Hotel Plaza Athénée

Gorgeous boutique hotel, with great sized super quiet rooms. One block from the park and one block from the f train. Delightful service and guaranteed connecting rooms, such a rare find.

In a time when service is woefully lacking in the hotel industry, the Plaza Athenee is a sterling example of what a hotel should be. The service is second to none. From the bell staff, to the front desk, to the concierge, to housekeeping, each and every employee I have encountered has been friendly, efficient and has gone out of their way when asked to make my experience the best it could possibly be. The rooms are well appointed, and the beds are supremely comfortable. The bathrooms are very well lit (something I find not to be the case in «hipper» hotels), and the toiletries are provided by Bulgari. The Plaza Athenee is a Grand Dame in the best sense: elegant and sophisticated.

I’m only rating this hotel by its lobby, staff and bar. The hotel is gorgeous and the bar is small and quaint. The bartenders aren’t the best as they kept pouring my beer even though I kept asking for them not to bother. Otherwise, cute little place. I can see myself having a nightcap here on a random night walking through the UES.

Although the location is wonderful and the beds are comfie, there are way too many touches missing from this hotel. No bottled water at turndown? Who on earth doesn’t provide water anymore?
There is a tub, a shower and a sink but housekeeping apparently thinks that you should tote your soap and shampoo back and forth between fixtures.
There is very limited hot water, so if you enjoy a good hot shower, be prepared-​you won’t be getting one.
The air conditioning and heating system is archaic.
There is no guide on the TV, so good luck finding a channel.
The Maison du Chocolat goodie that was left one night was melted and had an expiration date of ¹⁄₁₄. Maybe the housekeeper found it under the bed.
We won’t be staying here again.

Just spent a weekend there and was highly disappointed with many aspects. Reserved a 2 bedroom suite which was far from what I expected with the hefty rate. The suite itself was OK but it «connected» to a ver small room with a terrible bathroom… The concierge was very unfriendly. The restaurant for breakfast was incredibly slow; they blamed it on many people ordering at the same time, which should be NO excuse, specially since only 5 tables were occupied. The food quality was also below average. That night our kids tried to rent a movie and it took over an hour for a technician to go up to the room to tell them only 1 out of the 3 TVs worked for that service. Finally, when we checked out I requested the car to be ready at 3:00 at which time the car was nowhere to be found. They were almost 30 minutes late, making us lose our doctor’s appointment.
A far cry from a 5* hotel!

Went here last night for cocktails. It is a very nice chic quiet bar area. The cocktails were all intricately made and delicious. I also tried their mushroom flatbread which I could taste the truffles in. Overall nice experience and great place to have a conversation.

My review is only on the service & Bar area. With that being said, here we go!
Ok this is a continuance from my son & I meeting the Honeymoon couple from Ireland. This is where they stayed. Now I want you to understand we have NEVER done this before but something just seemed so natural, so we went with it.
Matty & Anne needed their ID to drink so we offered them a ride back to their hotel because they didn’t know where they were or how they got there & Son and I aren’t familiar with the subway. They thought they could walk. We were on 34^th and this hotel is on 64^th! Cold & Snow all over! Walking was not an option!
Son drove, they loved riding through NYC with the music blasting. We pulled up to the hotel and the doorman from the Queens let us park right in front, told us it was $ 45 or was it $ 65 to Valet Park. VHAAAT?! We hit him off. We were coming right back out. Anne runs up to the room & Matty buys us a round of drinks in the hotel bar. Some Stella Artois & sons Grey Goose & Pineapple.
Everyone was friendly & accommodating especially Gil. Gil the Bartender/​Waiter for the night was awesome! The lounge area is dark & elegant. Old school elegance. Very warm & comforting. We met Gil’s boss, but I forgot his name, he was friendly & funny too. Gil even gave my son a free drink to try. Just to get his opinion. Nice touch Gil!
It was here that a new friendship was bonded. Me, Son, Matty & Anne. Great conversation & new things learned about our different countries. Couldn’t have met a cooler couple.
I didn’t get to see the rooms but from the service I received at the door & in the lobby I would highly recommend staying here. Great Staff & Experience!

Always first class… the service is extraordinary. If you’re looking for a big, glamorous NYC hotel, then this is not the right place for you. If you’re looking for a boutique hotel, where you feel like you’re staying in your own luxury home, with attentive, personalized staff, then this is it.

I’ll start off by mentioning the good stuff, because I feel like I owe them that much. The reception/​concierge/​house keeping staff in general were beyond splendid, they were all extremely kind and wonderful to our entire family, which of course is a major plus.
Getting to the bad stuff, aside from the lobby being too small to even comprehend, the sole access for a wheelchair or in our case, a baby stroller; was through the cramped bar/​restaurant with loads of doors. But hey everyone likes to be independent when it comes to opening doors (I apologize for my lame sarcastic pun there). Getting to the rooms, which really pinched my nerves is the fact that the lighting was literally terrible. I kid you not, the ambiance was so depressing you wouldn’t believe it, and this is coming from one of their «special deluxe something something».
All in all, their service was too good to be realllly pissed about, but honestly for the price we’re paying, the rooms were just not worth it.

What an awful experience
Super tired from a long flight, enter the hotel and I need to wait for twenty minutes before someone at the front desk can check me in.
And then i am told there are no rooms ready and I have to wait for an hour or so for something to become available. I am not even checked in yet and already pissed.
I booked this hotel based on my previous positive experience at their Paris establishment. But there is nothing French about their hospitality here. It seems there is only chaos. Very disappointed. Too late for I made reservations here. I should have stuck to my regular hotels, lesson learned.

I have never stayed at the Hotel Plaza Athenee, but stop by for high tea, which is served in a lovely room off the Bar Seine. My quest for the quintessential afternoon tea has taken me to a number of hotels and independent tea rooms around the city. So far, I haven’t found the perfect blend of sweet, savory and service.
The Plaza Athenee stands out for the quality of its scones, which are baked to order. The clotted cream didn’t have the tang I look for, but was flavorful. The jams were commercial and served in little jars, but high quality nonetheless.
They say Queen Elizabeth doesn’t eat onions or garlic. She should stick to tea in Buckingham Palace because the Plaza Athenee uses both liberally in their tea sandwiches. Their smoked salmon was the highest quality I’ve had, but a tomato and mozzarella with pesto just didn’t belong on the platter. Tea sandwiches are supposed to be delicate bites, but these were served on thick slabs of bread.
The array of sweets served here is unsurpassed — at least a dozen bite sized morsels, plus two chocolate covered strawberries. My English Breakfast tea was excellent — much higher quality than expected.
Service was a bit inconsistent but very friendly. Even though I was alone, they served me a double portion of sweets and scones, and gladly packed up the leftovers for me to take home.
At $ 45, the tea service is competitively priced for NYC, the ambiance is lovely, and the food satisfying. I would love to combine the sandwiches and service of the nearby Pembroke Room with the scones and sweets from the Plaza Athenee. Instead I will have to alternate between the two. A pleasure, not a sacrifice.

I loved this hotel. Traveling to Manhattan twice a year, I have stayed in quite a few hotels but my visit at Plaza Athenee was extraordinary because of the friendly helpful staff that really seem to take pride in their hotel.
The location was out standing just blocks off the park and within an easy distance to museums and shopping.

Best thing is the great location. Room was small, rate was high, housekeeping could have been a little better. It looks like it is an old world place which has been there forever but my recollection is that this hotel actually arrived in NYC sometime in the Roaring Eighties. I think maybe they haven’t refreshed the décor since then. Anyway, it is Manhattan and unless you have thousands per night to spend on a hotel room, you are not going to be living in the lap of luxury. So you should go for clean, quiet and convenient. This fits the bill on all those. I understand the bar and restaurant are nice, but I haven’t been in them in years and did not patronize them on this trip. Maybe they are what account for some of the really good reviews of the hotel.

Wow. I loved this hotel. I had a standard room with a king size bed that was probably the closest thing to sleeping on a cloud. The staff is courteous and attentive. When I got there my room was not ready as I had arrived an hour before check-​in. They offered me a delicious freshly squeezed orange juice to wait and I ended up getting breakfast there.
I will definitely come back to this place and I surely recommend this place to other travelers.
Also, ask the concierge about sushi Seki. Amazing sushi place few blocks away from the hotel. I’ve been craving it ever since I’ve eaten there.

Great location and friendly staff. A short walk from Madison Avenue and Central Park. They found out my birthday was coming up and sent me a slice of cake. On the other hand, their restaurant is ridiculously overpriced and they trap you with a goody basket and minibar so that they can overcharge you.

BAR ONLY:
This is another hotel bar /​lounge on a par with the St. Regis or the Pen. Old crowd as you would expect on the Upper East Side. The same people who drink here love Seasons, which is either closed or going to close very soon. It was open as of October but I believe after 25 or so years, the lease was up and the end of 2013 was it.
Whiskey sour was 16 and terrific. I had two a couple years ago and it really is a luxurious and elegant old and older person place to drink

Any attraction of this luxury hotel was more than offset by inefficient room air conditioning that had to be augmented by a loud window unit; a shower in a bathtub that didn’t drain well leaving one the fun of showering ankle deep in water and; eggs Benedict in the restaurant that were late, on mushy muffins and cooked so as to be hard boiled eggs on toast!
Very disappointing at these prices.

Nice hotel, nice staff. on the other hand really small and a bit over priced .
the style is old and classic, so if your into modern furnisher this is not the place for you.
nice neighborhood, upper east side, classy. not really a tourist spot though.
so i’m a fan, not for everybody but I like the place.

For 700 $ a night, I expect absolute perfection. I do not expect an aggressively loud air system, nor do I expect to hear people screaming in the hallways at all hours. My room faces a brick wall and has a tiny window. Very claustrophobic. The shower has very little pressure and the toilet flushes very loudly. Maybe for a less expensive hotel it would be alright, but for 700 $ I expect an extremely luxurious hotel. (And free wifi.)

If you are looking for the consistency of the corporate «Ritz» hotels avoid the Plaza Athenee. If you are looking for small and charming hotel with an incredibly well trained staff with personality then book a room PDQ at the Plaza Athenee.
Service: The staff here is off the chart with wonderful personalities. They are genuinely welcoming, gracious and intelligent.
The Gym: Now I am a committed gym rat so the bar is high for the gym. The gym is super clean well equipped and mostly empty which is OK with me since I love having a private gym.
The Bar: The best part of the hotel with a cozy feel with a wonderful bar menu and comfortable seating. When I am not busy being a gym rat I am happily pursing a life as a bar fly. This is a most excellent bar.
The Restaurant: The night was cold and snowy so despite the desire to wander out to a local restaurant we decided to eat in the hotel. Good choice; the food is excellent, the service top flight and the atmosphere welcoming. Tony seems to rule the roost with a wonderful smile and a wonderful ability to make guests comfortable. Be careful with your ordering here. No tiny meals here since portions are generous.
The only draw back to this hotel is the slightly date bathrooms that are in need of an overhaul. Finally the location is great if you are in town for a show or shopping.