Stayed in the Jumeirah Essex House for one night in my way back home. Minty towels were given upon check in, asked for a connecting rooms on high floors with late check out time which we got.

The rooms were newly renovated; space wise was fine NYC standards, with marble bath. Lighting, AC setting can all be set via the telephone near the bed. The room was really an oasis of quietness, the rooms we got were a twin double and King Essex rooms. There were motion sensitive lights in the room and the bathroom which was a nice touch.

We had breakfast at the hotel "included in the deal" the service was a true 5 star experience and the food was yummy.

My partner and I stayed at this hotel after doing much research and comparison between this and similar hotels in NYC. We live on Long Island, and have stayed at several other highly rated NYC hotels, such as the Casablanca and Hilton hotels.

We picked the Central Park King room based on the hotel website description stating that the Park view rooms offer "dramatic views of New York’s famed Central Park" and "present exquisite views of Central Park, so be sure to reserve your lavish Park View Room." As we were celebrating our anniversary, decided to spend the extra $100 for the highly esteemed "Central Park View", and had requested a high floor.

We arrived early 11:30 am at the hotel, and were told that our room was on the 5th floor, which was at the "tree line". We asked if there were any other rooms available on a higher floor, but was told that there were not.

While the room was lovely and very clean and quiet, the air conditioning did not work well, and would not go below 67 degrees. The Central Park View which we had been promised ended up being a view of some very large trees, with no park view whatsoever (see my picture included with this review). With the telescope provided in the room, we could see the leaves on the tree. Not very exciting, and definitely not worth the extra money. If I wanted to look at trees, I could have done so elsewhere for a lot less money.

We contacted the manager on duty to let her know that we were disappointed with our stay, but she made no attempt to compensate us whatsoever. In fact, she tried to blame us by saying that we had booked the room on the same day. While I can understand that there may not have been any other rooms available given our last minute booking, we still should have received what we thought we were paying for, and that was, according to their website, "lavish" and "exquisite" views of Central Park. In my opinion, if they are going to have rooms with a tree obstructed view of Central Park, they should list them on their website as "obstructed view rooms" or the like, so that the consumer is not mislead into expecting something better than a tree view.

We won't be staying here again....for what we received in terms of a room with a bad view and faulty air conditioning, it was not worth what we paid for.

I ended up at the Essex House through my firm's New York hotel roulette ("find me a room in Midtown," I believe I said). When I got into the cab at JFK and gave the address ("59th between 6th and 7th"), he said, "Oh, the Essex House or the New York Athletic Club?" Clearly this is a known hotel.

When I arrived, the doorman opened the door of the cab and my suitcase disappeared with a bellman. As I waited on line (why is there a line at such a swank hotel?) someone approached with a cold washcloth on a plate so I could refresh myself.

I had requested a hypoallergenic room as I'm allergic to feathers, and the front desk clerk sent someone to make sure it had been done (it hadn't). While I was waiting, I asked if someone could make a dinner reservation for me, and within ten seconds the concierge came over and made a reservation for me at some Italian restaurant on Seventh Avenue (good, but too expensive for the quality).

I was taken upstairs to a city-view room on the 12th floor and while it was somewhat small (the armchair is oddly-placed), it was extremely comfortable. The lights came on automatically -- more on this later -- and I got ready for dinner.

The toilet is odd -- it takes nearly twenty seconds between the time you push the lever to the time it actually, erm, flushes. The sink is one of those "bowl sitting on the counter" types, but the handles are in front -- if you have a small child, they can EASILY reach this and flood your bathroom. The shower was extremely comfortable -- two shower heads, good temperature and great water pressure especially for the twelfth floor, but oddly the drain stopper had been pulled out on its rubber lead, which lent an ugly touch to the bathroom. The towels are very, very heavy and warm, which is nice -- they wick away the water very quickly -- but they're stored above the shower and so they tend to get soaked if you use the moveable shower head. The porter had seen that I am not a 98-pound weakling and so replaced the house robe and slippers with something more appropriate for a tall guy.

The bed -- I laid on the bed and went "aaaaaahhhhhhh, I'm never getting up, this is too nice!" Very soft and comfortable. The new pillows were just fine -- foam pillows are foam pillows -- but the hypoallergenic blanket was terrible. Brown and thin and stiff and scratchy like a camping blanket. Given that it had replaced a plush down comforter, I was not terribly happy, but that is what they had. It would take so little to have a small stash of comfortable, hypoallergenic comforters.

When I went out, I asked for turndown for my return. When I returned the bed had been turned down, with a mint on the pillow and a heating plate of milk on the side table with cocoa mix to mix in. Very nice!

When I got into the bed, I had a problem -- how do you turn off the lights? I mean, I've worked in IT for ten years and I've never had problems turning off lights in a hotel room. It took me nearly twenty minutes -- with me refusing to give in and just call -- to figure out that some of the lights are controlled at the front door, some of the lights are controlled at the side wall next to the bed, the purple (purple??) light above the headboard is controlled by a switch in the centre of the headboard, and the other lamps have individual controls. I still don't know how the lamp controls worked, because they appeared to be touch controls, but if you spun the dial, it would either turn off, or turn down. Trying to control anything from the room control system on the phones (three phones in a 20 m^2 room) was an exercise in futility -- you could see it blinking furiously as it transmitted data, and then nothing would happen for four minutes, and then all of a sudden after you had given up, you'd be plunged into darkness. The "moods" were useless as well. The most irritating thing, though, is something they trumpet on their website -- stumble lights. The bedside tables and the bathroom vanity have motion sensors and if you move past them, underlighting turns on and you CAN'T TURN IT OFF. Two minutes of non-motion have to go by and then it will turn off by itself. This sounds like a great idea, but let's say you turn over and the blanket falls slightly off the bed, or your arm dangles, all of a sudden it's BRIGHT in your room. If you're not the only one in the room and you get up to go have a slash, you'll wake everyone else up. I'd be OK with stumble lights in the bathroom but make it so I can turn them off!! Go back to regular light switches, PLEASE.

Same with the room temperature. I never did figure that out. There was a thermostat on the wall that showed 22 C (that's, hm, 73 F or so), which is what I wanted it to be, but the phone control said the room was set for 25 C (77 F or so) which was too warm for me. I couldn't get the fan to run except if I used BOTH. Too confusing!!

One nice piece of technology was that you don't have to open your door to put the "do not disturb" or "maid service please" sign out -- it is controlled by a switch right inside the front foor which lights up a red LED outside for "do not disturb" and a green LED outside for "maid service please". Your room also has a doorbell -- there is no knocking.

The hotel has a car service for trips within a 10-block radius and they're fairly forgiving about what 10 blocks is (you will definitely want to use this if you've ever tried to hail a cab in the rain), or if the weather is fine you can use the hotel's bicycles. In addition they will lend you umbrellas. When I went to the gym on the 3rd floor to work out, a personal trainer helped me through my stretching, and explained that if I wanted (and for an additional price) I could have exercise equipment and a trainer brought to my room, or in-room yoga.

Internet access is available -- both wired and 802.11g wireless -- but the wireless signal strength is not good on the fringes of the building. Access is EXTREMELY expensive -- on the order of $25 a day -- you could get a month's worth of access using your cell phone as a modem for the price of three days' Internet access.

I didn't eat or drink anything in the hotel except tap water (New York has the best tap water in America, why should I pay for water?) and I had to call to request ice (it was delivered each day after that for me). I read about the $33 breakfast buffet and honestly, there's Petrossian across the street, and Le Pain Quotidien kitty-corner to that (both on 58th and Seventh Avenue), or on Sixth between 56th and 57th is an espresso bar called Zibetto that could have been torn straight out of Rome (no seats -- stand at the bar or get it to go, no soy no-foam latte half-caf nonsense, and cheaper prices than Fourbucks), or if you really want the New York experience, go to the cart on 58th and 6th and get a bacon, egg and cheese on a hard roll.

In general, this was an excellent hotel and you'll be pampered -- if you can convince yourself to get out of bed. However, you will go crazy trying to control your room. Now that I've fought the battle (and won the skirmish with the stumble lights by blocking the bed table motion sensors with spare pillows), I'll be happy to return.

I had a lovely stay here at this hotel. Easy check in, kind staff. Beautiful room as well. room was a bit small, but most are in nyc. It was nice and tastfully decorated. It was also very very quiet. Couldnt hear street sounds, couldnt hear anyone open close doors, couldnt hear anyone turn their water or showers on..nothing......dead silence ! perfect place to stay for a beautiful experience and restful nite. They also have a lovely lounge with great selections and a beautiful area to relax in the lobby.