We stayed at the Shoreham for three nights in August. Upon check-in, we were informed that the hotel did not have our reservation. We provided our confirmation number and documentation to show that we had reserved a room and were re-booked another - the staff person was unapologetic and of course, there was no room ready for us so we had to wait a few hours for one to become ready. We checked our bags with the concierge and came back a few hours later (took a leisurely stroll in Central Park, which is close by). When we returned, it took about 20-30 minutes to check-in. There was only one staff person at the front-desk and they were doing 3 jobs at once (Checking people in, answering the phone, and fielding requests from other guests). We finally got to our (standard) room - it was small (but worked well for two people and was what we expected for New York), tidy but not super clean (e.g., belongings of the previous guest were left in some of the drawers). Due to the hotel's error (losing our reservation) - the room we were given did not have the amenities promised when we made our initial booking (e.g., massage chair). After re-iterating these errors (room amenities, lost reservation, etc...) to the front-desk staff, the person made no attempt to accommodate us and basically told us to "that nothing could be done". In spite of this, the rest of our stay here was okay - except for the last day. When we woke up, we found a letter slipped under our door stating that there would be no hot water running that morning...just wonderful... After checking out, we once again left our bags with the concierge and went about our day before leaving for the airport. But the fun doesn't stop there... Approximately 2 weeks after our stay, we received a rogue credit card charge from the Shoreham for some unexplained reason. We called the hotel several times - The staff could not explain the additional charge. We were also hung up on (albeit, possibly an accident, although the person we talked to didn't seem to care that this happened - no attempt to call back, no apology once we called back etc...) and were told to call back later in the day to speak to a manager (e.g. this happened twice). I don't think that this hotel even has a manager on duty - each time we called there was not one available (during business hours) and never got a response (after one week) from e-mailing the person... still trying to resolve the issue...
Summary ...
- Location-wise, the hotel is central to many attractions.
- Coffee machine in the lobby is a nice perk
- Staff were ambivalent and need customer service training (This is clear from many of the other reviews on Trip Advisor as well).
- Unauthorized charges after our vacation is complete, not being able to provide a clear response, and having to chase after the hotel after the fact is a big no-no and not worth the headaches. In fact there are several reviews on Trip Advisor that show similar fraudulent charges being made by the Shoreham hotel to its customers.
- In the end, pass on this hotel and choose one of the many others in Manhattan
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