The Le Parker Meridien is uniquely positioned between 56th street and 57th street in Mid Town Manhattan. It’s located near Central Park, Fifth Avenue shopping, and Broadway theatres. The hotel provides some wonderful yet semi-obstructed views of Central Park.
For this stay, I was a Starwood Preferred Platinum guest paying a negotiated rate. The Le Parker Meridien New York is a Starwood Preferred Guest category 6 requiring 20,000 to 25,000 SPG points per night depending on season and availability.
Hotel
While the hotel’s main entrance is located on 56th street, you can access the hotel through the bar from 57th street as well. The hotel treats SPG Platinum members fairly well. The hotel is also some what famous for it’s small hamburger joint, the burger joint, that was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s layover in New York.
I arrived late in the evening and was greeted at the door by a bellman who offered to help me with my Brigg’s & Reilly one touch roller bag. I’m a self sufficient no frills guy when traveling for business, so declined and headed straight for the Platinum check in desk.
The front desk agent explained the Platinum benefits and began banging away on the key board to look for a Platinum upgrade. After about 5 minutes of searching they found a park view room. I was handed my key and then I headed off to my high floor park facing room.
Central Park View
Room
The room is cozy yet feels spacious. The furniture in the room probably has something to do with the feel. In addition, the bathroom has a cloth drape instead of a door. I actually really like the drape for a bathroom door. It reminded me of the W Montreal, but on a much smaller scale.
The high floor helped reduce the noise from the street. The noise from the Hyatt 48 Lex was pretty bad when I had a relatively low floor. So the relative quiet noise and nice views really helped make the experience at this hotel, even though it was for only one night.
Bedroom
Bath and Hall
Bottom Line
The Le Parker Meridien recently moved up from a category 5 to a category 6 hotel. This increased the points required from 12,000 to 20,000 at the low level, a 66% increase. While I consider this increase to be one of the worst increases, this hotel is certainly a nice one in my book. If it came down to a choice of a category 6 hotel in NY to use points, I would probably select this one over the W and Sheraton hotels. I look forward to a Platinum breakfast report to see what they offer in terms of breakfast amenity.
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About The Weekly Flyer
The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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I hope you brought your own toothpaste. They charge ten bucks….even for Platinums.
Love the burger joint! Just remember to bring cash.
Hi Mark – I did, I brought it over from the Hyatt:)
Hi Dealswelike – Good point, and they don’t take IOU’s.
Good timing on this review…I’m planning to book a room in Manhattan soon using SPG points and was wavering between the W hotels and Sheraton. Thanks!
The Parker Meridien is one of my favorites – and Norma’s for breakfast is a spectacular treat. I’m also very curious to know what the Platinum breakfast is!
I also love the pens at the hotel. And admit I took about 20 with me at check-out.
Interesting the room you got compared to what I got as a Platinum. No curtain door for me. My pictures are on my blog post. (http://boardingarea.com/verygoodpoints/2011/07/24/le-parker-meridien-nyc-hotel-review/)
I would never stay at the Sheraton NY Hotel & Towers for 12,000 points – 20,000 points, especially while there is ongoing construction. I might give the Sheraton Tribeca another shot- I was there just after they opened and they had a lot of kinks to work out.
Personally, for me, if I had a special occasion and enough points, I’d stay at Parker Meridien. I do love the Ws in NYC and would stay there as my second choice.
Hi Stacey – There pens are very cool.
LPM was our go-to hotel in NYC at 12,000 points. For that amount, I could overlook the outdated rooms, the crappy TV and the old, tired bathrooms. It was still worth it for the Junior Suite upgrade and the location.
That said, many of us get our points from credit card spend. I’d now much rather spend $22,000 for a night at the Andaz 5th Ave that $20,000 for same at the Parker Meridien.