The Plaza Hotel

Be warned if you are heading to the Plaza hotel and are expecting it to be as it was in glorious days gone by when Hemingway advised Scott Fitzgerald to give his liver to Princeton but his heart to the Plaza. Much of this grand old hotel is still immaculate, and thanks to a recent $450 million transformation areas like the Oak Room and the Palm Court have been restored to their prior Beaux Arts glory.

However it would seem that much of the cost of this refurbishment was gained by selling off all the rooms on the Central Park side of the hotel as private apartments. I'm sure this has brought in a huge amount of income for the hotel but it is sad as a guest to have a view of a nondescript concrete building instead of the glorious park, and let me assure you the Plaza hasn't discounted its guest prices as a result of the change.

To the positives: if you didn't look out the window we had a lovely room and a ridiculously gilt bathroom complete with over the top Romanesque tiling, gold fittings and fixtures and a seperate shower cubicle in which you could have washed a fmaily of four quite comfortably (again with an hilarious faux Roman mosaic on the floor). The Plaza also had the distinction of having the most comfortable bed I have ever come across in a hotel. It was a serious struggle to ever leave it, particularly given my jet lagged state.

On our first evening we went to the famous Oak Bar - of which I had heard so much. I don't know what I was thinking but, of course, the bar was panelled in dark oak and was therefore an incredibly dark place. They also had a very uninspired cocktail list with only about 4 options on it. We settled for some (average) cocktails and some exceptionally good mini-burgers. If you are after a drink and a classy night out in New York I'd suggest you go elsewhere - this bar had the ambience of a bankers' convention and no real style to speak of.

The nearby Oak Room restaurant was a different story altogether - a magnificent room with panelled and painted ceilings. Likewise the Palm Court was looking very fine - although always strangely empty when we were there. I saw no evidence of the famed afternoon teas that were supposed to have taken place here.

As part of the refurbishment The Plaza has also created a Champagne Bar on the mezzanine floor above the lobby. The decor here was more modern and colourful, but the bar was empty for much of our stay.

By preference, when we met some friends here, we sat in the lobby itself which has some delightfully high backed throne like chairs and comfortable couches and a small bar in the corner where we ordered some good tea and quite delicious cranberry scones.

The service here was excellent, and generally at reception and when dealing with the bell boys everything was done efficiently and charmingly (but in a tip-expecting way that sometimes grated a little).

To be fair the ghost like ambience of the hotel at the time may well have had something to do with the fact that a massive blizzard was occurring outside while we were there. Given the appalling conditions and driving snow I was very grateful to be stranded somewhere with such a very comfortable bed!