AKA Central Park — Hotel in New York

Attn Larry Korman, Please advise for potential class action lawsuit and further publications of discrimination.

Never in my life was my family treated with such disgrace and animosity, particularly racial discrimination and class prejudice. There are many instances of unfair treatment but I will give just a few examples to save the rest for a potential lawsuit. With severe toilet paper shortages at the height of the pandemic, we decided to take TWO toilet papers with us upon checkout (as opposed to their housekeeping simply throwing it away). We had nowhere to go as all hotels just closed due to covid-19 except for AKA since they are considered an "extended stay". But instead of letting us leave in peace, we were vehemently accused of theft. We were told by the sales manager Marco (who usually stayed at home but decided to work in person upon our checkout), "You are not welcome here and give us back our toilet paper.” And the most despicable part of this was that it was only TWO rolls of toilet paper. Keep in mind: we paid over $392 per night plus hotel taxes and fees. Initially it was $320 per night, and then when we requested to extend for one week, we were ambushed by management saying that the price went up to $392 per night last minute and without any prior notice. Instead of $3600 (still extremely high for such a dirty, filthy, dark and bleak hotel full of covid-19 disease), it was $4500 for a seven night stay. Management should have thanked us everyday for filling their dirty and filthy hotel when they had to close all their other NY locations and transfer them into their building to even continue running their terrible operations. Instead, management tried everything they could to KICK US OUT at all costs for no justifiable reason. It is a blatant action of prejudice and discrimination. We were told at 10 AM this new price increase. Upon our unnoticed and increased price extension, we were then told that we have ONE HOUR until 11 AM to pay this entire amount, or they will call the authorities for our immediately removal. Keep in mind this is during Phase 0, during an unprecedented pandemic in the world epicenter of covid-19. Again this means that NO other hotels were open, except this one because it is considered an extended stay. They then said that if we have nowhere to stay, perhaps we can go to the local precinct and I quote from the pretentious and obnoxious security guard: "At least you will get a free meals there.” Excuse me, we just paid $4500 for a week stay. I’m sure that's more than his paycheck. We were treated like CRIMINALS.

I am absolutely disgusted and appalled just writing this report. Despite the utter worse experience of my life in this covid-infested, dirty carpet midtown hotel, I am only asking one simple request for the major inconvenience. I would like a warranted refund of $166.06 for a false and unwarranted “pet fee” charge for my service animal. Without notice when billing, the female manager Cesarina, who I just learned no longer works here, KNOWINGLY charged for having my service animal. When I clarified that this is a service animal, and if I showed her the paperwork that she could kindly drop the charge, the manager responded sarcastically and emphatically, “Even if you show me the paperwork, I will still not waive the pet/miscellaneous fee.” Not only is this illegal according to federal law of the ADA, but she had the audacity to then threaten and say that if the full balance with the unwarranted pet fee is not paid, then we have no rights to stay within 15 minutes. She then threatened us again with the legal authorities. For some reason, this hotel loves threatening minorities with the authorities.

President Korman, Contact me:...

I thought the location was pretty convenient for my three week trip. I usually stay at the Public in the lower east side but felt I wanted more space as I'd have a lot of work and appreciated the extra space and the kitchenette to not have to eat out/order in all the time. The place I got was huge by new york standards. Furniture, bed overall standards of the one bedroom 'premium' suite was great. The kitchen was provided with a full fridge and a dishwasher as we as microwave, oven (that I didn't use) and enough kitchen utensils.

One downside of the location, though, is its right behind the Plaza hotel on central park and it was UN General Assembly week in september so for a whole week 58th street was blocked by the police and a couple of times I had to wait before being allowed through because some bigwig diplomat or president was coming through. A pain if you're staying in midtown over that week generally but more so with the Aka Central Park.

Another thing to note is that my unit (no. 1202, 12th floor) was in the back of the building and so had no view since it was facing another building. I did notice I was facing some kind of violin repair workshop so I could see them at work all the time 😃 I did get enough natural light in most of the day so not so bad but nothing to look at beyond.

AV setup: There were two TVs in the bedroom and living room. The one in the living room was connected to the internet and the streaming services all worked but the one in the bedroom lacked connectivity for some reason. I couldn't be bothered to ask for a fix though maybe I should have just to test the service. Wifi internet was quite good most of the time though you access it through a captive portal (that stays logged in throughout the three weeks) so when you have devices such as an Amazon Echo or any other connected devices you'll have to find a way to connect them differently. I bought an impressive small GLI Mango router for 20 bucks off Amazon that could repeat the signal and had my smart devices all connect to it. It'll be useful for other trips I suspect.

I ordered tons of packages both before I arrived and after I got there. I would collect them myself from the reception daily though they would have delivered them to the room if asked.

There were two a total of three big closets with two in the living room. I felt that they could have replaced some of that space with a guest bathroom especially considering that the one main bathroom was somewhat on the smaller side.

I also made use of the complimentary meeting rooms (that you book online in 2 hour blocks) on the 2nd floor three times during my stay. A nice unexpected perk as they're quiet and have room for about 10 people. They also have a private cinema you can book the same way but I didn't use it. Also on the 2nd floor is washing machine room with provided detergent that has about 10 machines. This seemed to be pretty heavily used I noticed though I didn't need it during my stay with the amount of clothes I'd brought.

Checkout time is 11am but I managed to get a complimentary extension to 1pm that came in quite useful as I had a 7.30pm flight out of JFK and the extra time was useful for me to pack up and store my luggage with the reception.

I also checked one of their 'premium' studio rooms and it was significantly smaller though it still had a little wet bar/kitchenette with a small fridge but no freezer.

They apparently have a highest platinum category but I don't think that's necessary. I didn't get a chance to see the lower basic category but from the pictures they seemed to be lower...

My wife was having a serious surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital and we needed a reasonably priced, one bedroom suite experience for post-operative stay. We looked at several and booked with AKA having never stayed at one before. I can only say that I am glad we did.||Due to the "unknowns" associated with my wife's care, I specifically asked of the hotel ahead of time that we would need some flexibility with the reservation. Upon initial arrival, we stayed in a King room which was superb. ||A pleasant complication from all of this was that my wife's surgery went really well and we were discharged early. I immediately called AKA as we were not check in at the one bedroom suite and check out of the King room until two days later. No problem. Sara, the manager, was skillful and fast, was attentive and recognized the situation given the medical situation and made it all happen in two minutes. She assured me I had nothing to worry about and they were ready to help.||I came back to the hotel to move my items to the new unit and Giovanni at the front desk who handled us at check in asked - "Mr. Dubeau, how is your wife? Was the surgery successful? Is there anything I can do?" This is Four Seasons level service. I told him I was worried about getting her to the hotel in a cab - she just had neck surgery. He informed me of the hotel's car service partner and we had a beautiful, SMOOTH RIDING, and clean Suburban pick us up. Wow! I couldn't have felt better about that attention.||Further, I spoke to Giovanni about the Geriatric Chair we were having delivered to the hotel. He informed me that this is not uncommon - many patients of NYP visit here and they will ensure the chair is promptly moved to the room.||The suite is wonderfully appointed. Plenty of room. The kitchen came in handy and included everything I needed to prepare a few quick meals for her. TV in both the living room and bedroom and had both cable and Samsung Plus, Apple, Netflix and Youtube. That was a great plus. And given my wife's surgery, it was great having a modern walk in shower - no steps. Room was spotless. They do observe environmentally friendly policy regarding room cleaning - which is set on a weekly schedule. This did not concern us. We are neat people. And further, the front desk replaced towels whenever we asked and also came to pick up waste since we were eating in the room daily and filling it up, so to speak. Never any hesitance at all.||Lastly, again because my wife's surgery went so well, the post surgical appointments all changed. Suddenly we found ourselves booked here for over a week longer than was required. Sara and I discussed it and she advocated well for us given the medical situation and obtained very favorable terms for early departure so we would not break the bank. Many hotels will not do that. But Sara is compassionate and competent and was absolutely amazing.||I had never heard of AKA. I will absolutely come back. In fact, we often stay at the Mandaran Oriental and Trump International when we come to NYC. This hotel and its amazing team, combined with the great value and superb location has just bumped this to the top of our NYC visiting list.||Two more shout outs: Moses at the bar. We talked NBA for an hour as I needed a break as my wife slept. He serves up a great martini. And Sharika at the front desk, also a fantastic disposition and so pleasant.||I am sure I am missing out on some others, both at the desk and the door. I felt they...