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New York City's worst rated hotels
Stunning Cockroaches. Dodgy brown stains. When we got to the room, all I could do was cry. Moldy swamp pit. Dried boogers on the wall. Cheap porn set. We met mice in the corridor. Smelled like murder and hookers. I thought we were going to be raped or murdered. These are excerpts from user generated Trip Advisor reviews of five of New York's most maligned hotels and hostels, the New World Hotel, ranked the 393rd "best" hotel on the site, Hotel Riverside Studios, ranked #395, La Semana Hotel, ranked #400, the Sun Bright Hotel, ranked #403, and the West Side Inn, ranked #405. Another poorly rated hotel in Trip Advisor, the Aladdin, has actually been converted into a homeless shelter.
There are literally hundreds of scathing reviews for these grim hotels but in order to find them, travelers need to click through fourteen pages of higher rated hotels on the site. Travel publications devote a huge amount of space to celebrating the world's best hotels, but virtually none to condemning the worst ones, so it's easy to see how inexperienced travelers could be disappointed in New York, America's most expensive city, where $100 a night doesn't buy much.
I've spent a good deal of time traveling on a budget in the developing world and consider myself to be something of a cheap hotel aficionado. I've stayed in hotels frequented by drunks, prostitutes and outright criminals, places with no running water, pit toilets with no doors, filthy mattresses tossed on the floor- places squalid enough to occasionally inhabit my nightmares to this day. But I haven't stayed in any of these hotels, so please note that these reflections are those of travelers writing on Trip Advisor. And even the worst reviewed places have some defenders. But not many. Per the Trip Advisor ratings, here are the worst among the worst:
Hotel Riverside Studios (pictured above) - The hotel web site boasts that the place has a "European flavor," and "charming rooms that have recently been upgraded," but it has some 168 1-star ("terrible") reviews on Trip Advisor, which make the place sound anything but charming. One reviewer described the shared bathroom as having, "pubic hair everywhere, feces on the floor, and a sign on the door reading: 'If you don't like the dirty bathroom CLEAN IT YOURSELF!'" One writer mentioned "dirty hallways that were like a horror movie," while another said they cried upon entering the room and concluded that one would be "better off sleeping on the street." The hotel's site also claims that they offer travelers the chance
to "mingle with true New Yorkers," but according to the reviews, the "true" New Yorkers are actually homeless persons using the hotel as a shelter.
La Semana Hotel (right) - This hotel advertises "state of the art" "deluxe rooms" for "people on the go," but customers described a hotel they wanted to flee immediately after checking in. Two noted that the front desk clerk seemed to be ostentatiously surfing porn at the front desk, and another posted that they thought they may have bumped into a murder witness in the lobby. One traveler described floor-to-ceiling mirrors that were reminiscent of a "cheap porn set."
West Side Inn (middle right) - This "tourist/student class hotel" advertises itself as a "hip and trendy" place to stay, but of 263 reviews on Trip Advisor, 153 rated it as "terrible." Reviewers de
scribed this budget hotel/hostel as a "moldy swamp pit," with "feces-stained toilets," hungry bedbugs and "used condoms on the shared bathroom floor." One concluded that it was like a "crack house from out of the movies," another opined that one should "tell your worst enemy to stay at the West Side Inn." Another traveler titled their review "Welcome to Hell."
New World Hotel (bottom right) This place has private rooms for as little as $55 but many considered it overpriced even at that low rate. A traveler from Philadelphia, who wrote that they booked this place through hotels.com, wrote that they tried to trade in a pillow with blood stains, but were given another bloody pillow. A Romanian reviewer said that the hotel was even worse than what they experienced during the Communist era in Romania, and concluded that a homeless shelter would have been more comfortable. Others described "watermelon sized bedbugs," garbage strewn windowsills, and "horrifying" rooms with "box springs as beds."
Sun Bright Hotel - This budget hotel, which offers private and dorm style rooms ranging from $33-90, has 68 reviews on Trip Advisor- 31 gave it 1 star, 16 gave it 2 and zero gave it 5. One poster referred to the place as a "prison camp" and concluded that they should "not let animals stay
there," but still gave the place 2 stars. Another traveler described the dorm rooms as a "chicken coop" with chicken wire separating the rooms and "infested" with cockroaches. An Australian traveler described the conditions as "subhuman" and stinking of urine. Several others noted that there were no ceilings- only chicken wire and one traveler from New York titled her review "Uninhabitable, Unsanitary, Unbearable."
Caveat emptor. You get what you pay for. Sometimes less. Especially in New York.
[all photos courtesy Trip Advisor]
to "mingle with true New Yorkers," but according to the reviews, the "true" New Yorkers are actually homeless persons using the hotel as a shelter.La Semana Hotel (right) - This hotel advertises "state of the art" "deluxe rooms" for "people on the go," but customers described a hotel they wanted to flee immediately after checking in. Two noted that the front desk clerk seemed to be ostentatiously surfing porn at the front desk, and another posted that they thought they may have bumped into a murder witness in the lobby. One traveler described floor-to-ceiling mirrors that were reminiscent of a "cheap porn set."
West Side Inn (middle right) - This "tourist/student class hotel" advertises itself as a "hip and trendy" place to stay, but of 263 reviews on Trip Advisor, 153 rated it as "terrible." Reviewers de
scribed this budget hotel/hostel as a "moldy swamp pit," with "feces-stained toilets," hungry bedbugs and "used condoms on the shared bathroom floor." One concluded that it was like a "crack house from out of the movies," another opined that one should "tell your worst enemy to stay at the West Side Inn." Another traveler titled their review "Welcome to Hell."New World Hotel (bottom right) This place has private rooms for as little as $55 but many considered it overpriced even at that low rate. A traveler from Philadelphia, who wrote that they booked this place through hotels.com, wrote that they tried to trade in a pillow with blood stains, but were given another bloody pillow. A Romanian reviewer said that the hotel was even worse than what they experienced during the Communist era in Romania, and concluded that a homeless shelter would have been more comfortable. Others described "watermelon sized bedbugs," garbage strewn windowsills, and "horrifying" rooms with "box springs as beds."
Sun Bright Hotel - This budget hotel, which offers private and dorm style rooms ranging from $33-90, has 68 reviews on Trip Advisor- 31 gave it 1 star, 16 gave it 2 and zero gave it 5. One poster referred to the place as a "prison camp" and concluded that they should "not let animals stay
there," but still gave the place 2 stars. Another traveler described the dorm rooms as a "chicken coop" with chicken wire separating the rooms and "infested" with cockroaches. An Australian traveler described the conditions as "subhuman" and stinking of urine. Several others noted that there were no ceilings- only chicken wire and one traveler from New York titled her review "Uninhabitable, Unsanitary, Unbearable."Caveat emptor. You get what you pay for. Sometimes less. Especially in New York.
[all photos courtesy Trip Advisor]
Filed under: North America, United States, Hotels and Accommodations, Budget Travel
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
FreeYourMind Jan 26th 2012 2:19PM
Be warned, first time visitors to NYC, that very cheap hotels are usually what is called a "flophouse", catering to drug addicts, hookers, and one step above sleeping in the street. Read your Tripadvisor reviews carefully, and if you can't find honest reviews anywhere, don't consider staying there! You really don't usually need luxury in NYC since tourists are only there to sleep and shower, most of the time you will be out. You just need a clean room and a comfortable bed, heat or a/c in winter or summer, and reasonably decent service.
Sheila Jan 26th 2012 2:25PM
You absolutely must add The Hotel Pennsylvania. Stayed there during postseason NIT with my grandson... paint chipping off the walls, electric wires visibly hanging, carpet so dirty and grimy we couldn't trust laying anything down, no closet doors, TV so old it was as large as the beds, linen so thin you could almost see through it. Got a room change and that was just as bad!! Beware!
shelley Kramer Jan 26th 2012 3:24PM
first time I stayed at the Milford Hotel on 7th averue, we called it the "
milldew" because it was old and moldy and smelled funny.
Now we stay at the Kimberly boutique hotel, very nice, very cordial, all the amenties, balcony, 53rd and Lexington. We had a 2 bedroom hotel room, with a full kitchen. The only thing not good was the old tvs that did not work on all the channels. Nice people working, helpful staff. Internet.
Debra Ross Jan 26th 2012 2:22PM
@KELLY
You would have to call anyway-- my daughter works for American-Ex- so we get travel agt. discounts... I couldn't begin to tell you, I am thinking when we use to stay there its definitely over 100- now you might get discounts.. certain times of year.. and there is always my daughter, son n law, my grandson, and me.. so we usually are getting an oversized room.. so your best bet is to just call, and see what they are running.. or go to travel.com.. and see if expedia, or priceline has discounts.. :)
Ann Jan 26th 2012 2:29PM
Stayed at The Mayfair Hotel in Manhattan in December. Very clean, nice room, reasonable price, close to everything we wanted to see and do. Would recommend it.
F Spitzelburger Jan 26th 2012 2:57PM
Sorry, it was supposed to attach to my original post, which somehow I dorked up standing in line., The Paramount is on 46th between 7th and 8. The Edison is next door, which has an incredible 1920s type band, Vince Giordano. Swing 46 in the other direction also offers 40s type bands and swing dancing, great time.
Robin Nelson Jan 26th 2012 5:30PM
Thank You Spitz....Definitely checking them out.
Robin Nelson Jan 26th 2012 5:30PM
I'm sorry, but this was absolutely funny. I totally got a mental picture of all this.... Funny...LOL
I stayed in a hotel like these one time. I slept with my clothes and coat on, even after I sprayed almost a whole can of Lysol on the bed. Had to make sure I was not taking any critters back home with me.
The people who worked there, all looked like they just got out of an insane asylum...escaped from one to be more accurate. Put the chair underneath the door. Just waiting for some crazed masked knife wielding, chainsaw swinging nightmare to come and say goodnight.
chuck linker Jan 26th 2012 10:21PM
Only as a Days Inn could be done over. That means they changeed the sheets.
Very far uptown. It is obvious you want the cheapest place. Don't do that in NYC. You will never want to return and spend more money on transportation than yu can imagine. You don't want to spend all the taxi fare, bus fare or be caught taking a subway up there at night. For safety stay in Times Squaee area or any hotels that are estblished on the near west side.
Days Inns are the worst everywhere. That is their reputation. Don't be a victim of marketing. Spend more money unless you go to NYC every 2 weeks. Go to Trip Advisor. Usually tourists find the west side of Manhatten no farther than the upper 70s and down to 25th St. the best hotels and safe, reasonable and many walkable to dights that typical tourists want. Downtown in the 9/11 area is a great place to stay with easy transportation uptown. Restaurants everywhere.
Do you homework. Go to a book store-- Barnes & Noble. Look at NYC current guides. Make notes. You don't have to buy the book..Call front desk of hotel choice. Ask direct questions. Call daytime when gen. mgr. is working. If you get the " bum's rush" & NYC attitude, say you will go to another property to find space and courtesy.
Do your homework. Don't go on everyone's advice. Make your own decisions. Can't go wrong with any Sharaton, Westin, aLoft, etc. or anything from the Starwood group go to: starwood.com
Look at less expensive brands on west side.