琪琪公寓

Location This hotel is in an ideal location as it was walking distance to Times Square/5th Av. and has a subway station which is a mere few hundred yards from the hotel’s entrance. The hotel is also located near plenty of restaurants, bars, cafes, shops and fast-food outlets so ideal for ‘walkers’. The location of the hotel is ideal and within walking distance of Times Square, 5th Av. retail stores and plenty of bars, restaurants, take-out counters and cafes. The subway station (only a few hundred yards from the hotel’s entrance) connects you to further neighbourhoods including the financial district, central park etc. Space The room was large and had a generous bathroom with walk-in rainfall shower. I loved the style of the decor and the rooms had really high ceilings. It was a nice touch to have a proper coffee machine, accompaniments (milk, sugar etc) and also high-end toiletries. It was also a good feature to have dimmable lights in the bedroom and also a separate light-up mirror in the bathroom. The lobby was attractive with a seating area, toilet and locked storage area for baggage. General We had minimal interaction with the staff team but they always greeted us and were there for any help, recommendations etc. which was nice. There is a free ‘continental’ breakfast with water, juice, tea/coffee, cereal bars etc. for use of hotel guests and also a gym on site which is available each morning. This was an unexpected and nice touch. Lifts were a decent size and adequate for the size of the hotel, and we never had to wait for one. The hotel was clean and well kept but it was quite dark (goes with the theme of the hotel). Some additional lighting might be advantageous in the hallways. Improvements The heating was on very high throughout the hotel which made it quite unpleasant when leaving and returning. Bearing in mind the mask mandate and warm clothing required in the winter I think the heating needs to be turned down to make it more comfortable. It was too warm for us to sit there when we were leaving so we headed out a bit earlier. The window in our hotel room seemed thin as a fair amount of noise came through and also cold air was coming in. There were no curtains, only pull-cord blinds. Due to the cold air coming in the heater seemed to repeatedly come on and off to try and regulate the temperature but again it meant the room was either on the cooler or warmer side. If the windows can’t be replaced I think the hotel should consider hanging curtains and also allowing guests to maintain the fan speed and temperature properly themselves. The instructions for the safe (on the safe itself) were not clear and so we had to ask the receptionist how to unlock it which meant we couldn’t use it straight away. It would be helpful to explain how to reset clearly so you can do this unaided. Lastly, we were confused as to why housekeeping came in but did not make our bed on any of the days we were there. This was a bit disappointing