The catch at The Plaza

When the building was restored and partly sold as apartments before its 2008 reopening, the apartments took the Central Park side. Four of the guest rooms look inward or south: the Plaza King and the Deluxe King overlook the inner courtyard or 58th Street, the Terrace Room King the courtyard, and the Deluxe Two Queens 58th Street. Fifth Avenue and the Pulitzer Fountain start with the Pulitzer suites, one a floor. The park starts with the Carnegie Partial Park View suites, also one a floor, and the view varies by floor. On a Tuesday in late January a Carnegie suite was $2,695 a night against $1,375 for a Plaza King, so even part of the park costs $1,320 a night more.

The Urban Experience Fee is $65 a night plus tax, about $75 in all, on top of the room rate. It returns a $50 daily food and drink credit at the Palm Court, the Champagne Bar or in-room dining, $50 off a spa treatment of an hour or more, and streaming from your phone to the television. The credit covers a $48 continental breakfast for one before gratuity and tax, not breakfast for two. The other extras stack up: the Palm Court and Champagne Bar menus add an 18 per cent gratuity, in-room dining adds a $12 delivery charge and a 22 per cent service charge, and valet parking is $110 a night, off site, with no in-and-out. Unexpected charges are a recurring complaint among guests.

The Palm Court is the hotel's only restaurant. It serves breakfast, then afternoon tea, then from 5pm to 10pm a lite fare and cocktails menu of caviar, oysters, soups, plates to share and a $58 ribeye, with the bar open until 11.30pm. The Champagne Bar's all-day menu runs until 10pm and includes steaks, salmon and chicken from the grill. The rooms that once served dinner and drinks to the public are private event spaces now: the Oak Room, the Oak Bar where Cary Grant was kidnapped in North by Northwest, the Edwardian Room and the Rose Club. For guests who expect a grand hotel dining room downstairs, its absence is a recurring disappointment.

The hotel has no swimming pool, and its own FAQ says so. Wellness means the 111SKIN SPA/CLINIC on the fourth floor, nine treatment rooms for skin, body and massage treatments, open from 10am to 6pm every day, with the 24-hour Technogym fitness centre inside it. That suits a facial before an evening out. It does not suit anyone who swims every morning, or who wants a massage after a late afternoon in the museums. The hotel leans on the park instead: guided runs and walks through Central Park leave at 8am on Thursdays and Saturdays, arranged through the concierge, and the park itself is across the road.

Praise for The Plaza is consistent: the address, the history, clean and generous rooms, comfortable beds. The complaint that recurs is service that is polished at one desk and offhand at the next, a welcome some guests find cool for a hotel at this price, and on some floors noise from neighbouring rooms. Guests rate value for money lowest of all, below service, and well below the location and the rooms. None of it is about the building, which is praised almost everywhere, and some guests marking a special occasion describe the opposite: staff who made the occasion.