The Nines

"Beautiful"

My 2.7 yo budding travel reviewer exclaimed as we entered our room, "It's boo-ti-ful!"  I replied, "You have good taste."  The rooms are spectacular, with marbled bathroom larger than my kitchen.  The soft curtains opened onto a cityscape view of Portland Square, and the beds were deliciously comfortable.
This place gets the full five stars due to the grandeur and comfort of the rooms, the 24-hour room-service, the concierge who didn't blink when I told her which brewpub we were trying to hit for dinner and told us exactly where the large playground was between here and there, and the gentle friendliness of every other staff member who could have looked down their noses at my ragtag, road-weary crew but didn't.  Our son wanted to explore the veritable museum of modern art that adorned the lobby but hubby kept him from touching and no one shot us dirty looks.  Heck, even the locavore, sustainable restaurant/lounge had a young couple with tot in the middle of what looked to be a family photo shoot when while we waited for our room.
And that leads me to the slightly bad.  Parking in this area is pricey: When we arrived, we left our car with the valet who was nice enough to ask (without 'tude) whether we'd be parking our car elsewhere or keeping it with the $32/night valet.  The hotel is above the Macy's so the lobby is on the 8th floor -- a room key in needed to get to any other floor.  We checked in quickly but were told that we'd have to wait about 10 minutes for the final room check by housekeeping management.  Yup, "final" check.  I asked how many checks there were and was given a jaw-dropping list of everything that goes into every single room change including washing even the duvets.  I knew we'd have no issues with cleanliness but it meant we had to manage our rambunctious toddler who'd been in a car for 8 hours in an area that didn't strike me as durable.  But we made it through, no worse for wear.  DVD player was in the room, but it and the TV receiver is stowed behind a drawer front that folds out, making TV hard to view without exposing the hardware to roaming little hands.  You can buy PBS Kids on demand for $2.99.
Back to the great:  My hubby kindly let me wander down to one of the restaurants while he put our son to bed, where I enjoyed a very-fine adult beverage and scrumptious array of small plates -- the menu had good options for vegetarians but meat-lovers would adore the steak tasting-menu and the bar had a late-night happy hour menu.  He enjoyed the free wi-fi while I was gone.  We slept great, checked out easily, and had car waiting at the front door to finish out our road trip.
We only stayed one night but it was a night in the lap of luxury and I'd return in a heartbeat.  Yay!