Excellent Location. But Noisy!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 9/16/08
Had a good, if exhausting, week in the Affinia Manhattan. Not cheap by any means and this room in other countries would command half the price. When I mentioned the noise, the guy behind the reception desk burst into laughter and said 'you didnt expect noise in NYC'? I did, but I hadnt really given it much consideration... this hotel is built over a fire station. The engines go out with full sirens and horns, 3 or 4 times every night. We were on the 15th floor, but felt the noise would have been similar if we had been in a sleeping bag in the fire station itself. To reduce this, ask for a VERY high floor, 20 or above!
The size of the room was actually fine, we had two double beds; just 2 adults, my daughter and myself. I chose this hotel because of the availability of a kitchenette in the room, and the fridge & coffee maker proved very useful. Also, a couple of nights when we were tired, we bought a take-out from the Chinese just across the road, and brought it into the room, ate in bed! So having plates & cutlery was useful too. Bathroom a little run down, tiny bath - just a shelf that you can perch on if you need to, couldnt really actually HAVE a bath. Shower above, worked fine. Slightly grubby tiles, needed updating a bit.
Directly across the road from Madison Square Garden, the location is brill. Walking distance (couple of blocks, 500yds maybe) to Macys. Macys is just a fantastic shop! Close to the 'hop on hop off' bus stop too, so can't fault the location at all. MAUREEN on the concierge desk is worth waiting for if she's busy - she knows her stuff, and will make great suggestions, couldn't have been more helpful. Someone should give her a pay rise...
The airconditioning in the room worked very well, room was icy cold. But it was actually a huge clunking beast stuck into the glass of the window (the size of a fridge), and if you closed the curtains, it stopped the airconditioner, so you were cool all night but had the noise and the early light coming straight into the room.. or you closed it up and sweated to death, but it was a bit darker!
So in summary, I'm not sorry that I chose the Affinia. I think it's way expensive and way noisy - but as the guy on reception said 'this is New York, what did you expect'?