European Holiday: Radisson Martinique on Broadway New York City

Introduction 

DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Intercontinental Geneva  

Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster  

The Hyatt Regency - The Churchill

First Time in First: AA LHR - JFK

After our trip into the city via the Air Train from JFK and the Long Island Rail Road into Penn Station we exited to 32nd Street  and 7th Avenue and walked the two blocks to the Radisson Martinique on Broadway.

When we booked the hotel rooms were going from $350 and up just for one night. But we had a certificate for a free night thanks to the stay one, get one promotion that Radisson was running during October so our room was absolutely free.

We walked into the hotel and we were quickly taken over by a huge Alitalia flight crew that was heading out for their flight and a bunch of other tourists that were trying to check into the hotel. There were three people at the desk to assist people, but one was looking down and clicking away at her computer. Finally after standing in line for about 10-15 minutes she looked up and greeted us.

She searched and searched for our reservation for another 5 minutes and then asked for our drivers licenses and went into the back to "make a copy" of them...which I don't think I have ever experienced in a hotel in the US.

When she finally came back, after another 5 minutes, she indicated that we had been upgraded to a Business King room on one of the high floors. She directed us to the front set of elevators (there are two sets in the hotel), because the back ones do not go to the top floors.

The hotel was beautifully decorated for the holidays and though it was old, it looks like they keep it in great shape, much better than my last older hotel stay in LA.

The downside of a king bed in an older hotel in Manhattan is that the room is pretty small, especially with the big bed. It dominates the room and this is one time when I would have been ok with a queen bed. But the room was pretty nice, nothing too special so I feel bad for people who paid over $350 a night for this room.

When you walk in there is a decently sized closet behind the door and a nice office chair/desk at the foot of the bed. I appreciate that there was a set of lamps on either side of the bed with plugs, which is great to charge a phone at night. Kelsey loved the iHome that was also in the room so we could listen to some holiday songs while celebrating the holiday in our room.

On the left side of the room there was a dresser that had a flat-screen tv on top of it. If you wanted to watch tv it would be a little complicated from the bed because of the angle. It seems like it would have made more sense to mount the tv above the desk to allow for a direct view.

The right side of the bed featured a side table with water and water glasses, which I always appreciate after traveling, and a nice oversized chair.

Bed, Desk, TV, Dresser

Bed and Bathroom

The bathroom was quite dated and very very small. There was JUST enough room for the door to close without it hitting the toilet. It looked like the tub and shower had been updated, but it was still just average.

The best part of the room was out the tiny window and through the courtyard of the building which afforded a foggy view of the Empire State Building.

"View" of the Empire State Building 

The room worked for a night and we ended up only spending a few hours in the room to sleep. But problems arose the next morning when it came time to have breakfast. We had ordered breakfast using the door hanger method and put it out around 11:00 pm the night before. The next day was Christmas day so we figured that many restaurants would not be open, so we might be better off just ordering room service. To avoid everyone doing the same thing, we placed our order the night before so it would come between 9:30-9:45 the next morning.

Well we watched, with stomachs grumbling, 9:30 then 9:45 then 10:00 then 10:15 then 10:30 go by with no breakfast. I called them at around 10:00 and they promised me that it would be up soon, that they were just very busy. Finally at 10:45 it arrived and we were so happy....until we opened the plates after the waiter had left our room. We had ordered an omelet and a bagel plate, instead we were given an omelet and oatmeal. Apparently they had seen a scribble we had made and subsequently crossed out and put the word "NO" next to oatmeal on the hanger tag and ignored the gigantic "YES" and check marks we put next to the bagel plate.  Even better was that it was stone cold and lacking any flavor. Since we were going to meet a friend for lunch and check out in a little bit we figured we would address the problem at check out. In the meantime I looked at the check and realized that they had overcharged us for three items, the omelet, oatmeal and bagel plate in addition to everything else.

When we went to check out the front desk assistant was again very cold and didn't seem eager to help us at all. After I brought the restaurant issue to her attention she called the restaurant manager who was even less pleased to see us. He printed off our ticket and brought out our door tag to figure out what had happened and ended up blaming everyone but the restaurant for what happened. He indicated that the security team picked up the tags at 6:00 am and was supposed to deliver them to the kitchen and when he came in that morning there were not any tags. So...what happened to our tag...who knows. He begrudgingly offered to reduce our down to just the omelet and I accepted because our friend had just arrived and I didn't want to keep him waiting...but to say I was disappointed is an understatement.

This hotel was a big miss...some of the staff was very nice, some were so cold and just indifferent to the needs of all in the hotel. The room was nice, but I wouldn't pay $350 a night for it and the debacle with the restaurant staff just made me inclined to not stay here again.

After lunch it was time to take the train back out to JFK for our flight to Milan on the lovely AA 767. Let me just give you a hint....the 1970s called and they want their airplane back.