The Empire Hotel

Kailey Susewitz

My friends and I were staying near by at a different hotel, but we wanted to check this hotel and the bar out because we all love the show Gossip Girl and wanted the Gossip Girl martinis! The lounge/bar manager, Joshua, went above and beyond and gave us such a great experience! He was so friendly and showed us around and really made our experience great. This was one of the highlights of our trip and we genuinely thank him!

Julia Helland

I liked only location and staff were nice. What is negative: 1- room is small with no place to put your clothes only hang some over the safe. 2- the shower was blocked so water hardly went away each time you have shower you just stay in this water 3- bed is very small it says queen but it is full bed size judged by its size. For two people you feel as sardines. Pillow uncomfortable and they have only one type that’s it. 4- no kettle in the room, not even complimentary water in the mini fridge. 5- Very loud !!!!! air conditioner and room was very hot looks like it did not work properly 6- corridors were dark you cannot see even handle. Keys work each 2-3 times. Mostly does not 7- very old outdated rooms 8- blinds broken 9-no breakfast in the hotel 10- old bathroom not with the glass but with the curtain !!!!! Toilet 🚽 space very narrow and small. Towels smelled “funny” And restroom of the hotel was out of service belive that?! Really that what you get in manhattan for this price! I cannot say it is cheap. I was staying in hotels in London Paris Madrid Barcelona Rome Milan in downtown and never have such a horrible room. Do not recommend at all!

Aileen Noguer

Empire did not disappoint - the location was absolutely perfect with lots of restaurants, transit and shopping nearby. This is an older hotel so the rooms are a little smaller, but well equipped. Our first room was dark - facing inward- new room bright and overlooked the little park! Cool retro lobby! The staff was super friendly and efficient and the highlight was the rooftop bar with the fantastic views from both levels and the famous neon sign! When you step outside, you can see the trees of Central Park!

Amy Mangueira

As a frequent visitor to NYC, I was extremely disappointed with my stay at The Empire Hotel. While the hotel's common areas were excellent—the lobby was gorgeous, the staff was great, and the location is outstanding—the quality of the guest rooms was unacceptable. The rooms were in a severe state of disrepair: The carpet was heavily stained. The furniture was falling apart. Our first room had small cockroaches in the shower. We were moved to a second room which, while clean of insects, was of the same poor quality. The worst part was the air conditioning. The rooms were intensely hot and humid, which made for an incredibly uncomfortable sleep and left everything in the room feeling slightly damp. The AC simply couldn't cool the room effectively. Despite loving the location near Central Park and Lincoln Center, the poor condition of the rooms means we will not be staying here again.

L Foley

I have serious safety concerns, especially with the elevators, based on my experience at the Empire Hotel in late July. Our stay was ok until an elevator incident. We got on the elevator on the 8th floor. At the 3rd floor we picked up more people. The interior elevator doors never closed. The elevator passed the lobby and basement, and hit the bottom between floors. We pressed the alarm. Within minutes hotel staff called to us and said they were coming. In about 10-15 min, staff opened the exterior elevator doors, asked if we were ok, and helped us climb out. The manager asked for our room numbers and said our bills would be adjusted. No one asked us about the incident. Later, my friend and I asked to speak to the manager (same person as basement) and asked what happened. She said the elevator had an issue, the repair company fixed it and it was running again. We told her that the interior doors didn’t close and we hit the bottom. She appeared surprised and said it was new information. She recorded that. We asked to speak to someone higher in the organization. We met with the hotel director and security head the next morning. We were told that the weight limit was exceeded in the elevator. There were 3 women, 2 men, 4 youngsters and no luggage. We couldn’t find any signs about a weight limit. The security head said that the elevator behaved appropriately and returned to its safe base in the basement. We said that this didn’t match our experience as the elevator seemed to hit bottom and the interior doors never closed on the 3rd floor. They also told us this was new information, which was concerning to me, as the repair company may not have been given an accurate account of what happened. We were refunded 1 night of 4 night stay. My concerns lie around the lack of safety in the elevators, but also around what felt like the hotel’s lack of urgency or interest in understanding the incident. I can’t in good conscience recommend this hotel to anyone. Pros: pool, nice rooftop, great location, friendly staff Other cons: dark hallways, broken A/C (fixed once, not a second time), tv didn’t work reliably, no bathroom counterspace, grimy bathroom trim