The W on Lexington and 51 was an OK NYC hotel. The lobby is tight, service was acceptable for NYC hotel (not polite but not rude - I would say cold professional greeting), the room was small and the bathroom was extremely small. The furniture and the decor was new that made the room acceptable. Prepare to pay for everything. Overall -- for $250 a night for a NYC hotel I would give it an OK ratings. The W at Times Sq is a better hotel.

Stayed here on a Saturday night. I had reserved a basic room. When I arrived around 2:00pm, I was told the room would not be ready until 3:00pm. An available upgraded room was offered to me for an extra $20; I took it. Room was small but nice: nice decoration, large flat screen TV, Radio and iPod player, etc. At check out, there was a $14 charge on my bill for using the mini-bar. But I never used the mini-bar. The explanation by the front desk person was that someone had come into my room to check the mini-bar. However, I checked into my room around 2:00, had a "Do not disturb" sign on my door, and check out the next morning. So there is no way anyone would have come into my room to check the mini-bar. Also, When I called room service several time, it would go into voice-mail !!! By the way, newspaper is delivered to you each morning at a cost to you, unless you call the front desk to tell them you don't want it.

Pros: Great Location, Nicely decorated rooms, many amenities in the room.

Cons: Rude people at the front desk, bad service, money trap on your bill (charges for things you didn't order or use)

I read an awful lot of bad/terrible reviews for this hotel and would have cancelled my booking if the reservation hadn't been prepaid. Glad I didn't! The rooms have been recently renovated (think some may still be in the process) so the furniture and fittings are perfectly adequate rather than tired and worn like I'd read, and our room was comfortingly clean. To those people who complained that the lighting is low throughout the hotel, that's the vibe they're after, appealling to your inner rock star. Personally, I liked it. And the rooms may be small but this is NYC after all! We had the second smallest room (200sqft I think) and didn't mind one bit. Location wise it's been my favourite yet, in the middle of the high rise of midtown without being too close to the insanity of Times Square. The best compliment I can pay this hotel is that I would quite happily stay in it again.

The music in the lobby and Heartbeat Restaurant is FAR TOO LOUD for conversation.

The lobby was full, full, full every night with people ordering drinks ... yet there was never more than ONE waitress working at a time ... which made the service slow, slow, slow.

The front desk staffer @ check-in was snotty. A different front desk staffer was equally snotty the next day.

Upon check in we were not physically able to reach our room because workers were putting furniture together in the hall - completely blocking passage to our room for several hours. AND, they worked in that location every day of our stay - smoking and making the usual banging around noises you associate with construction. This would have been a complete disaster had we not been out of the room during the day. I pity anyone in the vicinity who was trying to sleep in or get some rest during the day. Impossible!

The long wait for an elevator is ridiculous ... the small size of the elevator is ridiculous ... the card system in the elevator is hard to operate ... I missed my floor MANY a time due to not begin able to make the card work on the first, second, third try at a swipe.

The lighting in the room is FAR TOO DIM. I understand the "modern" decor and all ... but I found the room to be depressing. Ditto the hallways. Thank goodness we were on the street side and could get some daylight. The glass bathroom door was no help if you are sharing a room with someone trying to sleep in. The bathroom light shines brightly through onto both of the beds.

The concierge had a bit of an attitude as well - in addition to out and out lying about payment for Grayline's double-decker bus. She insisted that a $12 per ticket deposit HAD to paid at the hotel with the balance paid to the ticket guy upon boarding the bus across the street at outside of the Waldorf. That is just a bald-face LIE. That incident ALONE left a very bad taste in my mouth.

We ordered a movie one night for $9.99+ and it skipped continuously like a bad DVD from Blockbuster. Annoying.

On the plus side, the doormen were unfailingly friendly and helpful, the beds were comfortable (though the pillows were ALL squishy - you do need a variety), the housekeeping crew did a good job every day, the complimentary fruit-water and red delicious apples in the lobby were a nice touch, and one of the maintenance supers ~ his name was DAN ~ went out of his way to be helpful when we were physically unable to get to our room due to the construction in the hall.

The plusses do not outweigh the minuses though. I'm afraid I won't be able to recommend this particular location to anyone, and based on this experience, I do not plan to stay at any other W in my future travels.