I Spent The Night With The Trumps—Here’s How New York City's Most Controversial Hotel Holds Up

I scoured Google Maps, the Michelin Guide, and Yelp in search of that elusive something; a place where I could feel as pampered as I did at the Plaza while sparing my pocketbook the life-draining gunshot wound that is the final bill. Many options surfaced, but those within budget seemed shady, and the ones I loved had me seeing quadruple zeros.

And then, it caught my eye. A little corner of real estate—1 Central Park West—at the edge of Columbus Circle, across the street from New York’s favorite park. On Google Maps, a tiny bed icon marked it as a place of lodging, but there was no identifying name. I zoomed in…in…in…before I finally clicked to bring up the mystery icon’s name and information.

Ah, so that was why.

The world’s largest search engine had gone to impressive lengths to hide from view the name of this peculiar property because…its name was Trump.

What Lies Behind a Gold Facade?

The Trump International Hotel (“and Tower,” as it used to be called before the powers-that-be decided to give the building’s residential address a less controversial title) stands tall at forty-four stories, hovering somewhat imperiously (yet not particularly pompously) above Columbus Circle, between Broadway and Central Park West.

Situated directly adjacent to the 59th Street Station, the Trump is, quite literally, at the center of the universe—at least by New York standards. In fact, when the establishment opened its doors in 1996, it heralded itself as “the most important new address in the world.” And, for all intents and purposes, it was, holding over a decade’s worth of Forbes five-star ratings (the highest honor a hotel can receive from the company) and making AAA’s list of “Top Hotels in New York City” from 2012 until…2019.

Then came 2020.

The most tense and divisive election our generation has experienced (yet) happened, and the Trump International Tower plunged from its prized perch to a place of inconspicuity and near-ignominy. As the political world worked overtime to tarnish the Trump name, the Trump International lost the same amount of shine until, eventually, it abandoned its notoriety in full.

Today, the Trump International still stands, but it exists online largely as a laughingstock—a place to which radical liberals flock with the sole mission of sticking up their middle fingers and scrawling obscene notes in chalk…and bragging about it, of course. In online travel groups, comments fly about the “big orange guy’s” evil address, and certain groups make it impossible to discuss the establishment by automatically flagging any post which includes the name “Trump” as harmful or inflammatory.

While the social decline (dare I say demise?) of their flagship hotel is all a bit unfortunate for the Trump empire as a whole, it’s good news for penny-pinching luxury jet-setters such as myself. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself as I took the plunge and booked a week’s stay in one of their Deluxe Park View rooms. After all, the establishment currently boasts five stars from Forbes (the only name-recognition publication willing to feature it).

This is one more star than the over-glorified, gilded Plaza, which holds court over its own impressive address on the opposite side of Central Park. (And which, back in the ’80s, was a Trump property itself.) Though Condé Nast doesn’t go out of its way to sing the Trump’s praises, its readers ranked it as the eighth-best hotel in all of NYC. (For reference, The Plaza weighed in at number twenty-three.)

However, online consumer reviews don’t echo these accolades—at least, not in theory. On Google, users (some of whom have made few to no other contributions to the apps) complain of bedbugs; the hotel’s Yelp page even features a warning that user reviews are being monitored by Yelp’s support team due to “content related to media reports.”