Hotel Review: Kimpton Ink48, NYC
Location
The Kimpton Ink48 is located on the corner of 48th and 11th Ave. It’s not the best if you’re taking the subway from Penn or the airport because the closest subway is 50th and 8th, so it can be a long walk with luggage. It’s a quick cab ride from Grand Central or Penn. But as you know if you’re a New Yorker, we’d rather the long walk.
Related: IHG’s Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa Grand Cayman Review. Is it Truly 5 Stars?
Price
Points: 65,000 IHG Points/Night
Cash Price for the night I stayed was $800, seems to vary upwards from $300 a night.
Room
My initial impression of my room was a good one. The first thing I noticed were the incredibly high ceilings that made the room feel very grand.
The aesthetic of the room was very clean and contemporary. The star of the show was the beautiful view!
I felt the vanity area of the bathroom was too small and cramped but the shower was spacious.
Unfortunately, the bathroom was pretty dirty. I noticed the black spots in between the tiles and around the soap holder. To see if it was a result of poor cleaning or wear, I gently wiped one with a washcloth the gunk came off pretty easily. I was completely grossed out wondering what else wasn’t being properly cleaned in the room.
A big positive for me is the mini-bar. It’s loaded with an amazing variety of snacks, sodas and spirits.
Amenities
Ink48 has a nice lounge/restaurant and roof top bar. I did have two complaints about both, the price of drinks was outrageous (each johnny Walker Black set me back $25 with tip.) Also, the Press Lounge and Print are considered separate from the hotel so you can’t charge anything to the room.
- Hosted wine reception in our living room from 5 to 6 pm
- Complimentary onsite fitness center, open 24/7
- Rooftop The Press Lounge, has great views
- Full-service on-site spa
- Complimentary morning coffee and tea service; weekdays 6:30 to 9 am; Saturday – Sunday, 7 to 10 am
- Pet-friendly hotel (pets stay free)
- Kimpton’s borrow a bike program
Service
Service? Left much to be desired, the complete opposite of the Kimpton in Grand Cayman. I’m not sure why but I was given a room with double beds. Not a big deal since I was only there for one night. The price list for the mini bar was missing from my room as well as robes and slippers. I called about the price list and it was delivered promptly and I didn’t feel like calling again for the robe. They also messed up my bill and didn’t apply the mini bar credit I’m entitled to as a Kimpton Elite. I’m still waiting on a reply from the hotel and IHG Customer Service to fix it. Additionally, I emailed the hotel through the app, which is one of their touted benefits showing how “customer friendly” they are. No response.
Conclusion
Kimpton Karma members get certain elite benefits including a $30 spa credit and room upgrades based on status level (which I definitely didn’t receive.) I also received an additional credit thanks to the Secret password program.
Would I stay here again? No. It was a nice room, not spectacular enough to overcome the poor cleaning job. Also, 65k IHG points is only a bit less than their top tier of 70K so it’s way too expensive for what it was. It’s also hard to like a hotel or brand for that matter when you’re forced to track them down and make several calls because you were overcharged.
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Didn’t mention if there was a breakfast buffet included….that would have raised the value.
Other than that, looks like a $75.00 hotel room for most people, outside of NYC.
Also, when are hotels going to realize that not all guests have a business account that the hotel can gouge? A lot of traveling folks pay for things out of their own pocket ! If the people working at the hotel would not pay the prices for the minibar items, then don’t expect other people to pay those prices.
No free breakfast. $75? I have to start staying at the hotels you go to :).
Your point about business accounts is a great one and something I haven’t thought of as somebody who pays out-of-pocket for stays.
We stayed there for three nights last year and the room was clean and spacious. Everything was NY-expensive of course but not much different from most hotels in NY. The reviewer mentioned that the room was $800 so I wonder if the 65,000 points were related to that room rate and had the room been $300 would the points have been the same.
No, it’s the same 65K regardless of the room rate. IHG has set award prices
IDK, service sounds like standard NYC to me 😉
Haha good point. It’s even worse in Brooklyn
Was this formerly the Hyatt 48 Lex? Looks familiar.
No, this is on the west side. If I had to guess this was a building that was meant to be residential lofts