Club Quarters Hotel Grand Central, New York — Hotel in New York

I booked a room with two beds three months in advance, but when I arrived at 5 PM to check in, I was told by a manager that he “had to balance his house” and asked me to wait a bit. After 5-10 minutes he returned to say there were no rooms with 2 beds available. Instead, I could have a queen bed, a bigger room, and a kitchenette. I explained politely that I did not need a bigger room or a kitchenette, I needed 2 beds for me and my friend who did not want to sleep together in the same bed, which is why I booked a room with 2 beds. He said there was “tight availability” for the room I booked, so he would put me in a queen room with a sofa bed. At my age, I know a sofa bed means back problems, so I was suspicious, but decided to give it a try because I had just driven 7 hours and I wanted to relax. However, there was no sofa bed, instead there was a long bench at the table in the kitchenette. The very nice man from housekeeping, who had come with bedding for a couch, left and came back with a foldable cot on wheels with a 3 inch thick mattress. I went back to the manager and told him that logically we could not use the rolling cot because it was too short for my 5’10” friend and too flimsy for my 200+ pounds. This cot was obviously meant for a child, but he insisted it constituted a second bed. He then said he would take 40$ off the queen bedroom and then put us in another room with 2 beds the following night. This would involve us repacking early in the morning the next day, rechecking in and unpacking at 3:30 AM (which is when we got back from our plans) just to pack again in the morning. I explained that our schedule made moving rooms really inconvenient. He said I gave you a choice to replace the room with 2 beds with option (1) sleep in one queen bed (the cot was a joke) both nights with 40$ off both nights or option 2) sleep in the same bed for the first night with 40$ off, then repack/unpack to get the room with 2 beds that you booked for the second night with no discount. Both options were bad. At this point I went back to the room, just demoralized, to see what my friend wanted to do. We were steeling ourselves at the eventuality of sleeping in one bed which was the exact thing we wanted to avoid (hence booking a room with 2 beds) for either 1 or 2 nights. Maybe he thought all women are generally excited to cuddle up with their friends all night like 12 year olds at a sleep over, but we simply like our own space. It also occurred to me to wonder if he would have told 2 grown men not in a relationship to hop in a queen bed together. Just as I was calling their corporate line, the manager magically showed up and offered us 2 rooms, hooray! If the review ended here, I would have given 3 stars. Honestly if they had the room we booked right away and it had air conditioning it would have been 4.5. Unfortunately, the room I picked out of the two he gave us had no fridge (which the other one had), and the air conditioning was broken, in August. I found this out at 3:30 AM after returning utterly exhausted. I had no energy left to go complain since we were leaving a few hours later. I would probably have been told to pack up and go to another room. At check out the next morning I told the desk staff there was no air conditioning and a man casually said, “Sorry about that”. No offer of a discount or even eye contact. I was not going another round with these people. Stars...

A fantastic hotel with lots more going for it than you might know at first.

The reception is small but I arrived at a good time and check in was instant. When full with people checking in and going up in the elevator it can look a little chaotic, but do not go on first impressions.

The rooms are fine but there is more than meets the eye. Food can be ordered direct to the room from dozens of places or from the downstairs Italian place. The 27th floor room and balcony has free snacks, fruit and drinks all day (tea and coffee then wine from five). The internet is always free both in room and up on floor 27 with computers to use there.

Meetings can be held there or just to relax. Your phone can become a mobile door key with their app which also acts as a guide when in New York. There is free chilled, purified water on each floor in refillable bottles. Rooms have yoga mats. There is a fitness floor. The TV has all kinds of functions beyond watching programmes such as streaming to it. There is a cupboard on the landing near the rooms with more room items to self-refill if needed. These are clever touches that really added to my stay.

The rooms for central NY are a decent size with helpful bathroom items, iron and board, seating/office area and bed, various lighting options and USB charing.

I only had three very minor issues. First, a slightly loose electrical fitting (room 2109 near the door) and secondly, a crack in the sink. The other minor issue was the loud noise of the air conditioning but that was because it was highly effective. After a while it can just be turned off.

But these were minor issues and did not impact on my stay at all. Looking out directly at the Empire State building in front of me kind of balanced it out. The shower was good, towels are plentiful. The bed and bedding were fine. I like their commitment to minimising washes, you can choose when they change the bed and towels.

I'll be back. The place is great, the staff are friendly and chat when they see you. It's a feel good place. The staff cannot be more helpful and importantly, they seem happy and proud to work there. We had some laughs and the free wine@5 kept flowing.

Explore floor 27, order some food, get free coffees and cold water all day, try the linked restaurant directly from the hotel. Have free snacks, free fruit, relax in the club room and the balcony. This is a different experience, more like being in an apartment block than a hotel. But then apartments don't have free coffee either!

I've given a five star review. I'm not saying this is a perfect place, the lobby is small, there are tiny quibbles I mentioned. But you know what, I didn't care a jot. The experience here was great, the staff were helpful and the various features are a step beyond other places.

I think of this more like managed apartments than a hotel, if you have everything you need such as socket adaptors and so on, you'll have a great experience. This is a different experience to an old style hotel.

The Thai food I ordered directly from my laptop is on my way to the room, last night it was great crispy chicken from another place. You manage your own staff here. Somehow any minor quibbles go away when you can order food, get free refills and relax looking out at...

My experience of staying for 6 nights (end of May 2025).

1. There are only two washing/drying machines in the laundry room on the 3rd floor. Although they are free to use, they are always in use unless you are lucky or at afternoon. It is not suitable for business or tourists.
2. There is only one coffee machine on the 27th floor. Maybe it is because of the free, so you often have to queue in the morning. Unless you go before 6:30, you don’t have to queue.
3. The hotel is very close to the Grand central station, and there are many bus stops near the hotel, which is convenient for transportation.
4. The mattress is soft, and some people may not be used to sleeping on it. My room is clean.
5. The furnishings and facilities in the room are different from the photos shown on the website. I don’t know if it’s because I booked it on the hotels website, the price is a little cheaper and the room on the 2nd floor is assigned.
6. The sound insulation in the room is acceptable. I didn’t hear too much noise from the next room and the corridor. Instead, I can hear the noise from the street outside through the window into the room. But I was not in the room during the day and only returned to the hotel room at night, so it had no impact on me.
7. The hot water in the bathroom was very hot and the water flow was large enough. It may also be because of the low floor, so there was no problem of insufficient water pressure.
8. The air conditioning temperature and air flow in the room can be adjusted. I think the air conditioning temperature is cold enough to pass the test of summer.
9. When checking in, no matter how many nights you stay, you need to pay a deposit of US$100. When you check out, this deposit of US$100 will be refunded. On my check-out day, the hotel immediately refunded it to me. I remember that I could only pay this US$100 with a credit card.
10. The hotel's large glass door has a sensor. You can put your hand close to the sensor and the door will open automatically, which is very convenient for pulling luggage into and out of the hotel. Because the door is heavy.
11. You can see a water dispenser in the corridor of each floor. It is free, and it is very considerate to place free plastic bottles above the water dispenser for residents to use.
12. The front desk staff on the first floor is available 24 hours a day. They are very enthusiastic and polite.
13. On the check-out day, you can leave your luggage at the counter for "free". After the luggage is handed over, you will be given a receipt and you can pick up your luggage with this receipt. My luggage was stored until 8 pm. This is very convenient for tourists.
14. There are three elevators in the hotel, so you don’t have to wait for a long time during peak hours.
15. Everyone has different feelings about acceptable room prices. I think the hotel facilities, location, transportation, and services provided by the hotel (such as luggage storage and free drinking water) are acceptable in downtown Manhattan. For tourists, I highly recommend booking in Manhattan. If you want a cheaper price, you need to sacrifice the hotel's location, travel time, etc. The wool comes...