The Plaza Rating: 5.0 Pearls

Midtown East, Manhattan, New York City

Lobby's opulent marble stairs

It could be said that no other New York hotel is as synonymous with luxury as the century-old Plaza, or has carved out such a place in 20th-century culture. Truman Capote threw his famous Black and White Ball here; in North by Northwest, Cary Grant was captured by spies in the hotel's famous Oak Bar; F. Scott Fitzgerald staged part of The Great Gatsby here; on their first visit to the States, The Beatles took up an entire wing on the 15th floor. And last but not least, Crocodile Dundee pitched a tent on those 400-thread-count bed sheets.

Following a $400 million renovation, the 282-room Plaza reopened its doors in May 2008. Well, most of it reopened -- the newly christened Champagne Bar graces the lobby, and the Rose Club attracts a new set of twenty-something revelers. The hotel also received a full fitness center in 2009.

But whether the renovation was an improvement is open for debate. Post-renovation, none of the guest rooms and only some of the suites look out onto Central Park or Fifth Avenue -- most views have been claimed by the 181 private Plaza condos. Separated by a private entrance and lobby, the $2.5 million-and-up apartments are a return to the Plaza's original function as a residence for the extremely wealthy.

But because of its fame, the century-old Plaza is not just a hideaway for the in-hiding celebrity or loaded maharaja. Families spill out of the seven-person gilded elevators, weighted down with Coach shopping bags. Business travelers down expense-account martinis at the Oak Bar. The Plaza's Grand Ballroom, host to Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas' wedding, continues to welcome some of the city's most extravagant nuptials. And Fifth Avenue tourists run in to snap a few photos of Palm Court's stained-glass ceiling and the lobby's opulent marble stairs -- before getting shooed away by the omnipresent security, of course.

Room service in the Plaza King Room

Service of any kind here runs 24 hours a day, whether it's guest laundry or room service or the concierge. A 24-hour butler, assigned to every hall, attends to guests' needs. The house car, a Rolls Royce Phantom, will transport any guest for free around Manhattan (first come, first serve).

Turndown service here includes bottles of Fiji water and glasses set up on each side of the nightstand, plus a white cloth mat set up on each side of the bed -- upon which rests a pair of Plaza slippers.

Since the hotel's '08 renovation, the most notable addition is the guest-service flat-screens near each unit's front door. By tapping on the detachable screen, guests can control the amount of light they want (say, 25 or 50 percent), the temperature of the room, and the TV and DVD. They can also schedule room cleanings, laundry pickup, and shoe shines; order extra minibar glasses, bathrobes (in both adult and child sizes), and shaving kits; or contact the concierge and 24-hour butler. After tapping out a request for a toothbrush, the butler appeared at my door in a full tuxedo with white gloves and clasping a silver platter upon which rested my golden Colgate. He even offered to make me an iced cappuccino or latte.

View on a Larger Map

Located across from Central Park on Fifth Avenue, the Plaza is on the border of Midtown West and Midtown East. It's an excellent base for exploring the shopping along Fifth Avenue -- from the famous Tiffany & Co. to high-end flagships like Gucci and Versace. To the right on Fifth Avenue lies luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, and across the avenue, past the famous Pulitzer Fountain, sits the splashy Midtown Apple flagship. (Tip: this is a great place to check your email for free.) Plenty of delis and Starbucks cafes feed the cubicle occupants -- Midtown East is where many New Yorkers come to work. Nightlife is scarce, but excellent, typically pricy, cuisine is always within walking distance.

The area lacks the residential quaintness of the Upper West Side, and most insider haunts are found further downtown. But subway access is ample, making it easy to venture anywhere in the city. It's also a fairly safe neighborhood, although it empties out at night.

New York has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Getting to town from JFK or LaGuardia is usually more convenient than getting there from Newark, but travel times are heavily dependent on the time of day and traffic conditions. From JFK, a taxi to anywhere in Manhattan costs a flat rate of $45 and takes around an hour in average conditions. From LaGuardia, a metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan costs about $40 and can take 30 minutes if traffic is light, three times that if it's bad. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. It's customary to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.

Those looking to save some cash can use the privately run shuttle buses that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. Public transit is also available for as little as $7 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.

For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.

The Plaza King Room

Unlike the St. Regis with its powder-blue-accented rooms, the Four Seasons with its office-away-from-home appeal, or the Mandarin Oriental with its streamlined Asian-influenced design, the Plaza's rooms embrace the gilded, extravagant style of Louis XIV. At 475 square feet, the standard Plaza Room still falls short of the Four Seasons' standard 500 -- but has the Waldorf-Astoria, the Mandarin Oriental, and the St. Regis all beat. The Plaza's Deluxe rooms move up to 550 square feet; the equal-sized Signature Room features a private terrace; and the nine different suites offer both additional space (625 to 4,400 square feet) and extra features like powder rooms.

Sadly, since the hotel's 2008 renovation, none of the guest rooms and only some of the suites look out onto Central Park or Fifth Avenue -- most of the views have been claimed by the 181 new private Plaza residences. Guest rooms all overlook either the landscaped inner courtyard or 58th Street's office buildings.

The bathroom in my Plaza Room was almost as large as the bedroom itself, with space enough for two twin 24-karat-gold-plated sinks and a partitioned-off toilet with its own window facing 58th Street. A full-size soaking tub and shower boasted intricate stone-mosaic walls (to match the rest of the bathroom's floral mosaic-tiled print floor). While the thick Mascioni Turkish cotton towels and robes (available in both adult and children's sizes) didn't disappoint, I did wonder why the Miller Harris toiletries ended with body lotion and hand soap -- the shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel were all hotel-brand, a bit disappointing for a luxury hotel room in New York. (Cheaper New York hotels -- the Gansevoort, the Affinia, the Bowery -- offer a full line of name-brand salon-grade products.) And for some reason the plug in my bathtub wouldn't stay closed -- so I never tried out those free bath-salt sachets.

Mounted to the wall above the dresser, the 37-inch LG plasma TV offers about 60 stations, including free movie channels like HD Net Movies and HBO HD. The $14.95 pay-per-view selection includes all the recent Oscar winners, as well as an unexpected selection of documentaries. The only problem: if you leave the TV on the main-menu page for more than a few seconds, it flips over to an annoying advertisement for the Plaza residences -- one can only hear the phrase "purchasable for the privileged few" repeated so many times while she's on the toilet. Best to throw a movie in the DVD player or just drown it out with the iPod-compatible iLuv stereo.

The Plaza's pillow-topped Stearns and Foster mattress, swathed in 400-thread-count Italian Mascioni sheets, would probably not provide enough firm back support long-term -- but for a night, this bed was like being cuddled by a marshmallow. If the four pillows and fake-fur throw aren't cutting it, the Plaza (like the Affinia) offers a pillow menu. Guests can call up and request a double-down surround, buckwheat, lavender buckwheat, hypoallergenic, or Tempur-Pedic.

For $14.95/day, Wi-Fi is available in the rooms and public areas.

Warren-Tricomi Salon

Similar to its other locations in Bordeaux and Spain, the 8,000-square-foot Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa focuses on all-natural grape-based treatments. (The vine theme comes naturally for the French founders, who also own the Bordeaux vineyards of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte.) Crushed cabernet scrubs can be followed up with a glass of wine. Hairstyling needs are handled by the Warren-Tricomi Salon, the 6,100-square-foot flagship of celebrity hairstylist Edward Tricomi and colorist Joel Warren, who's worked with Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Alba.

Radu, the one-name-is-all-I-need fitness trainer who created a series of exercise tapes with Cindy Crawford, launched his own massive 8,300-square-foot exercise facility in late 2009. It includes a gym for exercise classes (martial arts, boxing, Pilates, and more), an Olympic-sized lap pool, a basketball court, and cardio and strength-training equipment. Radu offers body-conditioning classes multiple times a week, for an additional $35 a class.

Downstairs from the lobby, the Shops at the Plaza still look partially under renovation. But a branch of the hip downtown men's boutique Seize sur Vingt, luxury leather-goods empire MCM, and jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane have all set up shop, as did the Viennese pastry shop Demel with its cases of pristine Sacher tortes and authentic apple strudels ($5 to $8 a slice). But the windowless cafe in the below-street-level concourse does admittedly look a little bizarre, with its "outside" bistro tables next to the mall escalator.

The Plaza accepts only small pets. There's no charge, but owners must sign a waiver accepting financial responsibility for any damage their pet incurs. No extra treats or amenities are offered -- but the hotel's proximity to Central Park is a definite plus.

Fairly sizable standard rooms (475 feet with a king-size bed) and proximity to Central Park make the Plaza a good choice for families, but don't count on any free Wiis or PlayStations like at the Gansevoort or Four Seasons. Deluxe rooms come with two double beds, and the Edwardian Suite has a separate living room. Cribs and playpens are free, and rollaways can be requested for $75 a night.

Eloise -- the character from Kay Thompson's books who lived at the hotel -- is (surprise, surprise) the mascot for kids at the Plaza. Cute Eloise room-service menus are available (6 a.m. to 11 p.m.), with reduced $10 breakfasts (pancakes, waffles), charmingly named $8 "I'm Not a Chicken" soup, and $14 entrees of "Mac and Cheese, Please."

Babysitters can be arranged through the concierge for $17 an hour (minimum four hours).

Midtown East is by and large a pretty safe area. The Plaza is very well lit at night, with doormen right outside the door.

Given the hotel's '08 renovation and twice-daily housekeeping, rooms are spic-and-span. There's no mildew, the toilets and tubs gleam, and glasses and plates sparkle in the restaurant and bars. It's hard to get cleaner than this.

Dessert at Oak Room

Lounge menus at the Champagne Bar and the Rose Club, plus a 24-hour room-service menu presided over by chef Gene Cormier, all have a strong French influence -- croque monsieurs and goat-cheese terrines share space with turkey-club staples. Not surprisingly, the bars' cocktail prices (around $18-$22) and the cost of room service veer into the ridiculous (the $34 Continental breakfast, the $14 energy shake). Other than four seats near the front desk, there's also no place to sit in the lobby other than the Champagne Bar, where you're swiftly approached by a tuxedoed waiter carrying a pricey menu.

The hotel spent $6.5 million revamping the lavish Palm Court in 2009. Despite the extensive renovations, however, the Palm Court maintains its original grandeur; the recognizable stained-glass ceiling (seen in films such as The Great Gatsby) remains, as does the business attire dress code. Open for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, Palm Court specializes in Chef Willis Loughead's farm-to-table dishes, with the most expensive items (such as a seafood salad) priced at $27.

Todd English's Food Hall, a glorified food court opened in TK, offers a more low-key atmosphere. Set up with eight sit-down stations, patrons can opt for any of the following foods: sushi, dumplings, flatbread pizza (English's specialty), tapas and wine, charcuterie, bakery, or the grill. Guests in a hurry can call ahead to place a pick-up order, or can grab a pre-made sandwich or salad to go.

Your event begins with a grand entrance.

The inspiration for the movie Bride Wars, the Plaza has long been one of the most desirable wedding venues in NYC. But it's not necessarily the best wedding destination in Manhattan. For example, some people consider the Pierre to be even more beautiful, and the more affordable New York Palace offers a similarly historic, ornate space. And, of course, the Plaza's grand, gilded opulence isn't for everyone. You can get a bit more stylistic flexibility without giving up the Central Park views at the Mandarin Oriental.

CPS Events at the Plaza attends to every detail of the wedding. This makes planning a little easier, but it also means that you're stuck paying a premium for just about everything. Of course, the Plaza is not ideal for couples who need to keep a careful eye on their budget.

• Wedding Size: Up to 450 guests; only one wedding at a time

• Ceremony Locations: The Terrace Room

• Reception Locations: The Grand Ballroom

• Wedding Packages: The standard wedding package includes passed hors d'oeuvres, three cocktail stations (carved meat, pasta, seafood, sushi, and more), a three-course plated dinner, a custom-designed wedding cake, a premium open bar, wine and champagne throughout dinner, a bridal suite adjacent to the ballroom, and a free suite for the bride and groom on their wedding night.

• Extra Fees and Restrictions: If the Terrace Room is used for a ceremony there is a steep, $12,000 room rental fee. Also, while other hotels typically include services like a day-of wedding coordinator in the price of the standard package, this is not the case at the Plaza (they charge an extra $600 for this). In addition, note that valet parking costs a hefty $65 per car.

• Music: You'll have to find your own musician or DJ (no extra fees associated). Note, however, that Bentley Meeker Lighting and Staging is the exclusive provider for all lighting and audiovisuals.

• Food: No doubt, the food is superb. Supposedly, all items are prepared and served within 36 hours of being harvested at CPS Events' own organic farm in upstate New York. You can choose a custom menu from just about any conceivable cuisine, including kosher and special kids' menus (for kids under 12 years old).

• Spa Treatments: The on-site Warren-Tricomi Salon offers hair and makeup wedding packages.

• Honeymoon Suite: A one-bedroom Edwardian Suite is free for the bride and groom on their wedding night.