After a very brief flight from Boston down to New York’s JFK, during which I barely had enough time for several plastic cups of decidedly average wine, we soon found ourselves at our chosen hotel for our 2-night stay, The Lexington Hotel, a Marriott Autograph Collection property.

The Lexington Hotel is certainly convenient; about 5 or 6 blocks up from Grand Central station, and within walking distance to all major attractions.

We were also, generally, in something of a bind as New York hotel property prices were unusually outrageous during our stay, and so even though we didn’t overly love our previous Marriott Autograph stay in Dubai at The Heritage Hotel, off we went to be fooled twice.

The Lexington Hotel clearly enjoys not only a good location, but a lovely heritage building. Entering inside, the lobby was uncomfortably heaving, with plenty of folks mingling around in what is a quite compact atrium area.

Check-in was a bit of a disaster zone; after several staff walked past, came and went, and the one agent at the desk did her best, eventually another agent turned up, checked us in, took our card details and let us know about the very questionable benefits of the $35/Night destination fee, including getting to use the same amount in food & beverage credit, but only when used on the day itself and not accumulated. Sure…

They also don’t provide in-room bottled water, but instead you can redeem bottled water from the convenience store, who were very happy to help. What was not mentioned however, was the store’s opening hours, and so we found it closed the next evening when we went to redeem our daily quantity. Thankfully, the passive-aggressive reception colleague, as they all seemed to be, told us we could use a water dispenser we hadn’t otherwise noticed.

Our room, 1214, took quite some effort to reach. The lifts at this property are – in a word – unsuitable. I don’t know what’s going on, but they are so slow, always full, and so often involve a 3-lift wait to finally get one. On one morning I saw a lady staying on our floor (the 12th) actually give up and take the stairs, with her luggage, having waited so long.

The room was very compact, with the bed occupying most of the space, with a TV facing the bed and a small window to one corner overlooking nearby roofs. On the whole, you would best describe the room as aged and bland – certainly nothing much to write home about.

The bathroom meanwhile was similarly compact, with a bathtub/shower combo, sink, toilet and New York’s least effective fan extractor. Seriously, I’ve never had to so passionately open the bathroom door at the end of a shower to prevent spending any longer in what rapidly became a steamroom.

Up nearly next morning, and once we navigated past the cleaners in our corridor, two of whom were just having breakfast, one sitting on the floor – then followed by the lengthy elevator wait, the convenience of the property really made up for some of the misgivings we otherwise had.

During our stay, incidentally, we never did make use of our ‘credit’ which we’d paid for (twice, as it subsequently turns out looking through both what they charged my credit card afterwards, and what was already including in the booking.com rate), so I can’t comment on the F&B outlets, other than to say the lobby bar seemed perpetually packed.

On our final morning, we checked out, once again with the grumpiest, most passive aggressive check-out agent who kept insisting we stand behind some imaginary line on the ground until she was ready (guest by guest this interaction occurred), before using the luggage storage – which costs extra by the way, cash only. One final nail in the coffin of how much we'd disliked our stay at The Lexington Hotel.

Overall, it goes without saying that while the location is highly desirable, and while I’ve since come to undertsand that as of December 2025 the property is on the market (perhaps contributing to the consistently poor staff attitudes’), this wasn’t a property we’d return to; it was very overpriced for both the room quality, property overall, general maintenance, service standards, and just basic courtesy.