6 Columbus, a Thompson Hotel

6 Columbus Circle,  New York City, NY 10019 

 Reservations 877 6Columbus  |  T 212 204 3000  |  F 212 204 3030

6 Columbus, a Thompson Hotel, is located in midtown Manhattan just off of Columbus Circle.  It really is on 58^th St. (between 8^th and 9th, so don’t get confused.  It is conveniently located across from the Time Warner Center and is just across the street from the 59^th and Columbus Circle Subway station and Central Park.  Other “within walking” destinations (5 blocks) include Carnegie Hall, Times Square, MOMA, Rockefeller Plaza, and the Lincoln Center.  The hotel has 88 rooms and suites with only 3 rooms per floor facing the street and three rooms facing the back.  My room #607, faced out the back looking into people’s apartments.

The Thompson Hotel chain specializes in boutique hotels with chic interior designs and 6 Columbus is no exception.  I took advantage of a special rate of $179/nt for a King Deluxe room after an upgrade through Quikbook.com.

The hotel has a small sushi restaurant (Blue Ribbon) in the lobby which also has a small seating area.  Check in was quick and very helpful.  The walls are a covered with a black fabric that resembles cowhide. In fact all the public walls are that way.  Along with a dark blue paint job, the public areas are fairly dark and during my 4-day stay I constantly had to search for the elevator buttons due to the dim lighting.  Additionally, the wireless internet ($10/nt) was a little slow as it was not able to download YouTube videos.

My room was fairly small.  They advertise pod rooms for a really cheap price, but I was told they were VERY small.  The room has a unique look to it with the centerpiece being a wall photo of a woman that I could not identify.  I tried to work at the desk and the issue was that all the plugs were covered so I had to unplug the lamp in order to plug in my laptop.  Traditional items missing from the room were an iron, an ironing board and a hair dryer.  All of these items were available from the front desk as needed though.  I was told that the hotel chain prefers to keep non-aesthetically pleasing items as well as hazards such as hot irons out of the room.  Once again using the iron in my small room was difficult even trying to find a Additionally, the room does not have a closet but rather a small modern armoire-like cabinet that would not fit a large suit bag or suitcase.

The bed was extremely comfortable and I had no problem sleeping at night.  The room was aesthetically pleasing but overall a little uncomfortable and small for my own taste. My room did have a nice feel to it though although I wouldn’t recommend it for a long stay or for luxurious travel.

As I mentioned, the hotel is central to the Time Warner Shopping Center complex and the subway is only a 20 minute ride to Yankee Stadium.  Just a walk down the street will take you to the very sceney crowd at the Hudson Hotel where you can get your groove on to DJ music with a very good looking crowd aged 20-50, although I would venture to guess most of the 50 year old guys were with 20 year old women. For baseball purists I’d avoid the ESPN Zone in Times Square and head over to 59^th St. (Central Park South) and check out Mickey Mantle’s Sports Bar where you can see more games at one time.  You can also head across to the famed FAO Schwartz toy store.

A special note: Going forward in my Travel Reviews you might notice a little fella.  His name is Woody.  Woody the penguin will be making guest appearances with me on my  travel adventures, both pleasure and business.  Much like the TV show Seinfeld where there was always a Superman figure, you will find Woody in a photo.  Sometimes he will be easy to find.  Sometimes he won’t.  Can you find him?  Woody is a product of Jen Goode, a Colorado based graphic artist.  Jen’s work can be found at JGoodeDesigns.com