NY NYC Drake Swissotel UM/CPS

[seh2397]

I give this hotel a favorable review for the $125 rate we got on priceline (although as a leisure guest, still would have preferred Le Parker Meridien).

Check in is at 3pm and we arrived at 2:30pm ready to drop our bags with the bellman and be on our way. The person who checked us in said as much and we said, fine, we can leave our bags. Then she said, oh, no I found a room for you that's ready now, and she checked us into 12??. It was a queen situated in the middle with windows facing a courtyard (i.e., no view, just a square with other hotel rooms facing you). The room smelled horribly like stale/old smoke -- the kind that's in the walls and upholstery. I called the front desk and asked if this was a non-smoking room and was assured it was. They appologized and said that someone had probably smoked in there even though they were not supposed to & did we want someone to come and spray dissinfectant to rid the odor. I knew that would not do any good as this smell was old and deep! She said that there were no king/queen rooms available now and if we wanted to change we'd have to leave our bags. Again I stated that that would not be a problem and I preferred to wait for a different room. Then she said oh, there is something else and said that we could make a switch now. 2nd room was 1008 and it was a king. The whole room was larger then the queen, even the bathroom. The queen was not a bad size at all, but we thought the king very good size by NYC standards. This one did not have any view either but it did face out to the street. It also had no smoke odor whatsoever! The room decor is tasteful, the bed/pillows/duvet very comfortable, the shower had great water pressure and the whole bath was nice with some marble and plently of room for toiletries. There was a huge walk in closet and a safe. The safe was locked closed so we had to ask someone to re-set it for us and they came up w/in minutes of my request.

The lobby is ok, nothing special there, but as with the rest of the hotel, everything clean and fine. Someone in an old review mentioned that this was "the chocolate" hotel and there was a huge bowl of chocolates in the lobby and turn-down service with chocolates. That does not seem to be something they do anymore - no turndown service, no chocolates in lobby.

There's a bank of 6 elevators and there was always one waiting or available every time we went in or out -- we never even rode in the elevator with anyone else until our last trip out to check-out.

Outside noise does not bother me or interrupt my sleep, and there did not seem to be traffic in this area during my Fri afternoon-Mon morn stay, but you could hear outside noise so I do not think that it's very soundproof. Just something to consider if you have sensitivity to noise.

When we got our express check-out there were $30 in phone calls but we did not use there phone at all because I knew they charged $1.25/call and we had our cell w/ free service. All the calls were to one 800 number and the desk guy said he recognized the number or something and immediately took it off our bill.

I did not look at the workout room that was down in the basement but I know they charged $10 to use.

There is not much in the immediate area for bar/food/bagels and the subway is a few blocks away.

Overall, nice/fine, if the area works for you it is and added bonus.

[rkkwan]

Just came back from stay 9/4-9/6/2004. Sat-Mon. Labor Day Weekend, just after the Republican National Convention in NYC.

Rate: With the help of this website, I got the room for $157/night on Hotwire about 3 weeks out. Lowest published rate for same night was $199.

Pre-arrival: Emailed hotel to get non-smoking, king room. Did not get a reply, but when I called the hotel directly (no 800 number, but that's okay with me) about a week prior to arrival, they acknowledged the request has been submitted. Understandably, they said they couldn't guarantee the room preference, but would try to accomodate me.

Arrival: Check-in time is 3:00pm, but I arrived at around 12:30. It was a quiet Saturday in NYC, and they said my room was ready. 1823. King, non-smoking, as I requested. But it's also high-floor and a end-of-corridor corner room with windows to the North and West. While the doorman ignored me as I only have a small duffle bag, the front desk lady is extremely polite. Much better treatment than I've got at the other MTE 4* I've stayed at - the Millenium UN Plaza.

Room: About standard size for a 4* hotel anywhere in the world. Well appointed with classy furniture. Pretty quiet due to high floor. TV kind of small (20-in), with interactive services. Most require a fee, except for checking flight information or hotel bill. [both worked and were accurate.] High-speed internet available, but I didn't use. Bed very comfortable with down-filled duvet. Shower gel and conditioner from Bodylogics, which are prepared for all Raffles-group hotel, while shampoo and lotion are from Judith Jackson Spa. Besides the iron, board, hairdyrer, etc, there's also an umbrella for guest to use, which is kind of nice. [$20 if you want to take it.] There's a mini-bar that automatically charges your account once an item is removed. A can of Heineken was correctly charged ($7.6).

View: From the north window, I can see the buildings on 57th street, as well as a little part of Park Avenue. From the west window, I see the ugly roofs of the adjacent building, but also the Sony Tower on Madison (used to be AT&T).

Concierge: Not the most friendly person, but she's extremely efficient in answering my two simple requests (looking for a drug store, and getting a NY subway map). They seem to be pretty busy getting reservations to restaurants or shows for other patrons.

Car park, gift shop and spa: Did not use.

Restaurant: Q56 is on property. Not cheap, but good continental-style food. Professional service.

Room Service: I ordered Swiss Breakfast at around 9am, Monday morning. Took a long time for someone to answer the phone, but she was very polite and courteous. Order is 100% correct. Instead of the ~25 minutes that she promised, breakfast arrived in under 20. Again, very polite and professional server.

Fauchon: Also on property, with direct access from the lobby is Fauchon of Paris. They have tea/pastries service from ~11 to 5. I wish they'd be open later.

Loss & Found: I didn't plan to use this service, but I found out that I left some stuff in the armoire, while I was already on the plane home. Called the hotel at 10pm tonite, and was connected to security person. They went look for the items, and called back in about 15 minutes confirming it. I gave them my FedEx account number, and they promised to have them shipped tomorrow morning.

Problems: The only problem I had during the stay are -

1) one of the windows was dirty inside when I arrived. Cleaning personnel should have noticed that.

2) the carpet near the A/C is damp. I notifed the front desk, and they offered to switch me to another room or have someone look at it. It didn't bother me enough, so I told them to investigate after my stay.

3) the Sony-branded clock radio is dead. I wasn't using it, and forgot to mention to them.

Summary: I really enjoyed the stay. Maybe because it was a slow weekend and I got better treatment than otherwise. Or maybe they're just good. But they surely have very professional, polite and courteous personnel - from the front desk to room service to security. It's very unNYC-like, and it's certainly a wonderful thing.

[ezed]

We returned from our NYC trip and enjoyed it all. Here is a little description of the Drake. It is an attractive and comfortable older hotel, located on 56th st and not on Park Ave (despite the address). We were given comfortable rooms on the 12th floor. But a few things indicate that the hotel is in need of fixing up. Our inside llock on the entrance door was broken and it took 2 days to get it repaired. The furnishings were nice but the beds not the most comfortable.

Having room 1212 means that the room phone rings often. Lots of hotel guests wrongly call out on their phones by dialing "1-212...".

Otherwise, we enjoyed our stay. :)