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Superior Parkview Room
303 sq. ft with a King bed or 2 Doubles.
A Park view.
Junior Suite
473 sq. ft with a King bed.
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Oyster Review Summary
Photos and review by Michael W., Oyster Expert Hotel Investigator.
Updated: May 19, 2010
Pros
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Cons
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Bottom Line
With a 42nd-floor indoor pool, a name-brand independent gym, a prime location just south of Central Park, and four excellent restaurants, the Meridien offers more amenities than most of its competitors. Good thing, too, because its low-tech, no-frills rooms don't quite match up.
Oyster Hotel Photos
Oyster undercover reviewers photographed this hotel. See the hotel exactly the way we did when we stayed there. (View All Photos)
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Le Parker Meridien - Midtown West, New York City
Le Parker Meridien - Midtown West, New York City
Rooms at Le Parker Meridien
Best Price Guarantee
Learn More »
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Superior Parkview Room
303 sq. ft with a King bed or 2 Doubles. A Park view. |
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Junior Suite
473 sq. ft with a King bed. |
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Corner Suite
575 sq. ft with a King bed. |
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Central Park Junior Suite
645 sq. ft with a King bed. |
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Superior Room
303 sq. ft with a King bed or 2 Doubles. |
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Diplomatic Suite
910 sq. ft with a King bed. |
Oyster Hotel Review
Contents
Scene
An upper-mid-size, upper-mid-price high-rise in upper Midtown West, Le Meridien -- despite its name -- is more quirky than pretentious.
The lobby
Call it the Parker. Call it the Meridien. Just don't call it Le Meridien. Despite the name, there is nothing French about Le -- sorry, the -- Meridien. Originally founded in 1972 by Air France, the Le Meridien brand was bought in 2005 by Starwood -- the same corporation that includes the Westin, W, and Sheraton hotels, among others -- and is now simply one of its luxury chains (thus, you can use or accumulate Starwood Preferred Guest points by staying here).
With 731 rooms, the Meridien is large, but because those rooms are spread out over 42 floors and the lobby is so spacious, the hotel rarely feels crowded or overwhelming. Besides, when its guests -- a healthy mix of tourists and business travelers -- do happen to be on-site, they're scattered among the Meridien's many features: its 42nd-floor pool, enormous fitness center, and four -- yes four -- restaurants. (One of those, Knave, is really more of a cafe, but it's an excellent place to relax with a cocktail or a coffee after a hard day of siteseeing or deal-making.)
Despite its amenities -- and its name -- the Meridien carries with it refreshingly little pretense. The website, for instance, gives the impression of a zany, even off-color, place. "Bar/Bat Mitzvah? We'll make a Mensch of you yet," it says on the page devoted to parties. "Bris? Less painful here." Classic cartoons (Tom and Jerry, anyone?) and black-and-white films play on the TV screens in the elevators. The "Do Not Disturb" signs in the rooms say FUHGETTABOUDIT. Yet the imposing lobby -- with its marble floors and neoclassical columns and arches -- creates a different, more serious, complexion. Not to mention the upmarket restaurants and chic contemporary art.
All together, it's an odd amalgam of quirk and class -- one that didn't quite work for me but could very well appeal to others. If it does, count the Meridien among the best of Midtown's second-tier properties (the Ritz Central Park, Plaza, Four Seasons, Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental representing the elite). It's right up there with the Sofitel, Jumeirah Essex House, and the Royalton -- especially if you love to swim and eat (just be sure to wait an hour in between).
Service
An impressive array, both standard and unique
The front desk
The Meridien boasts services that are both expected for the price range (large bell staff, concierge, room service) and above-the-bar ("SmartAleck" cyber-concierge, free transport downtown). The large bell staff will help with your bags and occasionally flag down a taxi if they happen to be outside the entrance with you; just don't expect doors to be opened for you.
The trademark service is "SmartAleck," a cyber-concierge of sorts. "Just make a reservation and tell our NewYorkSmartAleck that you're headed to town," it says on the website, "and we'll get some 'must see' events back to you in a New York minute." It's a nice service in theory; in practice, a New York minute turned out to be "never" in my case. I filled out the online form three days before I checked in but never heard from anyone.
- Concierge desk open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., impressive even for a large NYC hotel
- Complimentary transportation to Wall Street in the morning. You have to arrange it the night before, and it leaves at two specified times (7:30 and 8:45), and there's no return service... but hey, it's a free ride downtown. (The Michelangelo, the Kitano, and the W hotels also do this.)
- Personal-training sessions included with $10 gym entrance fee
Location
In the center of Manhattan, two blocks from Central Park and Fifth Avenue shopping, and close to five subway lines
The Meridien is right smack in the middle of Manhattan, near the eastern border of what we are calling Midtown West. It's a busy area during the day because it forms a nexus of sorts: corporate skyscrapers coexist with a number of prominent hotels (the Ritz Central Park, among them), and Fifth Avenue shopping and Central Park (simply "the park," to locals) are both within two blocks. At night, however, the area quiets down a bit. (It's still quite safe, though.) Upper Midtown's vibe is (appropriate, perhaps) fairly uppity. Instead of intimate bistros and trendy lounges and night clubs (head downtown for all that), you have swanky happy-hour taverns like De La Concha cigar bar and legendary restaurants like Per Se.
- Half-mile from Times Square -- five to 15 minutes ($5 to $10) by cab
- Immediately nearby: Carnegie Hall (next door) and the Steinway Hall piano store and museum
- If you're in town primarily to catch a few Broadway shows, you might prefer a hotel closer to the heart of Midtown West's Theater District, like the Muse or the W Times Square.
- Within four blocks of five subway lines
- No parking available on the premises, but QuikPark at 235 West 56th Street offers a discounted rate of $28 per 24 hours -- a good deal for Manhattan. For other parking options, check out Best Parking.
Rooms
Clean and comfortable, but low-tech and a modest size for a hotel in this price range
Superior double room
Despite the Meridien's splendid lobby, high-profile restaurants, and a rooftop pool, its rooms are relatively ordinary and a bit out of date: old 32-inch Sony Trinitron tube TVs with about 35 channels of basic cable (many of which came in fuzzy in my room); weak water pressure in the showers; and no Wi-Fi (just wired Internet for $16 a day). The website boasts of "ergonomically inspired rooms and suites enhanced by luscious cherry and cedar woods." Indeed, the Aeron desk chairs are known for their, uh, ergonomity, but I didn't notice anything else particularly ergonomic, and "luscious" wasn't the first adjective that came to mind when I saw the wooden entertainment fixture. The rooms are fine, certainly -- clean, quiet, functional -- but at a similar price, you'll find more style and modernity at the Royalton or Sofitel, and more space at the New York Palace.
- Two basic room types: standard rooms (called "Superior" or "Deluxe") and suites. Superior Rooms, the most basic type, are about 300 square feet -- bigger than your average boutique hotel room, but about average for a large franchise hotel in NYC. Deluxe rooms are about 430 square feet; Junior Suites (the most basic suite type), about 475 square feet.
- Upgrading all the way to the most expensive suites (Central Park Suite, Diplomatic Suite, etc.) adds a kitchen to the mix.
- Beds' mattresses -- Royal Suite Monitor 266s -- are firm, but the super-soft down mattress pads add a lot of comfort.
- Standard-size desks, overstuffed chairs, and minibars
- As for the adjustable spot lamps above the beds... well, 'A' for effort. They turned on and moved, but the coils weren't tight enough to hold them in place.
- Bathrooms are sleek, with slate grays replacing the oranges and browns of the bedroom as the dominant color motif. The highlight: the bath products by Peter Thomas Roth
- No Wi-Fi; instead, wired Internet for $16 a day
Features
Two excellent amenities -- a rooftop indoor pool with panoramic views of Central Park and a phenomenal two-story gym -- plus the basics
The rooftop indoor pool
Few hotels in New York boast swimming pools. The Meridien has one on its roof, which makes it worth checking out even if you don't plan to swim. Nestled in a glass-enclosed pavilion at the top of the building, the views of the city are phenomenal. Even a $25 million penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue can't compete with these views. The pool loses ambience points, however, for the pervasive chlorine smell throughout the pavilion. When I went up there, only one person was sunbathing (if that's still what you call it when a thick sheet of glass is between you and the sun).
Although you can access the Gravity fitness center from the lobby, it is independently owned and operated and thus costs $10 a day for Meridien guests -- rare for a NYC hotel. Still -- and I would rarely say this -- it might be worth the fee. First, you can put those 10 bucks toward a personal training session. And with multiple rooms and 15,000 square feet spread over two stories, the place is a destination unto itself. In addition to a racquetball court and a yoga/dance studio, Gravity sports has more cardio machines, weight machines, and free weights than you could ever use.
- 42nd-floor indoor pool
- Exceptional fitness center ($10 per day)
- Small business center with all the basics (open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
- Meeting and party space abounds, both up high, in the penthouse, and down low, on the 2nd and 3rd floors. (For more on meeting and event planning, click here and here, respectively.)
- Cute old-fashioned barbershop off the lobby
- Wi-Fi available in Knave, the coffee shop off the lobby, but access costs $16/day
Family
No kids' club or babysitting services, but a perfectly fine place for kids
The neighborhood has more of an adult vibe than more Disneyfied areas like Times Square, but at least it's safe, and the Meridien boasts some kid-friendly qualities:
- Indoor pool
- Two of the restaurants, the Burger Joint and Norma's, have plenty of things kids will love.
- Cribs (free) fit in any type room; rollaway beds ($30 a night) can fit in any room with a king bed.
- Suites, which include pullout sofas, are another option for families.
Cleanliness
Not a problem; rooms partially renovated in early 2009
My room was a little rough around the edges, and there were a few visible stains on the furniture. But nothing major -- everything was functional and hygienic. The property is very well-maintained overall.
Food
Four places on-site, including an iconic brunch spot and a famous "hidden" burger joint
Iconic brunch at Norma's
The food is reason enough to visit the Meridien. The conversation begins with Norma's, the iconic brunch spot right off the lobby. It serves breakfast and lunch every day until 3:00 p.m. Even on a Tuesday morning, the place was packed; if you plan to go on the weekend, reservations are strongly encouraged. For what it's worth -- probably not much, given all the reviews like this one out there -- my $22 "Waz-Za" waffle ("Fruit Inside, Fruit Outside, Crackly Brûlée Top") was too rich for my taste. And while the fresh-squeezed OJ and French-pressed coffee are indisputably delicious, they're also $9 and $7, respectively. If these prices don't deter you, check out the (in)famous "Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata," better known as the thousand-dollar omelet, because, yes, it costs $1,000. Because, yes, it has 10 ounces of Sevruga caviar. (Check out this bit Stephen Colbert did about this. Hilarious.) "Norma dares you to expense this," it says on the menu. I declined, Norma. I like my job.
- Iconic brunch at Norma's
- For lunch, it's pretty much mandatory to grab a $7 patty at the famous Burger Joint off the lobby, which some have named the best in New York; expect to wait in line 15 to 30 minutes. The name -- or rather, the lack thereof -- tells you everything you need to know about the unpretentious vibe.
- The dinner restaurant, Seppi's, gets mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed my meal. My rack of lamb, accompanied by mashed potatoes and spinach, was superb.
- Knave, the coffee bar at the 57th Street entrance, just opened in 2009. Its specialty: coffee. Its vibe: candles, chandeliers, classical oil paintings, and quiet international music.
Bottom Line
With a 42nd-floor indoor pool, a name-brand independent gym, a prime location just south of Central Park, and four excellent restaurants, the Meridien offers more amenities than most of its competitors. Good thing, too, because its low-tech, no-frills rooms don't quite match up.
Hotel Features
| Number of Rooms: | 730 |
| Pool: | Yes |
| Fitness Center: | Yes |
| Spa: | No |
| Internet Access: | Yes |
| Pets Allowed: | Yes |
| Cribs: | Yes |
| Kids Club: | No |
| Jacuzzi (in room): | No |
| Casino: | No |
Hotel Information
| Location: | Midtown West, New York City |
| Toll Free Bookings: | 1-888-776-9783 |
| Address: | 118 West 57th Street, New York City, NY 10019 (See Map) |
Travel Guide
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Things You Should Know About Le Parker Meridien
Address
- 118 West 57th Street, New York City, NY 10019
Hotel Is Also Known As...
- Meridien New York City
- Meridien Le Parker
- Le Parker Meridien New York
- Le Parker Meridian
Room Types
- Junior Suite
- Corner Suite
- Central Park Suite
- Central Park Junior Suite
- Diplomatic Suite
- Presidential Suite
- Superior Room
- Superior Parkview Room
- Deluxe Room
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