by Michelle C

Created on: August 05, 2008

La Quinta Hotel on West 32nd Street,and Fifth Avenue, Manhattan was my home for a week this July while I was in New York taking the Bar Exam and I came away from my stay feeling compelled to give some kudos to this well run, very comfortable, and more importantly, very affordable Boutique style hotel. My surroundings and the attention of the staff to my needs for the duration of my visit to New York made what was a very intense and stressful time all the more relaxing and pleasant. That's no mean feat, to which anyone who has ever taken the Bar Exam will attest.

La Quinta is superbly located, a mere footfall from Madison Square Garden and Macy's Department Store and within easy walking distance of all major attractions such as Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building, Times Square and the Trump Towers. For those New York virgins out there, New York is a walker's paradise as practically anywhere you want to go is so easily accesible 'a pied' thanks to the clever infrastructure that is the grided sytem of numbered streets and avenues. The streets are so well dotted with distractions that you could walk twenty blocks without realising and the La Quinta Hotel provides the perfect starting point for ramblers from nought to ninety.

The rooms are small but very comfortable and clean with prompt and efficient daily housekeeping and are equipped with all mod cons such as cable tv, ipod docks and free wireless internet connections. The staff are extremely helpful and friendly in a way one might encounter in a family run hotel. There is a free continental breakfast served daily from 7 to 10am, a veritable rarity in New York, especially in such a moderately priced hotel. And the basement houses a business center which provides faxing and computer facilities in case you forget to take your laptop along. In the evenings, the shopping wearied travellers among you can retreat to the rooftop bar on the 14th floor and sit on the open deck terrace sipping cocktails while you look out over the Manhattan skyline.

All in all the La Quinta is definitely at the top of my list for future visits to the Big Apple. Like the translation of it's name suggests, it just has 'everything covered' for the budget conscious traveller yet without the unpleasant little reminders that you got away lightly with the price. I have been unfortunate enough to stay at some of the other lower cost Manhattan Hotels and I must say that the superiority of the La Quinta is astounding.

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