I am a big fan of 'apartment hotels', where you get a kitchen or kitchenette in room. I'm not sure exactly why. Grabbing some groceries locally and stuffing them in the fridge works for me on a couple of levels. One, it's more economical than either the mini bar or the hotel restaurant/room service options. Two, it gives you at least some small sense of 'living like a local' (admittedly, sometimes a very, very small sense -- I don't think the Affinia Dumont's lobby amenities are commonly found in your average Manhattan apartment building, but then again, I really don't know).
So when the wife and I were planning a quick trip to New York for some family activities, I checked out the various Affinia locations looking for the best overall deal I could find. It was far from 'cheap', but it's New York. Prices are high across the board, so the question is more about the value you're getting. After all was said and done, the Affinia Dumont ended up being ~$500/night and the value was just okay. There were some highs and some lows that balanced each other out.
One of the highs was the view. We had room 3402, so we were decently high up and the view was pretty cool. I won't go all the way to 'spectacular', but it was pretty cool.
This night shot from my Helio doesn't do it justice, but I'm including anyway. Use your imagination to picture what the real effect was.
The space was good. The room is unquestionably big. But the furnishings are also unquestionably a bit dated.
Yes, that is a 29" (maybe a 32"?) old school TV.
Yes, that desk looks a little bit like something from the Hardcastle & McCormick era.
The bathroom was decent, though the folks who designed it look like they borrowed some inspiration from the closets of the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco.
And the kitchen was serviceable. Not ideal for entertaining, perhaps, but it suited our needs.
Additionally, they do have a pretty good gym, which you can check out on their web site. Small but nice space with a good mix of modern equipment.
My two biggest gripes with the Dumont would be (1) you could hear a lot between the walls, and (2) they negged my request for a late check out.
Regarding the walls, maybe it varies by room, but we heard screaming kids in the morning. Part of this is the hotel's issue (some insulation please?) and part of it is the parents/nanny issue (really? screaming/shrieking for 45 minutes? a little exuberance is understandable, but how about some consideration of your neighbors? 45 minutes of shrieking before 10am in a hotel isn't cool).
While the acoustics were annoying, my biggest gripe with the Affinia was that they would not accommodate us even a little bit regarding our request for a late check out. I'm not the biggest road warrior in the world, but over the years I've probably racked up a few hundred nights in hotels and I have had my late check out request declined only once. By the Affinia Dumont. Extremely aggravating. Especially because we were requesting it on a Sunday, which is not the busiest check-in day in the hotel biz (someone by all means correct me if I'm mistaken). But worse, I was able to check their web site for reservation avails that day and there were multiple rooms available for booking (i.e., they weren't full - not close). So why the flat decline of a late check out? It's too bad, too, because the Affinia chain does try hard in other ways to tailor their service to your needs and desires. After you've booked they reach out to you via email asking what kind of pillows you'd prefer, whether any of their spa packages are of interest, whether you could use any complimentary toiletries, etc. Some nice touches. But for me, all that goodwill was undone by what I perceived to be an unnecessary rejection of my request for a late check out.
Net: it was decent for this trip, but not a delight by any means, and I'll be looking for alternatives on my next trip to NY.
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