The Manhattan at Times Square

Location: Excellent! Walking distance to a lot of things and easy to hop on the subway. Cleanliness & Amenities: Not great. The room wasn't really clean. I found hair on the toilet seat and on the bathroom floor. There was no conditioner left in the bottle, and on my last day, I finished up the soap. It's to wonder if they even clean and check the room before the next guests. Service: Very friendly and welcoming staff. On the last day, I had a tour and asked to leave my luggage in the lobby. It was easy, and I picked it up later without any problems. However, be aware that a tip is expected and pretty much mandatory. The door man said to leave a tip first before I could leave my luggage. I'd have given something anyway, but I'm just letting you know what to expect. Breakfast: Do not expect much. You get a voucher that allows you to get one drink, one fruit, and one pastry/bread.

I honestly don’t even know where to start: this hotel was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. Like many other reviews have said, it looks absolutely nothing like the photos. The place is old, smelly, and depressing. If you’ve ever seen the movie 1408, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Our first room was dirty and run down. I could live with the fact it was old, but the moment something gross came up through the bathtub (most likely from the room next door), that was it. We went to the front desk, and they moved us to a smaller room. But instead of being better, it was even worse: the AC was so loud we couldn’t sleep, one of the drawers was completely missing, the only one left was broken, and the bathtub didn’t drain properly. We complained again, and they admitted that many guests had the same issues. They told us it would take time to send someone to check the AC, and that maybe they could change our room the following morning. After a long flight, we were too exhausted to keep pushing, so we just dealt with it. But honestly, I’m sure they had other available rooms. The front desk staff were okay, nothing great, but the concierge was on another level of disappointing. When we checked out, we left our bags with them and asked if there was any charge. They said no, just tips. I get how tipping works. we’ve tipped everywhere on this trip but if you give good service, people want to tip you. You don’t need to beg for it. We even told the guy (Alex) that we didn’t have cash at the time, but we’d leave a tip with the front desk later for him. He seemed fine with that. But when we came back to collect our bags, the staff literally said behind our backs, “Alex said they were going to give us tips.” I was standing right there and heard it. That moment sealed it for me — I decided not to tip any of them. If you’re going to treat guests like that, consider it the bare minimum of your job. Honestly, I should’ve been asking for a refund instead. They’re apparently renovating to become a Crowne Plaza, but if they keep the same staff and attitude, don’t bother. Just stay far away from this place. If there was a zero star, that would be my genuine rating.

Sadly I cannot rate this hotel positively. I made an error in booking dates and within less than two minutes I contacted the hotel to apologise and ask if they can cancel the reservation so that I can re-book for the correct dates. Multiple emails and methods of contact, and no reply. All I can assume is that they are happy to take the money for the incorrectly booked dates and have no interest in me re-booking.  Customer Service.....such an important aspect of hospitality......yet in cases like this is seems to not be a consideration.