The William Vale

Amazing hotel, service of staff not 5 star though

Oct 12th, 2020

Room My wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a 1-night staycation in Brooklyn at this beautiful hotel. We booked the wrap around suite Rm# 1124. One of the best views of Manhattan's skyline, in the tub we had a view of Brooklyn and some of Manahttan. Very nice. Tight, but space was well used and the wrap around terrace made up for the tightness of the rooms. Check-in We checked in at 8p as we had reservations at the rooftop restaurant the Westlight at 8:30p. The check-in was smooth but bellhops did not offer to take our bags up to our room. I assume this is a COVID procedure because I have never seen this at a 5-star Hotel. But, we were in and up to our room within 10-minutes. The Westlight - Nice ambiance but I expected more trendier music. Best Salmon I ever had, and drinks were great. We invited friends to come have dinner, meal came out to just under $500, not too bad for 4 people. Well spaced and felt very comfortable under the pandemic settings. Room Service- We ordered in breakfast the next morning and it came relatively quick (30 - 45 mins). Food was tasty and it was from the Italian restaurant on the 1st fl. Leuca. Check-Out Here is where I had issues. We requested late checkout but had (3) interruptions in the morning. (2) from house keeping and (1) from the minibar staff. "Juan" (That's what he said his name was) was aggressively knocking on our door, when I answered I asked "Was there a problem?" and he stated that check out was at 11a. I informed him that I talked to the front desk and scheduled the late check out and he said no one told him but check out is at 11a. After all the money we spent here for one night I thought it was unnecessary to give the we overstay our welcome feeling. When I got my car back from Valet, it had blue gel on the passenger side. The passenger side seat was fully reclined and my gas was much lower than I left it with the valet. I didn't examine too carefully as I didn't want to ruin the day but waited until we got home. When I inspected my car, I noticed body damage on my front fender above my wheel on the passenger side. My car is silver so it wasn't something you would see immediately especially after they attempted to use a solution to get the scratches out of the car. It appeared my car was in a minor collision of some sort. The paint was scratched off and chipped in certain small areas. I contact the hotel and they transferred me to the Valet manager who of course was defensive and only worried about covert themselves. I thought this was not the proper way for the hotel to handle this situation as their should have been some type of client services manager who had some type of customer service training. I am still waiting on the next steps from the Valet manager but I suspect I will have to get my lawyer involved to get this resolved. All in all it was unfortunate the service did not match this magnificently designed hotel and wonderful location. So many good restaurants within a 10 block radius. If you can catch a deal or sale, I suggest staying here, if not I wouldn't bother. You could spend the same money at Hotel 1 in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn and get the real 5-star experience. I feel it would be unjust to not mention that Elaine from the front desk who handle my initial reservation was really good and attentive. That was it, nothing else about the service was 5-satr at all. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER 

A lot to be desired. (Could be due to Covid)

Oct 10th, 2020

So first of all, I ended up booking the wrong date and the place was at capacity, and the hotel manager which was very nice still got me a room for the same rate, this was awesome. I could only give it an average score because of the lack of a decent menu from the restaurant “My hamburger was horrible”, closed garden area, and horrible breakfast “parfait”. Room was small, but nice and the view was amazing. Hotel was very clean and it had a younger hip staff which was decent. Gym was great, nice and clean. Bottled water, towels and individual sealed headphones were provided. I’m sure if we were to book before Covid I could give it a better review. Mind you this review is not a knock on the establishment, because I get it, I get what they have to deal with during these times. Maybe next month when I go back I will stay again and review it. These reviews will soon be on a YouTube channel we are making. We have trips from all around the US to all around Europe, they’re still planning reviews that I have saved that need to be uploaded. It was finally good to write something nice and this review was long overdue for The William Vale. Keep the fire burning The William Vale, good on you, and we look forward to another stay!! Chase Walton 9/19/20 - 9/19/20 TRIPADVISOR.COM USER 

Bailed out of the Vale

Oct 9th, 2020

We left early because we were getting such terrible sleep every night. There is so much noise outside, even though we were on the 17th floor. We paid the premium for the Gotham King Suite with a Wraparound Balcony, and although the view is undeniable, the headaches from sleeplessness was too. Trucks driving by all night, music from bars, amplified workout classes on the vale park-- it was horrible. Also, we have immaculate blackout shades at home, so we know what they're capable of. The blackout curtains at the Vale had no seal along the walls at all. It served no function whatsoever. Light poured through every morning. There were also stains and grime all over the place on the furniture both inside and on the balcony. There were no robes or slippers when we arrived at the room. No additional toiletries. ONE roll of thin toilet paper. We needed additional shampoo and conditioner and were brought used, open, leaking bottles. Relative to the reputation and cost of this place, the Vale gets 1 star from me. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER 

5 starts? Maybe a 2.

Sep 29th, 2020

I booked the hotel to celebrate my zoom wedding so I chose the corner room because of the view but the room was dirty, the pipes in the bathroom making crazy noises when turning on/off the sink, I found a piece of metal in my pancakes in the morning (which I was told it was a steel brush to clean the stove) and last but not least our house keeper was wearing her mask on the chin and didn’t bothered putting in properly when we got inside the room. They trust in their architecture too much and lack on the service and infrastructure. The price is toooo high for such terrible experience. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER 

Sad food menus

Sep 29th, 2020

Staff was friendly. Rooms were not bad. Pool was cute. But what stood out the most to me was the lack of options on all their leuca and westlight menus, since everything seems to have meat or dairy. I decided to try the only things I could get fries and hummus - the worst hummus I’ve ever had, along with the coldest pita bread I’ve ever had. Fries were thin and too salty. TRIPADVISOR.COM USER