Hotels

Unlikely to revisit The Lexington Hotel New York – Autograph Collection

a room with a large ceiling and a large table and chairs

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The Lexington Hotel New York

The Lexington hotel was the final stop on our impromptu hotel Tour de New York City.  What started out as a single night stay in the city turned into 6 nights ( Intercontinental Barclay, Edition New York, Conrad Midtown, and we saved the worst for last, The Lexington Hotel. With so many options in the city, and a great hotel across the street, the Intercontinental Barclay, I won’t be staying here any time soon. The exterior of the property is art deco and we thought the vibe would carry on once inside, and there is certainly a vibe, but it’s just not understated to say the least.

The hotel isn’t bad per se, and if you could snag something around $150 I’d change my tune, but for the $282 we paid, there are far better options. I usually like Autograph Collection properties, but this one didn’t steal my heart.

a room with a large ceiling and a large table and chairs

Booking:

We booked through the Capital One Portal which should preclude you from enjoying Marriott benefits on the stay. The rate on the Marriott website was 45k points per night, which I found to be too high compared to the 50k we used to stay at the Edition the night before, and would have been only a 6/10 a cent redemption. I thought it’d be a good experiment to see if they would extend Marriott Platinum benefits to us, which they didn’t, and my Capital One Venture X $300 travel portal credit was burning a hole in my pocket. I booked, and 4 days after the charge posted, it was refunded.

a row of elevators with art on walls

Stay Details:

We needed to stay one final night in the city, and wanted to be relatively near the Peninsula Hotel so we could enjoy their rooftop bar for a celebratory anniversary cocktail. We got engaged at the Pen in 2019 3 years ago. I really wanted to stay at a new property so I could review it. I’d seen the Lexington when we stayed at the

  • When: April 2022
  • Where: New York Midtown
  • Rate: $282 + destination fee
    • $35 per night, plus tax, covers the following:
      • $35.00 daily food & beverage credit for The Stayton Room (currently open for breakfast only)
      • $35.00 daily laundry valet credit
      • 2 daily Crunch Fitness passes
      • 2 daily Citi Bike passes
      • High speed premium wireless Internet (valued at $16 per device per day)
      • 1,000 bonus points per night for elite gold & platinum members

Location

The location is pretty good in midtown within roughly a 10 min walk to Grand Central, New York Public Library, and is diagonal from the Intercontinental Barclay, and a couple blocks from what will be a completley refurbished Waldorf Astoria.

Check in

We arrived at 4pm, our room was ready, but there was miscommunication about how the room would be charged. When asked for a credit card I clarified about it being just for incidentals. The front desk rep said that no the room wasn’t paid for. Odd. I booked a non-refundable rate via the Cap1 travel portal so the only charges I should pay for would be the incidentals on the destination fee. The problem was my Venture X had fraud on it two days earlier and was canceled, so I booked online using a virtual number, and didn’t have a physical card to check in with. I gave her my Ink Business Preferred for the balance and thought I’d resolve it later.

It just didn’t set quite right. So after putting our bags in the room I popped back by the front desk. I showed her the Cap1 booking and said I’d like to add my Cap1 Venture X to the room thinking that just in case it didn’t get resolved, I could deal with one bank and not two. The problem… they needed a physical card and couldn’t take a digital one. Ugh. She offered up using a credit card authorization sheet and said her manager would send one. He never did. I thought…I’ll just resolved this later.

Ultimately, the hotel kept us “checked in” for days after we actually checked out as they tried to resolve how the bill was paid. Weirdly, it kept showing up on both cards and roughly a week after we checked out, all charges were removed except the Cap1 Travel Portal booking. Even after calling the hotel several times and leaving voicemails we never received a call back. I’ve never had this happen before, and on this alone, would just not stay here again.

a room with a television and a chair

The Room

The room is tiny. Roughly 200 sq feet, which, even by NYC standards is on the small side, and the hotel has quite low ceilings compared to the other properties we stayed on this trip. The hallways are dark and feel kind of sad.

a hallway with a door and a purple carpet

The room was clean, but the pictures don’t really do the decor justice. It isn’t a peaceful aesthetic at all. It’s chock full of mishmash colors and odd textures. For nearly $300, given the other options in the city, I’d just go elsewhere to have a fresher feel.

a bedroom with a bed and a televisionThe bathroom featured a shower and tub, single vanity, and was a tight squeeze.

Gym

Closed. Very weird given every other hotel gym I’ve stayed at in the past year has been open, some will require booking appointments, but this was flat out closed due to covid.

a glass door with a sign on the wall

Dining

The destination fee yields a $35 food and breakfast credit at the bar/restaurant. We didn’t use it, but we did go to the Starbucks which is located right off the main lobby.

a room with a large screen

Overall

The billing situation left a bad taste in my mouth. It was resolved, but the lack of communication is avoidable. Personally, with so many options in the city, and so many options at competitive price points, this is a property I won’t be revisiting anytime soon.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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9 Comments

  • Wayne Brown August 13, 2022

    Sounds about right with the Lexington. I stayed once .

    After checking once I discovered the room they gave didn’t have a television that worked. There was nothing they could do they said. Except let me try another room. Gladly I responded, but discovered the new room was considerably higher in the building, and the lifts did not work in that section. At least I got good excercize.

    With luggage dragged up to the replacement room I discover the lock on the door didn’t close adequately. Another walk down lofty heights to the front desk, and they suggested another room below the non-functioning lift. So back I went, the whole process taking several hours with no help and long waits at front desk. Finally I settled in the room at last… made a drink and sat in a lounge chair to relax….. Whoops it disintegrated under me in a crumpled heap upon the floor. This time I rang the front desk. “Oh you need an engineer” they said but as there was none in the building I had to wait until 10:30 the next day.

    When he did arrive the engineer at least gave some comfort by confirming “They make life a struggle, here at the Lexington”.

    Even a tour director the following day commented they would not give him any space to organize his passengers who were leaving from the hotel.

  • Island Miler April 19, 2022

    I was considering this hotel during our visit back in 2016 but quickly ruled it out because of the room size and the even tinier bathroom. Not enough counter space in there for the wife ;). We ended up at the Ren Midtown instead and enjoyed it!

    • Miles April 19, 2022

      ahhh I always mess this one up, thanks for taking the time to research the etymology!

      • jsm April 19, 2022

        When I saw the link to the grammarist I was sure tda1986 was commenting of “perse” instead of “per se.”

  • Mak April 19, 2022

    I’ve stayed in a few Autographs and still have no idea what market segment Marriott is shooting for here. The properties I’ve stayed in have ranged from barely glorified motel (PDX) to luxury (POS). While I’m guessing they skew more heavily to the former than the later, my stays have left me completely confused and unlikely to book an Autograph property without some research. I just don’ t know what they’re going for with this brand.

    • Miles April 19, 2022

      same – I think I mainly go off an incredible experience I had at the Boscolo in Rome which is no longer an autograph collection property but was exceptional

  • YGeorgeW April 19, 2022

    It’s even worse than that. I recently had a stay there and after checking out, asked the valet to store my bags. He informed me there was a $3 per bag charge. Maybe I’m just inexperienced, but I’ve never heard of this before. He waived the fee after asking what status I had with Marriott (Titanium).

    • Miles April 19, 2022

      whhhhhhaaaaat?! Never have I ever heard of this. Anyone else?

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