HotelChatter

What You Get
* Room Upgrade
* Breakfast for two daily at Café Boulud or in the privacy of your salon or suite
* 2 Cocktails at Bar Pleiades
* A welcome gift from our Spa Director and Darphin when booking a minimum one-hour treatment
* 2 VIP passes to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Damage & Details
Intro rates start at $629 a night (which comes to $727 with tax). Valid for stays through March 31, 2010, but must be booked by December 31, 2009. The promo code is: INTRO (but you don’t have to type it in online, it should pop up as the best available rate for dates in the promotional range.)

What It’s Worth
A regular rate outside of this promotional window starts at $520 a night (with tax, $602). Here’s what the additional perks would cost on their own:

* Room Upgrade: at least $50 (From a Deluxe Salon King to a Grand Deluxe Salon King.)
* Breakfast for two daily at Café Boulud or in the privacy of your salon or suite: Breakfast starts at $9 for a bowl of oatmeal but who wants that? The average price of an egg dish is $18. So, for two, you’re looking at $36 plus tip—and delivery charge if you eat in your salon. So let’s call it $45.
* 2 Cocktails at Bar Pleiades: The cheapest on the menu is $14, but to give yourself the freedom to order the heavier stuff, let’s price this at $35.
* A welcome gift from our Spa Director and Darphin when booking a minimum one-hour treatment: The spa treatment will be at least $100 (that’s being conservative) and a tube of Darphin’s Aromatic Hand Cream usually goes for $40.
* 2 VIP passes to The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Membership starts at $60 but let’s say $40, the recommended ‘donation’ for admission of two adults.

Grand total
$912 for the room plus all these extras.

Are We Sold?
A savings of $185 is nothing to scoff at, especially at a time like this. But for $727 we could stay two nights at one of the many hot New York hotels in the $300-a-night range. We could stay in the entry-level room, skip the breakfast, swipe the moisturizer from our room, and be scummy and pay just a couple of bucks to get into the Met. We might still have one of those cocktails, however.

The truth is, The Surrey is too high-end for us. While their Introductory Offer doesn’t send us running to our ATM, we’re sure it will please the rich folks who love to think they’re being “frugal” even when that means spending over $700 on a night that doesn’t even include dinner.

We’ll keep a night at The Surrey on our Holiday Wish List anyway—just in case there really is a Santa.