Christopher D.

I can't recommend that you avoid this hotel highly enough. We were booked here by a third party booking that was fully paid in advance. On checking in with my 10 year old daughter - a guest in the lobby was having a loud conversation on speakerphone "I'm not on drugs, why would you say that? I'm only high because I just walked three blocks". The couples ahead of and behind us were checking in without baggage - youngish guys with very 'professional' looking partners that didn't bother to bring hair and makeup stuff with them. Get my drift?

The 'Empire State Building' view was actually of a dirty rooftop below us and blocked by another building. The noise from the street on the lower level in our replacement room was non-stop and the smell of marijuana was somehow making its way through the venting system - or something. I have no idea.

Initially they had us booked (me and my 10 year old daughter) into a single bed - which was a mistake, the desk clerk kindly agreed to help us out by putting us in a room with two beds the first night and a room with a sleeper sofa the second night. The first night was actually an adjoining room and then we had to check out and be homeless in NYC for 5 hours while we waited for the second room which didn't have a second bed in it but only a rather filthy folding futon on the floor with no additional sheets or pillows and which had some disturbing stains on it and had not been cleaned well. So we ended up sharing a bed anyway.

When the clerk was setting this all up, I checked multiple times that we would not be charged for this - I checked when she was adjusting it and also when I presented my credit card for incidentals. The next day when we were checking back in - she told me we were being charged for it. When I was upset at this, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I told you you wouldn't be charged for it, I'll clear it up with the manager. It's fine, don't worry."

Then when we were checking out - it was on the bill! I pointed this out to the second clerk and he said, oh, no problem, the manager said he will erase it from your bill, it hasn't been charged yet.

And then, of course, it was charged. So - we booked a double room and were given a single bed and then were forced to sleep in adjoining rooms and a single bed and to leave our bags (unmonitored, by the way, not secured, sitting next to an unlocked door on a sketchy street) for the day or cancel all of our plans that wouldn't allow us to carry bags with us.

These people smiled and lied through their teeth. They created a situation where they could charge extra without actually giving us anything better but instead a situation where our luggage was at risk and where we had nowhere to relax, shower, use the bathroom, or change our clothes on holiday.

The rooms were terrible. The noise, the smells, the black mold in the showers, the locks that looked like they had been forced with screwdrivers in the past. I don't know when the coffee maker was last cleaned, but it looked like it was probably sometime in the 1900s.

Do yourself a favor. Don't book this hotel. Don't let them take a deposit on your credit card. Don't believe the lies they tell you through their smiles.

On the positive side though, the noise from the street was so loud that we couldn't hear any of the prostitutes in nearby rooms.

Spectrum is the absolute worst mess in broadband. The top executives should be imprisoned just for allowing that automated phone tree to exist and for their abusive billing practices. Use anything but #spectrum unless you want to be ripped off and driven insane.

They kept routing me to a wireless mobile phone number that I don't use. Reaching a human was next to impossible and when I finally almost got there, they said it would cost me an additional $5. They charged me for an extra month of service when I ended service and in a word, they suck.