Trip report -- New York City, Belvedere, car service, tipping the maid, etc.
Aug 3rd, 2003, 04:10 PM
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Trip report -- New York City, Belvedere, car service, tipping the maid, etc.
This may not be the most entertaining trip report ever posted, but I wanted to get a few things into the record for future Fodorites who might want to use the "search" function regarding their own trip to NYC.
1. Belvedere Hotel: got a great rate of $124/night by checking various discount websites and then calling them directly to ask what their AAA rate was -- and their AAA rate beat any of the other rates and did not require prepayment. They did ask to see the card, though.
It's a lovely place, esp. for the price. Very central to everything (near 8th Ave./B'way on W. 48th) without being overwhelmed by noise and to-do, not far from either the 50th stop on the 8th Ave. subway or the 49th stop on the B'way and related lines. Breakfast buffet is pretty good but extra money ($9-$15 depending on how much of the buffet you want to enjoy). Rooms are smallish but so are most other rooms in non-deluxe NYC rooms -- pluses: refrig. and microwave, in-room safe, remote for the airco (! nice for middle-of-the-night "I'm too cold" attacks), phone in the bathroom; minuses: no fan in the bathroom, airco is noisy (as are most window units).
2. Tipping the maid. Since reading about this here (and in "Nickel and Dimed) and thinking about it, I've started tipping every day instead of at the end. Here's what $3 each day (note: less than 1% of room tariff) got me: extra towels, extra shampoos, and -- very much against aggressively posted hotel policy -- beginning on the second day, she left the Airco ON for us during the hot days of this past weekend. I hope her supervisor doesn't read this, because they make a big deal of telling you that the maid is REQUIRED to turn off the airco after the room is cleaned to save energy. It was lovely to come back to a cool room after dripping in the subway stations and even the hotel hallways. So keep in mind that daily tipping may or may not be a selfless act of compassion!!
3. Car service - good news: We hired Carmel car service to take us out to Giants Stadium for the big Manchester United-Juventus soccer/football match (for no prize whatsoever, but good fun). It was a sold-out crowd of 80,000 and by the end of the game, the rains had come. Nonetheless, our Carmel driver was easy to reach via cellphone and HE found US in the throngs milling around the pick-up area. We tipped him generously because it was "priceless" (TY MasterCard ad) not to have to stand in the rain wondering if we'd have to wait for hours to be picked up and taken back to Manhattan. He also found an ingenious get-around to bypass the standing traffic on the ramps to the Turnpike/Interstate. Don't ask me to reconstruct it, I couldn't.
4. Car service, bad news: on our departure, we asked for a cab to LaGuardia and the doorman pointed us to an anonymous car-service car. I said, "no-no, no meter, we want a cab." He said, "it's the same, $25." I knew we could probably pay less on an early Sunday morning to LGA, but went ahead anyway. Something made me want to double-check and I asked the driver (we were now underway) what the fee would be. He quoted "$35." and I said no, the doorman had said $25. He questioned that but eventually accepted it "plus tolls, you know, and....."
If the Queensboro Bridge toll is $4, then he played fair with us, and we gave him a decent tip. BUT -- 2 caveats: 1. don't let a doorman put you into a car instead of a cab; and 2. There doesn't seem to be any way to verify how much tolls are, now that all cabs and cars use the windshield "EZPass" system. If you are compulsive about such things, ask!
Great brasserie on NE corner of 8th and 48th for great weekend brunch. Great "Tapas Salon" on Sullivan St. in the village.
Any questions?
1. Belvedere Hotel: got a great rate of $124/night by checking various discount websites and then calling them directly to ask what their AAA rate was -- and their AAA rate beat any of the other rates and did not require prepayment. They did ask to see the card, though.
It's a lovely place, esp. for the price. Very central to everything (near 8th Ave./B'way on W. 48th) without being overwhelmed by noise and to-do, not far from either the 50th stop on the 8th Ave. subway or the 49th stop on the B'way and related lines. Breakfast buffet is pretty good but extra money ($9-$15 depending on how much of the buffet you want to enjoy). Rooms are smallish but so are most other rooms in non-deluxe NYC rooms -- pluses: refrig. and microwave, in-room safe, remote for the airco (! nice for middle-of-the-night "I'm too cold" attacks), phone in the bathroom; minuses: no fan in the bathroom, airco is noisy (as are most window units).
2. Tipping the maid. Since reading about this here (and in "Nickel and Dimed) and thinking about it, I've started tipping every day instead of at the end. Here's what $3 each day (note: less than 1% of room tariff) got me: extra towels, extra shampoos, and -- very much against aggressively posted hotel policy -- beginning on the second day, she left the Airco ON for us during the hot days of this past weekend. I hope her supervisor doesn't read this, because they make a big deal of telling you that the maid is REQUIRED to turn off the airco after the room is cleaned to save energy. It was lovely to come back to a cool room after dripping in the subway stations and even the hotel hallways. So keep in mind that daily tipping may or may not be a selfless act of compassion!!
3. Car service - good news: We hired Carmel car service to take us out to Giants Stadium for the big Manchester United-Juventus soccer/football match (for no prize whatsoever, but good fun). It was a sold-out crowd of 80,000 and by the end of the game, the rains had come. Nonetheless, our Carmel driver was easy to reach via cellphone and HE found US in the throngs milling around the pick-up area. We tipped him generously because it was "priceless" (TY MasterCard ad) not to have to stand in the rain wondering if we'd have to wait for hours to be picked up and taken back to Manhattan. He also found an ingenious get-around to bypass the standing traffic on the ramps to the Turnpike/Interstate. Don't ask me to reconstruct it, I couldn't.
4. Car service, bad news: on our departure, we asked for a cab to LaGuardia and the doorman pointed us to an anonymous car-service car. I said, "no-no, no meter, we want a cab." He said, "it's the same, $25." I knew we could probably pay less on an early Sunday morning to LGA, but went ahead anyway. Something made me want to double-check and I asked the driver (we were now underway) what the fee would be. He quoted "$35." and I said no, the doorman had said $25. He questioned that but eventually accepted it "plus tolls, you know, and....."
If the Queensboro Bridge toll is $4, then he played fair with us, and we gave him a decent tip. BUT -- 2 caveats: 1. don't let a doorman put you into a car instead of a cab; and 2. There doesn't seem to be any way to verify how much tolls are, now that all cabs and cars use the windshield "EZPass" system. If you are compulsive about such things, ask!
Great brasserie on NE corner of 8th and 48th for great weekend brunch. Great "Tapas Salon" on Sullivan St. in the village.
Any questions?
Aug 5th, 2003, 07:15 AM
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Pigalle. Says it's open 24 hrs. We had the Saturday brunch, which was great. Don't know about reservations -- it seemed to be a drop-in kind of place, and some of the reviews at www.citysearch.com said they went there with 45 min. to spare before going to the theatre and did fine.
Aug 5th, 2003, 07:24 AM
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About how expensive it is .... well, this is NYC so it was more than $5 for flapjacks, but I would hardly call it expensive. I think the total bill was around $40 for both of us, with one alcoholic drink and one of the two entrees was the most expensive on the menu.
If you want to spring for a really expensive lunch/brunch, with very very very good food and a very continental atmosphere, I forgot to mention the Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Gallery at 1048 Fifth Ave., near Guggenheim and Met. (86th). We were too late for their brunch and so spent $70 on a ridiculously good Austrian/German lunch. Since we usually have only 2 meals/day when we travel, one light and the other more substantial, we went ahead and made this our big meal for the day. Shaved asparagus with the thinnest, sweetest prosciutto you can imagine; pea soup that was NOT a potage but a very light broth with mint flavoring, and other truly wonderful things, wines, pastries. You don't have to pay to get into the museum in order to eat at the Cafe, which is set in a lovely room with dark paneling and high ceilings. We arrived around 11 and by 12:45 when we left there was a short line of people waiting.
If you want to spring for a really expensive lunch/brunch, with very very very good food and a very continental atmosphere, I forgot to mention the Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Gallery at 1048 Fifth Ave., near Guggenheim and Met. (86th). We were too late for their brunch and so spent $70 on a ridiculously good Austrian/German lunch. Since we usually have only 2 meals/day when we travel, one light and the other more substantial, we went ahead and made this our big meal for the day. Shaved asparagus with the thinnest, sweetest prosciutto you can imagine; pea soup that was NOT a potage but a very light broth with mint flavoring, and other truly wonderful things, wines, pastries. You don't have to pay to get into the museum in order to eat at the Cafe, which is set in a lovely room with dark paneling and high ceilings. We arrived around 11 and by 12:45 when we left there was a short line of people waiting.
Aug 5th, 2003, 10:54 AM
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Great report! Thanks for tip about tipping! My husband and I have recently been to two different hotels in the past year where I wondered why house-keeping seemed to lack a little more everyday. Looks like we need to try tipping everday and not wait until the end of the trip.
Aug 6th, 2003, 04:25 AM
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Good Report! I wanted to attend that soccer match myself but it was sold out!
Excellent point about tipping! I use to tip at the end, but why wait if you can get the attention of the Maid!..nice!
Cab "fare" was probably "fair"! Did you actually see the driver pay at a toll? Like the previous poster said the "Queensboro Bridge" (also known as the 59th street bridge) ( The Feeling Groovy Song!) is one of the very few bridges left in the NYC area that are still toll free!
JOHN
Excellent point about tipping! I use to tip at the end, but why wait if you can get the attention of the Maid!..nice!
Cab "fare" was probably "fair"! Did you actually see the driver pay at a toll? Like the previous poster said the "Queensboro Bridge" (also known as the 59th street bridge) ( The Feeling Groovy Song!) is one of the very few bridges left in the NYC area that are still toll free!
JOHN
Aug 6th, 2003, 01:25 PM
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It was a decent match although some of the best players weren't played. Too bad you didn't come to the match anyway, BMW, because we had 2 extra tix to resell (scalp) that we sold at a loss! (ouch).
I figured the issue of "plus tolls" was an area of questionable honesty -- but going and coming to the match involved the Lincoln Tunnel and the NJPike, so I didn't worry about that. But as I said, these cars and most taxis seem to have those EZPass gizmos on their windshields and whiz through the designated tollgates without stopping.
If I lived in NY, I'd probably be compulsive about making sure of my grounds in refusing to pay a nonexistent toll. On a trip like this, I do the best I can and figure I'm paying a rube's tax for not living there.
I don't know about anyone else, but I usually put the tip for the maid under the corner of whatever little placard or stand-up notice there might be about hotel policies (e.g., the phone, or ... ), making sure there isn't anything else around there that looks like personal belongings of mine such as books or whatever... Time-honored is under the corner of the lamp. Often confusing is in the ashtray (since guests often put their spare change in an ashtray and then forget it).
I figured the issue of "plus tolls" was an area of questionable honesty -- but going and coming to the match involved the Lincoln Tunnel and the NJPike, so I didn't worry about that. But as I said, these cars and most taxis seem to have those EZPass gizmos on their windshields and whiz through the designated tollgates without stopping.
If I lived in NY, I'd probably be compulsive about making sure of my grounds in refusing to pay a nonexistent toll. On a trip like this, I do the best I can and figure I'm paying a rube's tax for not living there.
I don't know about anyone else, but I usually put the tip for the maid under the corner of whatever little placard or stand-up notice there might be about hotel policies (e.g., the phone, or ... ), making sure there isn't anything else around there that looks like personal belongings of mine such as books or whatever... Time-honored is under the corner of the lamp. Often confusing is in the ashtray (since guests often put their spare change in an ashtray and then forget it).
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