The Plaza Hotel in New York

Very underwhelming and I think, probably still able to command the higher rates due to location and it's connection to films.
Literally no service to speak to. The doorman was rude but other than that you hardly see anyone and who you do, they do not interact in any way. Is it poor service - no; but is there any service to speak about, not really.

I booked a four night stay in an Edwardian suite to spend thanksgiving in the city. The check in was very smooth and the property appears well kept with nice fragrance pumped right through the HVAC system. The entire place smelled nice as a result.

I am a die hard fan of Fairmont hotels and have tried many of their properties over the years. Having stayed at their flagship hotel the Savoy in London and their competitor the Ritz, it pains me to say that the service here fell quite short of my expectations of a flagship property.

The staff working there seem just “tired” and they do not seem to want to have any sort of genuine connection with the guests. They are just all about business there. This is very different from places like the ritz there they take the time to get to know you and engage in meaningful ways to make the stay a memorable one.

Our suite includes some sort of a white glove butler service but I’ve not even see the butler once during my stay. On the day after thanksgiving, somehow our room was not serviced all day. I even called in around 3 pm to request a house keeping service and it did not happen even then. I had to go to the front desk to request it to finally have the room cleaned.

I think this hotel is great and has a lot of potential, but the staff training isn’t there yet. It’s also quite unique in the sense that it’s in a historic building in the sea of ultra modern high rises. However, the hotel seems to only occupy the south wing and is quite small despite looking imposing from the outside. As a result most of the rooms don’t have much of a view to speak of. If you are looking for rooms with views, you will have to pay quite a bit more for partial park views.

All in all it was a rather uneventful and also unremarkable stay. I am Diamond with Accor and used four suite night upgrades for this stay, but they were not honored at check out. I had to call in and be put on hold for quite a while to get it sorted. The front desk person wasn’t even apologetic for this clerical error.

I really want to like this hotel and would love more opportunities to experience its full glory. Perhaps the weekend was just too busy. Although For the same price I’d recommend going with four season or mandarin oriental both of which have much better views and modern amenities.