Stayed at Empire Hotel as part of my honeymoon. The hotel location, the decor, the size of the room, the cleanliness, the rooftop bar was all first class.
But, when we arrived at reception to check in a family in front of us were complaining and were upgraded to a junior suite. We had booked a junior suite and we were told that there were none available and there were no rooms of superior quality available.
The hotel offered us a king room and a free breakfast.
We are possibly the first honeymooners in history to be downgraded!!

To be fair to the hotel they moved our cases to the suite the following day whilst we were out discovering NYC.

The suite was very large for NYC and overlooked Broadway and the price was excellent.

I booked the hotel with trepidation after reading some very poor reports on TA, in my opinion the reception lets the hotel down but it wouldn't stop me staying there again.

my friend and i stayed at this hotel 26th Jul-1st Aug. We arrived a little early and were advised that our rooms weren't quite ready , so we went for a walk while they looked after our bags. when we came back, i was asked for a credit card to check in. this shocked us, as we hadnt been advised that we would need to do this by our travel agent - so beware!.
we had booked the trip as it was my friends 30th birthday and she wanted to do something different to the norm, she mentioned this to the receptionist when he asked why we had come, he then gave us our room cards and told us he had upgraded us to a deluxe room!! (we'd booked a standard room)
This got our holiday off to a fabulous start. we raced to our room, and the bellboy brought our bags up (those guys couldnt be more helpful the entire stay) the room was amazing, i was expecting it to be small, but it wasnt that small considering there were 2 double beds in it. wicked flat screen tv, an ipod clock radio. it took us a while to work out the strange shower, and you had to let it run for about 5 mins before it was hot, but it was cool, there was plenty of room for our clothes (didnt bring much as we were there to shop)

Bizarre - why no kettle in the room?

the only other thing was that the lighting is not very bright at all.

we were disappointed to find out that we werent getting breakfast - however we discovered a deli round the corner that we had fresh fruit and yoghurt from every day, so we would leave the hotel each morning, go to the deli to pick up our fruit salad and eat it on the train going to midtown

on our 1st evening, we went for a walk around, felt like a real neighbourhood, not like a holiday area or city centre. when we came back, we were surprised to see a queue out of the hotel lobby almost into the street. we asked one of the bellboys what they people were queuing for and he told us they were waiting to get up to the rooftop bar. Apparently this bar is the THE place to be. We went up to have a look, and it is lovely, if very expensive.

we didnt use the gym, but did go up to the pool a few times, which is tiny, however the loungers were fab, and it was very nice space to chill out in.

to go out in the evening was very simple, the bellboys would get a cab for you, and it really wasnt very far (or expensive) to get anywhere. We paid $10 to get to the meat packing district - West 20th Street.

overall, i thoroughly enjoyed this hotel (1st time staying in a hotel in New York - used to stay with my grandmother til she moved to Florida) and i would definitely stay there again

From the sound of things I think we were upgraded to a superior room at the front of the hotel . The room was great with quality material throughout.. The room was a decent size and passed the 'can i fully open my suitcase on the floor' test".
Overall, the hotel experience was very positive. The downside
is the bathroom which is in my view is slightly smaller that a cruise ship.
The location is excellent and it was nice to grab some picnic stuff at the times centre (at columbus circle - down the elevators )and lunch in central park.. I can highly recommend the flame diner for breakfast on west 58th Street (left out of the hotel and about 6-7 minutes walk - don't forget to cross columbus ave)

I was celebrating my Bachelorette party at this hotel. We stayed for 2 nights in double queen suit. The view weren’t very impressive, but we didn’t care. We also stayed at the highest floor, which is 11th. If you prefer to hear elevator bells every morning – that floor is for you. They have breakfast buffet on 11th floor, so everybody goes there pretty early. We couldn’t check in at the time we wanted, but we arrived a bit too early – 12:30 p.m., so we went for a walk (Columbus Circle is 2 blocks away, Central Park is 2 blocks away) and got our room at 3 p.m. My package included champagne upon arrival. They forgot about it and in-room dining wanted to deliver it from the restaurant and charge me for that. Eventually I received it at no extra charge….
Neither of us could figure out how their showers work, they also don’t have normal shower door, so all water runs to the floor. I had to fix the sink, because water didn’t run through…
Hotel’s keys are constantly getting uncharged or I don’t know what was going on with them. You have to make sure to take at least 6 keys when you check-in. By the time I was checking out – I had about 15.
Hotel’s beds are very comfortable. They also give you plenty of towels.
The staff was very friendly and helpful. I could tell that they’re dealing with all kind of issues every day, but trying to do their best.
The gym is small, but cute. Hotel also has a Starbucks on the first floor that was very convenient.
We spent most of the time outside. They have pool on the roof (more Jacuzzi size, than a pool). When I asked them why does it look so much smaller than on the web site – the answer was: “Right picture angle…”. They also don’t have alcohol license for the tanning deck. I guess people bring their own and hiding in cabanas…
Nightlife…. The location is just perfect. Close to everything and I even didn’t know what a nice rooftop lounge and bar they have. I also didn’t know that it’s very popular and could be so crowded. I recommend going there.
In general: Stylish, cool place with perfect location, nice staff.
Some of the designs are cool (look cool), but not useful in a normal life.
I would stay there again.