A recent trip to the City saw me trying to redeem the remaining IHG points in my account from writing out all those post cards before they expired. I was surfing for hotels to stay in NYC and stumbled upon the Hotel Indigo Lower East Side, which looked like it had a terrific view of the Lower Manhattan Skyline with One World Trade Center from it’s rooftop deck. The view and the lower price for the room pretty much settled my debate over whether I should go for the Intercontinental Barclay again. After all, I would probably be able to get a unique picture of the City in the process of my stay and save some points.
Arrival
We took a bout a 30 minute Uber ride from La Guardia, as soon as we arrived, and were greeted with a spectacular sunset on the ride over to Manhattan. Not many cities can compare with New York when it comes to skyline silhouettes.
Check In and Lobby:
As soon as we arrived we were helped out of the car and led to an elevator, which would take us to the 14th floor lobby.
From the modern lobby you could see a good portion of the Lower East Side of New York and the Williamsburg Bridge. The hotel is nestled in an area between Upper and Lower Manhattan, which has some of the city’s shorter buildings making for excellent views of both sides of the City. And the lobby maximizes every inch with its panoramic windows.
Queen Superior Room
Unfortunately I wasn’t offered any upgrades on this stay whether it was complimentary or paid, so I was stuck in a basic room (coined as “superior”) located on the 10th floor with an alleyway for a view. Stuck is a harsh word for a rather spacious, fresh, and modern room by NYC standards. The room was cozy and designed well with outlets in all the right places.
The bathtroom was also well designed with a unique blue and yellow tile floor. It had a spacious stand alone shower, which is ideal for the small space. The toiletries were CO Bigelow branded, which are fairly well scented IMHO.
The Rooftop Pool Deck
I headed over to the rooftop deck for some pictures of the New York City skyline, and got kicked out for having “professional grade equipment.” Apparently, you are only allowed to take pictures with your cell phone up on the pool or rooftop deck. A policy which doesn’t make any sense given that I wasn’t there for a commercial shoot and simply wanted to include it for my review. It also left a bad taste in my mouth given that the hotel website displays the incredible views that can be had from this hotel as if every guest can enjoy them. The reality is most of the sky decks were closed and this one didn’t allow cameras.. Stay tuned for the hotel’s reply to my complaint regarding the incident and here is a picture I took with my Google Pixel.
After checking into the hotel, having a look at the room, and being kicked out of the rooftop deck, it was time to head over to Vatan for some dinner with my family. For $34 you get an all you can eat pure vegetarian 4 course meal. Food is usually good, but this time service wasn’t quite as good as normal. One of the waiters even spilled a drink all over my cousin’s coat. The odd thing was that the staff member was publicly reprimanded while we were never apologized to for receiving a stained coat. Anyway definitely recommend going if you are ever in the City because this seemed to be a one off event as far as I could tell. I didn’t take any images on this visit, but here is a prior one from my Instagram feed:
Breakfast @ Wafels & Dinges Cafe
The following morning I decided to explore the area and find my own breakfast rather than go to the hotel restaurant. I enjoyed the walk through streets, which had some great character. I see why this is considered one of the up and coming neighborhoods in NYC. I ended up having breakfast at a neat little cafe serving delicious Belgian waffles and ice cream.
Check Out:
Check out was a nuisance given that I had to wait in line for over 30 minutes before being handed a zero bill for my stay. The couple in front of me decided to argue their room rate and the hotel receptionists seemed to want to entertain the conversation for a long while before realizing there were other people in line.
Bottom Line:
The Hotel Indigo Lower East Side is certainly one of the nicer IHG properties in the City and maybe one of the cheapest given its location and potential for views depending on room assignment. The rooms are fresh and the location is convenient for exploring one of New York’s trendy neighborhoods: the Lower East Side. At 50,000 points it wasn’t a bad way to finish off my expiring IHG points balance. The one not so great part about the hotel was that the service was rather nonchalant and slow at times. If I were ready to pay the average nightly rate, which is around $300, I would expect a higher service standard.
