For those of you reading this, please read the whole thing. I know it’ll seem a bit scattered and all over the place, but ultimately worth the hassle and refreshing—kinda like the Yotel.
Let me start by saying that I don’t expect hotels that charge $149/night to provide me with service or amenities like the Ritz Carlton, especially in New York City. I read reviews of the Yotel and get the fact that it’s only a few months old, the rooms are small but smartly designed, they’re working out some kinks, the beds are uncomfortable, etc. It’s all true and I’ll go into some detail.
The more I think about it, this is a situation like an Olympic gymnast, figure skater, or diver. There is the plan (or as they say in the Olympics, the difficulty) and the execution. The Yotel nails the plan, but the execution still needs some refinement.
Let’s start…
The location of the Yotel is pretty good. It’s a fairly easy walk to Times Square and most of Midtown. If you take the subway, it is a little bit of a hike. The best thing to do is to take the subway to 42nd Street and then take the M42 crosstown if you don’t feel like walking.
Upon arriving, we went to the kiosks which were very easy to use. An employee greeted us and gave us the lay of the land about Four, our rooms, the breakfast, etc. We promptly went to our room to drop our bags and freshen up.
The room design is very good. I’ve stayed in larger rooms that have felt more cramped. This one works because they obviously planned everything very well while other hotels try to force unwieldy furniture into existing spaces. Not here.
Our room was hot when we entered. The thermostat said 80 degrees. The A/C is supposed to be motion activated and turn on automatically. It did not. I tried setting the temperature at a few different points. Nothing. As we left to go out for the evening, I mentioned the room temperature to one of the people at the front (I don’t know if they are bellboys or something else). He didn’t seem surprised and said that our system probably needed to be reset and would send someone up to look at it.
Upon return, we went up to our room and it was even hotter. Apparently, they didn’t reset or fix the A/C. I bumped into a couple of maintenance guys and they came in and reset the system. They said it just seems to happen that the system needs to be reset. As they were looking at the A/C unit I noticed that the air filter was absolutely FILTHY. It looked like it hadn’t been changed since the hotel opened. I’ve attached a picture to this review. Ultimately, the room cooled down and we were able to go to sleep. Throughout the night I noticed the green LED on the phone would periodically turn on and off. It was a bit strange, but I figured it was just another of the trendy room things.
Neither my wife nor I slept well. The beds are as uncomfortable as many of the reviews note. I knew this was a downside, so I’m not going to knock Yotel too much for it. What was a bigger disappointment to me was that the phone didn’t work. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it had something to do with a “Waiting for Log-In” or something similar. What that told me was that the A/C problem and the phone problem were connected. There was probably a glitch in the system that didn’t activate either system when we checked in. Almost like the room didn’t realize we were supposed to be there.
The breakfast is not as one would expect. Maybe I'm from a different continent, but continental breakfast usually means more than your choice of 3 different types of muffins and coffee.
I’ve put some negative comments in the above paragraphs, so let me say that the Yotel is very clean and bright. The terrace on Four is a nice place to sit and relax and have a drink. We enjoyed it.
I’ve read reviews and responses that Yotel is working out some of the kinks. It’s been two months and items like the phone and A/C should be figured out by now. I don’t knock them for the problems, I knock them more because a couple of times when I was in the lobby I didn’t know who to ask for help. I also couldn’t call downstairs on my unworkable phone.
I’ll say again that I don’t expect the world for $149/night. Yotel delivered a much better experience than you’d get at many $149/night Manhattan fleabag hotels.
Would I stay here again? Probably. Why? I don’t need pampering, just deliver on the promises. Yotel almost did that, but by trying to be ultra-modern with the phone and A/C they stumbled.
From a scoring standpoint, high marks on the plan and medium marks on the execution. Keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll nail it soon.
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