Regrettably, I was compelled to stay at the Park Central during Hurricane Sandy. I understand it was a stressful and difficult time for all of the region, and although conditions were improved in Midtown Manhattan compared to New York's more unfortunate areas of town, other burroughs and neighboring New Jersey, our stay at the Park Central only added to the overall distress for many reasons:
1) After confirming with the front desk that the hotel was fully operational, upon arrival two hours later, we were told that there would be no hot water or heat during our stay. Again, I understand the timing of this could have been a pure coincidence, and that these utilities may have been compromised between my phone call and my arrival. However, the Reception agents were rude, cold and did nothing to acknowledge the inconvenience -- literally shrugging off our questions regarding the water/heat -- or allay concerns about the overall functionality of the hotel. They were also not willing to make any concession for the outrageous room rate, even though the hotel was without basic amenities, nor did they offer any other kind of concession of hospitality (food/bar credit, for example).
2) We were offered no assistance with our bags -- our party of three had six in all. There seemed to be no one staffing the bell desk or any valets at any time inside the hotel. All guests were forced to lug their bags up to their rooms on their own.
3) The internal condition of the hotel, beyond the lobby, is quite grim. The halls are dingy and banged up. Seemingly abandoned vacuum cleaners and housekeeping carts are left strewn through the halls at all times of day, blocking the corridors.
4) The rooms are dirty. In addition to obvious pubic hairs on top of the bed, there were dirty tissues crumpled behind the night stand. After seeing all of this, one couldn't trust anything in the room to be clean.
5) There was no privacy sign available on our door. We finally had to ask for one from the maid, who did kindly provide a broken one. Otherwise, there was absolutely no privacy, and the housekeeping staff barged into our two rooms several times during our two-day stay, despite our cries of protest.
6) I do have to say that when you were able to find a valet, all of whom were standing on the street, they were able to get a cab as quickly as humanly possible. Points to the valet staff (if you were lucky to find them).
The way that this hotel is managed is really a reflection on an opportunist organization. They care nothing for its guests, their safety, or their well-being, and feel inclined to gouge and disregard anyone unlucky enough to have to stay here.
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