Our Stay at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
We chose 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge for stay to visit friends in Brooklyn recently The hotel was gorgeous, though not without some minor flaws. Read on for all the details, but if you’re looking for a quick summary, I do recommend the hotel so long as you’re certain the location is right for you.
It wasn’t any cheaper to book directly through the hotel and they’re not part of any loyalty programs, so I booked the room as part of a package deal on Expedia, which netted me Expedia rewards for the purchase.
One of my favorite things about 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge was the rich smell of cedar at the entrance, a theme which continued in our room, with Cedar and Vetiver scented bath products. I usually stay away from hotel lotions due to perfume sensitivities, but theirs was a nice mild unisex scent.
The serene lounge area off the lobby. Nearly every space in the hotel seemed carefully thought out and matched to the overall aesthetic.
We booked a King Room with Statue of Liberty views, though really the views of lower Manhattan from our window were more impressive than the distant figure of the Statue of Liberty.
Rooms feature bedside iPads with thermostat control (useful when you wake up cold and don’t want to get out of bed), service requests, and hotel info.
Though not a large room, it was comfy enough for two people, and the open bathroom made it feel larger. The shower and toilet are next to each other in separate glass partitions, just beware there’s not a lot of, ahem, auditory privacy in the bathroom.
As part of their eco-friendly efforts, rooms feature taps with filtered water in lieu of bottled water. It’s a cool idea, but I didn’t love the taste of the water–and this in a city known for its water quality. Perhaps the filter needed to be changed?
Other amenities included free WiFi, complimentary cozy socks, and free pods for the Nespresso machine. I appreciate these little things when so many hoteliers seem to take the “luxury” label as an excuse to gouge on everything. You will pay the normal premium prices if you pull from the fully stocked mini bar, though it’s nice that there’s an effort made to include local booze and snacks.
I loved this little patch of green at the end of the bathroom counter (and there’s enough counter space that you don’t feel like it’s in the way).
The views of lower Manhattan were fantastic, and if you peered out the window to the left, the Statue of Liberty is (distantly) visible. If you look closely, you can see that the window is a actually a French balcony. The middle section of the window slides open, which was so nice to let in the warm air and listen to the city sounds.
So, circling back to my initial comment about location, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is convenient to the Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO area, though about a 10 minute walk to the closest subway station. There is a ferry stop very close by, which will take you to lower Manhattan and Williamsburg. The ferry is scenic, if not the fastest mode of transport.
We chose the area because it’s close to friends we were visiting, but found that even then we spent more time in hipper Williamsburg, which features far more late night bars and restaurants.
When we wanted to pop into a drugstore for a forgotten toiletry around 11pm on a Saturday, we were surprised to find that while there were multiple Duane Reades open 24 hours across the river in lower Manhattan, there weren’t any open drugstores within a reasonable walking distance of the hotel.
The hotel itself is lovely, but the area sometimes seems more designed for transport by cars, and we ended up taking more Ubers than we’d planned. Do note that the hotel offers free rides within a 3 miles radius in their house Tesla–that is if you can snag it. Rides are on a first come, first serve basis, and we unsurprisingly weren’t able to catch the car when it was free over the busy holiday weekend.
I love the idea of rooftop bars, but very often they’re super scene-y and overpriced. 1 Hotels Brooklyn Bridge has a rooftop bar with incredible views, and yeah, it’s scene-y and overpriced.
The good news is guests don’t have to wait in the long lines on the weekends, just take the elevator directly up. The bad news is that even though there’s a dedicated rooftop line outdoors and a separate elevator for the bar, the hotel was often crawling with people trying to get up to the bar, or jumping in the guest elevators only to be confused that it went nowhere without the required keycard.
There’s also a plunge pool on the rooftop, though it wasn’t open yet during our stay in late May (perhaps this is why we weren’t charged the laughable $19 a day “resort fee” that Expedia mentions?). While looking for a spot nearby for drinks with friends, we also discovered that the bar closed at the bafflingly early hour of 8pm
The small section of the rooftop that was open during our stay didn’t carry through as well with the hotel’s immersive aesthetic, and at any rate was too crammed with people to take any attractive photos. There was a roped-off seating area to one side with tables that could be reserved, and the rest was first come, first serve.
Given all of the above, perhaps they’re still working out the kinks. At this point, I’d recommend taking a quick jaunt up to the roof to check out the views, just don’t waste your money on the perfunctorily served and mediocre $20 drinks.
Reaching the end, I feel like I’ve criticized enough that I should reiterate that we really did enjoy our stay! It’s a gorgeous hotel, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it–just be sure its limitations fit well with your travel plans.
Book 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge on Expedia