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Conrad New York Midtown hotel is no longer ‘all suite’

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This is a quick coda to my review of the Park Hyatt New York on Monday.

In the article I listed a few other recommended points hotels, including the two Conrad properties. I favour these because they are both ‘all suite’ and so you are guaranteed a good sized room.

It turns out, however, that Conrad New York Midtown got crafty during its recent renovation, which saw the hotel converted into a Conrad from what used to be ‘The London NYC’ hotel.

Some suites were carved up to create a handful of small ‘City View Deluxe Rooms’. The price gap between these rooms and the standard suites is tiny. You’d be crazy to book one for cash and I doubt anyone does.

Hilton Honors redemptions are now primarily pushed into these new ‘City View Deluxe Rooms’. That said, I was able to find some dates where you could still book a Junior Suite for the standard 95,000 points rate.

On a ‘cents per point’ basis the City View Deluxe Rooms are still not bad value as a redemption, but it does feel as if the cash price is artificially inflated. Pay 10% more in cash and you’d get a suite almost twice as big.

Conrad New York Downtown, in Battery Park, remains ‘all suite’ – I have stayed here a few times and liked it. Some people don’t like the location but, for anyone looking to do the core tourist sites such as the Statue of Liberty, it works very well. The express subway lines can also get you uptown in a matter of minutes.


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Comments (59)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • SimplySimon says:

    Re ESTA – make sure that your application is actually processed and does not remain just an application. I had thought I had a proper ESTA until the morning of travel when I was informed that my “application has lapsed”!!

    • NorthernLass says:

      Conversely, it may have been authorised but no notification sent as I found out after a couple of days stressing!

      • Mick S says:

        I never had a notification for approval, and I think I’ve had 4 ESTA’s now. Always have to manually check.

        • Mikeact says:

          Completed and paid for wife and self tonight…hit the ‘pay now’ button at 7.10pm. Approval email received 7.54pm.
          Pretty good service.
          I don’t know how many ESTA’s I’ve had, as well as a working/resident visa going back a few years, so whether that has made a difference I don’t know .

          • Mikeact says:

            ps I actually knew it had been approved a few minutes before their email, as payment flashed up from Curve !

          • Mikeact says:

            £22.45 showing.

    • ChrisC says:

      Surely you checked your application status after you applied?

      Most get approved within a couple of hours – if not minutes of applying.

      • NorthernLass says:

        It was nearly 5 years since our last application, and we’d had a confirmation email that it had been received so just assumed that we’d get another email when they were approved as couldn’t remember what happened the previous times! The application before that would have been in 2012 so we were really out of the loop.

    • Gordon says:

      It is just the application that lapses.someone that is not a frequent flyer can be caught out by this….

      • ChrisC says:

        Surely if you apply then you’d check regularly that it’s been approved (or not) and just not assume it has.

        It’s easy to check the progress of the application. You don’t even need the (very long) application number just your passport details.

        • Gordon says:

          Yes it is not difficult, But You will be surprised at some people….

          • Man of Kent says:

            Thanks for the heads-up, renewed this morning. You don’t get an email saying it has been approved it just says that the status has changed. Took about an hour between application and approval.

  • ChrisC says:

    Re ESTA good idea to screenshot and down load the approval screen to your phone or iPad .

    Even though it’s supposed to be electronic I’ve been asked twice to show it.

    SOF airport seem to like to see it as well (as per the Ba flyer talk B oard)

    First time was by TAP at 4am at LHR and trying to log into ESTA at that time of day wasn’t fun.

    SOF airport seem to like to see it as well (as per the Ba flyer talk B oard)

    Second time as at AMS but I was prepared for thst!

    • duggie1982 says:

      Yeah i have been asked a few times to show my esta, pain in the but. I once entered my esta number on to one of the passport pages but probably broke all sort of rules doing that

  • SM says:

    Just trying to apply for ESTA Do you have to upload your passport?

    • Mikeact says:

      No.

    • ChrisC says:

      When I did mine last year there was an option to upload it but I only saw it after I had manually entered the number etc etc ! Would have saved so much trouble entering it all then checking all the numbers and dates were right – and of course I had transposed two of the numbers which luckily I had spotted.

      It doesn’t store a copy of your passport just reads the details

  • Chris says:

    I’m in the Conrad Midtown at the moment. They have had standard ‘rooms’ for a couple of years at least (pre-Covid). I’ve been staying at this hotel regularly for 10 years, and the London and latterly as the Conrad. It’s a great hotel and the suites are great for a longer stay. Suite prices are reasonable and within my company travel policy budget. Shame about the redemptions as I wouldn’t stay here in a standard room.

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