The first day in New York was ridiculously hectic. I had recommended the Affinia Shelburne Hotel to my travel buddies, after my fabulous stay there in 2010. “It’s really clean and they give you free nail polish remover towelettes!” I said.
(Photo is from the Affinia website, but other than that tray of fruit, it’s pretty true to life)
It was unfortunate, however, that their first impression was of this gooey thing in the shower which looked like it was either alive, or would come to life while we were sleeping:
“But they give you free nail polish remover towelettes!” I was thinking.
Potential unwanted roommates aside though, we actually had a very busy schedule for that afternoon so we quickly asked reception for a new room and then split like a banana.
While my travel buddies went to the Rockefeller Center to pick up our New York Explorer Pass (which I totally recommend if you’re planning to check out a lot of the tourist attractions), I headed to the Banana Republic store in SoHo, where the lovely international man from Boston had arranged for my collarless red coat to be put on hold for me:
After regrouping (a.k.a. a bit of pre-Woodbury scouting/research), we all returned to the hotel where the receptionist was very apologetic about the bathroom goo, and said that they would need to shut that room down for cleaning but could offer us an upgrade, which was very exciting.
But wait, what was that machine in our new room which looked like it could be an explosive? Bombs don’t usually plug into the wall, right?? Was it really safe to take a photo, and was there some type of bomb waves causing this blurry photo? I don’t know.
Travel buddy 1: Wait, let’s all stay calm, it’s ok as long as there isn’t a timer on it.
Travel buddy 2: ….but there’s a timer on it!!! And it’s on!!!
Me: (as we are in the lift) Should we have moved our bags? I don’t want that thing to blow up and damage our stuff.
Random lady in lift: (concerned, after eavesdropping) Er, what’s in your room? And you’re on which level?
Receptionist: Oh, that’s just a machine we use to dry the carpet after cleaning. We’ll send someone to remove it right away.
…And so that concluded the brief drama we had at the Affinia Shelburne, which for the record I still say is an amazing boutique hotel that is value for money.
Quick review: 4 stars.
As well as being modern/clean/safe (these are my prerequisites), there were a couple of things I really appreciated from my 2 stays there:
- Friendly service and quick to solve problems (see long winded story above)
- Great value for money in comparison to other similar hotels, plus they have extended stay discounts
- Fantastic views from the rooftop bar
- You could get online shopping delivered to your room!
- Staff don’t bat an eyelid if you return after every day (or after every breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack) with gigantic shopping bags
- Great Thanksgiving dinner in the Rare Bar & Grill downstairs
- Choose your pillow from the Dream Pillow Menu
- Coin laundry located in the basement
I only wish they were closer to the subway — it’s about a 5-10 minute walk from Grand Central, which is nothing until you factor in the many many trips to drop off shopping bags. But given the amount of food we ate, this was probably a blessing in disguise…
And yes, they did still give free nail polish remover towelettes.