HOTEL REVIEW: W HOTELS NEW YORK – TIMES SQUARE

Whatever / Whenever.

I was in New York City on a Sunday that is often referred to as an unofficial national holiday in the United States. The Super Bowl Sunday! 

Since this was in February, and as we know, winter in New York can get relatively cold. But the room rate was insanely low for a W brand, I thought why not. 

Booking:
I booked a Wonderful Guest Room 1 King City View directly on Marriot’s website. The room rate was unbelievably at $156.75 per night plus $55.31 taxes and fees. The hotel charges a $25 Daily Destination Fee which is already included in the taxes and fees. The total amount coming at $212.06

As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite, I have some Suite Night Awards to be put into a good use. By the way, I’ve had some really good luck utilizing some of those SNAs in the past. After booking the room, I got this “Take an upgrade, You’ve earned it” prompt in the app. Meaning I can use Suite Night Awards to request an upgrade.

Although I really didn’t need a Suite or any sort of upgrades during that one-night stay, but I couldn’t resist the Suites on offer. I had options between either Fantastic Suites, or Marvelous Suites. Usually when selecting Suites for SNAs, I don’t select multiple rooms. I usually select one Suite from the options available, and just wait and see if the hotel approves it or not. 

The SNA was approved five days before my arrival at the hotel, and my booking changed from the Wonderful Room that I had booked to a Marvelous Suite 1 King Bed Broadway View Sofa Bed. Typically, this suite can be as high as over a thousand dollar during peak season, and around about $600 when it’s not too busy.

Let me quickly mention that this is a Marriott Category 7 hotel and is bookable on points. With the Marriott’s Peak / Off Peak pricing, you’ll need between 50,000 to 70,000 Bonvoy points per night to book this hotel.

Wondering how we get to stay at 5-star luxury hotels like The St. Regis Mauritius and also fly in First Class on Emirates Airlines and Singapore Airlines for free? Check out some of our best cards on the right of this screen, or at the very bottom of this page for more info:

For this booking, I used my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card which earns me 6 points per dollar at all Marriott hotels, and for booking directly with Marriott I earn 10 points per dollar, and also 75% bonus points for being a Marriott Titanium Elite. On this booking, I was earning 23.5 points per dollar. 

Hotel Location:
Located in the heart of Times Square New York, with barely a minute walk into the touristic crossroads of the world. With local attractions such as Broadway Theaters, Museum of Modern Arts, Fifth Avenue, Madison Square Garden, etc. Simply put, the W New York Times Square is located at one of the places that makes New York the city that never sleeps.

Check in at the hotel:
Since I had just checked out from another hotel with no Late Checkout requested in New Jersey, I arrived at the W Hotel at 10:30am. Valet Parking at this hotel cost $75, there was no way I would pay that ridiculous amount just to park my car overnight. Especially since I have a flight out of JFK as early as 7am the next morning.

I approached one of the valet guys to see if I could leave my car for a few minutes while I go check in or at least drop my bags at the front desk which is located on the 7^th floor. The valet guy was kind enough to have called one of the door men which nicely took care of my 2 bags and sent them all the way to 7^th floor where the hotel lobby is located. Now back to my parking story. Since I usually don’t park my cars at any downtown hotels due to the ridiculous amount they charge, I would usually use street parking (metered or free). While I have done this too many times, unfortunately street parking didn’t go well on this Superbowl LIV Sunday. I got a $115 ticket for parking less than 8 feet from fire hydrant. 

While waiting for the elevator, I noticed the ground floor has a glass ceiling with water flowing on it. You can view the entire video on my YouTube Channel. I used the ground elevator that goes to the lobby on the 7^th floor. It was 11am and I knew it might be a bit too early to check in at such hotels, especially since there were a few people seating here and there at the lobby.

I approached one of the gentlemen at the front desk counters, and he mentioned that the suite is not ready at the moment, but we can start the check in process now, and that I’ll get a call as soon as the room is ready. 

While I wait, I started with my review of the hotel. Like most other W Hotels, the lobby was dimly lit with not too loud music playing in the background. There’s a Concierge Desk on one side of the lobby, just next to the front desks. 

There are several comfortable seats at the lobby. There are even some pods which offers more privacy and can be utilized by groups or individuals.

About an hour later, I got a call saying my suite is available and I should return to the front desk to finalize the check in process. It was nice being able to check in as early as 12pm at this hotel. I was given a room on the 51^st floor. Suite 5111 to be specific. With the $25 Destination Fee, I had the option of selecting one gift from the destination fee gift options. Being on a Superbowl night, the hotel had some good-looking W branded football as you can see in the picture below. Other amenities included with the daily destination fee are:

• $25 Living Room Bar Credit (must be charged to room)
• $20 Laundry Service Credit
• Enhanced Internet and Local/Long Distance/International Calls
• Day Pass to TMPL Gym located on 49^th St (once per day)
  

The Marvelous Suite:
Located on the 51^st floor, with panoramic views of both Times Square and Broadway, a one-bedroom suite completes with a separate living room, full sized sofa bed, 1.5 bathrooms, and more. This 625sqft room can accommodate up to 4 people. 

The bedroom featured W Signature 1 King size bed, 1 sleek chaise lounge chair facing the magnificent view of Times Square & Midtown New York City, another work chair and long desk, second TV, a Mini Bar and W Mix Bar where you can mix beverages and bites together.

Since this hotel is located at the heart of tourist destination, you’ll expect both inside and outside of the hotel to be really loud. Fortunately, being on such a high floor has its own advantages. The room was very quiet to my surprise. Although I can’t attest this would be the case for other rooms on lower floors.

Whether through the 1 window in the living room, or perhaps one of the two windows in the bedroom, the views from the Marvelous Suite is hard to beat.

The Bathroom:
The full and the half bathrooms both featured Davines bath amenities. The full bathroom is bigger than an average New York City’s bathroom and had plenty of room to move around. Other amenities like dental kits, shaving kits, hairdryer, etc. were provided in the bathroom. The shower had good water pressure, and the water temperature was perfect both from the shower and the 2 sinks in the 1.5 bathrooms.

2 robes and 2 slippers were provided in the suite. Seeing the quality of the slippers, I collected them and placed them on my bags in the living room. Although I did not request for turn-down service, but while I was out and about, turn down service was done, and 2 new slippers were put back in the closet again. Well, I collected all 4 slippers, and to my surprise, each of those slippers costs $21 at the W online store.

I also collected some of the Momo and Skin Regimen bath amenities by Davines. The selling price of all amenities collected was already equivalent to the total cost of my stay here at this hotel.

The W Hotels worldwide is known for its Whatever / Whenever philosophy. Guests are treated to whatever they want, and whenever they want it. Yes, whenever they want it even if the time is 2am. By pressing the Whatever/Whenever button on any of the phones in the hotel rooms. 

Since I had $25 credits redeemable at the Living Room Bar, I though I should stop by for a quick drink while the Superbowl LIV game was going on. There were lots and lots of seating area here at the bar. Although the main big screen was functional, I found it not that useful since the picture quality wasn’t good enough and the sound was cutting in and out. Since it was Superbowl, the Living Room didn’t have that vibrant energy it is known for. A lot of people were watching the game, so it was a bit quiet and there was no live DJ activities going on at that time.

Although enhanced internet is included as part of the benefits from the daily destination fee, the internet speed at the W Hotels New York – Times Square did not pass The Points Engineer’s WiFi test. While the upload speed was good at 27.68Mbps, the download speed of 12.03Mbps is considered a basic internet, not enhanced. But the WiFi work as expected and did not feel slow at any point during the test.

While I usually make an effort to checkout hotels restaurants, unfortunately I was not able to do so during my stay here at this hotel. Marriott Platinum elites and higher are entitled to complimentary breakfast or 1000 points as a Welcome Gift. I opted for the latter, since I’ll be leaving the hotel super early.

But the hotel does have 2 restaurants onsite. Dos Caminos which serves Mexican cuisine with a modern twist, and Blue Fin which offers fresh sushi served in an electric setting.

In conclusion:
I must say that my stay at this hotel was great. The W Signature bed was very comfortable, and I got so much value from the amount spent. As having a 625sqft suite in New York City is not something that comes cheap, many New Yorkers can bear me witness. The décor in and around the hotel was stylish, and I found the staff to be very friendly and nice.

As I was about heading out of the suite, I couldn’t resist the beauty of midtown New York right from my suite 5111, I had to take some few more shots of the magnificent views again.

And lastly, coming out of the elevator on the 7^th floor (the lobby), I found a bin full of umbrellas as early as 5am. These are umbrellas the hotel guests can make use of, and also take with them as a gift since it was expected to rain that day. I found this to be generous, and thoughtful of the W Hotel New York – Times Square.

Featured image courtesy of Marriott