Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel

It’s not often that I give 5 stars to a hotel but this is well deserved. From the time we checked in, everyone was extremely pleasant and welcoming. And everyone we asked questions of was knowledgeable. We are Platinum so we asked for an upgrade on arrival. These days that’s usually a no-go but we got a great room with an outdoor seating area. The location is great and near many sightseeing spots too. All in all, top notch!

This was one of the worst experiences I've had in the Bonvoy program. This hotel refuses to offer Elite recognition with breakfast on the weekends despite it clearly being outlined in the terms on the website. The requirement is to offer breakfast restaurant if the lounge is closed or points. This hotel only offers points and not the breakfast option. Spoke to manager on duty. He said he was aware the hotel was violating the terms on the website and acted like it was Marriott's problem. He said the hotel has never offered breakfast and even boasted about 8 years of not following the contract terms. After an hour of being back and forth with him and a couple of other random front desk employees and the bonvoy hotline I checked out and he tried to charge me for a night's stay even though I'd only been there an hour trying to resolve an easy to fix problem. The manager on duty lost $1500 in room revenue over 2 days of continental breakfast for 2 people. So i think this is a pretty big red flag they can't resolve bigger customer issues if the employees aren't empowered to resolve a $20-$60 food and beverage credit when they are clearly in the wrong. Moved to the Marriott Marquis. Better elite recognition. "United States and Canada: If Lounge is closed or property does not have a Lounge or approved alternative, property to offer daily continental breakfast in restaurant for Member +1 or Member can choose 750 Points per night of Stay"

The Renaissance Midtown is located centrally near Penn Plaza, but leaves a lot to be desired given it's price point. The check-in/lobby is on the 6th floor and does not have any windows, so it's a pretty dim space. When I went the club space was under renovation so was not able to check that out. Elevators up to rooms are pretty slow. I booked a skyline view room with elite status. The website shows views of the Hudson river facing Westwards, however my room faced North with views of construction, other buildings and the HVAC systems on neighboring roofs. The room was booked for 2, but in room there's only 1 set of robes/slippers and 1 bottle of water. The coffee maker and accessories was in the closet instead of on the table, and instead the ice bucket was left out, but there's no ice machine on floor, so assuming you'd need to ring room service to actually obtain ice. Amenities in the bathroom are sparse, with wall-mounted dispensers for soap/shampoo/condition in the shower, a hairdryer and a bar of soap and small bottle of lotion at the sink. No comb, toothbrush, or other accessories were provided. Overall, if the room was in the $200+ range it'd be acceptable and even good, but at the $400+ charged there's much better options in the area.