The Empire Hotel

MAJOR SHOWER INCIDENT - NO CALL BACK FROM MANAGEMENT >>>STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL>>ISSUE: Our recent stay at The Empire Hotel was completely overshadowed by a serious safety issue. On the morning of March 18, 2025, while my spouse was showering, the shower handle completely detached from the water valve, causing scalding hot water to blast onto her. In an attempt to stop the water, I had to plug the valve with the male valve adapter for over 20 minutes while waiting for maintenance to rush up and shut off the water main for our shower in Room 905. This was not just an inconvenience; it was a dangerous and highly stressful situation. Instead of a smooth checkout, we were left scrambling to recover lost time and rush to the airport, barely making our flight. A hotel of this caliber “4 Stars” should have much better maintenance and safety protocols in place. This was an unacceptable experience, and I would not recommend staying here unless they take serious steps to ensure their facilities are properly maintained. TIMES I HAVE MADE ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE: >>>TIME #1 - 3/18/25 - After the above incident took place, I went to the front desk and requested to speak to the manager about the incident and receiving a refund since I don’t believe the hospitality and amenities advertised for the price I paid were not fully provided. (Minus my spouses scaled skin) I told the front desk that we did not have much time since I was needing to make up for lost time because of the shower incident and need to head to the airport ASAP. I was told that a manager would call me since they already had my contact information from the booking. >>>Conclusion: I never received one phone call from any management or employee from The Empire Hotel on that or any day after. (This was on 3/18/25) TIME #2 - 3/18/25 - I immediately informed my booking agent, Expedia, about the incident that took place and that I was not satisfied at all with The Empire Hotel’s hospitality nor did I believe that received the amenities that I had paid for booking a room with The Empire Hotel. This can be referenced in my screenshot from The Empire Hotel’s quote “The bathroom is a sanctuary in itself…transforming routine showers into a spa-like experience”. Any reasonable person could read the above incident summary and disagree that this sounds like a “spa-like experience”. With this in consideration, I informed Jenish that I would like a refund. Jenish from Expedia informed me that he was able to get ahold of Miss. Geraldine from The Empire Hotel’s reservation department. She informed Jenish that if I mail the hotel, they(The Empire Hotel) would “proceed with my refund”. Jenish also informed me that Expedia would make attempts to get The Empire Hotel to process my refund. >>>Conclusion: 3/18/2025, I immediately emailed reservations@empirehotelnyc.com about the incident and requested a refund. This can be seen in my attached screen shots of the email and conversations regarding Miss. Geraldine. 3/20/2025 - Expedia emailed me stating that after numerous attempts, they are unable to get The Empire Hotel to agree to refund me. 3/25/2025 - Still no email from The Empire Hotel or Miss. Geraldine from their reservation department. >>>This review didn’t include the mini fridge going out during our stay, leading to food we had purchased and stored in the fridge, to go bad. I suppose I’ll pay that expense out of pocket. >>>I’ll be submitting a complaint with Letitia James’s NYC Attorney General office pretty soon to see what they can do about helping me out since The Empire Hotel has not even bothered to communicate anything at all to me regarding this issue. >>Stay durarion: 3/14/25 - 3/18/25 >>Room number: 905 >>>Revisit? Never again

Calling this a "4-star" hotel is honestly baffling. The noise level alone makes it nearly impossible to sleep—it's like trying to rest on a busy sidewalk. I stayed on the 9th floor and could still hear everything going on outside and around me. And for context, I’m usually not sensitive to noise (I costal in the city once a month for work), but this was next-level loud. After getting into pajamas and settling in for the night, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to get any rest. I tried calling the front desk both from the room phone and my cell, but no one answered. Frustrated, I changed back into clothes and went downstairs to speak with someone in person. Fortunately, after some persistence, the woman at the front desk agreed to move me to a quieter, interior-facing room. At this point, it was already past 10:30 PM, and all I wanted was to go to sleep after a long, exhausting day. Dealing with all this at that hour was the last thing I needed. Unfortunately, the noise wasn’t the only issue. The rooms themselves left a lot to be desired. I had done what I thought was thorough research—looked at photos, read reviews—but the reality didn’t match up at all. The bathroom was incredibly small, with zero counter space. If you wear makeup or need any room to get ready, good luck. There were only three pillows per bed, which seems like an odd choice—especially if you're traveling with a partner. One of you is going to end up with just a single pillow. On top of all that, both rooms I was in had broken windows, bubbling wallpaper, and one even had an open electrical box less than two feet from the bed—which I ended up covering with my suitcase because I didn’t feel safe. All in all, this hotel was a huge disappointment, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone expecting a true 4-star experience

Let's start with the good. 1) Location. A short walk to SO much. 2) The rooftop restaurant. Excellent food, cocktails and vibe. 3) friendly, helpful staff. Unfortunately, there were a few bad points. 1) There is a lot of wear and some outright rough looking spots. Taped wall paper, water damaged parts of ceiling and walls. 2) Size. We booked a queen room and we are 100% sure it was a full bed. We paid to move up to a king room and the bathroom had some sort of bump out in it that made using the sink next to impossible! 3) The "Fitness Center". They are updating so the machines weren't operational (that's fine), but it's a narrow space where two people couldn't walk past each other. It's great there's a fitness center at all, but don't expect a lot of room! 4) The wifi was also out for our stay. If it worked for location again, we MIGHT stay again (you can do worse), but it probably won't be our first choice.

Great hotel, located on upper west side, near Lincoln Center. The staff here, from doormen, valet, front desk and managers, are very helpful and friendly. The rooms are small, but comfortable and the only issue we had was we couldn't turn the heat up. The view was nice, the housekeeping staff was excellent and we really enjoyed our stay. Pasquale was very helpful when we checked out, and was able to facilitate baggage storage while we walked around for 2 hours before leaving for the airport. The rooftop bar is nice, and is also enclosed in winter. Highly recommended.

This hotel has really gone backwards. It used to be very nice. Our room was old and beat up. The staff was very nice and accommodating. They did change rooms and give a small discount. New room was “ok.” The hallways are extremely dark you can barely see. There is no water or coffee service in the hotel or rooms. They just give you bottles of water. At check in we asked to put the entire cost of stay on another card. They insisted we do this at check out. We did that and they insisted the entire price would go on the new card. That’s not what happened. The initial deposit was still on the old card.