If you want to feel like you have your own sleek pied-a-terre in NYC, this is the place for you! Refinery Hotel seems much more like your sophisticated city apartment than a hotel room. The loft-like rooms are large by NY standards, and the very high ceilings enhance that voluminous ambience. The stylish industrial vibe is demonstrated in the interesting mix of wood, metal, and leather furniture, along with dark wood floors. Elegant bathrooms, with hand-crafted luxury fittings by the venerable English firm Lefroy Brooks, are impressive. The wall-hung toilet, refined black-marble-topped sink console, and marble mosaic tile floor fill the bathroom with character as well as functionality.
Unlike many hotels (at any price), the walls seem to be quite thick; we never heard sound from other rooms or out in the corridor. Even though you're right in the heart of NYC, outside noise was fairly minimal.
The staff is young and very eager to please (perhaps a little TOO eager sometimes), but I attributed that to the fact that they JUST opened. Yes, there were a few service glitches, such as housekeepers that were not consistent in the level that they cleaned the room, but I expect that will get corrected when they work out all the opening kinks. You might expect a hip hotel like this to have staff with a snobby attitude, but it is quite the opposite here, with an abundance, sometimes overabundance, of sociability and friendliness. I stayed here with my family for 7 nights, so I think we probably met every staff member during that time.
The midtown location is quite central, with Bryant Park, Times Square, and the Garment District in close proximity, plus a view of the nearby Empire State Building. The closest subway stop is just two blocks away, as is the stunningly beautiful New York Public Library. Across the street is an excellent coffee place called Culture Espresso, not to be missed by real coffee aficionados. On the corner is a very handy market/deli, and on another corner is an outpost of Pret A Manger, the British sandwich shop chain, all very handy.
Hopefully, in the future, the hotel will offer more pillow options. We found the down pillows to be completely unsupportive, so soft that your head completely sinks through to the bottom, and, when we requested firmer pillows, all they had to offer was a similarly-soft down alternative foam pillow. Otherwise, sheets and towels were Frette; no complaints there.
Returning to this hotel after a long day, it is quite nice to find in the elevator lobby a staff member offering complimentary wine, which is done daily.
We dined our first night at Parker & Quinn, the hotel's restaurant and bar, which certainly doesn't feel like a "hotel restaurant" at all. In keeping with the hotel's character, this restaurant is smart, sophisticated, well designed, and cozy, with utterly delicious food that was somewhat simple, but by no means plain or boring. I'm still thinking about the deeply satisfying Tomato Bacon Bisque and hoping that the chef will share his recipe with me!
The next time I want to fantasize about having my own NY apartment, I'll surely return to Refinery Hotel.
