update to review:
since writing this review, the manager contacted me and was great about taking responsibility for the situation, offered a refund of some of the fee's and generally worked to make the situation right.
in a historic home, things are bound to go wrong, and at least, now, i can say they worked with us to make things right. this place is a great price for the neighborhood, very clean and large rooms too. just know you're not getting a typical hotel, and its possible you will experience minor things (not enough hot water for example)
at least I can say they finally handled us, as customers, properly
below is the original review written yesterday:
This place has large rooms, but just be prepared for maintenance issues. Our stay included no hot water in the room, a fireplace that didn't worked and smoked out the room. In their paperwork they have a page long disclaimer about how they give no refunds for water main breaks, no hot water, mice and vermin ... it goes on and on ... that should have warned me off ...
read below for full story ...
My wife and her friend recently went to NYC for a conference, and wanted a place to stay nearby. After much research we found this place, which was right nearby. For the neighborhood its a fair price, and the rooms seemed large, so we thought, "Lets give it a try".
The first odd thing was how hard it was to make a reservation. Usually where you can just book online, or use a link to pay - here it took 5 - 10 e-mails, a bunch of back and forth, and even the online form that eventually was required took a manual phone call afterward. Very strange. But I thought, who cares?
My wife and friend found the room to be large, immaculately clean, and while not a decoration style they'd choose for themselves, one with alot of care and attention put into it. They also said it was sunny and quiet and the Wifi worked. And, the bed was large and comfortable. So, all points in the establishments favor.
However, when they tried to take a hot shower in the morning, it didn't work. Running out for a conference, they came back that night, and tried again and it didn't work. Unfortunately this is not like a hotel where there is 24hour service or help, so if you're not around in the day it can be tough. Finally, the manager let them shower in another room, as effectively the shower (while new) was problematic and not working well.
We had also paid an extra $40 fee for "fire logs". That fee seemed expensive (duraflames are $4 each), but I figured, ok. worth it nonetheless. My wife (who is experienced with fire places as she uses one every day in the winter in our house) lit the log, and for the next 3 hours had smoke and particulates in the room, and had to keep a window open (when it was below freezing outside). Not good.
I e-mailed the owner, asking them to refund the log-fee, and for a discount of $20 a night on the room since the shower didn't work (as we picked the most expensive one, and wish we'd stayed in the $20 cheaper one which had hot water!)
The owner was kind enough to write a long reply, but in it she effectively blamed my wife for being unable to user the fireplace, the other guests for using up the hot water, the expensive shower for being hard to use ... effectively taking no responsibility for their shitty experience.
When you spend $350 a night on a hotel, you expect at least a modicum of respect and responsibility. Not refunding the log fee is just criminal (given they kept the logs and will resell them to the next guest!). read more