HotelChatter

Check-in: Friday and Saturday nights in New York are known to be rush hour on reception desks, but all was surprisingly quiet as we zipped through both our 5pm check-in and a Big Apple martini at the lobby bar.

Room Reaction: Our standard room on the 24th floor was neither large nor small; it was adequate and business-friendly with a king bed, spacious desk and Aeron chair.  A standard large flatscreen TV lorded over the king bed and small sitting area, only balanced out by the floor-to-ceiling window.

Initially we dove into the minibar to check out the goods, but our attention was instead diverted by a rumpled notice on the nightstand. The polite note from the Millenium Hilton's management apologized for the noise of the nearby construction and came complete with safety-orange earplugs. Turns out, the 24-hour work, being done on none other than the World Trade Center site below, was noisy enough for us to break out the plugs.

View/Location: The Millenium Hilton's 55-floor structure is actually designed after the obelisk of 2001: A Space Odyssey, so scoring a high floor is a slight power trip.

Consider that you are directly up from the crater of the World Trade Center site and the proximity becomes more meaningful than just being a brisk walk away from Wall Street and Battery Park.

Because the bottom tip of Manhattan is something of a bottleneck for the subways, the Millenium's location is mostly on top of needed subway lines, including PATH trains over to New Jersey. All of this however pales in comparison to the hotel's neighboring spot to Century 21, known far and wide as the mecca for discount designer fashions. You will be trampled on Church Street by soccer moms dashing for cheap LeSportsac bags and Lilly Pulitzer pants (Ed. Note: Vom.)

Amenities: Although the Millenium Hilton will shower you in earplugs should you desire, to combat the WTC construction they also offer Brookstone sound machines. Dial up room service, agree to a $200 deposit and the modular gadget will arrive stocked with sound choices like "celestial" and "summer night."

When we weren't tossing in bed, we did try a dip in the hotel's fifth-floor indoor pool, which had no water jets running at the time and was eerily stagnant. But seriously, we aren't complaining about access to a private Manhattan pool and sauna.

A currency exchange, ample fitness room and welcoming attitude to pets round out the list of nicer extras available.

Internet Connect: Free in the lobby bar and up in the Church & Dey restaurant, but if actually staying the night expect to fork over $12.95 for a daily pass.

What We Liked: Against our better judgment, we actually relished the view down into Ground Zero; it reassured us that yes, there is progress being made on the new structures. We are also complete suckers for floor-to-ceiling windows, and the room itself had the three Cs: comfortable, clean and cheap.

What We Didn't Like: The aforementioned Century 21 shopaholics occasionally use the Millenium Hilton's lobby and restrooms as extensions of the store. Not to mention that the city's concentration of fake purse vendors has shifted from Canal Street to the sidewalk in front of the hotel's entrance, making the path to re-enter the hotel both frustrating and seedy.

We're also not too keen on our dining experience at their restaurant Church & Dey; it is typical of sad, empty hotel restaurants with dated furnishings and a clientele of single businessmen staring forlornly into their $23 meatloaf.

Bottom Line: Affordable (if you're not looking for deals during the Tribeca Film Festival or other big downtown events), and with an intriguing location at Ground Zero, the Millenium Hilton hits just right for tourists who have already done the requisite Times Square stay. We just hope you don't mind earplugs.

For more photos from the Milennium Hilton, go to JetSetCD's Flickr Photostream.