Ok, here is the usual preamble; I am a frequent traveller, with more than 120 nights a year in hotels across the globe, usually on the corporate credit card and usually at top tier hotels such as the Peninsula in Hong Kong, the Four Seasons in New York or the George Vth in Paris. But I have also stayed in my fair share of Express Holiday Inns and Comfort Inns, so I have a very acute sense of what makes a good hotel.
I normally stay in NYC every other month in the Four Seasons or my favourite, the Ritz Carlton at Central Park, but both were full, so I headed to the Barclay, thinking my Ambassador Priority Club membership would land me a nice upgrade and the reviews on here were okish. I have stayed over the years in more than 20 Manhattan hotels from the trendy Soho Grand to the spectacular (on your wallet as well) Mandarin Oriental, so I thought I would give the Barclay a try.
The car pulled up and the two bell boys watched me struggle with my bag up the steps. Checking in at the front desk was nice and efficient and the lobby area is typical large New York hotel. Not the intimacy of the Four Seasons or RC, but smart and elegant nevertheless.
I was upgraded to an executive room. Not quite sure the difference with a regular deluxe room. For a New York it was quite large, with two windows. The bathroom was tiny and the whole place looked a little tired. There were marks on the carpet and the bathroom was tatty, cracks in the basin and bath. The wallpaper was a bit ragged in places too, but the bed and the linen were fine.
I logged in the internet on the fixed LAN which was so temperamental (I travel with two laptops so know its not me) I tried a local wireless I could pick up-but that was so slow I gave up. The front desk kept telling me that nothing was wrong with the system, despite the same problem reported from a number of other guests.
Then the guest in the room next door room returned. I had an interconnecting room and I can only conclude that they insulate the rooms with paper, as I could hear everything from the next door room. And I mean everything! Including a detailed financial discussion with his bank.
I put in the IPOD and tried to ignore him, and once in bed, managed to get off to sleep-despite the terrible noise from the road (which seems to be a particular problem in this hotel). I was then awoken with his coughing at 3am, and gave up sleep.
The next day, on my return from work, weary and tired, the room had been cleaned but utterly stank of sewage! I had to open the windows for two hours, and when I couldn’t log on, simply had enough and called the front desk. My annoyance was only compounded by the new guest in the room next door, and after hearing about her wedding plans (seems like its going to be a nice do) through the wall. I demanded to move rooms. This was met with a grunt from ‘guest services’. Eventually, after four calls, I tracked down the Manager, who moved me to the other side of the hotel.
This regular room was ok, but again the street noise was deafening, the décor getting grubby and the internet occasional art best. Had no apologies from the manager and I skipped out as fast as I could the next day.
This is NOT a five star hotel. It is hardly a bad four star. The service is terrible, the technology broken, the rooms shabby, the bathrooms small, the insulation paper and the service non existent!
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