I stayed at this hotel last September. The hotel has 220 rooms and is stylishly furnished throughout. By European standards, the rooms are pretty much the size you’d expect of any city-centre hotel situated in a converted building; by American standards I think the rooms are regarded as a little on the small side.

The room was, of course, en suite, with a large bed, big flatscreen TV and a large closet. The room came with a mini bar (touch it and you’re charged), robes and plenty of towels, and a copy of the New York Times was delivered each morning. A nice touch was the bed being turned down in the evening, the maid leaving a weather forecast for the following day on the bed. The room we were given to begin with was an awkward corner-shape, too close to the lifts and not really suitable for two people to stay in for a whole week; staff were accommodating enough to allow us to switch rooms.

Located on the corner of West 55th St and Broadway, the hotel is within a very short walk of Times Square and Central Park. Of course the rest of New York is simply a subway ride away, and conveniently 57th Street station has an entrance just along the street from the hotel.

The hotel offers iPods to borrow, as each room is equipped with one of those Bose Wave clock radios that are always advertised on the back of the Sunday paper magazines. A nice touch, but the iPods are subject to availability so it might be better to take your own. The TV is hooked up to a wide choice of TV stations, so you can get your fix of global goings-on during your stay (and being in the US, English-speakers aren’t restricted to the usual hotel staples of BBC World News and CNN!).

There is a bar on the roof, with both inside and outside seating, a restaurant on the ground floor and a spa in the basement. Room service can bring breakfast and other food up to your room at practically any time of the day or night.

New York is such a fantastic city, and this hotel is right in the heart of it all. Being so central unfortunately means the hotel isn’t the quietest of places but if you like to be in the thick of things then this hotel is a fantastic choice.