My spouse and I stayed at the Doubletree Metropolitan for
one Saturday evening in late December 2014. The Metropolitan is located on
Lexington Avenue and East 51st Street in the Midtown East/Turtle Bay
neighborhood of Manhattan. We made our reservations on-line using the Hilton
HHonors website. (Hilton owns the Doubletree brand; however, Highgate Hotels
and RLJ Lodging Trust operate this property.)
In 1962, Morris Lapidus designed the Metropolitan, which
features an Art Deco look, including an unusual color, stainless-steel design,
and shape that increases the daylight in each room. The hotel was renovated in
2012. The Metropolitan features 764 rooms, including 22 suites spread amongst
18 floors (plus the penthouse). The hotel dedicates two floors (possibly floor
numbers 14 and 16 if memory serves for Hilton HHonors members. (However, even
though we are Diamond members, the front-desk clerk did not place us on one of
those floors.) Private meeting and event space is available, including a
ballroom and two glass-enclosed rooftop penthouses. Both the business center
and the fitness center are accessible 24 hours a day. Dining options include
the Met Grill and the Met Bar. The business center and the main restaurant are
located toward the back of the property (away from Lexington Avenue) a few
steps down from street level, although the busy bar and lounge are located
across from the front desk and closer to Lex. An ATM is located outside of the
business center and restaurant. The fitness center is located on the second
floor. The hotel operates a gift shop that is open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm and
sells a nice selection of snacks, drinks, souvenirs, clothing, luggage, and so
on. A tour desk/concierge is positioned on the main level past the front desk
and the Met Bar and adjacent to the gift shop.
Many restaurants and shops are located steps from the hotel
entrance. A Duane Reade pharmacy store is located across East 51st
Street, and it is open 24 hours per day. (Besides pharmacy items, Duane Reade
operates as a mini-market, selling drinks, snacks, reading material, and so
on.) A chocolatier and hair salon are located on either side of the main hotel
entrance.
We attempted to check in at approximately 11:30 am, but as
with every Doubletree-branded hotel at which we have ever stayed, our room was
not available early. (Conversely, with every other Hilton brand – Hampton Inn,
Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites, full-service Hilton – we can always check in
early, but never with the Doubletree!) The front-desk agent took our telephone
number and said that she would call when our room was ready. If we had not
heard from her by 3:00 pm, we should assume that our room would be accessible at
that time because it is the standard check-in hour. (Although the attendant
never called us, we returned at 3:00 pm, and we were able to check in as she
stated.) This hotel charges $1 per bag to store a bag, and another $1 per bag
to retrieve it – never before in NYC have we been requested by our hotel to pay
to store our luggage!
Our room was a good size, and it contained a king-size bed
with a nightstand on either side, plus additional space for an easy chair
(although it had no accompanying ottoman). The room contained no mini-bar or
empty mini-fridge. The closet contained an iron, ironing board, and safe
(without charging capabilities). The sink/vanity for the bathroom was located
in the hallway between the bedroom area and the bathroom, which allowed one of
us to shower while the other was using the sink – a room design that we find
useful when we travel and must share space. The Doubletree supplies Aroma
Actives Essentials toiletries: shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion.
We would stay at the Doubletree Metropolitan again – the
room size and layout worked for us (especially when compared with the smaller
room size of the Doubletree in Chelsea New York where we stayed four weeks
prior).
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