This chain of hotels plays the coupon code game very, very heavily and if you ve got the right code

I just completed a whirlwind 36 hour trip to New York City to attend some events and meet with Amex folks about the new Everyday Cards (more on that soon).  I was a guest of Amex for the meetings/events, and since they provided the hotel accommodations, I was at their mercy on where I would be staying.  For this OCD points obsessed travel gal, turning over control of travel plans takes a bit of a a leap of faith.  Of course I can t complain when someone else is picking up the tab ( oh how I miss frequent work trips where I earned the points and the company paid! ), but I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that we would be staying at a boutique hotel I had never visited called The James.
It is a 114-room luxury boutique hotel that describes themselves as a locally inspired, community focused and environmentally thoughtful hotel.   It is located in Soho, which is one of my favorite Manhattan neighborhoods and darn close to my all stomping grounds near NYU.
I was welcomed to the hotel by the bellman as I entered on the street level and was escorted royal caribbean cruise lines to the second level where the official check-in royal caribbean cruise lines desk and lounge are located.  The hotel isn t that small at 114 rooms, but it sure felt pretty small (in a mostly good way) based not only on the size, but also by the limited number of people I saw during my stay.  It was a very different royal caribbean cruise lines experience than staying at a large and bustling NYC hotel such as the Grand Hyatt.
For example, the bathroom area was separated from the bedroom just by clear glass.  Sure you can put a screen down by pushing a button to obfuscate the view a bit, but seeing through the shower, to the bedroom, and then out the window can only be described as sassy or perhaps odd, depending on the circumstances.  When traveling with a family it would be odd.
My only real complaint about the room was that there was a light over the bed that I absolutely could not figure out how to turn off.  I really don t like it when hotels have such fancy or complex royal caribbean cruise lines systems that they aren t intuitive to a first time guest.  After a long day, I just wanted to turn out the lights and go to sleep, but after many failed attempts I ultimately had to call down and find out I needed to flip two (semi hidden) switches at once to turn off that light.  After chatting with some others at the hotel for the same event, it seems several had similar difficulties.  Please, fix that issue or at least have a note with instructions for those who are light switch challenged royal caribbean cruise lines like me.
Otherwise sleep was good, even with the road noise that is common in NYC.  One very neat thing about this hotel is that despite it s boutique nature, it seems to cater to families as well.  My kiddo wasn t with me on this quick trip, but there was a list of all the family friendly offerings in the room that included:
royal caribbean cruise lines They have a family suite available that combines a corner king studio and queen guestroom. It has a private foyer so you can go back and forth between rooms without having to enter the hallway.  The hotel also offers free WiFi to everyone, triple distilled water in the room , snacks such as pastries from Balthazar in the lounge, and even complimentary transportation in their car within a certain royal caribbean cruise lines radius.  I can t comment on any of those offerings royal caribbean cruise lines from personal experience other than to say the WiFi worked just fine for me!
The James Hotel has several outdoor spaces throughout the hotel including a rooftop pool deck and bar called The Jimmy that seems to be pretty popular for drinks in the evenings.  There is also an on-site restaurant called David Burke Kitchen.
I really enjoyed getting to try out a slightly different type of property than I normally visit on this trip.  From a spot check, it seems rooms can often be in the $400 $500 range per night, so while it was a nice one-night stay, I m sure I will return to more points friendly options for most of my trips to NYC.  The James does participate in Stash Rewards (post on that program coming soon) and I have seen them available on Rocketmiles with a hefty airline mileage bonus for booking via that site.
Staying at The James in a neighborhood such as Soho almost made me feel like I was living in New York again, and that is a neat feeling that I don t often get at the Midtown hotels we frequent.  I wouldn t really want to stay with a family in the pretty small room I had for this visit, but if I was somehow able to afford a slightly larger room, this would be a super fun hotel to base out of for a New York adventure just keep the screen down in the bathroom.
Rob, this is the first time I ve learned about a new credit card product directly from the bank and it was pretty interesting. I ll share more about that behind royal caribbean cruise lines the scenes experience soon in case it is interesting to anyone else. Back to the hotel, it does belong to Stash Rewards and of course you could use points from cards that aren t tied to a specific program (like the Arrival card), but I hear where you are coming from. Still, I wrote about it because it was a different type of hotel than I normal stay at so it might be an interesting contrast. Maybe not. On the whole, it showed me that boutique hotels can be really good and make you feel like you are perhaps more a part of the city than some of the chain hotels located in the more touristy or business areas, but that otherwise it wasn t dramatically different than say the feel of an Andaz. Also for what it s worth, I think you might be dramatically over-estimating paychecks for bloggers like me (whoever else that includes).
I thimk it s up to the author on what is posted on a miles and points blog. It you don t like it, don t read it. It actually was a refreshing break to read about a neighborhood hotel as opposed to some souless chain. And who knows, some of us might even end up there through priceline, hotel tonight or some other travel deal which everyone in this community seems to like. Thanks for the review.
-BillyNY, royal caribbean cruise lines I didn t know any of the other bloggers well enough to really even know how to contact them (outside of Twitter perhaps) to get help with the lights but many of them couldn t figure it out either.
Actually, the James Hotel DOES participate in the Stashrewards program and it is a part of a chain the Affinia Hotels/Denihan Group. The only hotels in the group that don t participate in the rewards program are The Surrey and the Franklin.
This chain of hotels plays the coupon code game very, very heavily and if you ve got the right code a seriously cheap stay can be had in NYC! (I am frequestly able to book rates of less than $100-150 at some of the sister properties such as the Affinia Manhattan or the Shoreham).
Disclaimer: royal caribbean cruise lines This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise royal caribbean cruise lines endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.
Some of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which MommyPoints.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit royal caribbean cruise lines card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertising policy page for more information.