New York City: Intercontinental Times-Square (May 2011)

My spouse and I enjoyed our mid-May 2011 stay at the relatively new InterContinental Times Square using a free night certificate from Priority Club. It has a great location near Port Authority, Times Square, and Hell's Kitchen. After standing in line for longer than necessary, we tried to check in early (before 11 am), but were told that the hotel had been “fully committed” the night before and that our room wasn’t available yet. We were asked to leave a cell phone number, promising a call when the room was ready (this call never came at any hour). When we returned to the hotel after a day of sightseeing, we again stood in line for longer than necessary to get our room keys, even though we had checked in and provided our identification and credit card and all other required information earlier that morning. For our efforts, however, we were upgraded to a sky view corner room (instead of the standard room that we had booked), which, while not larger than a standard room (both are 350 square feet), had windows on two sides with great views of the Hudson River and down 8th Avenue. The rooms are attractive with comfortable bedding, as are the bathrooms, with modern furnishings and lovely rainforest showers. The room size was fine for NYC, but it was slightly cramped (perhaps because of all the windows and the fact that the corner rooms aren’t true corners; the building is designed to have many more corners than the usual four) and did not include an arm chair/recliner, which would have been welcome for watching TV. As it was, one of us had to sit in the rolling desk chair and the other one of us sat on the bed. The rooms were equipped with bathrobes and slippers. We didn't see the fitness center, so we can’t comment on that amenity, although it sounds well-equipped and is open 24 hours. The hotel has a nice lobby area with sofa seating and a street-level restaurant and bar (Ca Va by Todd English). We didn’t use either the restaurant or the pantry-type market where you can grab a quick drink or bite to take along for breakfast or lunch. We would stay here again without hesitation; we loved the location and the newness of the hotel.