Best Western Fort Lee — Hotel in Fort Lee

On Easter weekend, we were in town for my lil sister's 40th birthday party in Harlem, and what I liked most is that the location of this property was only about 3 miles from the party. With the George Washington Bridge and the Harlem River Drive in it's back yard, it was an easy 15 min commute to the party in NYC. Parking was fair, ample and in a well-lit area, even returning at 2am, we were able to park right outside our room. Access to the room was easy. We booked the king-size bed, but the room was a little small, but adequately furnished. It was decent, but not at all updated. The drapes, bed spread, "leather" chair, wall hangings/pictures and furniture was old looking - nice and clean, but just not updated or modern. I enjoy a firm bed, but the bed was a little more firm than my preference, and the pillows were super, super soft - sickenly soft!! I hate a soft pillow because it's not enough support since I'm a back sleeper, and I did wake up the next morning really achy in my neck and upper back. The bathroom was clean, but there were not enough towels and wash clothes. However, that was an easy fix, as the staff was very accommodating. We called them a few times, first for towels and then toothpaste (that we forgot to pack lol!!) They didn't make us feel like it was a problem, and sent someone down to our room each time, right away, probably less than 5 mins, at 10pm that night. The next morning breakfast was right in the lobby. But be aware, you have to leave your hotel building, almost like a motel, and walk outside to get to the lobby for breakfast. I didn't bring sweats/lounge pants for this trip, so it was a pain to get completely "dressed" just to go grab something for breakfast. I don't go outside in my pajama pants, but I would walk to breakfast in them if my trip to breakfast was still within the building.

Although the location was great for our needs, the location of the hotel was very tricky to access. Beware, when you enter the city of Fort Lee by getting off the turnpike/highway you are soon returned back to the highway to get to the hotel. At the light you will turn onto the road leading to the hotel, but it's ANOTHER highway type road, with car driving at high speed and if you're not mindful, or have a great GPS who forewarns your destination is ahead, you could fly right pass the hotel entrance... and watch out, because of the flow of the traffic, if you make that turn the first time, it's a very quick maneuver, turn, and transition to the property on-ramp! You almost feel proud of yourself for "making" it lol!! But that's short-lived... and just when you think all is well, prepare yourself for an even more, anxiety-filled exit!! To leave the hotel property, you exit down a medium sized hill/slope to access that same highway type road, the difference is that now you can SEE all of that high speed traffic coming into your direction - kind of!! The hotel sits up on a hill and that highway curves around the hotel/hill, so while you're watching and waiting to move into traffic, you're watching these cars coming around a blind curve, down a hill towards you and it's just hard to judge your ability to jump into traffic. There is an entry lane that you can get into as you join the traffic, but the lane is very short and you don't have too long to jump into traffic. Just be aware, access and exit of this property is tricky, and would be hell for an inexperienced driver... but I guess that's NYC/NJ...

BED BUGS!!!!! Please be aware this is NOT a clean or safe place to stay. I came from out of town and discovered bugs in the sheets TWICE! Once at 11:53pm and again at 2:42am. Can you imagine driving hours to get to your room and seeing bugs on the bed?!? I alerted the front desk immediately and RICARDO lacked empathy and was only able to offer a change of sheets until the morning due to the hotel being fully booked. I left the hotel room to go get food and came back hours later to AGAIN discover new bugs on the new sheets they changed! Another employee then comes to change the sheets again at 2:42am and directly squishes one of the bugs right in front of my face! At that point it was no where else for me to go so I had to stay up all night until the morning to check out. Not to mention I had to book another hotel and wait until 3pm to check in. I provided video evidence to Lorena the manager and she was EXTREMELY rude and unprofessional. While she admitted fault that the presence of bugs was in my room and the situation was not handled properly, she also accused me my VIDEOS of not showing the linens they have??? I was only refunded for the night I did not stay however NO ONE should have to deal with bugs especially someone with an Anxiety Disorder it literally triggered me. Lorena refused to provide a refund for the horrible experience and also implied that I was “taken care of” although I am still clearly upset and traumatized with this customer service experience. THIS STAFF NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED FOR RACISM AND EFFECTIVE CUSTOMERS SERVICE. THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT ALSO NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE THESE HOTEL ROOMS IMMEDIATELY!

UPDATE: Filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau and also filed a dispute with my bank. The Manager responded extremely passive aggressive again with more lies and false information. I will be disputing this response with BBB. Instead of making things right, they chose to deny me a full refund and accuse me of lying. This is also now starting to become a race issue as the individuals are being prejudice mentioning other individuals who have no relation to MY complaint and I will now continue to seek legal counsel since this now needs to be escalated to the highest extreme. I will also now be making this matter public by telling my story to local Fort Lee news station as well as posting on TikTok, X, Facebook...

I’ve read a review of this place and I should have heeded the warnings in those reviews. I stayed at this hotel for one night on May 31 and the service was far below my expectation. I made my reservation by phone and asked for an email confirmation but it was refused, I don’t know for what reason, instead I was just given the confirmation numbers. I booked two rooms. The rooms were quite decent but the breakfast area is too small, so we had to stand while taking breakfast. When we left, we forgot a hair straightener in room 222, called the hotel at 8:30pm on June 1, were told it was not found; it was never found. Also during our stay, the room was too cold but the AC remote control did not work, I called the front desk and was told maybe the battery is the problem. I was offered a replacement battery but instead of a hotel staff coming to my room to bring the battery, I was asked to go down to the reception at 11:55pm to get it. I understand, the lady working that night was pregnant but I think it is not right to ask a customer to come down at the reception to get a battery for a remote control which malfunctioned. It is the responsibility of the hotel to provide a remote control in good condition. There should be someone able to walk and do the necessary repair 24/7 in a hotel. Then, during check out the front staff were absent, I saw them when I had breakfast but when I checked out, they were not there. I had to ask the person in charge of breakfast to give me the receipts, she almost didn't find them and until now I haven't seen yet on my bank account the exact amount I have been charged for my one night stay. Another thing which made me really furious is during check in, I was asked to provide my email address. To my surprise, the following day I received an email with a best western rewards membership card. I did not ask for that. I never asked to enroll in this program. It is totally unprofessional. I recommend to stay away from this hotel unless you are a writer and you like writing...