Just returned from 8 nights at the Intercontinental Barclay for leisure travel (July 5-13, 2011). All-in-all, a decent hotel for the price ($160/night). The location was ideal, 3 blocks from subway at 51 & Lexington and the #6 Train took us to the majority of our destinations in Uptown and Downtown Manhattan. We discovered a few really good places to grab a quick bite within a couple blocks of the hotel: a pizza place with the most delicious "slices" and it was convenient late at night. It was 2 doors off the corner of 48th & Lexington; Grand Central Station has a lovely food market on street level and then down one level is a decent food court with a Magnolia Bakery in it. The rooms are very small albeit we did have two double beds in our room. The way the furniture is situated, it was difficult to make efficient use of the 2 chairs in the room. The lobby is beautiful, the front-end staff very professional and service oriented. The negatives, however: 6 out of 8 days we were awakened by the hotel cleaning staff chatting in the hallway. At one point they carried on for 15 minutes and I had to open the door and ask them to be quiet. On day #6 I reported to the front desk that we had been awakened 5 out of 6 mornings by the hallway chit-chat. The guy at the desk said he would deal with it promptly. On day #7 we were awakened yet again by hallway chatter. The room keys never seemed to work for longer than 2 days at a time. We continually had to get them reprogrammed or replaced (3 times during our stay). The website states rooms come with robes. We never saw one in 8 days. Almost daily we had to leave a note requesting shampoo/conditioner and regular coffee (not decaf). One day we did not leave a note and we returned to no shampoo/conditioner, no coffee and no coffee condiments. The shower supplies that were restocked were never consistent. Some days we had shampoo & no body wash, then one day we got 5 body wash & 1 shampoo. The carpet appeared to never have been vacuumed even one time during our stay. The flusher on the toilet dripped and left puddles of water on the floor on occasion (not every day). The bathroom is very tiny. The marble ledges to place bathroom items are very narrow (my guess is about 6-7") so not wide enough to place my bathroom bag without being concerned it would fall into the toilet or onto the floor. Only a very small double hook on the back of the bathroom door in which to hang clothes while showering. The bedding is feather (tic & duvet). My roommate is allergic and the bedding was changed promptly after placing a call via the "instant service" button, however I noticed my feather duvet had blood stains on it. We did not depart the hotel until later afternoon so checked our luggage with the bellhop. We tipped him $1 for each bag to store it, then again tipped $1 each bag when we picked up the bags. We took our bags to the curb ourself. The doormen lifted the luggage into the trunk and as we got into the car one doorman says to the other "Canadians!", which was my cue that he was expecting a tip for lifting the luggage into the trunk. We had just tipped $8 to the bellhops but after overhearing that comment I handed him $5.00. That soured my final impression of the staff at the Intercontinental Barclay. ~Brenda~ (Vancouver, BC)
