City View Inn

The receptionist was friendly and gave us a suggestion for a beautiful place to visit at night. My family and I had a great two-night stay, with clean, nicely sized rooms at a good price. You can also have breakfast before 10 am. There are a couple of things the hotel could fix. The bathroom had no extractor, and I found fungus on the door and ceiling. And please fix or replace the elevator. It moves so slowly I feel like I lost a few years of my life on it! Even so, I think it was worth it.

The one thing I really liked was our room’s view of MANHATTAN. We booked at the last minute because it was cheap and fairly close to Manhattan, and I’m not fussy about hotels. I just need a clean bathroom, a bed, and friendly staff. I figured the Best Western logo meant I’d be fine here. The rest of the place felt old and mediocre, though, and the staff weren’t friendly. The next morning I noticed there was a cemetery across the street behind the hotel, so I guess we were lucky to get that view. They advertised a free round-trip shuttle to the subway once a day. On our last day, we came down around 10 AM to check out, even though checkout was at noon. It was pouring rain, so we got our check and asked for the shuttle. The woman working that morning smiled at us, then said we weren’t guests anymore because we’d checked out and couldn’t use it. When we said that was ridiculous, she told us to go away. We asked for a manager, and he said the same thing. I told him it was rude, and he said I had to respect him and the hotel policy. Why should I respect someone insulting me in front of his staff? He also said, “If I gonna do exception for every person like you I'm gonna be out of business!” They sent us off like garbage, without offering to help us get a cab or pay for their shuttle. I wasn’t angry or disappointed so much as shocked that this was the kind of “service” we got in the US, especially at a hotel with the “Best western” logo. I wrote directly to Best Western about the place.

The room was adequate, and breakfast in the morning was pretty good. They also offer free rides to the subway. The building has been around a long time, though, and the entrance is a little hard to spot. The bathroom door lock was broken, and the elevator moved really slowly.

The room had dusty furniture, and there were streaks on the bathroom mirror and TV screen. We could only plug in one device at a time because the two-port outlet had to serve the mini fridge, microwave, and TV. A power strip would help. We reserved a king bed but were first given a two-bed room. The person at the lobby then switched us to a king room, but it smelled like smoke. The toilet only flushed if you held the handle, and the toilet paper roll was nearly empty. We asked for more, then waited about an hour before it arrived.