This hotel is magnificent! It's blocks from Central Park and Times Square, Viand is next store with great food and they deliver! The rooms are gorgeous! It's quiet and everything is clean and up to date. There's are great food market right across the street in one direction and a Starbucks in the opposite direction. The staff was spot on! I had an issue with my heater and they had someone up to fix it before I hung the phone up. It was booked and busy but the service was spectacular. Can't go wrong with the hotel!

Had the one bedroom apartment, the separate living area works really well if your other half is to bed early. The kitchen is great for having your own breakfast, you would be hard pressed to cook a proper meal given the limited cooking utensils. Having said that Fairway across the road have some fabulous fresh pre packaged meals that you can microwave. The liquor store close by has an amazing selection of wines, plus lots of cold ones if you are in a hurry. The air con is noisy, we just simply switched it off which may not be an option in summer/winter. The lifts are slow at busy periods, some times I just walked the 11 floors (to keep fit!). The laundry on level 7 is an absolute winner if you are travelling on, as we were. If you are going to Newark airport, ask the concierge to book you the shuttle bus, it's far cheaper than the metered taxi. Great location, just a bit more upmarket feel about it, compared to downtown.

Only gripe was booked months prior, and asked to be as high as possible, but ended up on level 11.

Just got back from a 3 night stay at the Beacon. We wanted to stay in an area that had a more local neighbourhood feeling so we thought the Upper West Side would do the trick. I was really impressed by the value of this hotel. With the tax we paid $344 a night for a King room. Other hotels I researched were even more then that and the pictures didn’t seem as nice. We got there late at night and there was a big crowd in the lobby and low and behold Robin Williams was there visiting with fans. I assumed he was performing at the theatre next door but not sure. Seemed like a sign of a good visit. The room was very large. Much bigger then other New York hotels I’ve stayed in. As well the décor was really nice and bed very comfortable. It definitely seemed like they had renovated recently. Before our arrival I emailed to request a quiet room on a higher floor. They gave us a room on the top floor which is 25th. Our room was across from the elevators which I thought might be a problem for noise but we barely heard anything from the hallway. As well I had read reviews about the elevators being slow but we never had an issues with them. We had chatted with some local residences of the hotel that had been living there for 25 years. It was interesting to stay in a place with such history. When we woke up our first morning we were stunned at the view. A great way to start everyday.

The subway is right around the corner which is really convenient. At the last minute I considered switching hotels to somewhere around Greenwich Village because I thought that we might be spending hours on the subway but the express train to Time Square is super fast. We would be downtown in around 15 minutes so getting around wasn’t a problem at all.

Having the Viand Café downstairs is really convenient as well. We arrived late at night and it was so nice to pop down for a snack and drink. On our last day we had to leave for our flight early so again it was nice to have a reasonably priced meal downstairs. We also had breakfast at Le Pain Quotiden on 72nd which we really enjoyed as well we went to Sarabeth’s West which was good but nothing really special and pricey. We also partook in the famous Gray’s Papaya for a snack too. A really nice wine store is just downstairs too and a Duane Reade closeby if you forgot any toiletries.

There’s lots of shopping around the area too which we didn’t expect which was great. A big DSW was just down the street. We rented bikes at Master Bike Shop on 72nd and did a nice ride around Central Park.

For the beautiful room, view, location, and value I’d definitely recommend the Beacon.

My wife and I stayed at the Beacon for the first time while visiting our son, who lives a couple of blocks away and who suggested the Beacon. Our room was very good-sized, with a basic kitchenette (and a Keurig coffee maker!), clean, and simply but attractively decorated.

The hotel has no restaurant or bar, but there are plenty of good eateries nearby (for NYC diner-type food, try the Viand Cafe in the same building), and a Fairway grocery store directly across Broadway to get goodies if one wants to eat in. The location is super - away from the bustle of Times Square and the grunge of the Village, but it is easy to get to both of those with a cab down Broadway or, for the more adventurous, a ride on the subway. Central Park is only a couple of blocks away, and the Lincoln Center is a comfortable walk.

All the staff with whom we had contact, from the doorman to the front desk to the housekeepers, were super - very friendly and helpful.