I have stayed at the Alex now for many years now. The main attraction is its location close to my meetings in midtown and the fact that I get a very special rate for one of the big rooms, which features a large fridge and a cooker I can use for some basic stuff on a day I don't want to eat out. Because of this I have usually overlooked the somewhat dated deco, the small space in the bathroom, the fact that you often have to wait a while for the lifts (which have to be used by the service staff as well as customers) and the fact that the lobby is small and gets crammed very quickly when more than two customers want to check out.
However, when I stayed this year, too many things started causing problems. The phone worked erratically, the remote did not fit the TV, the shower or the tap didn't have sufficient pressure, one of only two cross trainers at the gym was constantly out of service and some recent story of colleagues of mine finding bed bugs made me feel sorry for recommending them to stay there (I did not see any)
So I still think it deserves 3 stars due to the price / quality ratio BUT, if the owner's strategy continues to be to milk the hotel as a cash cow without reinvesting, I think it is time for me to switch hotel when I go to NY. No point in having a lot of space if everything is crumbling around it.
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