A group of us (ages 25 to 30) went on holiday to the States, New York being our last stop. Our flight was late in, so we were looking forward to getting to the hotel and having a relatively relaxing sleep before heading out and touring the city the next day.
The hotel is certainly NOT what we were expecting and bared no resemblence to the pictures from the Travel Company or the Paramount's website. The reception was dark, with very odd paintings on the wall, a stench of Malibu rum and a thumping of pop music blaring from the bar area. (The Addams Family show was playing down the road so we wondered if we'd walked onto the set).
Checking in was reasonably quick, and the staff were friendly and apologised for the noise - hey, if the hotel is having a party, what can you do?
We went to find our room, again, the elevators were dark and very unwelcoming, and when we got to our floor, there was little improvement: the carpets were stained, there was a musky smell and incredibly dim lighting.
We got to our room, and were met with the stench of cigarettes, and very little room to move about - our group of 4 shared the room, which, in heinsight, I wished we booked 2 separate rooms, purely for the space.
We complained to reception who quickly and without any hesitation moved us to another room. It was equally small and there was a feint musky smell about the place, dust everywhere, we felt very uncomfortable staying there. Upon further inspection, there wasnt any tea or coffee making facilities - I suspect because there are so many cafe's - we were directly opposite one of the theatres, single glazed windows and evidence of damp in the room. We were also situated right next to the ally-way in which I think the garbage disposal men spent 2 hours, at 3am, collecting rubbish.....
Our travel agent sold (and charged) us the hotel as being of 4 stars, however it should be noted that the hotel itself is not rated by any star system.
The hotel is in a great location, straight on Times Square and right by some theatres. I guess its perfect if all you're interested in is putting your bags down and to sleep.
No free wifi in the bedrooms which I thought was pretty poor
The room service menus looked very expensive
The staff did their best at trying to rectify our concerns, I couldnt fault their efforts at all.
If I could compare it to anything, it would be like staying at the Generator Hostel in London!
Pretty poor experience and certainly put a damper on the holiday!
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