My first impressions were not quite the excellence I expect from Four Seasons. Those issues faded over the course of our stay and overall, I was happy and would return.
We arrived late at night, and just wanted to get settled quickly and go to bed. The bell staff was pretty aggressive about taking our bags, I had to rescue my backpack with wallet in it so I could check in. Then, I wanted to grab our roller bags to go up to the room, as they were sitting right there, but the desk clerk insisted they would be following us right up. A half hour later, we finally got them.
I had made a couple of requests in the prearrival email regarding our desired room location, neither of which was fulfilled. We did have a welcome treat waiting for us, though. The safe had a “low battery” warning so I called the desk to ask that it be fixed in the morning. She asked what time, I said 11, hoping to sleep in. Just after 9, we got a call from the front desk saying the maintenance guy was in the hallway, but our do not disturb light was on. Yes, that’s because we didn’t want to be disturbed!
The room itself was lovely, very spacious (especially for New York!), clean and elegant. Not much drawer space but good closet space, good bedside tables with plenty of electrical/USB outlets, comfortable bed, blackout drapes, and nightlight in the bathroom. It was quiet – on the 8th floor, we did not notice any street noise. The one really bad feature is the shower. It ran ice cold for a full minute or two every time we turned it on, even shortly after a previous shower.
Service was generally excellent, the staff was very welcoming every time we went in and out. They have a house car which goes as far north as 14th. There wasn’t much in the way of turndown service, just sporadic refresh of the water and ice on some nights, but they did leave us another treat a couple nights into our stay. They readily provided late 2pm checkout, which was much appreciated.
This was our first time staying in lower Manhattan, and we liked the location. With multiple subway lines available nearby, it was easy to get anyplace we wanted to go, and we enjoyed exploring more of the downtown area. There’s a good all-day breakfast place, Ol’Days, a few blocks away, as well as Starbucks and Whole Foods. Breakfast in the hotel was very good, though pricey of course, and only available until 11.