the shortcoming this
stay I will be coming back as this is my to go hotel when coming to New York
City.
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