New York Palace Hotel

Stayed at the Palace 4 nights over the Presidents' day long weekend. Got a great rate - $228. including full breakfast for two - through American Express Platinum Travel. This rate was key to my enjoyment as it was far lower than available at other top hotels during this very crowded "Christo's Gates" weekend in New York. Positives: suberb location, good room, ok bath, excellent fitness facility at no extra cost, pleasant staff, acceptable restaurant for breakfast. Negatives: dated decor, horrible artwork in the tired hallways, disappointing bar (crowded, cramped, no second floor space anymore, expensive but unremarkable drinks), no restaurant attractive for dinner, crowded lobby space. The loss of marquee tenant -- Le Cirque 2000 -- deprives this hotel of any cache or style. So, the very attractive rate makes this a high value hotel. Loss of style moves it into second tier vs. other top NY properties. At a low rate, I would stay there again. If rates rise, I would look elsewhere.

We were very pleased with this hotel. My husband and I stayed here Feb 17-21. We are in the 35-40 year old age group and middle class income level. Felt very comfortable here. Reviews on this site were accurate. We had a king room on 35th floor, which was an upgrade with early check-in at no extra cost. Staff was very friendly and strives to make a great first impression. We did not have a great view, but not a big deal for us. Breakfast in the Istana restaurant was excellent ( I am picky and like fresh healthy food!). Bring your wallet, though --meals, drinks, and room service is very expensive, but high quality. Very minor issues were no iron in room and forgot to bring us one after we called for it, sometimes we had washclothes delivered with fresh towels, sometimes not. Pay movies in room did not work to order on our TV. If you want clean, upscale, good location in midtown east (one block off 5th Ave shopping, 7 blocks to central park) stay here. Especially if you can get a special rate, its worth it. They had a deal of 4 nights for the price of 3. This made it $305 for three nights, fourth night no charge--average $229/night!

My husband and I recently spent five days at the NY Palace during the Valentines weekend and found it to be everything that we expected and more! The staff were very helpful and curteous, the rooms were very spacious (for a city hotel) and had all of the facilities required for this length of stay. We were given a room with a beautiful view of St Patricks cathedral on the 28th floor. Complimentary newspapers and shoe cleaning service. The beautiful foyer and trees in the entrance all lit up with fairy lights made it a very romantic location. Easy walking distance to the Empire State building, Rockerfeller Centre, Broadway and Central Park. If you can't sleep because of the time difference, we suggest and early morning walk to Times Square. We grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and went at 6am, when it was still slightly dark and all lit up but deserted - truly amazing. We only stayed at the NY Palace on a room only basis (as this is all our budget would allow) but found a lovely little coffee shop named Bread and Company two streets down (51st or 52nd St) where they served the most amazing muffins and almond croissants - well worth the visit. Only down side to the hotel was that the room service cost for just a coffee was out of our budget, but I suppose it was what was to be expected for such a high quality hotel. We are already planning our next stay there!!!

I rarely give 5 stars on Trip Adviser, but the Palace was truly a delight. Superb room, and that view overlooking St Patrick's cathedral stays in the mind as one of the most beautiful cityscapes I have enjoyed in years. First rate room service at all odd hours with huge choices available, an incredibly pleasant staff, from the front desk, the conference room floor, the bellman who did everything but perform somersaults, to the lady who chased me down the corridor at five am as I exited the room to give me a free NY Times. I had everything I needed in the room, the tea/coffee dispenser, lit magnifying mirror in bathroom, toasty and rich bathrobes and slippers, huge quantity of rich towels, a great light and heating control system that could be controlled right by your bed, and all in all, the quality of the hotel experience (unpretentious but smooth and efficient) helped ensure my stay in New York was a delight. The best hotel staff in New York to date. (and I usually stay at the Waldorf or the W).

My husband and I stayed at the Palace 1/22/05-1/23/05 to celebrate my birthday.We got a fantastic rate directly on their website for $225 for a Deluxe King room, which was even cheaper than other 5 stars on the "bidding sites". We arrived early (11 am) because NYC was in the midst of a blizzard, but that was no problem! We were able to check in immediately, with many smiles! The room was the largest I have seen in NYC, and very clean. The staff is also the friendliest I have encountered, from the housekeeping to the front desk. Our room was on the 22nd floor, which overlooked a beautiful snow covered St. Patrick's Cathedral. The location was perfect...a couple blocks from Grand Central, and a wonderful restaurant named Cafe Centro, which I also highly recommend! There are many breakfast places around, which we trudged to in the snow, because the restaurant inside the hotel is very pricey and limited. We were a few blocks from the theatre as well, which was a nice walk for us (although the Palace offers a complimentary shuttle to the theatre for certain shows). We will DEFINITELY be returning to the Palace..it made a perfect weekend..even in a blizzard!

My family (husband and 2 daughters ages 7 & 9) stayed at the palace January 1-3 2005. We found the hotel on line with thier super deal $225 we cancelled our reservation at The Drake Swisotel, to stay at The Palace and it was worth it! The staff was friendly and curteous although we didn't get our turn down service with the chocolates the second night, the kids were disappointed. The room and bathroom was very clean and spacious (one of the most important things to me). Our room was upgraded to a view of St. Patricks Cathedral on a lower floor than requested we were still happy ironically the room number 1225, since the trip was part of our daughters christmas present. The Palaces' web site stated discounts to American Girl according to the concierge there were no such discounts. All in all it was a fabulous and memorible weekend for all of us. I would diffinately stay there again especially at the great price, and recomend it to friends and family. The location was also great for our visit (American Girl, Radio City, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Time Square, Rockerfeller Center)

I have just spent two nights at the NY Palace and found it nice but not fantastic. Even though the lobby is nice and luxurious and the reception staff friendly, I just missed the personal touch a little. When I asked about whether I can get airmiles for the stay, I was told that the hotel belongs to an Arabic Sheik and he does not need to bother with such profanities. The rooms are very big for NY standards but also there I missed the certain something such as a fruit platter or a mineral water. Everything had to be paid for and the prices were very high! There was only one very small bottle of shower gel which was just about enough for a shower in the night but nothing left in the morning. I am not usually fussy, but in a 'Leading Hotel of the World' I just expect a little more than in a standard business hotel and I did not get that in the New York Palace.

We got a 300SF king room at the last minute off the Palace's website for only $225/night (their 25th anniv. special rates). We were blown away at the price, considering most 2 and 3-star hotels were charging that much for that particular weekend. The room was huge, with a dead-on view of St. Patricks. We also found the room to be very quiet (i.e., little traffic noise). Turn-down service at night was just great, complete with towel refreshing, slippers, bathrobes, chocolates, etc. Room service was eye-poppingly expensive, so we avoided that, but there is a Starbucks right outside the door. One final little cool touch was the box on the nightstand which controlled the temperature as well as all the lights, so you didn't have to get out of bed. Staff was uber-professional. Will stay here again and again, especially at such an amazing price.

We stayed at the Palace from Christmas day to New Years day and it was superb. We were on the 23rd floor overlooking St Patrick's and 5th avenue the view was amazing and the room very clean and spacious. The location is superb which makes it very easy to get around. Passers by would come off the street just to photograph the courtyard decorations which were excellent. The room rate included a very good American buffet breakfast which made an excellent start to the day and the staff were very friendly and courteous. We have a 13 year old son so we stayed in and ordered room service on one evening which was superb. The overall costs are difficult to comment on being English it was great value from our perspective given the current exchange rates. I must confess however that I agree with the previous review on the high costs even by our standards of the drinks in the Villard bar which we used only once as a consequence. The drinks bill in the Villard was $27 for three drinks which included one glass of wine one pint of draught and a coke. No one goes to New York and stays in though with so much choice out there so we chose to eat and drink out. We would stay there again on our next visit and not hesitate to recommend it.

I stayed three nights at the New York Palace hotel over the recent Thanksgiving holiday. I have to say that, given how busy the hotel was for the holiday, it was a very enjoyable experience. Because of the crowd size, it was hard to get the kind of special attention to detail and customer service you'd expect from a hotel of this caliber. But no request was left unfulfilled, and hotel staff were mostly curteous and helpful. I had a regular room on the executive level, which allowed access to their executive lounge. The view from my room on the 37th floor overlooked St. Patrick's cathedral and down toward Rockefeller Center. Looked great at night. The room was very large by any city's standards, especially New York's. However, the furnishings were a little bland. I've seen much nicer rooms in much less expensive hotels. The executive lounge has a nice open bar for two hours in the evening and food throughout the day. Although it was overrun with small children every time I was there. Probably not a problem when it's not a holiday weekend. The entrance to the hotel and the lobby were probably the nicest part of the hotel. Beautiful Christmas tree in front. The famous Le Cirque is here. I had a nice meal there my first night, although it was very expensive: $140 for one person. Also went to the Villard bar, where drinks were equally expensive: $10-plus cocktails. But the atmosphere was chic and very relaxing. One last note: the location of the hotel, right in the middle of Manhattan, was awesome. While this is a nice hotel, and there are certainly good reasons to stay here, I would recommend looking elsewhere first. But if it's here you have to stay, you won't be disappointed.