Comfort Inn & Suites — Hotel in New York

I am staying at the hotel now, with my wife. We paid for 3 nights on Priceline. We checked in yesterday only to be informed of a 200 deposit required by the hotel, sprung on us without warning and unmentioned in the price offered by Priceline. We did not have the additional 200, but the hotel let my wife into the room anyway when she checked us in Thursday afternoon, probably because she was very upset over this usurious deposit, and they didn't want a scene. When I arrived the hotel expected me to pay the 200, which I have not done. I am sure it will be an issue tomorrow, of course. There was very little they could do to make us pay it tonight, but tomorrow, they will change the electronic lock on the door and i will have to get a new key from them. I'll be interested to see if they are intending to lock me out, and my possessions inside, tomorrow. I can tell you that this hotel is on 21st Street in Long Island City, across the street from the notorious Queensbridge Projects. While this and other greedy hotels would like to paint the picture that deposits like this are the norm, they most definitely are not, except when the hotel is in close proximity to the Projects like this one. For the record, I'm 61 years old and I've traveled and stayed in hotels for at least 40 years in the US. That's hundreds of hotel rooms, perhaps thousands. I am white, and my wife is white also, and I am aware of the difference this makes. It's particularly troubling around issues like deposits, especially in the poor part of town, and especially now. In the current room rental market in NYC, room prices fluctuate greatly based on availability, so at times like now, the Comfort Inn has rooms for 76 dollars a night, for 3 nights over a weekend, because there are a lot of vacant rooms in NYC and they have to compete. $76 a night is rate that folks from the Projects can afford, which is what motivates the hotel to slap a $200 deposit on the rental. Put plainly, the deposit is a bar to entry for the poor, who are mostly ( I can tell you the hotel is very new, so the rooms are in good shape, but honestly, there is no minibar, no room service, no service whatsoever, so there is no way to run a bill here and 200 is just plain outrageous. If a hotel is going to charge a deposit, it has an obligation to say so before they take the money rent the room. Comfort Inn makes little or no mention of it, however, on their web site or on the travel sites like Priceline, through which they rent. The reason they hide it is because if they don't; their occupancy rate goes way down. Their rooms don't rent. If they had been honest and forthcoming with us, I would not have rented this room. The amount of the deposit needs to be clearly stated and the deposit has to be charged 100% of the time, not "as needed" because frankly, that is code for racist business practices. I will post more on this...

Perfect family vacation to the city. We are from New Jersey. Stayed it the Comfoe Inn during spring break to show my 8 and 10 year old a full week in the city. The Comfort Inn was the perfect hotel for our family. The room was clean and big and... AFFORDABLE! while Manhattan hotels were charging crazy rates we got a room for 1/3 their nightlife rates here which meant more money to spend on setting the city. ||The hotel includes breakfast! Not fancy, but hot, and free. What a great way to start the day. The staff is amazing. Maria in particular helped us make walks and got us towels on seperate days. She even gave some advice about the city. She's fabulous! ||The hotel is lock down to only guests. Very safe. However, it's still the Bronx. So you need to be smart about walking from the subway (2 blocks away) to the hotel at night. During the day is no problem. At night just move with purpose and go straight to the hotel. We carried property spray for peace of mind during the nighttime, but no one ever bothered us. If the nighttime walk from the subway bothers you, take an uber. Otherwise, the daytime is perfectly fine. You will feel safe. The location is actually pretty great. Close to Yankees Stadium and a very quick subway ride to midtown attractions. If you're looking for a real NewYork vibe, this is a great location because starting each day with a 2 block walk and a 20 min subway ride is a great way to start each day. I find I prefer it to staying in some overpriced midtown hotel. ||You have to pay for parking, but it's reasonable. That said, I pre-booked a lot not knowing how much the hotel would charge and I was very happy to find a great rate nearby. Never needed the car all week because the subway got it done. ||I highly recommend and...

I know what you're thinking. How good is this hotel if it's in the bronx? The hotel is in my personal opinion completely perfect (and I stayed in the Sheridan near times square and I personally would rather stay here than there). Pros: 1.Price; because of the reputation of the Bronx ,the prices here are much cheaper and honestly it's not too crazy (also pretty safe). 2.The hotel staff; and security are extremely nice. The location; is on average $30 from here to anywhere in Manhattan and it's right there next to the highway so you're not going to be going through a lot of the 'hood'. Also it's extremely safe in the daytime because the police station is nearby just don't wonder out at night but that's not really anything to do with the hotel. Why do I like it so much? It doesn't go above and beyond it does what it's meant to do a well-run hotel. The breakfast is 6 to 9 and honestly it's simplicity is the best. Grab and go food that you could heat up in your microwave in the room. And it's not something cheap that most four five-star hotels whip up in the morning it's usually as well as muffins and yogurts with cereal variety and orange juice and all of this in top of what really shocked me FREE WIFI (the Sheridan in Manhattan doesn't even offer that). Privacy; the hotel staff is generally really nice and is not judgmental.

Cons I don't know if it's always but when I stayed the hallways had a musty kind of humid smell.

A great place to stay if you're coming to visit someone or to do...