We decided to meet up with family in New York and settled on staying at the New Yorker Hotel on 8th Avenue, New York. We got a great Internet special of $119 per night + tax. We booked 3 nights.
We arrived at La Guardia airport and grabbed a yellow cab to our hotel, arriving around 4p.m. and there was only a short line for checking in. The lady who dealt with us spoke broken English and was difficult to understand. She gave me the keys and said we were on the 22nd floor. We were meeting
Len’s daughter and her husband and were delighted we were all on the same floor.
The lobby was nice and clean. We walked straight passed security and were never stopped during the whole stay. The elevators on the left just went up to the 19th floor, so we headed to the ones on the left that stopped from the 20th and above.
The corridor didn’t have a good paint job, and also the doors to the rooms. This could have been an excellent hotel with just a little tender loving care. We looked at the key and thought it read 2210. The key didn’t work. We tried 2210 suite, just in case. No luck. We went to Len’s daughter’s room and phoned down. No one got back to us. His son-in-law thought it might me 2250 and headed that way. Yes, he had found our room.
Our room was bigger than Len’s daughter’s room. Theirs was very small, but they did have a view of the Hudson river. Ours was a corner one and had 2 windows looking into other tall buildings, a king size bed, 2 end tables with lamps, a desk and chair, a chest of drawers, with a television on top. A walk-in wardrobe.
The bathroom was a big disappointment, apart from the hairdryer. The door opened inward and made it very cramped. The tile was a disgusting green and had stains on it. The bathtub again was old and had a shower above it with a curtain around it. If the shower was on powerful the pressure brought the spray back up into your face and hair. This was annoying if you weren’t washing your hair. The shower curtains also got close to your body. The floor didn’t look particularly clean so I made sure of always having my feet covered, or on a towel.
The air-conditioning unit in the window kept us awake. It was really noisy even if we lowered the setting. The worst thing of all was, when either one of us turned in bed, it creaked so much, that the other one woke up.
The rest of the hotel.
We ate all 3 breakfasts in the Tick Tock Diner. You can enter via the hotel or from the street. It is open 24 hours a day. The food was good, the service average, but I blame that on the restaurant always being busy. We even stopped off for coffee/tea before going to bed.
There was a little Lobby Cafe serving coffee and pastries, open during the day. We didn’t get to visit this one.
La Vigna Ristorante Bar & Grill was their main sit down restaurant, again we didn’t use it.
On the lobby level were a couple of gift shops. I went into them, but they catered for the tourists, so I didn’t purchase there.
On the lower level I found the fitness center. This was for guests and you just had to use your door key to get in. I used it both Saturday and Sunday. It was well laid out and had enough machines for a good workout. There was a water fountain, towels, and a changing room. This was my favorite part of the hotel.
There was also a laundry, public telephones, and another gift shop on this level.
A little history on this hotel. It was opened on January 2nd 1930 at a cost of $22.5 million. It was the largest hotel in the world at that time, with 2,500 rooms. Soon after the stock market crash hurt the hotel business. Over the years it changed hands many times. Then in 1994 the New Yorker Management Company Inc. purchased it, and slowly are making improvements. It now has 1013 rooms/suites.
Ramada Plaza & Inn – New Yorker Hotel,
481 8th Avenue,
New York,
New York, 10001.
Telephone 212-971-0101.
Reservation 1-888-298-2054.
Fax 212-629-6536.
www.nyhotel.com.
1 block to Macy’s.
3 blocks to the Empire State Building and 5th Avenue.
Right by Penn Station and Madison Square Gardens.
I give this hotel 5* for location.
4* for fitness center.
3* for restaurants.
3* for lobby.
1* for rooms.
New York hotels have 3 taxes. No 1, No 2, and an occupancy tax. This added another $20 per night.
