Stayed with a group of friends this past Saturday night - March 16th. It was the day of the St. Patrick's Day parade and a Half Marathon was scheduled for Sunday. Expectedly it was very busy, but there are definitely things that the Marriott could have done to make the stay more enjoyable.
When we arrived before our reservation at 11:45 on Saturday morning, the lines to get help in the lobby were very confusing. There was no clear signage as to who needed to go where. I will say that there were a few employees trying to help out and hand out water, but the area was really congested and folks were getting frustrated by the wait. I did wait to speak to the desk but knowing I was early, didn't expect the rooms to be ready. The person who checked us in was friendly and efficient, I just think there were so many people in a small-ish space that it got confusing.
When we got to our rooms, our bags were delivered within 15 minutes of arrival and the bellman was friendly. The rooms themselves on the 40th floor were tired. That said, there was construction on the floor above so I'm guessing they will get renovated in the near future. I do wish there was information on their website that construction is underway. We would have reserved elsewhere. When we got into our rooms we could hear sweeping up of materials. The next morning the construction started at 9a. I'm an early riser, but I can see where this would be annoying if I'd wanted to sleep in.
The elevators ... what a mess! The system is automated where you enter the floor you are going to and then are shown which elevator to use. When it came time to head out for dinner, any attempt we made to call the elevator was greeted with 'XX' or '??' as opposed to an elevator to use. We ended just jumping on one that actually stopped rather then going by and made our way to the 3rd floor. We had intended to go to the View for cocktails but there was a large group waiting to head up and we weren't convinced we'd make it back down!
It is a very quiet hotel - we had a two double bed room and the room was spacious, especially for New York. My friend and I both slept well, but had we been late sleepers the early construction on a Sunday would have been annoying. The only other piece of feedback relates to parking - we were told to call 45 minutes to an hour before we needed our car due to the half marathon - we ended up waiting between an hour and a half and an hour and forty-five minutes. Everyone was very friendly and we got updates, but had we known we would have spent more time exploring the city rather than sitting outside on the benches.
Overall - huge hotel, slightly worn out though there is construction, VERY friendly staff, a few glitches to work through.
