Earlier this month, I decided to use my Two FREE weekend
nights that came with my Citibank Hilton card. The two free nights are valid for almost any Hilton Hotel
worldwide. They can be used for consecutive nights or they can be used
individually. As a newly appointed
Hilton HHonors Diamond, I was curious to see what kind of room we would be
assigned. I earned my Diamond
status strictly through credit card spending. Hilton is the ONLY hotel chain to assign TOP tier status
strictly for meeting a spending requirement.
I chose to use my two free nights for a family weekend in
NYC in celebration of my oldest child’s
25th birthday.
We treated the “kids” to a Broadway show as well as some great family
meals. As the children get older,
it becomes more difficult to spend quality family time. (Unless of course I’m
paying for it!) That’s one of the
great things about the miles and points game. It makes it so easy to bring others along with you in your
travels.
We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue in the heart
of the shopping district. The
Waldorf Astoria is like an older woman.
I might even go so far as to say that she is the MILF of the NYC hotels. While she might not be as sexy as some
of the younger boutique hotels, there’s just something about the grace and
charm of an older woman. Yes,
maybe her cushions are a little worn, maybe they aren’t as firm as they once
were, and she may be showing a few creases around the eyes when she smiles at
you, but there is just something about her that makes you want to keep coming
back for more of her classic beauty.
I reserved two rooms for a Saturday night in January. The ride up to NYC from Philadelphia
was an easy one. There was no
traffic. I had a Groupon for $19 overnight parking in NYC. We arrived at the hotel around 11 AM
and headed straight for the Diamond check-in desk. It was a private room off the main lobby where we were
immediately taken care of. I had written an email in advance of our stay to the
PR manager of the property. I told
Meg that I was a new Hilton HHonors Diamond member and was hoping to get an
upgrade to a suite or at least a room on a club floor. To my surprise, we were assigned a 2
BDRM corner suite on the 24th floor facing Park Avenue. Now that’s what I call sweet! To top it off, the room was ready at
11:00AM when we got there. Our
Diamond host also gave us eight drink coupons for the four of us to celebrate
my daughter’s birthday dinner that night. Drinks at the hotel were on the
pricey side, but again this is NYC.
The living room area was quite spacious, especially by NY
standards.
There were two large
couches, a large flat screen TV, a writing desk and what used to be a
fireplace.
(Too bad
it wasn’t a working one).
I walked into the BDRM and was slightly
disappointed that it was a Queen bed and not a King.
It was a very comfortable bed however.
The bath was again on the smaller side,
but again this is NYC where space is at a premium.
Overall, the room was wonderful.
We dropped our bags and headed out to have lunch before the
afternoon show. We saw a show
called “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”
The show originally started out as a website, that gained in popularity
enough to make an off Broadway show out of it. It was very funny and all of us had some great laughs.
When we arrived back at the Waldorf after the show, to my
surprise was a bottle of the Waldorf brand sparkling wine compliments of
Meg.
Wow, what a nice surprise!
We
decided that we were going to have dinner in the Hotel that evening at the highly
rated Bull and Bear restaurant.
The kids were in heaven as soon as they brought out the fresh baked
biscuits.
My son and I both
ordered steaks and my wife and daughter both had seafood.
The steaks were done perfectly.
My daughter who is not a meat eater
asked to try both our steaks!
She
said it was so good, she was open to the possibility of eating steak
again.
We each had a couple of drinks with dinner courtesy of the
eight drink coupons which we received at check-in.
I like free.
Dinner was around $350 for the four of us including taxes and tip.
Not bad considering it is a top rated
steakhouse in NYC.
We didn’t stay
for brunch the next morning at the hotel, but as they were setting it up, it
looked fabulous.
Overall, it was a wonderful time at the grand hotel. My total cost for the overnight was solely related to our dinner. The two
BDRM suite, the 8 drink coupons, and the bottle of sparkling wine, all free. We still have two free weekend nights
from my wife’s sign up bonus on her Citibank Hilton card. We may have to spend two more nights at
the Waldorf in the Spring. Next
time it will be without kids and for two nights!
