Red Carpet Inn Elmwood Park, NJ — Hotel in Elmwood Park

Location. This hotel is RIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY. So this is both a pro and con. Pro- easy highway access! Con- you have to cut off a merge lane to get into the hotel. And it’s right after the merge area begins. There are also only 2 places to eat within walking distance of the hotel. It’s a divided highway. So there are also no sidewalks.

Atmosphere. Out of all the hotels I’ve stayed at, this one ranks up there as one of the least inviting. The lobby is a convenience store, like gas station-esque. Glass window to talk through, items for sale all around, with an eye level window display of condoms and performance enhancers.

Room. My room is a nice looking room with a king size bed and nice new tv. My nightstand on the left hand side was busted at an angle (it attaches to the bed frame itself) so I had to push it back in to place. The bed sheets had a couple small stains, which I wouldn’t have made a big deal of but one of those stains was right where my head would be. I asked at the front desk/cash register for some new sheets, an employee walks with me to my room with new sheets, I open the door and he hands me the sheets and tells me I can change them myself. What fantastic customer service. I finally got around to changing my sheets and as soon as I take off the sheets I see the mattress cover has a poop stain as well pee stain at the bottom. Luckily I was able to change rooms. My new room only had 2 dirty pillowcases! Also, PARENTS BEWARE: the tv in the room has no restrictions and while flipping through channels found the pornography is easily accessible. Wifi- this one isn’t really that big of a deal, I just personally find it odd. The hotel does have WiFi, but it’s open. It’s an unsecured network . Maybe it’s just me, but I like being on a secured network in hotel, it’s just a little more comforting. Staff- To say the staff is friendly would be generous. The entire staff is middle eastern and are very snappy. As I stated earlier I had to change my own sheets when my room was dirty. My second night there was a man trying to check in while I was buying a snack, and the owner was trying to swindle him out of his price on the reservation. The man reserved the room online for $88 per night but selected to pay when he got to the hotel, then the manager tried to charge him $106 per night! The man had to haggle to get $90 a night!!

All of this happy the first couple nights I was there, the rest of my stay was fine, the first two days however were off putting enough to make me never want to stay there again. Remember that you get what...

We were looking for a cheap hotel close to NYC and tried this one. Rated only a single star for some reason but it's really at least a 2 star place. We used the rate service from Trip Advisor and were surprised that Travelocity had the best rate. They were the only one to offer a Senior rate which saved us a few dollars.||Rooms were clean and beds were firm and comfortable. There was wireless internet available but it was pretty weak and only really worked in the lobby. ||The earlier review about the porno on TV must have found something on HBO or HBO2 to object to. Probably an episode of Californication or Real Sex would be my guess. Nothing but the two HBOs and the usual cable channels. Reception on a few of the channels was a bit weak but the TV worked well.||New double pane windows and the heat was more than adequate. ||Bathrooms could use a little work. Stains on the ceiling in ours and the shower was a bit hard to turn on but worked well and the room was clean and the towels were adequate and thicker than most.||Microwave and fridge in our room. Both clean and worked well. They offer a limited breakfast. Coffee or Hot Chocolate from a machine, a couple of choices of cereals, milk, some kind of juice, some mini bagels and a few packaged muffins and Danish. We preferred the Dunkin Donuts next door. ||We had room 334 which was close to the (rather loud) stairs. It was a no smoking room but sometimes you could smell smoke in the hallway coming up from the lower floors. I'd try to get a room further down the hall next time but it was a pretty good deal for the price for that area.||We didn't try the bus service mentioned in a previous review. Drove into the city since it was a weekend for two of our days and on the last day we drove to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and took it over just so we could ride the ferry. (It's also the cheapest way to "drive" to the city. $8 bridge toll and $7 parking. Ferry was free.)||Lots of steps and no elevator so not good if you are handicapped. It's on 46 which is a big divided highway with no left turns allowed so you have to find a place to do a jug handle U-turn if you come from...

Avoid if you appreciate your health. I booked this hotel months in advance prior to a trip to the area in August 2019 using Expedia. Upon arrival, my daughter and I checked into our "first" room. The room was not cleaned. The bed's pillows were out from underneath the covers and were propped up against the head board. There were long strands of black hair and makeup all over both of the head pillows. My daughter and I removed our luggage and went back to the front desk to ask for another room. The "second" room (217) was cleaned by housekeeping, but my attention was immediately drawn to the AC unit in the room. It was COVERED and infested with MOLD, see photos. It was growing all over the air vent and was inside of the air unit. My daughter and I immediately left. We requested a "third" room which was right across from the second room. The front desk (possibly the owner), opened the door and walked in with us. I walked right to the AC unit and it was worse than the second room's AC unit! MOLD everywhere! I pointed it out to him and he disregarded as dust and said he would get housekeeping in to clean it. I told him that that was unacceptable and that the interior of the air unit would have to be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned and that wiping off the mold from the air vent screen was not good enough. I informed the front desk clerk that we would be checking out immediately and that he was not to charge my credit card. He said that he would and that it was not his problem anymore, it would be Expedia's because that is who we booked through. My daughter and I left the hotel. I later called Expedia and informed them of the situation. Their policy was no cancellations but they did it for me anyways. When we arrived back home after our trip, I called the New Jersey Health Department and was transferred to their Inspection Office within the county. At the conclusion of my complaint, they said that they would have Health Inspectors visit the hotel. I do not know what came of that Inspection, if it...