I stayed at the Belvedere in January 2005 and give it five stars because of its great location and it also offered a fine service for two people.

I have decided to review it again because I revisited the hotel in September 2007 over Labor Day weekend and with three people in the traveling party.

Despite booking for three people, the rooms only had 2 queen beds with two adults sharing one of them. The cups, towels, coffee, chairs were all for two people despite paying for three and giving staff constant reminders that there were actually three of us stopping in the room.

I can forgive the hotel for a poor service because it was very busy and staff were under pressure to cater for the large holiday crowed but what I cannot forgive is the hotels failure to spend some of their time and profit replacing and/or upgrading the lifts.

As other reviewers have written, there are 3 small lifts that cover hundreds of rooms over 17 stories which at times can results in waiting for up to 10 minutes. My second stay at the Belvedere was ruined because one of the three lifts was out of order for the entire duration of my stay (5 days). Wait times for the remaining two lifts were over 15 minutes.

Five hours of my five-day stay in New York were spent waiting for the Belvedere's painfully slow and dysfunctional lifts.

As both a business and leisure traveler who has put on almost 250,000 miles over the past 28 months, the stay at this place ranks as my worst hotel experience ever!

After room rates, taxes, hotel ding charges for my daughter to also stay with us, I paid almost $400 per night for a room that would make a Hotel 6 look like the Ritz.

The facility looks amazing from the exterior and first floor interior (ie. lobby), but that is where they must have run out of money.

We stayed in room 404 on the fourth floor and the room was tiny. Sure, there was a kitchenette but you couldn't use the fridge which was on the floor, under the counter unless you got on your hands and knees because the door was hinged on the wrong side and the the entire space was probably no larger than 4'x6'. The bathroom was small, so small that if you tried, you could touch all four walls from the john.

Need wireless internet? No problem, unless you expect it to work.

Can it get any worse? Oh yeah. Step into the hallway at any time and you're floored by a foul oder. What did the hotel staff have to say about that? Well apparently this hotel has tenants from a period before it became a hotel and they can't do anything about them.

At checkout, the staff didn't even bother to ask how our stay was, so other than leaving a comment card, they're clueless to my overall dissatisfaction but then again, I don't thing they would have cared...

Stay somewhere, anywhere else; At $400/night, you'll be happier that you did...

Our experience at the Belvedere was completely positive. We were given a 17th floor corner room. Even though it was right next to the service elevator (which we used occasionally), it was quiet. The bed was comfortable. The kitchenette was nice to store beverages and snacks. There is a small store on the next corner to buy groceries. The staff were all helpful and friendly. It is in a great location. Don't be afraid to use the subway, it worked well for us, we covered alot of territory using it!
My only suggestion for the hotel would be to add a full length mirror on the closet door.

Great hotel, idealy located for times square, its just a couple of blocks away. Hotel offers bag storage which is a nice touch. Great features in the rooms were the microwave,fridge, the safe and very effective air con, only down side was a lack of a heated mirror or an extractor fan in the bathroom, so you've got no chance of using the mirror in there after a shower.
Only gripe about the hotel was the trash collection at midnight, im sure you wouldnt notice it if you were high up, but being on the 7th floor having to sit through an hour of noise wasnt fun.
Other than that I would highly recommend the hotel.