A very good stay but watch out : the robbery fee is back

100   Recommended
March 8, 2020 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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Novotel New York - Times Square
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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This was an extended weekend in NYC under great weather (but cold) at Novotel NY Times Square. The stay was booked during one of the promo sales, so the rate was really good and included BF. Good status recognition, but...a bad surprise at checkout on the bill.

Check In

Check-in was late (around 11:30 pm). Friendly person at check in, thanking me for being a Diamond member. He said I was upgraded to a high floor with a great view on Times Sq and he gave me an enveloppe containing 2 drink vouchers.

Welcome note stating Diamond benefits (note the sentence about no suite at this hotel, which is surprising for a NY hotel but it's true).

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Room

Room was on 24th floor, was not huge but of decent size and the view was indeed stunning as you can see on pictures below taken at various times of the day. 

They added some room amenities with coffee machine, bathrobe and slippers. Minibar was stocked with water. Welcome amenity was nice as you can see.

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Dining

As I said, BF was included. But they give you a check at your table insisting on gratuity not being included so you should tip (15-20%). I so much dislike this US habit to tip every 5 min. I gave nothing as if BF is included, IMO, there’s nothing to pay, period. 

Note the horrible price of he breakfast...BF price in many hotels get totally out of control IMHO.

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The restaurant is still as good as before and offers great views on Time Sq. If you want wine for redeeming the drink voucher, you can have all wine-by-the-glass they have on the menu.

There is no lounge at tis hotel.

Checkout

Late checkout was granted until 4pm, which was nice of course. At checkout, the stay was pre-paid as for every promo sales, so I only had to pay for the incidentals. But reading my bill, which included the pre-paid nights, my blood pressure went up quickly when I saw 3 times (1x per night) a line called “Urban Experience Fee” of $34.43 each. I was sure it was a fancy name for what is called resort fee or residence fee elsewhere. You will appreciate the imagination-at-its-best of the robbers for the name of this fee. Urban experience…wow wow wow !!!

I returned to the front desk to have a discussion with the employee. I asked her if it was what I thought ? She had immediately a very embarrassed face and I was obviously not the 1st one to question this. And it was also obvious that she was in full agreement with me but of course she could not say it. She indeed confirmed it was that kind of fee.I said to her that other hotels were always waiving this fee for their top tier members. She kindly proposed to ask her manager. She came back saying that the manager agreed to waive one fee out of 3 as a one-time extraordinary courtesy measure. I could not wait any longer as I had to go to JFK, but I said that I was still unhappy about this and that I would dispute the 2 others later. I still can’t imagine how they believe I will pay $100 for 3 nights for things that are supposed to be complimentary (wifi, water, etc). This was last weekend. I still did not have time to write them but will do ASAP.

I looked at my booking confirmation because I was upset with me not having seen this and not addressed it before the stay. For instance, when I discovered this practice at Sofitel Washington, my booking conformation was clearly mentioning "residence fee". What about Novotel NY ? here is below a screenshot of my booking confirmation :

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You can see that they don't even have the honesty to call it as it should be and they use a discret label "charges". This is exactly the $34.43 x 3 = $103.29. This is a real scandal.

To Accor people : if you read this, please act with your hotels. This is a robbery for every guest as I repeatedly said. But at least all other hotel chains waive this fee for their high status members. Why some AccorHotels continue to act like this ?

Overall

Overall, good stay with some good Diamond status recognition. Still for me the best quality-price ratio in Manhattan. But a very bitter taste at the end...THIS PRACTICE HAS TO STOP !

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