We booked two nights here using Free Night Certificates shortly after the renovation. On paper, this looked like an easy redemption. Some parts exceeded expectations. Others didn’t.
Arrival
Union Square, not Midtown
The hotel sits on Park Avenue South. From the street, it’s more understated than you might expect from a W.
The Room
Entry
You walk into a corridor first
The room is arranged around a long entrance hallway, which houses the bathroom and vanity area.
Bathroom + Vanity
Sink and mirror, with bathroom reflected
Compact but clean
The bathroom does the job, feels new, and was in noticeably better condition than many older Manhattan properties.
Main Room
Looking toward the window and seating area
The room’s strongest feature is the view. Union Square creates a sense of space that’s unusual in Manhattan and brings a lot of natural light into the room.
Beds
Padded wall instead of a headboard
Seating Area
Seating area by the window
The View
Open space in a dense part of the city
The view does more for the room than anything else inside it. Union Square creates a level of openness that many Manhattan hotels simply don’t have.
At Night
The same view, a few hours later
With an evening view like that, we spent plenty of time gazing out the window into the New York City night.
Breakfast (Seahorse)
Proper breakfast, not just a token offering
Avocado toast, done properly
More restaurant than hotel breakfast
This isn’t a buffet or a reduced menu. It’s a full restaurant breakfast. More importantly, it’s good. One of the better hotel breakfasts we’ve had.
Restaurant Space
A real restaurant, not a hotel add-on
The restaurant feels both part of, and separate from the hotel. It has its own entrance and doesn’t rely on hotel guests to work.
What We Booked
This is what the stay looked like on paper (cash rates shown for context):
Two nights (cash rates ~ $871 each)
Night 1: 85K FNC
Night 2: 85K FNC + 11K points
Upgrades
I applied one Nightly Upgrade Award to the first night. That cleared into a Premier Two Queen Park View room. The second night was booked as a standard room.
We stayed in the same upgraded room for both nights, without requiring a second upgrade.
Breakfast Benefit
Breakfast is officially for two as a Platinum benefit.
At check-in, the front desk confirmed it would cover three of us across both mornings.
Credits
The $40 destination fee was effectively turned into evening pre-dinner drinks. Charges and credits matched up cleanly on the folio.
How It Worked Out
This was a two-night booking that could have been slightly awkward. One upgraded night, one standard night, breakfast limits, credits to use.
None of that imposed itself during our stay. We checked in once, stayed in the same room, ate breakfast without thinking about it, and left.
Hallways
Design carries beyond the room
The same design vibe runs through the building.
Location
You’re:
close to the subway
in a part of the city people actually use
not dealing with Midtown congestion
It’s well located for this part of the city.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t a large room. It’s a well-placed room with a good view, a usable layout, and staff that make the stay run smoothly. We had booked as two separate nights.
As it should, it seamlessly felt like a single stay.