Hotel Review: Intercontinental Times Square

Dr Frederick Ee is a medical doctor, author, blogger and traveler. He discovered his passion for travel on his first long-haul trip to New York City in 2012. His quest for premium travel experiences started on that very same flight as he endured a smelly foot beside him from the passenger behind him for the 24 hours of flight from Singapore to New York. He blogs at goodhotelreview.blogspot.com, focusing on hotel experiences. His most memorable moment of travel was to participate in the resuscitation of a collapsed patient during a long flight to Paris. Feel free to add him on Facebook with a message and his Instagram at @drfrederickee

He would like to thank MileLion for having him as a guest writer and hope readers would enjoy his writings and musings.

Intercontinental New York Times Square

Made me glad to have the Ambassador membership

Stayed Feb 2016
Published May 2016
  

After fulfilling my goal of seeing the Aurora Borealis in Iceland, it was time to go home.

The hotel is located at the edge of Times Square and is a relatively tall building in the immediate area.

The decor is a clean business hotel with a dash of opulence.

Front Desk in the day and the Ambassador Desk to the left

As an Intercontinental Ambassador, checking in was done seated at a desk with a very friendly lady, Ms Christol.

To my delight, she was able to upgrade, with compliments, my basic room to a sky-view corner room (at least 2 levels of upgrades) and she also offered late check-out proactively.

Lounge at the Lobby

The corridor was a tad too plain and I think that bag is my rubbish. The photo was taken on a later date.

Corridor

The bathroom was adequate as well. The amenities are the usual Intercontinental ones.

Rain-forest Shower!

The location at the edge of Times Square is quite good as there are lesser crowds and there is also a subway stop with an exit right next to the hotel.

Subway Exit and Front Entrance

The burger joint was also the bane of my diet plans as it was so convenient to order takeout back to my room.

SHAKE SHACK

And yes, I have to show pictures of the food.

Here’s Lunch!

And I ate it more than once…

And here’s Dinner!

Gym

The absence of a club lounge was a little unusual for an Intercontinental, but that didn’t affect my stay at all. I seriously think I wouldn’t pay extra for lounge access in New York.

The other peculiarity was the coffee machine being stored in the closet.

Finally found the coffee machine!

For the readers who are not familiar with hotel loyalty programmes, Intercontinental hotels belong to IHG which also includes the populous Holiday Inns.

Knowledge of the various hotel programmes and airline programmes will allow one to ‘Travel Better for Less’!

So how has this been useful for this stay?

The rate I paid was USD$199 before taxes per night, and the 1-for-1 weekend deal means I was able to get 2 nights for about SGD$320, with an upgrade, and I was also given USD$30 credit for my minibar as a welcome gift. Other perks for me include free bottles of drinking water, 2 welcome drinks at the lobby lounge and a free in-room movie.

Prices were not too shocking and I took the M&Ms

Therefore, I estimate the amount I paid for the room itself is less than SGD$140 per night.

For such a nice room in a luxury hotel, located at Times Square, I am more than willing to pay SGD$140 per night.

So are we MileLioners or simply MileLions?

Happy and Healthy Travels!