The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown — Hotel in New York

Our family of 4 checked into the Luxury Collection in the beginning of October for a 3 night stay for my daughter's 16th birthday after having stayed at what seems like most of the 4 and 5 star Bonvoy portfolio hotels in the area. (We frequent NYC for work and theatre trips and usually stay midtown/Times Square). After seeing the hotel come online this summer, I was pleased to see a hotel of this caliber offer suites at reasonable prices and for points redemption. After comparing with many nearby hotels, including the JW, St Regis, W, Westin, Renaissance and Marriott, this seemed to be the best value for being able to sleep 2 adults and 2 children comfortably with good in-room amenities. We usually take ample advantage of our ability to access the club lounge, so we were also considering the JW Essex, but ultimately the room configuration available at the Luxury Collection won out. As a Titanium member, I was also hoping to use some of my Nightly Upgrade Awards to get us something a bit larger, if possible. The one bedroom suites are a little over 500 sf over 2 rooms w/bathroom and with my husband and I working remotely during our stay, we wanted a little extra elbow room, so I put in my awards and checked the box for the one bedroom apartment. Booking online was easy and a couple of weeks before our trip I saw that the price in points had dipped, so I rebooked with the lower rate. I also saw a variety of mixed comments on the management changeover from Hilton to Marriott while online which led me to do another search for hotels in the area. Again, I found that this was really the best location/amenity value and decided to stick with it and hope for the larger room. Three days prior to check-in I saw that my Upgrade Award had not been accepted despite showing online availability to higher categories, so I called the hotel and asked for the Front Desk Manager. The operator replied that they were not available, and gave me an email address. I sent an email explaining the situation, the birthday celebration, etc. but by the end of the day when I hadn't heard back, I called the hotel again and this time was transferred to Monica at the front desk. She was very helpful, thanked me for my status and said that the hotel had already upgraded me to a Central Park view one bedroom suite. I asked about the Upgrade Award and she said she was unfamiliar with that program and would refer me to her manager, Imran. Imran was also very helpful, thanking me for my status, confirming the Central Park view and found my earlier email. After I explained the situation, he promised to look into the Upgrade Award and get back to me. In addition, he sent me an amenity list for my daughter's birthday -very thoughtful. We spoke again the following day (day before check-in) at which point he pulled in a supervisor and was able to confirm my upgrade to a larger room category. He also emphasized my importance as a Titanium member and asked if I had chosen an amenity-I replied I had been too busy at work and had not and he said he would figure something out to make the birthday special. In short, Imran really delivered! We were upgraded to an Apartment on the 49th floor, which is almost 2,000 square feet and gorgeous with incredible views of Central Park, Times Square, the River, etc. The design updates are very tasteful and luxe and our whole family agreed that this is one of the nicest rooms we've stayed in in NYC. Absolutely worthy of a special occasion/celebration. (Complete with dining room and galley kitchen). In the dining room, my daughter was delighted to see a display with a beautiful chocolate birthday cake wishing her a happy Sweet 16 complete with gorgeous fruit bowl and bottles of Pellegrino and Pana. So thoughtful and really made her feel special! The location of the hotel is impeccable - it's a 10 minute walk to pretty much anywhere you want to be in midtown and the higher up floors have incredible views. In addition, the Byredo amenities and Frette linens/robes/slippers all helped us really get the luxury hotel vibe. We all agreed that we have found our new favorite place to stay in NYC! A special shout out to Imran for making our stay so special! |A couple of notes:|I asked to see the 1 bedroom suite as I won't always have Upgrade Awards, and I found it to be lovely and big enough for 4 people for a weekend stay.|It feels like some of the renovations/rehab are still being undertaken, including the lobby, which is unimpressive and bland for a hotel in this category and I hope to see some improvements there. Additionally the rooms clearly have some 'fresh' design elements combined with some older ones from the Conrad days, (along with some unbranded elements i.e. key cards, slippers, etc.) and I'm assuming these will be addressed in the future. |We have not eaten at the restaurant, Dabble, but the style is very cute and I wouldn't hesitate to grab a meal and drinks there on a future trip|Although there are definitely a few systems challenges with the changeover, the staff is unfailingly pleasant and ready to help-from the front desk (Monica) to guest services (Imran) to housekeeping (will edit when I remember her name). You just have to know what you are requesting and be ready to explain the Bonvoy details...

It really boggles me why the hotel management does not reply to emails and queries, all the time & that customers continuously face unintended charges in their bills. I have sent three emails to the hotel since Sept, copying the front desk manager about my booking and have yet to receive a reply. Direct calls to the hotel remain unanswered. This is in line with the multitude of reviews in Tripadvisor, Google reviews, in all forums pertaining to this hotel - FlyerTalk, Marriott Bonvoy group discussions on the various social media platforms. How would a hotel run a business when nothing gets answered? Just reading the reviews, the gripe is with endless billing errors, calls and emails not answered.

Yet, miraculously, all these reviews on Tripadvisor are replied to promptly from the so-called General Manager (just have a look at the 100% replies to the reviews). Are the replies coming from a bot, since real, genuine emails directed to the hotel are ignored and yet, public reviews always elicit a response with certainty?

With regards to endless billing errors made by the front desk - overcharging, charging nights for prepaid rates, not taking off the charges for breakfast from the bills of Marriott Bonvoy Platinum and above members even though they chose breakfast as a benefit, use of the compulsory destination fee for F & B and not deducting them from the final invoice, etc, etc, the list is endless. When Marriott first took over from Conrad in July 2024, it was understandable that the transfer could get off to a rocky start. But c'mon, it has been a good 6 months and yet, they don't seem to have ironed anything out. In fact, in some discussions, Bonvoy members think that the staff are not clueless to what is happening.

I write this with much bewilderment because everyone says that the rooms and suites are a real attraction here. Why wouldn't they want to improve on their service and billing practices if the front desk faces long lines every day to do with erroneous folios? Surely, the manager needs to step up to put things right. Is it good hotel sense when you get reviews aplenty with the tone of Do Not Stay Here, If You Stay Here, It Is your Fault!!, Bad Management, Endless Service Failures, etc.

I have been hoping, for the past 6 months, that the hotel would be able to get their act together and I am still hoping! This is because I have a 5-night booking for a very special event, flying all the way from Singapore to New York just for this occasion. I would love to stay here, but am weary of reading negative reviews of the same kind every day. Is this going to be wishful thinking? Will we be stressed out during our stay on having to check our bill every single night for errors and having to approach the front desk to right it? In the end, they may lose another potential customer like me, who may love the size and decor of the suites, but will stay away heeding the numerous advice of those who have stayed, simply because I can't trust that we will have a smooth vacation due to non-replies and billing issues.

So Luxury Collection on 54th Street, please make the necessary corrections and improvements, so that I can come enjoy your gorgeous suites. And please also do not post a reply here to my review with the standard line that you are sorry to hear of issues with regards to billing & deposit, and to contact your management team to resolve the problem.

The irony of which is that the responses ask the customer to contact the management team, when in the first place, the issue was with management team not responding to emails! I wait for more positive reviews with abated breath & am still holding hope that I will get to stay with you come April! And please, reply to my email with queries about my booking, and not through here!

Update: The general manager responded & we have since been in contact, thank you. This is a positive move by management & let's hope their efforts to improve will come...

My partner and I stayed at this property, formerly a Conrad by Hilton, in 2022 and 2023, and unfortunately again in 2024. I am appalled, if not disgusted by how poorly this "luxury" hotel has become since Marriott took over.

While it was a familiar comfort to see our usual valets, bellmen and daytime front desk agents, our final stay here this past week was a disaster. (Of note, this property is shockingly still considered an Amex "Fine" Hotel. )

We booked a corner suite for 4 nights, and we became concerned of water running down the bedroom wall when the shower ran. It was seeping into the carpet, and the stains on the millwork suggest that this has been a recurring problem. We informed the evening crew at the desk, and they said they would either fix the problem or move us to another room while we were out to dinner and a show. We got back after 11 pm and were told the issue had been resolved. Not only was the issue not fixed at all, turning on the shower continued exacerbating the problem. It appeared the wallpaper was going to peel right off if water continued to run. I've attached photos of what Marriott considers as "fixed".

My partner went back to the desk and got keys to a new room. However, the new room was a downgrade from the room we originally paid for. He said that they were going to give us Marriott points. I went back to the desk and said I did not want Marriot points, I wanted to be reimbursed for the difference. The desk, the concierge and the evening manager all echoed that because we booked through Amex, we'd have to take it up with them. None of them seemed to care that this was an obvious problem - wet carpet, possible mold growth, health risks, etc, and few, if any, contingency plans existed.

I spent quite some time on the phone with Amex trying to move to another property, but because it was then near 1 AM, we had few options at such short notice. We ended up staying in the downgrade room for a night, packed up for a second time, and then relocated the following afternoon to the tier of room we had actually paid for.

Three different rooms within 24 hours, ambivalent guest services, and only Marriott points offered as a restitution for the mess. I would never willingly choose to stay at a Marriott property, especially after the paltry point "bonus" they gave us. (A 1-night stay at a property comparable to "The Luxury Hotel" in say Orlando, Florida, is ~78k points. 40k points doesn't approach that at all. Regardless of the point comps they gave us, again, I'm not a fan of Marriott ever in the future.)

Another glaring issue at this hotel is the disconnect between guest services answering the phones or responding on the mobile app. It took over 1 hour to get a reply to our request for waters and a steamer. It took significant time to get anyone at guest services to answer the phone, and it always took multiple callbacks to finally get services initiated. When this was a Conrad, we could text them 24/7 and have anything we needed within minutes.

I would implore anyone to consider other options before this so-called "luxury" hotel in Manhattan, as its self-indulgent title reflects nothing more than a buzzword for an otherwise average property. I lament that the property owners changed management from Hilton to Marriott. Hilton actually knows customer service,...