Testing The Newly Opened Hard Rock Hotel New York

On a recent visit to New York City, I had the pleasure of testing New York City’s newest and brightest star, Hard Rock Hotel New York. The hottest new five-star property to take the spotlight in Manhattan in 2022, the hotel opened in April and is located right in the heart of Midtown and includes 446 guestrooms and suites across 36 floors, all-day dining options, and a rooftop bar, as well as a unique live music and event space, The Venue on Music Row.

Location of Hard Rock Hotel New York

Aptly, the new Hard Rock Hotel has been built on what was once known as ‘Music Row’, and set just steps away from Times Square and Broadway, this new five-star hotel is just a short walk away from all of the main tourist sights, landmarks and shopping hot spots in Manhattan.

We walked most places during our stay as we were lucky with glorious end-of-August weather, but the hotel is also handily right by a subway station, and being in the heart of the city it’s also easy enough to get Ubers and traditional taxis.

Arriving at Hard Rock Hotel New York

Pulling up to the entrance in the early evening in my Uber from JFK, I was instantly wowed by the facade – all bright lights and shiny newness. The staff opened the doors to help me out of the car, and pulled out my luggage from the ‘trunk’ to take it up to the lobby for me.

Entering the hotel, which still has that lovely ‘new and fresh’ smell to it, I spotted that yellow dress worn by born-and-bred New Yorker, Alicia Keys, taking centre stage in the atrium, a nod to New York’s unofficial anthem, Empire State of Mind.

The dress draws your eye to the grand staircase behind which leads up to the hotel’s lobby bar and the check-in desks. I however, decided to be lazy and take the elevator. Of course, this being Hard Rock, the soundtrack that was played throughout the hotel was in one word, epic.

Check-in was an absolute breeze as my friend had done the majority of it earlier in the afternoon while I was still stuck in the airport immigration queue, and soon I was on my way up to our twin room on the 21st floor of the hotel.

The Rooms at Hard Rock Hotel New York

The entrance-way into our Classic Queen Room is compact, but leads onto a good-sized bedroom with two queen beds and a beautiful view over Midtowns many skyscrapers. We were celebrating my friend’s birthday so the staff had kindly and thoughtfully left a bottle of prosecco and balloons in the room for us. I was impressed with the room size for New York, and the design of the room was fun and very much in-keeping with Hard Rock’s usual ‘rock-esque’ brand, but in a strangely subtle way.

The sliding interior door between the bedroom and bathroom was printed with the image of Prince, while the colour scheme is all glitzy golds and rich browns. And there was even a sculptural artwork of sound waves above each bed, while the above-bed light subtley looks like a quaver musical note (although maybe this was just my musician’s brain in overdrive – I’ve played the saxophone and flute since I was 8 and have played in numerous concert bands and orchestras over the years).

There’s a large wardrobe and drawers for clothing (plus two dressing gowns for snuggly evenings in bed watching TV, if you need a break from the New York nightlife), a good size fridge, and the usual things you would expect to find in a luxury hotel, such as a Lavazzo coffee machine, safe, TV, phone etc. The en-suite bathroom was beautifully stylish, all marble and gold, with a rainfall shower. A table and two comfy chairs sit beside the full-length windows.

The style gets dialled up even higher in the $15,000-a-night Rock Star Suite, a glass-enclosed penthouse on the 36th Floor with a 2,000-square-foot personal terrace and outdoor bar.

Hard Rock New York’s Amenities & Dining

The amenities at the Hard Rock New York include a steakhouse, a cocktail lounge in the lobby, a restaurant/bar and a rooftop cocktail lounge, plus a (slightly overpriced) coffee kiosk, a gift shop, and meeting and event space.

Loaner Fender guitars and fitness and yoga classes are also available, as is breakfast, but why would anyone have breakfast in a hotel when you have NYC institutions Jack’s Wife Freda and Bubby’s, and old-school classic Lexington Candy Shop, just a short taxi ride away?

We sampled cocktails from the lobby lounge, which were excellent, and we also nipped up to the rooftop bar, RT60, one afternoon to see what that was like. I wish we had stayed longer so we could have experienced the rooftop in all its nighttime glory, but with just four nights in NYC at Hard Rock and an entire city to enjoy after four years away, we simply didn’t have the time.

Dining-wise, we didn’t test any of the hotel restaurants, again due to being surrounded by some of New York’s finest, although I was devastated to learn that two of my favourite restaurants in the city (Monkey Bar and Brother Jimmy’s BBQ) have closed down due to the pandemic. However, I’ve heard great things about the hotel restaurant’s plant-based menu.

The Venue on Music Row

But it’s in the hotel’s basement that Hard Rock really comes into its own. Already-popular just a few months after opening, The Venue on Music Row holds up to 400 people at a time for weekly shows and private events in an extraordinary bi-level entertainment event space. Spanning two lower-ground floors and combining speakeasy-style design with cutting-edge tech, The Venue on Music Row hosts everything from A-list performances, to fashion shows, after-parties, and gala dinners.

Our Verdict

It was my first time staying at a Hard Rock Hotel, and I have to admit, I was dubious. I had always associated Hard Rock with overpriced food and American tourists in far-flung destinations wearing tacky Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. A brand that had its day in the nineties but was perhaps tired and trying too hard. But experiencing the Hard Rock New York hotel has completely changed my mind and I was surprised that it surpassed all my expectations.

The hotel feels like a new dawn for the brand. A dawn that is cooler, more sophisticated, elegant, and classier even, but still emphasizes its rock roots with the memorabilia and music filling the corridors. It is perhaps the ultimate hotel for party-goers, live music lovers, and those wanting to experience New York’s nightlife, but not for those searching for a more authentic New York. It’s also the ideal base from which to explore the city for first-time visitors, and really does have it all for visitors wanting to hit the key landmarks in the surrounding area.

Hard Rock Hotel New York is NYC’s hottest new hotel, and after staying there, it’s easy to see why.