Holiday Inn Express Times Square, New York

A family trip to celebrate two big birthdays, we chose the hotel for three main reasons - firstly this was a reward night stay using points which I felt I have been saving for ever - secondly the location near to Times Square - thirdly being an Express, the complimentary breakfast. We had asked for a room on a high floor thinking we might get a decent view across the city, we were able to see the Empire State Building and the new development at Hudson Yards but that was it. In hindsight we shouldn’t have bothered, more of that to follow. One the plus side, the location was ideal, the complimentary breakfast provided a good selection of hot and cold items. The staff were very helpful and friendly - a special mention for Mayely on the front desk who was extremely polite and helpful. The hotel was very busy as you might expect, the breakfast area is very small and so fining a table can take a while, we managed ok with a family of four - sometimes in two shifts. The hotel is a high building but the footprint is small so there isn’t much that can be done to enlarge the breakfast area so be prepared to wait. The hotel only has two lifts, both of which were constantly busy, they are used by housekeeping also, our choice of a high floor in hindsight was a mistake - if we had been lower down then we would have used the stairs - a twenty minute wait for a lift in the morning around breakfast and checkout times was not unusual. On some days house keeping did not get around to servicing our room, we wondered if they were just busy with changeovers, under staffed maybe or just that we were points paying customers and therefore further down the list ? One one occasion only one bed was made up in the room, when we mentioned it to reception we were told if there is anything left on the bed then they are not allowed to touch it ! This is the first time ever I have heard of this but it was also the first time in New York so it must be hotel policy. All in all though a good stay.

We booked a couple of rooms here. Got off to an eye-rolling start in both rooms as one had a faulty safe and the other had a faulty smoke detector - both problems were fixed in a matter of minutes thanks to the maintanence guys being on the ball. We got a decent rate so weren't expecting The Raffles in Singapore or anything but it had what we needed. Housekeeping did a great job, the rooms were comfy, the elevators were pretty quick. The breakfast staff did a good job and there was a decent enough variety of food: fruit, cereals, yoghurts, toast, eggs, sausages, cakes and some weird, shiny circular baked things? FYI. Hot tea is always available downstairs. They will store your luggage upon check-out. A small shop in the lobby sells nibbles etc. The young lady on reception is cute. Would happily stay again.