New York City: InterContinental Times Square (October 2011)

My spouse and I stayed at the InterContinental Times Square for one weekend night in early October 2011. We hadn’t planned on staying at this property, although we had stayed here for another one-night weekend stay in mid-May 2011 (see my review titled “Newer Property, Great Location)”. We remitted 25,000 Priority Club points for a free night stay at the nearby Crowne Plaza Times Square (see my review titled “Admirably Handles a Problem”); however, because of some weather-related maintenance issues at the Crowne Plaza property, we were “bumped” to this higher-category member of the IC Hotels Group chain. Having stayed at this property before in mid-May of 2011, we didn’t mind the last-minute change. We were given a standard room (as opposed to the sky view corner room that we had in May), and the room size was similar, as was the bathroom. As I said in my May review, the room furnishings are attractive, as are the bathrooms, which are spacious with nice rainfall showers. Gilchrist & Soames toiletries are provided, and robes and slippers are available as well. The standard room contained an armchair and ottoman, something that the sky view room lacked. The standard room had a mini-bar, although the bar contains sensors, so don’t take any item out (or put any of your own items in) or you will be charged accordingly, even if you don’t actually consume anything. (I didn’t recall the sky view room having a mini-bar, but perhaps I just didn’t notice it). I don’t have much more to add from my May review; the hotel is well located if you are visiting the Times Square area and is near the Port Authority, where we usually park. There is a doorman who hails cabs, but the line was lengthy on a rainy evening. We simply walked to Ninth Avenue (which is one way going uptown) and easily caught our own cab there. We bought some breakfast pastries from the Todd English Ca Va market, which were good and a bit different from what we typically see at Starbucks. Our second stay was as good as the first!