Sofitel New York — Hotel in New York

Title: Disappointing Experience for a Diamond Member at Sofitel New York

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

We recently stayed at Sofitel New York from August 26th to September 2nd (with 2 separate bookings) as a Diamond member, and unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. Here's a breakdown of my stay:

Pros:

1- Location: The hotel is conveniently located near 5th Avenue and within a 10-minute walk of Central Park. 2- Comfortable Bed: The bed in the room was exceptionally comfortable. 3- Breakfast Quality: The quality of the breakfast (à la carte only), was impressive.

Cons: 1- Lack of Loyalty Benefits: Despite being a Diamond member, there were no perks or welcome gifts provided including even welcome letter. We only received vouchers for welcome drinks. 2- Room Amenities: The room lacked basic amenities such as bottled water, coffee, and tea, which is unexpected for a Sofitel property. Every time, we needed a single bottle of water in the room, we had to call the front desk and with mostly, no answer at night 3- Staff Inefficiency: The front desk staff lacked skills and empathy, which led to several frustrating incidents (listed below) during our stay. 4- Hotel Maintenance: The hotel and the room showed signs of age and poor maintenance. 5- Pricey Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel was exorbitantly expensive, with 2 juices + 2 yoghurt granola costing us $108.

One of the most disappointing moments occurred on Wednesday evening when we returned late from the US Open and found that our key card wasn't working and we had to go back to the front desk to ask the staff to re-activate it . To our astonishment, we were informed that the room hadn't been secured for our second reservation, despite their confirmation during check-in that the entire stay was secured. They blocked our access to the room. I asked them to secure the room and for an unknown reason, my American Express credit card was not working. Considering I am Diamond member, I asked them to give me few hours to settle down things with AMEX and first thing in the morning I will come to the lobby to secure the room. They accepted but we were escorted to the room by someone from the security and no keycard was given to us to make sure we will secure the room the next day… It was a really embarrasing moment for us and we felt like illegals in the hotel depiste spending 150 nights per year in Accor hotels around the World.

In the morning, by calling AMEX, I discovered that my credit card had been blocked due to the hotel's attempt to pre-authorize it multiple times. At the front desk, I asked to speak with the General Manager (they informed that at the moment, they do not have one) and they introduced me to a lady who is in charge of their operations. I explained to her what we experienced the night before and despite understanding the situation, she told me that this is their procedure and « they have to run a business ». This is an unprofessional answer from someone working in a 5 star hotel.

Another issue we encountered was related to the use of "Suite Night Upgrade." Every time we spoke to a different staff member, the total amount for the stay was different, causing confusion.

Furthermore, there were no bottle of water, coffee, or tea in the room. My girlfriend wanted to make a tea and we called the reception who brought us a coffee machine with only coffee capsules. We called them to get some tea and they answered that they do not have tea to provide and if we want one, they suggested purchasing it from room service at a steep $20. This is unacceptable for a Sofitel property.

In summary, our stay at Sofitel New York had the potential to be pleasant, but it was marred by the staff's poor level of service we received. As a loyal Diamond member, I expected better treatment, and I'm left deeply disappointed by this experience. Sofitel and Accor should prioritize their loyal customers and their comfort, or I may need to consider staying at Marriott hotels...

Wait for renovation after septembre and will be perfect!|They are renovating everything we were the last client at the bar! So wait until it is renewed… the bar will be completely transformed, the lobby, the rooms, the fitness… curious to go there again after the renovation! |Pro:|- The staff! They know what is taking care of their customers! Thiam Bijou Khadi and her team took care of us, we had issues with some noise in the room and she tried to find the origin, she changed our room, Bijou and her staff really did everything to make us feel comfortable. She was really competent and friendly, really appreciated! Thank you Bijou! |- The location is great between 6th and 5th Avenue can get from 44th or 45th street. Easy access for subway, 4 min walk from Time square and Bryant park, 10 min from Central Park, 4 min to Summit one Vanderbilt and 10 min from Empire State…|- The comfort: it is a Sofitel so the bed is really comfortable, even the sofa bed is, kids enjoyed it. All is very clean, housekeeping very good. |- Bathroom is big and you even have a bath and a shower separate (not usual in NYC).. Balmain products soap, shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, shower cap, cotton pad, cotton swab, nail file, comfortable peignoirs, slippers… |- The view, but you need to have a room in the highest floors. From the terrace the view is sooo amazing: Empire State Building, Summit One (in room 2415)|- The cocktails are really good at the bar (but really expensive! The mojito is one of the best I had…|- Fun fact with kids: go in the lobby just in the middle of the stairs, on the circle and say something there, you can hear you echo, really fun with kids, mine loved it |- Some suites have a terrace which is amazing (but wait for renovation…)|- Breakfast (not sure if I need to write this in the pros or in the « could improve »…): the staff was really great, the breakfast was really good (we had pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruits, orange juice, tea…). But never saw a such expensive price! For me it is indecent… we were 4 with 2 kids (we were lucky it was included in the limitless status for us!) but it costed 320$! 48$ for 6 very small orange juice (we tough it was refill…), 39$ ( + tax + service means 50$) for 2 eggs Benedict????, 9$ a tea, 10$ for a side of 2 slices of bacon! I can pay for quality but here the indecency of the price goes over the quality… hope this will be more affordable when it will reopen… ||Could improve:|- no ice machine so always need to call room service (but they are very reactive!)|- The fridge is an automatic fridge so each drink you take is automatically on your bill… I hate those systems as I want to have a fridge and be able to put what I want in it… and have a choice of drinks I can buy in case I need it. Guess this will change with the renovation…|- No tea in the room… you get a coffee machine but not tea and if you want tea you have to pay! We do not drink coffee so at least there should be tea… hope this will be the case after renovation…|- The room is quite dark and even more when it is raining outside… guess it is due to the old fashioned French style… but sure it will be better after the renovation! |- The paper toilet… Could really be better…|- The terrace in the suites could be so amazing but they are old, nothing like in the pictures… not a lot of fourniture and old furniture… could be a piece of paradise, this part really needs renovation (our terrace was « sad »). Again looking forward for the renovation…|- The bar is dark and cocktails are pricy, happy hour is only beers and wine « less expensive » and one cocktail, I do not consider this as « Happy hour »|- The lobby was already closed for a part so did not feel like...

7 night stay at the Sofitel hotel in New York City was terribly unpleasant and not at all what I would expect from a “5 star hotel”. There are VARIOUS complaints and shortcomings of not only the hotel, but also its staff. I will list them properly below. ROOM SERVICE/ RESTAURANT: I think this was the worse experience I had throughout my stay. The restaurant of the Sofitel was closed at all hours due to Covid??? 1. Covid is in the PAST, there are no more masks required anywhere around the city (except metros and buses), there are no vaccination certificate required at any of the places I went to (museums, restaurants). I know this is a democrat state but a closed restaurant seems a bit extreme. Clearly a stunt for money saving using COVID as an excuse. In addition to the closed restaurant, room service only worked for breakfast. If you wanted lunch or dinner or even a snack or juice, you had to go out to get it. 24 hour room service is the expected standard for a “5 star hotel”, but the least we guests deserve is room service working from breakfast to dinner. These situations stated above are bad enough, but in addition to this, the mini fridge was empty and there were no packaged snacks available. CARD CAOS: My first bad experience with the cards at this hotel was during the first day. I lost my card, needed a new one, ans the system was down. I had to wait 20 minutes for a new one. This should NEVER happen! I also continuously had to wait 5-10 minutes to get a new card because there was somebody checking in and there was only one person working the reception. In the evening (early evening to late evening), reception was often left unattended. Another big problem I had was the cards itself stopped working after a short period of time (1 day). I would come back to the hotel and couldn’t get upstairs because my card kept being declined. Sometimes, the card would work on the elevator and then when I got to the door, it wouldn’t. Also, on the day I was checking out, I saw a guest checking in and coming back a couple of seconds later claiming his card was not working. BUSINESS CENTER: The printers in the business center are not working. ROOM/ PRODUCTS IN ROOM: My main issue with the room was that there were not proper doors in the bathroom. They were kind of like closet doors, they did not go all the way to the floor and had no locks. I won’t even comment on the towel except to say that in my life, I think I have utilized maybe 2 towels worse than this one. They were also not changed regularly despite us leaving it in the bathtub as instructed. There was only one towel when we first came even though there were 2 guests. The shower gel smelled nice. The pillows were great. SLOW SERVICE: We had to wait 45 minutes for a towel to be brought up to us. When we were checking out, we had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come up for our bags and had to call again. Concierge also put me on hold. Their security head was competent, when I needed assistance he was speedy to come up and was polite. OVERALL SERVICE: Pretty bad service at the front desk. When I needed a new key, about 5 days into my stay, I had to argue with a man for 20 minutes for him to give me a key. He would not accept a photo of my passport or ask me questions about my profile (address, phone number) in order to prove I was me, like most hotels do. As we were checking out, no questions were asked by the front desk if we had enjoyed our stay. ELEVATORS: To end this on a positive note, the elevators were fast. I would absolutely not recommend this hotel to anyone who wishes for a pleasant NYC stay! There are many hotels with similar pricing that are...