Let me say the good things first: spacious room, attentive bellman, great valet parking, location close enough to Grand Central and subways.

Okay now for the part I don't like to write about but this stay started off as a complete disaster. We arrived for the 3pm check-in time that the hotel stated. We were told it would be 20 minutes more as the room was not ready. The bellman took our luggage up to the room while we went and sat outside. We checked back 25 -30 minutes later and were told the room still wasn't ready. The front desk person asked housekeeping to call her when it was done. She explained that the previous party had stayed for a late checkout... not sure why we had to suffer though...

We checked back bit after 4 pm after sitting outside on the table and chairs next to the abandoned restaurant that once occupied the hotel building. When we went in and asked, the front desk person still hadn't heard about the room. She called housekeeping and they said that they didn't know if it was done and that the front desk should send the bellman to check on it. The bellman was no where to be seen at this point so we had to wait until 4:30 when he went up and gave the okay. We received our key-cards and headed to the room.

Arriving in the room we found it to be dated but fairly clean and very spacious with nice city views... room 17 G. However, even though we booked a "two queen beds and another queen bed suite", we got a "two queen bed with two twin bed suite." We even had Expedia call for us to verify that was what we would get but we didn't end up with it after all. The front desk explained that it can not guarantee a room type even though an Eastgate reservation person had guaranteed this to Expedia. We had to have a portable twin bed brought up so no one had to sleep in the living room.

It was at this point we noted that the air conditioning in the twin bed room did not work, so we placed another call to the front desk and they said they would send up maintenance. They arrived within the half-hour and looked at the a/c unit. He determined it was a broken condenser and said the entire unit would be replaced but he had a new one. A short while later he returned with the massive unit and began to do the replacement. We were unable to unpack as this room was the scene of some major construction! About 30 minutes later he determined that the new unit was also bad and decided to try one more unit.

The dinner hour was upon us and we were starving... but we had no idea if we would be keeping this room as it was partially un-airconditioned and it was 90 degrees outside. After waiting another 15 minutes or so, I went down to the front desk to discuss the general suckiness of our visit thus far and to speak with a manager. She arrived and her name I believe was Donna. She was very nice and helpful. She said she was willing to move us to another similar suite (2 queens, 2 twins) but it was on the 13th floor which was the smoking floor. We weren't too thrilled by that. She asked us to come see it and smell it with her as she felt most people don't smoke much anymore. We went her and it was nice and did not smell that much and had more up-to-date kitchen appliances.

At that point, my cell phone rang... it was my wife and she informed me that the new a/c unit was in and working, so we went with Donna the manager to confirm. It worked great!

Unfortunately it was now 7pm which was 4 hours from our scheduled check-in. After unpacking, we got to eat and proceeded on our late evening with the kids who were antsy and cranky now.

Things seemed to be progressing... at least until I laid upon the most uncomfortable and squeaky twin bed I had laid upon since my childhood. Fortunately the days events had tired me and I slept well.

The next morning, we all showered and tossed our towels on the floors in the bathrooms. We returned from a theatre matinee around 6 pm, ready to shower and go out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Showers were put on hold because there was not one single towel in our room!

So, of course, I called the front desk. They said they would tell housekeeping.

30 minutes later, no towels, so I called again. Again they said they would be right up.

Another 30 minutes passed as I was about to reach for the phone again, the towels arrived... but there were only 3 of them... for 6 people. I asked the house keeping person why and they told me that they had run out of towels.

Weird. They have tons of extra a/c units but lack towels?

Well, some of us skipped showers and I went to the front desk on the way to dinner. I told them about how silly the towel situation and they promised more towels.

When we returned from dinner, there were stacks of towels in both bathrooms and an extra big stack in the living room. I guess they bought more???

Anyway, After that our remaining three days were quiet and went smoothly. 2 of 4 nights/days were just fine.. is 50% okay for a visit that cost nearly $2k? I am not sure yet....

Stayed here for 5 days and the whole stay was a pleasure. Staff were friendly and was allowed to book in early ( 11.30am).
We had a 2 person studio on the 13th floor, the room was large and clean with a good a size bed ,small kitchen and a small but clean bathroom. Good base to see New York.
Don’t really have a bad word to say about this hotel but as the reviewer before me said, if you don’t have the money for a hotel in Time Square, this is a good alternative.

We were on the top floor - 25E.
It's a large "suite" - queen sized bed - in a large room with ensuite bath/shower & toilet.
There is a kitchenette off the main room, and a sofa bed which makes up into a quite comfortable double bed.
The hotel is showing its age! Carpets and general decor are grubby. When we were there (4th.to 8th. July) the restaurant was closed for renovations. Not a big problem for us as we intended eating out anyway. Located on East 39th Street, the location is quite good. Maybe a 15 minute walk to Time Square.
Accommodation in NY is ridiculously expensive - so we paid 4 star prices for this 2 star accommodation.

We stayed at the Eastgate tower for 7 nights and it was a very good expierance.

Location: It is about 5 minutes walk from the UN Embassy, 10 minutes from Grand Central Station and about 20-25 minutes walk from Time Square. We found that most of the places we needed to go to started from Time Square so if you don't want to walk there each day you can take a taxi for around $8 (includes tip) or take one of the many buses that drive buy, which costs a $2 a ride.

Room: The furnishings were basic but everything was clean and tidy. We didn't really use the kitchen to cook due to as the New Yorkers say "Why cook when you have 36,000 restaurants" also it worked out similar in price to eat in as it did to eat out. If you are a light sleeper like me then be warned that in the summer the air con is loud and even if it is switched off you can still hear everyone elses (pair of ear plugs sorted the problem for me).

Staff: Really friendly and helpful.

Overall I would say to anyone who has the money to get a hotel closer to Time Square, however if you cannot then this is a really good alternative.