Virgin Hotels New York City — Hotel in New York

My 4 star rating in the Service category reflects upon the awkwardness and lack of access to appreciate the open common spaces throughout the hotel.

Great open spaces, but no good way to appreciate them: The ads for the hotel boast "4 bars" but only one was ever open. Most of the open spaces off limits, not staffed, not very accessible for just hanging out like most people want to do at a nice hotel. When you have striking decor and beautiful views from gigantic windows, most patrons like to spend some time in the experience. Rooftop patio closed entire time. Only available for private parties. Entire pool club and bar closed (both indoor and outdoor). The coffee bar is really an extension of the restaurant, tucked away to the side, an awkward place. The Everdene restaurant/bar was the only truly accessible open communal space where one could hang out; but of course since it is a restaurant/bar, eating or drinking is obligatory. It is a beautiful space with a nice bar and striking outdoor view of the skyline. We were able to enjoy the bar only on our first night. On both subsequent evenings we were annoyed when going to the Everdene bar to find it filled with large groups of people, leaving nowhere for us to sit at the bar. There are two or three beautiful lounge sections (couches and comfy chairs) we could have used instead, but these lounge sections displayed "reserved" placards on both nights and we never ever saw anyone show up to use them. IMO the big group hogging up the bar should have been seated elsewhere (lounge or table) to allow for singles or smaller groups of two or three people to sit at the bar. Since we never saw anyone seated in any of the reserved lounge sections leads me wonder if the staff automatically reserves them to prevent anyone from sitting there at all. Whatever the motive or cause, we were relegated to having drinks at the dinky cafe tables in the restaurant section, far away from the bar and out nearly alone in a gigantic room... at a dinky table. A nice comfy chair, like a club chair, would have lessened the insult.

There was no complimentary coffee or water in the lobby... just dog treats. And the dogs didn't even get a water bowl. Was there any complimentary coffee other than in the room?

The GOOD STUFF: We had a great bartender the one night we were able to sit at the Everdene bar on 11/23. And I liked the awesome desk clerk one day who was very friendly and approachable, enthusiastically greeting everyone who walked through the lobby, and wore awesome rhinestone studded cat glasses!! Our room was excellent, with an incredible 30th floor view of the Empire State Building! The bed was very comfy, with nice sheets and pillows (I'm very picky about my pillows and this was good). The bathroom/shower were excellent - love the rainfall shower from the ceiling. Robes and bedroom shoes were a very nice touch. We arrived about four hours before checkin, having planned on asking the staff to hold our bags prior to checkin time. But the desk clerk informed us that our room was already ready and asked us if we wanted to go ahead and check in!! - so convenient and awesome! On the day we left, our flight out wasn't for another 8 hours after our checkout time, but the staff was very agreeable to holding our bags for us!

I've only stayed at one other Virgin, in Dallas. Dallas Virgin is much more dramatic and eye-popping (elevators completely mirrored and lacquered in red, with red light and red-lit buttons; ALL shower fixtures in red, and lavatory fixtures in brass). And open common areas are more accessible an staffed... even in a snow storm which shut down the city! NYC Virgin could use more of that. I would stay at Dallas Virgin again, but NYC Virgin needs to offer more and up its game - too many other hotels seem less rigorous in the way space is utilized and available.

But if you have the right room at NYC Virgin, views are AMAZING! Hopefully they will get better about how they offer spaces...

Ok, I don’t usually leave a review until after I’ve checkout but after two interactions with staff tonight I decide to post a review before the end of my stay. First, I’ll say, the location of the hotel is great. Conveniently located and the views from the 32 floor are impressive. We did upgrade to an Empire State Building view which was well worth it. Checkin was not difficult. The front desk staff were friendly and helpful. After checkin we hit our first “snag” the elevators… The elevators are unnecessarily complicated. Why reinvent the wheel? Are up and down buttons really that complicated? Instead, the Virgin elevators have a touchpad requiring you to scroll to pick your floor then it tells you which elevator to ride. Sometimes, it asks you to swipe your room keycard before it will let you select your floor. Other times not. Once on the elevator, you’re going to the floor you’ve selected. Usually this is not a problem unless you change your mind and want to go to another floor…pool floor, restaurant floor, gym floor… then you have to get out and swipe your card making another selection…because…the elevators have no working floor selection buttons inside of them. Why??? I like technology as much as anyone but now a staff person has to be stationed in the ground floor elevator area to help guests with this unnecessarily complicated process. Is this cost effective? Up and down buttons are known and easy to use. Why over complicate a process everyone is already familiar with? *Now, speaking of staff, tonight we took our youngest to the pool to swim. The pool closes at 8:00pm. We got there at 7:10pm. Around 7:35pm me and another member of our party approached the pool bartender to order drinks and were told she had shut down the bar because she closes at 8pm. We informed her she still had over 20 minutes but she insisted she was closed for the night even though she was still making two drinks for another customer. We returned to our chairs by the pool and within minutes, 7:41pm to be exact, another staff member came around telling us and others on the pool deck that the bar closes at 7:45. We informed her what we were told at the bar and she said the bar closed at 7:45. I showed her the time and it was 7:41. She was rude and had an attitude. I informed her that this would not make for a good review for the hotel. Her response was, “I don’t care, reviews don’t affect me.” So, here we go… The Virgin NY Claims to be a Luxury Boutique Hotel…” *First, to claim that title one must earn it. Rude staff doesn’t help. *Next, I’ve been staying in the hotel for 3 days and in that time the cover of the room key scanner has been missing from our door. It looks cheap and sloppy. Pictures to follow. The picture with the black cover is what it should look like. *Next,,, One of our party has a broken button in their shower making it difficult to operate the shower properly -which was mentioned to staff but nothing has bern done about it in the three days we’ve been here. Pictures of the broken shower button to follow -one of what it should look like (red button) and one of the broken missing button. Again, overall the location of the hotel is great but rude/disrespectful staff, cheap - sloppy finishes, poor maintenance and untimely responses to maintenance request affecting customer comfort DOES NOT give Virgin Hotel New York the right to consider itself a “Luxury Boutique Hotel” in my opinion. If Virgin NY allows its staff to treat guests the way we were treated and doesn’t repair damaged hotel property in a timely manner, then, in my opinion, I wouldn’t consider Virgin NY a Luxury Boutique Hotel. And given our experience, I think it’s fair to say there are plenty of other hotels in the area offering comparable accommodations. Unfortunately, our experience has been less than “Luxurious.” And contrary to what the rude young woman/staff member at the pool said tonight, I believe reviews do matter. My advice, consider other hotel options if...

My first time experiencing a few overnights in NYC, especially over the holidays, was booked at the Virgin Hotels New York. I discovered the hotel through Chase Travel and saw it had their “Edit” option. This option includes upgrades, hotel credit, and breakfast for all in room guests. I trusted that Chase automatically vetted the hotel because they were advertising it as a luxury property. Prior to my stay I emailed the general manager, Denise Luna, at Virgin Hotels. I expressed my excitement and importance of my holiday travel and my anticipation to the stay at their hotel. Henry Salcedo (a “Yes Agent”) responded to the email, so the hotel was aware of our excitement and expectations.

When we first arrived on 12/22 we were greeted by a hotel lobby with zero heat. The temperature outside was at least 15°. The hotel staff at check in all were wearing heavy winter coats, and gloves. There was no uniformity to the staff and it appeared to be a low end hotel based on their uniforms, the dirty lobby floor, the lack of heat. I was embarrassed that I even brought my partner to this hotel. Especially for the first NYC experience. The gentleman that checked us in had a smile and was friendly. He mentioned that he met my family member, which was a shock, and I told him he must have been mistaken. (This mention of my family was later discovered to be from an amenity, that brother personally dropped off at the hotel previously as a surprise, and the front desk attendant spoiled the surprise.) During the check in, the attendant never mentioned he was unable to upgrade us (as I paid for), never explained we had breakfast included, never explained we had a $100 hotel credit and where it could be used. (By the way the hotel only lets you use it on the 3rd floor.)

Our room on the 17 floor had an amazing view of the Empire State building. The room was a good size, and minus the ceiling light hanging and the wireless charger not working, there were no issues inside the room. The shampoos, soaps, and lotions appeared to be a good quality. We did call down for towels prior to check out, because the only two they provided were still wet from the night before. It took over 30 minutes with no towel delivery, and we had to check out, so we had to use the wet towels.

The breakfast on the 4th floor is something the hotel should get rid of. They are not set up for service at all. They had 2 servers, a hostess, a busser, and a manager. Every guest in the restaurant appeared angry and always waiting on something, including us. Coffee, tea, waters all came out after the food was already on the table. Waiting for the food also was a 20-40 minute wait, so picture not even getting to enjoy your coffee while you wait. The second day of breakfast, which we should have skipped from the horrible service the day before, I walked down to the 3rd floor, found the manager, and had to ask him to help his own staff because they were extremely bad at their job. The manager never apologized, but finally stepped in to help. It still did not help the service quality. Literally every table around me was complaining. They need a lot of help in hospitality, the hotel try’s to appear upscale but the service is not even half of what it needs to be.

The best quality service we found throughout the stay was with the bartenders on the 3rd floor. They appeared happy to be there, great conversation, great drinks. These guys should actually be running the service, they apologized on behalf of the hotel when we voiced our concerns. They actually made attempts to make our experience more enjoyable, and unfortunately was the only experience we left the hotel happy about.

When checking out, we were asked how our stay was. I we responded “eh” and she said “awe that’s too bad, we don’t like to hear that”. But being in hospitality, that should’ve prompted her to immediately try to talk to us or ask what we could’ve done to make your experience better. She never inquired...