After a lot of rescheduling due to Covid, our long-awaited trip to New York had finally arrived…

The Park Central Hotel on 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan was our chosen place to stay. Here’s what I thought!

Where is the Park Central Hotel?

The best thing about this hotel is without a doubt the location.
The Park Central Hotel is on 7th Avenue, just a 4 minute walk to the edge of Central Park and in the other direction just a 10 minute walk to Times Square, or a 13 minute walk to Rockefeller Center.

The hotel is also in between 2 Subway stations, each on different lines and walkable within 1 minute.

It really is right in the middle of Manhattan, with many of New York’s main sights and attractions within easy walking distance.

Rooms at the Park Central Hotel

When entering the hotel from 7th Avenue, the reception desk is in front of you in the lobby. Behind reception there is a large bar area with comfortable seating, and to the left of the entrance is a baggage room and a small cafe serving coffees and muffins etc.

The cafe is extortionately expensive ($8.71 for a small bottle of water), so I would give this a miss and use the Starbucks right next door.

We checked in and found our way to room 514 on the 5th floor.

The rooms are large and comfortable, with large king size beds, a huge TV, air conditioning, a large bathroom with shower and bath, and in our case a good view of the streets below.

The room was incredibly noisy due to the activity on the streets below, however this is expected given the location in the middle of NYC!
A little soundproofing wouldn’t go amiss though!

Park Central doesn’t offer a fridge or kettle in the rooms, however there is a good Starbucks next door to the hotel for those morning coffees, or plenty of diners nearby for breakfast (Carnegie Cafe & Diner is a really good one).

Here comes an unfortunate red flag however 🚩 It’s hidden charges galore at this place.

The Park Central Hotel charge a surprise ‘facilities fee’ of $38.00 (+ tax) per room, per night, to apparently pay for long distance calls, wi-fi, and small discounts at 4 nearby restaurants, none of which we were interested in or made aware of at any point during the booking process.

This means that guests’ pre-authorised credit cards are charged a surprise fee after checking out.

This shady practice is thankfully illegal across Europe, which is perhaps why this was a surprise to us.

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I wouldn’t recommend the Park Central Hotel New York.

Although we had a fantastic time in New York, one of my favourite of any cities I’ve visited, I probably wouldn’t recommend this hotel and wouldn’t return here again despite the location.

As someone who likes to travel on a budget, dishonesty and hidden charges (such as the ‘secret’ facilities fee) leave a bad taste in my mouth, and really detract from what was otherwise a good hotel in a great location.

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