Avalon Hotel, New York

If this hotel were managed by a company that put customers first, it would get much higher rating than I am giving it here. But for me, the experience of this hotel was something out of a bad situation comedy. Despite pre-paying for 2 nights well in advance, I was told that they had no rooms available when I arrived from San Francisco around 11 pm at night. I was told that the people who were in my room prior to my arrival decided to stay an extra night and they had to accommodate them. (That has never been something offered to me when I have asked to stay over and a hotel was booked). Needless to say I was ticked but I was up the creek without a paddle, as they say. It wouldn't help for me to make a scene so I didn't. They told me that they called around to other hotels and everything was booked solid. BUT they were able to find something 12 blocks away. I had specifically chosen this hotel because I had business meetings at the Empire State Building and I wanted to be able to get in and out quickly. To their credit they paid for my taxi and hotel room. What else was I going to do??? I took the new booking and the place was AWFUL! (That will be another review). The next morning, prior to my meetings, I returned to the Vincci Avalon to confirm whether or not I would have a room there that night. They confirmed it so I asked if I could check my luggage with the Bellman until my room was ready (sometime after my meetings ended at 5pm). I checked my bag and went to the Empire State Building. At 5, I returned to the hotel, got my room and then asked for my luggage. Long story short, they lost it. Not only that, I watched other people try to check in (despite their having paid in advance as well) and was told that the hotel was overbooked. Apparently this is how this hotel operates. I am a savvy business traveler and have been around the world. Never have I been told that my reservation couldn't be honored because of over booking, (airlines maybe, but never a hotel). Hours after I got there, my bag was found and in the end I was none the worse for wear. Still, this really reflected ineptness that a business traveler shouldn't tolerate. I won't ever again book with this chain. Here's what would have made this better for me: They should have found a place that was at least equal in quality (4 star or better) rather than the low class place I was booked. They should have offered me complimentary breakfast at the Vincci for the next morning. When they lost my bag, I should have received over the top apologies. They should have had the manager notified and he (I know that it was a he) should have spoken with me personally. I should have at least been offered a complimentary drink at the bar to calm my frayed nerves. If that had happened, I would have written a very different review. It's not that crap happens... it's how you treat people once it does.

this is our first time to New York and the hotel was really nice and the staff were very helpful and friendly. i would reccommend this hotel to any body visiting New York. also the location is 3/4 blocks from broadway and right next to the empire state building. transport is very accessible. the subway can be a bit confusing but very quick and efficient.

Let me start off saying that the room we got was very comfortable and had an excellent interior. However there were things at this hotel that were completely unsatisfying: 1. The room was booked months prior to the trip and they decided to redesign it. This didn't turn out to be much of a problem, but I found it very dishonest that the room we had booked was not anything like the one we got, and that the one we booked didn't even exist anymore. 2. One night our toilet backed up and overflowed. This is an easy fix with a plunger, however, no one in the entire hotel besides the engineer had access to a plunger. The issue was the engineer goes home at 3pm. We were told by a doorman to just let it overflow and they’ll clean it up later, which seemed pretty rude. We ended up going down the block to a drug store and bought a plunger for our room. This worked but is completely unacceptable to have to do in a nice hotel. When we checked out we were going to give a copy of the receipt to the manager, however of course he wasn’t there either. 3. For some reason the maids could not remember to give us washcloths. We would get sometimes only 1 washcloth with 2 people in the room. It took many requests to get them to deliver extra. 4. The air conditioner was very powerful but couldn’t program a range. If it was set to 70 and the temperature went to 70.1 it would go on for a .5 seconds to get it back to 70 and shut off. This got VERY annoying because it would do this over and over. 5. The halls smelt of cigarettes and the smell at one point got into our room. 6. No soundproofing in the rooms, could hear conversations from other rooms 7. When riding up the elevator to the 11th floor, when it got there it DROPPED to the 10th and then started randomly going to the lobby. 8. In the elevator there were mosquitoes, and I got bit. 9. The internet was down for 40% of the stay and the one who fixes that is the engineer. As said before, even when there are issues he is aware of (which he was because I talked to the front desk) he still goes home early. 10. None of the buttons on the phone worked to call hotel services. Pretty ironic for the problems we were having. Had to go down 11 floors every time we needed something. 11. In the bathrooms there are the types of trashcans with the pedal to open. The pedal was broken. 12. Some of the outlets in the room didn’t work 13. There is no bathroom fan 14. People at desk hardly know anything, could not recommend restaurants. 15. When we asked for a luggage rack they had a disgusted look on their face and assured us they didn’t have any. 16. When installing new hangers in our room, the engineer knocked all the clothes down that were hanging and left. In conclusion this is a comfortable hotel with a great location, however with horrible service. If you do stay there I highly recommend the bagel deli on the corner of 32nd and 5th. We went there every morning for breakfast and were never disappointed.

Nice size room for the price; clean and not too noisy. It is centrally located and close to subways. Some equipment issues: funky elevators and some key card malfunction.

The hotel bounced us to another hotel around the corner where they did not know we were coming. The second hotel was a downgrade. We would never book again at the Vincci Avalon Hotel.

I take a trip for pleasure and shopping generally twice a year to New York City. It is the highlight of my year and I have never been dissappointed. I have stayed at many wonderful hotels such as The Hudson, The St. Regis and The Paramount. This year,for the first time, I chose to take my children and their best friend for a week. The shows were fabulous but the hotel was a nightmare. When we arrived they did not have avaiable the room we had booked some weeks ahead of time. They advised that the room online was no longer available and the only room close to it was all booked. For this inconvenience, they never offered an adjustment. During our stay the shower broke twice, once having the knob of the shower completely fall off. Additionally, the safe would not close and then would not open -- with all of our money inside. They made a trip to our room 4 times with regard to the safe. A drawer in the hotel fell on my son, and after suppposedly being repaired, it again fell on me. They left it on the floor for the remainder of our stay. Our room phone did not work for two of the days we were there. I booked this hotel, based on recommnendations in the New York Travel Guide, online information, and a book entitled How to see New York. I was informed by these sources that it was kid friendly with child amenities. They too claimed to have room service, which you would expect in a hotel of this level. The first night, after a long tiring day, we ordered room service to find that they had no room service despite their advertisement on the web. To make amends, the manager stated that he would give my family a complimentary breakfast the following day. The next morning, we went to the restaurant. We were asked to wait in the lobby until a table was ready for us. We waited, and waited and waited. After 10-15 minutes, I returned to ask when our table would be ready. We were then seated but were told that there was no food left on the buffet. We had a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice and were treated very rudely. I asked that a manager phone prior to our departure regarding an adjustment to our bill. That call was never received and I will never consider staying at this hotel again. I made two additional calls to the hotel upon my return home to no satisfaction whatsoever. I have, since that time, provided many negative reviews of this hotel -- and will continue to do so in the future. The problems were too many to mention and never addressed by the hotel management in any way to make amends.

The Avalon was very clean and the junior suite was large. Having two TVs allowed everyone to watch what they wanted. The concierge was very helpful and the rest of the staff very courteous and friendly. The beds were out of this world - very comfortable. We also liked the location. The only problem we had was the air conditioner. It worked great the first day and night but not the second. I went to the front desk and they said they would send someone up - they didn't (our room got up to 78 degrees F). The next morning the concierge had someone there within 5 minutes. However, the air conditioner didn't get fixed. We were checking out anyway, so I told them at the front desk it wasn't fixed. Overall, we loved the stay and would go back in a heartbeat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July, 2006 -- With three children, my husband and I thought this hotel was great for a family of 5. We had two double beds and one couch that transformed into a bed. The Hotel was very clean. Our only complaint was the slow and non-responsive service. We called for extra towels and ice, but never received a response. We ended up going to the front desk for towels and buying ice. If interested in the Time's Square Area, it's about a 20 minute walk. However, we enjoyed walking because walking is part of the N.Y. experience. The hotel is very close to the Empire State Building. If not interested in walking, most tour buses stop at the Empire State Building. The hotel is also located near several souvenir shops, a CVS drugstore and Walgreens. I strongly recommend buying from the local souvenir shops because they sell many of the same merchandise at the tourist attractions, but at a fraction of the price. If driving, parking is $32 or $42 (for larger vehicles). This isn't a one time fee, if you take your car out for the day, plan to pay again. Although many don't mention the price, I thought price would be useful to some individuals. We paid $199 per night. A Few Lessons Learned from our Trip: - Try to Plan Ahead to get better prices. - If arriving by plane, and you plan to stay in NYC, don't even consider driving. Walking and/or tour buses are the way to go. - If you decide on touring with Grayline, consider one loop per day. You could actually spend several days touring with just one loop. There's no way you can cover several loops within a day (with the exception of the Night Loop).

Stayed Feb 11, night of big snow storm. Room was supposed to be a smoking room with a king size bed. Instead we got "the last room" (despite making reservations way in advance) which appeared to be non-smoking and had two double beds. Stayed in the junior suite which was long but narrow, yet comfortable and clean. Beds and pillows were a little hard for my liking. Overall nice accomodations with convenient short walking distance to anything in midtown, especially Penn Station and MSG. Price was excellent for a Saturday night stay in Manhattan.

We had never been to NYC and really lucked out with the Avalon. We stayed in the junior suite and it was perfect for our family of four. The staff was very kind to us, with our "dumb" midwest questions. They were very accomadating to our needs, (storing our luggage, needing more towels, AC adjustments) Would stay again.