WestHouse Hotel New York — Hotel in New York

I stayed at the WestHouse Hotel for over a week in April of 2025 and have been meaning to write about it for some time. I was generally happy with my experience, but I'm writing a review because I think its important for people to manage their expectations when coming here.

WestHouse describes itself as a 5-star luxury hotel on several booking sites. This is not the case. I would put it somewhere between 3 and 4. The room I stayed in was very tired-looking with paint peeling. Most to dislike were the edges of some of the blinds starting to disintegrate giving it a bit of a "rotting away" feel. However, these are merely aesthetic problems. The bed was comfortable, which is maybe the most important thing. There was construction out the window, but fortunately with earplugs, I could still get a good sleep-in.

I had some problems during my stay, and while I would have preferred the problems didn't happen, I was generally happy with how staff handled things when they did (how a problem is handled in my mind is more important than the problem itself).

First thing was my in-room heater did not work. They sent someone up to fix it the same day. It then worked for a little while, but eventually gave up again. The following day I returned to the room to find they had provided me with an reasonably effective portable heater. Both times I contacted the desk about this, theyir next action happened within a few hours, which I think is of a good standard.

The second issue was more major; the hotel started making daily charges to my card to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars total over several days. I had pre-paid for my stay via booking.com already, and this far exceeded any additional residence fee which should have been due at the end of the stay.

When I approached the front desk with this, they deeply apologised, and explained that it seemed to be an issue with the booking.com integration. The funds that were coming out of my card each day were essentially supposed to be coming out of the booking.com pre-payment (something to do with the card details sitting in the wrong "field" on their end, or booking.com's end, or something to that effect). I get the sense that staff dealt with this as quick as they could, but it still took a couple of days before the money was back in my account. I was very fortunate that I had the funds on me at the time that this did not affect my trip in any meaningful way, but it COULD have been absolutely disastrous for someone who did not have these funds available. I really hope this is a once-off.

Aside from the above, I have no further complaints about my time at the WestHouse. As for the positives, the provided meals are of a very good quality. The unusual addition of having not just breakfast provided, but also "tapas" and drinks between 5 and 8pm made a big difference to my stay in NYC. As someone who was doing a lot of theatre-going, not needing to go out to eat was very convenient. They cycled through different cuisines. I liked some more than others due to personal preference but they were all good quality.

I made use of the treadmills at the gym only the one time, but found the machines up to date and good quality.

I can 100% understand the disappointment of someone who stays at the WestHouse expecting 5-star luxury, only to be let down by actual standard when they arrive in their rooms (the lobby though DOES feel very fancy). But for those wanting a solid 3 to 4-star place in the city a nearby walk to the theatre district and subway stations, WestHouse could be the ticket! There's nothing that made me go "Wow!", but I think the unique addition of the evening meal is a highlight that very few other hotels in New York can boast. I think a modern refresh to the rooms would be really worth it. I managed to get a good deal when I stayed here, and if I managed to nab a similar price that's cheaper than the usual advertised one again, I would strongly consider coming again. And don't forget to factor in the residence fee as well when making...

Generally "ok" experience. Disappointing for a "5-Star" hotel (felt more like a 3-star hotel).

(Review is as of October 2024)

I booked a four-night stay at this hotel--one room for two people--for mid-October. I booked directly through the hotel website (i.e. not through a Third Party) back in April 2024. Our booking was Wednesday night through Sunday morning. I was aware of the resident fee ($55 per person per night) at time of booking.

On paper, this hotel boasts really luxurious amenities--beautiful rooms, fitness center, daily upscale breakfast (not continental--lots of breakfast options on-site), happy hour with tapas and desserts--but in reality, the execution of those amenities seemed to fall flat for us.

To echo other reviews, there were bags of trash/used towels in the hallway at all hours (they were finally removed on our last day) and the hotel is undergoing renovations/maintenance so getting an elevator took some time.

Personally, I did not realize that WestHouse was connected to another hotel--Park Central NYC--so another reason for the slower elevators is the elevators being shared between patrons across both hotels.

Upon entering our room, while it was nice, you could definitely see signs of age. Further, the heating/cooling felt off in our room as, even though our thermostat read 65 degrees, the room definitely felt warmer (even with the shades pulled down). The only reason why we did not ask about this is because we thought it would improve during our stay, but when it did not, we figured that we were heading home the next day anyway so changing rooms at that point seemed like an extra task we didn't have the energy to do. Additionally, there was a missed opportunity of "attention to detail"--the TV was on (Family Guy), a glass was missing, lamp shade missing a large screw, mirror at the desk was either dirty, cracked, or both. Bed was comfy, bathroom was nice, and views were great.

You're able to contact hotel staff directly through SMS text service on your phone, which is really convenient for when you need something sent up to the room. I've had experience with this type of service at other 4/5-star hotels where they'll honor essentially any request and are incredibly helpful with getting reservations or providing guidance on the area.

However, for WestHouse, it's possible that I misunderstood what services could be honored for this hotel because it seemed like they were unable to fulfill nearly every request I asked--this hotel does not supply bathrobes or slippers for guests (despite the robes being shown on marketing material on the website) and the staff was unable to provide us with OTC medication when one of my family members started to feel unwell. Thankfully they could provide a dental kit.

The daily breakfast and happy hour food offerings were "just ok". I'm not sure if they just received an "off" shipment of food but some of the dishes--namely the yogurt, eggs/frittata/egg dish, pastry breads, and cupcakes--were inedible.

There is a "bar" in the hotel lobby but it is purely decorative and is not in use. I was told by one of the hotel staff that it hasn't been in use since before the pandemic, but if I wanted to get a drink at the bar, then I could go to the bar on the Park Central NYC side to get food and drink. Seems like another missed opportunity for guests at WestHouse to enjoy WestHouse hotel's offerings. The space surrounding the decorative bar is really cozy and beautiful.

I know I've expressed unfortunate experiences above but I will say, the staff are friendly and honestly doing their very best given some of the items out of their control (i.e. the elevators). They would always greet us when we walk into the lobby and are eager to help in anyway they can. They do provide taxi assistance as well as help with luggage if needed. There's lovely refreshments in the lobby--fresh flavored water that has a new flavor daily--and the check in/out process is really efficient and easy.

Not sure I'd visit again but I wish the...

If I could give a zero star to this one, I would! Not because the hotel was bad; but because of false advertisement! Nothing about this hotel is five star! If someone is happy with this hotel, it means to me that they have not experienced a true five-star hotel and/or a five star customer service. This is at best a 3.5 star hotel with nice amenities and at a very nice location. They charge you a fee for amenities, which I think is fair and with that comes decent food (e.g. breakfast, afternoon tea, cookies, and evening appetizers as well as wine and beer). When it comes to customer service or any other standard (e.g. cleanliness) of a 5-star hotel they lack significantly. I reserved this hotel through Priceline for two nights! I should have known better that a five star hotel at such prime location in NYC cannot be as low as $300/night. The hotel is advertised as a five start on Priceline. On the night that we were driving to NYC we hit an awful storm. Our travel was delayed and with warnings and having our one year old daughter in our car we decided to pull over to assure safety. Making our adventurous storm story short, we got to NYC one day late and lost the first night of our hotel reservation. While we were awaiting the passing of the storm (1am), I was on the phone with Priceline and the hotel to see if they can give me a credit for the first night or extend my trip for an extra night with the funds that I have already paid them. Priceline's position was very clear: hotel gets the money from us regardless, if they are willing to issue you refund we would be happy to give you a refund or use your fund to rebook. But the hotel: not so accommodating. Priceline staff suggested that I email the hotel all the warnings that I can find online to assure the hotel that this was due to a safety hazard that we could not make it on time. I did! I talked to a hotel staff, no mercy! They keep saying Priceline has your money, they have to give you a refund but we can't give the refund back to Priceline! We will charge them regardless. When we finally arrived in NYC we showed up at the hotel. I talked to the manager explaining the situation. I asked him a simple question: are you telling me that you would have not cared for the family's safety and wanted us to drive through the storm? To which he responded had you not paid for the hotel someone else would have! I said: if you are not fully booked for tomorrow night, extend my trip for one night please. To which he responded: why would I do that when I know someone else would pay for the same room! I was shocked! Worse than all of this was the fact that he just walked away without saying anything else. Just Left! So we stayed for the one night that we already had a reservation for. overall, if you are happy with a 3.5 star hotel (I am being generous) with a 1 star customer service, but decent food that costs you about $35 per day per person this is a good choice. With that comes supporting a soulless business mentality that only reminds us how cruel our business culture has become over the years! By the way, I originally wrote this review to post on Yelp. If you are interested to know more, read the Yelp reviews! In as recent as two weeks ago people have been seeing cockroaches in the rooms of this hotel. Definitely a sign of not a 5star hotel.

Update: Priceline sent this to their resolution center as they believed that this was a special case. Here is an actual response I received from Priceline after a few days indicating that the hotel is not giving the money back:

We are sorry to hear that you were unable to use the reservation due to the bad weather and you would like to request for a refund. We would like to help you in every way we can with your concern; however, we contacted our Travel Partner regarding your situation and they informed us that the hotel is not willing to make an exception to their cancellation policy. We apologize, but we will be unable to issue...