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Thompson Central Park New York
New York City is jam packed with luxurious 4 and 5 star hotels on practically every corner. The Thompson Central Park has been at the top of my wish list of properties to review since it opened in 2021, and offers some very good sized rooms for Manhattan hotels. If you recall, the Thompson Central Park was once the Parker Meridien until it was sold and underwent a $100m renovation prior to joining the Thompson brand of Hyatt hotels in November of 2021.
The location is incredible just across the street from Carnegie Hall on 56th between 6th and 7th avenues just a stones throw from Central Park, and if you’d like to use the subway, the Yellow NRTQ subway line is half a block away.
New York hotel prices are skyrocketing faster than odds of getting pickpocketed, and lucky for me, I’m flush with Bilt Rewards, and decided to transfer them to Hyatt to try out both the Thompson Central Park and the Park Hyatt Central Park on back to back nights. I’ve been eager to give both hotels a full review, and I seized that opportunity last week using 25k points to stay at the Thompson and 40k points to stay at the Park Hyatt New York.
Long story, short: The Thompson Central is at the top of the heap when it comes to hotels I’ll certainly visit again, and is attractively priced as a Category 6 hotel with rates cracking $1000 at peak.
Stay Details:
- When: November 2022
- Where: New York City
- Price: World of Hyatt Category 6 property
- Rates range from 21k to 29k
- I paid 25k
- World of Hyatt Status: Globalist
- Upgrade to Studio Suite
- Late 4 pm check out
- Free Breakfast for 2
- Pet Friendly – yes no fee
- Parking
- $75 for cars
- $90 for SUVs
Other New York Hotels Reviews
In case you’re wondering my frame of reference for NYC hotels…here’s a list of properties I’ve stayed at in NYC over the past few years. I’d argue that the Conrad Midtown is the closest property to compare the Thompson to in style, location, and room size.
IHG
Marriott
Hyatt
Hilton
Other
- The Lotte New York Palace
- The Plaza Hotel New York
- The Peninsula New York
Next to the Le Meridien, on 57th street, you can enter the park of the Thompson straight into their restaurant. This pic was taken practically at the entrance of the Park Hyatt.
Booking
My Hyatt account was empty after I redeemed all of my World of Hyatt points to stay at the Thompson Savannah earlier this summer, so I had a decision to make: Do I transfer over Chase Ultimate Rewards or Bilt Rewards? I ended up using my Bilt Rewards since I’m earning those much faster via card referrals and have a pretty healthy balance.
Here are the Bilt Rewards transfer partners
Transferring Bilt Rewards to Hyatt
The transfer was quick and easy and populated my account within about 10 mins.
Location
I absolutely love this location in the city, and have stayed at several properties that all stake claim to easy Central Park access: The Conrad Midtown, The Plaza Hotel, The Peninsula, The St Regis, and The Park Hyatt New York.
- Easy Central Park access – check
- Subway nearby – check
- ( NRTQ ) is less than a block
- ( 123 + FB ) are both at Columbus Circle
Check-In
I arrived via Lyft, was promptly greeted by the valet, and proceeded to carry my own bags into the hotels. Just carry on and my back pack. The entrance is set back from the street on 56th, and the lobby was always well staffed. I chose not to take pictures of it since it was always quite full of people wanted to respect their privacy.
My globalist status was acknowledged and I was given an upgrade to a Studio Suite
The Room
I love the Thompson style which marries luxury with an industrial, modern twist. The hardware is bronzed, the lighting chic, and they splash dynamic color with the art and furniture. I’d argue that Thompson has surpassed Andaz when it comes to cool factor.
The Studio Suite measures between 400 and 500 square feet and they have almost entirely dedicated that to the living space. It really feels like a quasi Studio apartment with the large desk and seating area. I loved it.
The Bathroom
You can see from the pictures that they have removed the bathtub in exchange for a walk in shower with communal bath products. Single vanity, and quite a tight fit to put any of you own bath products around it.
Dining
There are three restaurants at the Thompson Central Park: Indian Accent, Burger Joint, and Parkers. I only had the pleasure of eating at Parkers during my one night stay at the hotel, but any and everyone I’ve spoken to says Burger Joint is a must try. Sadly, the day I checked in there was an hour wait just to get in the door with the line trailing out into the lobby.
Parkers
Breakfast
I only had one meal at Parkers which consisted of coffee, juice, and one of my favorite treats, smoked salmon with cream cheese on a toasted bagel. Sadly, the spices they chose were quite strong and not to my taste. The service was great, the vibe was fantastic, but I’d choose something else on a return visit.
The Gym
Currently the hotel is still completing some renovation work and the hotel entrance to the gym is one of projects currently underway. As such, you’ll need to leave the hotel onto 56th, and enter from the street, take the elevator down a level to where Drybar is, and enter the gym from there.
The hotel gym is open to all guests; however, there is a small Peloton room that is reserved solely for Upper Stories guests seen below
Overall
The service at the hotel was on par with any 4 or 5 star hotel, but the Thompson excels in providing guests with the cool factor, in a great location, for a spot on price. The Park Hyatt is wonderful, but I wouldn’t spend the extra points to stay there over the Thompson as long as the pricing difference was category 6 to 8. Just look at January and Feb of 2023…2 full months when you could stay for just 21k points per night. What a steal when the city is often covered in snow, swathed in Christmas or Valentine’s spirit, and I’d argue that the Thompson is the best use of Hyatt points in the whole of NYC.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.