We travel to New York City about once per year so I’ve tried out a few of the points and miles hotel options. I wanted to stay at the Conrad New York Downtown this time to take advantage of the Diamond perks like free breakfast. Since this property used to be an Embassy Suites, all rooms are, you guessed it, suites. Overall, I was pleased with the size of the room and the location but felt the hotel was lacking on the luxury front. Here’s my review of the Conrad New York Downtown.
Booking the Conrad New York Downtown with Points
The Conrad New York Downtown can be booked with Hilton Honors points for 80,000 points per night. Award availability is generally good, but I recommend booking in advance for weekend stays.
Conrad New York Downtown Location
As the name describes it, the Conrad New York Downtown is located downtown on the Hudson River (i.e., west side). Right outside the hotel is the Irish Hunger Memorial and Rockefeller Park. It’s about a five-minute walk from the 9/11 Memorial and a 15-minute walk from Battery Park. The hotel is a little inconvenient for Broadway, Times Square, and Central Park so I recommend this hotel if you plan on checking out some of New York’s downtown sights. With that said, we found ourselves on Broadway, in the Upper East Side, even in Jersey City so the location is really fine as long as you have enough time to get around.
Dining and Amenities at the Conrad New York Downtown
The Conrad New York Downtown has a restaurant in the lobby called Atrio which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had our free Diamond breakfast here which consisted of either buffet or a credit toward the a la carte menu. We went with the buffet both days and were not disappointed with the choices.
In the summer, the Loopy Doopy Rooftop Bar is open. If you ever saw a picture on Instagram of a drink with a popsicle in it, it was likely from this bar.
Other amenities include a 24-hour fitness center and a business center. The Conrad New York Downtown does not have an executive lounge.
Lobby
The lobby was located a few flights up from street level with a large atrium. As with most Embassy Suites, the hallways around the atrium are open.
The hotel also featured a lot of artwork including the massive sculpture above the lobby.
There was a decent amount of seating around the lobby. The lobby became quite full on Sunday morning with people checking out and others waiting for a seat at Atrio for breakfast. We actually had to wait for 15 minutes to be seated!
Hudson River View Suite
As Diamond members, we were upgraded from a regular Deluxe Suite to a Hudson River View Suite. The view wasn’t all that great because most of our view was of the apartment across the street. I would have been disappointed if I had paid more for a river view and received this room.
The room itself was a good size, especially by New York standards. We entered into a small living room with a sofa bed and TV. There was a bottle of prosecco and chocolate-covered strawberries set out as a welcome amenity. The room was nice, but not as “luxurious” as other Conrads I’ve stayed at.
The TV stand doubled as a work desk. There was also a sink and coffee area to the left of the desk. The cabinet above the coffee maker was full of glassware.
The sink area was in a small hallway across from the bathroom and the separate shower.
The bathroom was somewhat small and featured Shanghai Tang toiletries.
The separate shower was large which is always appreciated.
At the end of the small hallway was the bedroom with a king bed.
There was another TV with two wardrobes on either side. There was also a set of drawers under the TV.
The bed was comfortable. I slept well so no complaints here.
Here’s a view of the room from the bedroom. As you can see, the room is a good size and provides plenty of separation from the living room. This is helpful if you plan on having someone stay on the sofa bed.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we had a good stay at the Conrad New York Downtown. The room was big, but it seemed to be lacking the luxury feel of other Conrads. Perhaps this is because it’s a repurposed Embassy Suites. I was a little disappointed with our Hudson River view but the delicious breakfast at Atrio helped make up for it. Lastly, parking was expensive at $65 per night with no in and out access. To make it worse, we waited about 30 minutes for our car after checking out. Despite these small issues, the Conrad New York Downtown is a good choice if you want to stay downtown.
