Hotel 42 — Hotel in New York

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL. This review is long, but to summarize it: my partner and I were locked out of our room for over seven hours, overnight.

Hotel 42, at the writing of this review, has 3.8 stars with 89 reviews. I want to clarify that we read the reviews before going to this hotel. While there were certainly some good experiences from some guests, there were more negative reviews from other guests, with some common ones including “The walls are thin”, “We could hear the train nearby”, “The room was unclean”, “Poor customer service”. We accepted these negative experiences when we booked: my partner and I live in a nearby large city and can deal with city noises, we have stayed in some questionably clean hotels, and can understand that customer service sometimes varies day to day among employees.

What we did not expect was to be locked out of our room overnight. We came back to our room around 12:00am and found our card was not working. After trying a replacement card, we discovered that the electronic door lock was broken. The employees there tried to fix it themselves, including trying to charge the lock, but could not fix the issue. We sat outside of the room until 1:30pm while watching their attempts to fix the lock.

I found several overnight locksmiths who could be there in ~15 minutes. The staff pushed back several times, saying that they “had a locksmith who works for the hotel”. I asked them to call that person over, a request to which they refused. After an hour and a half of sitting outside our room, the staff gave us toothbrushes and toothpaste, and asked us to stay in a room down the hall. I asked for the hotel manager’s phone number and called him several times, but received no response from him.

We were told that management typically arrives at the hotel around 9:00 am, and we were expected to wait until they arrived. The staff even mentioned that we might be able to get a late checkout. Incredulous, we told them that we have things planned for the next day and that this timing was unacceptable. The staff asked what we had planned and what time we needed to leave, to which we responded that it doesn’t matter what we have planned or what time we need to leave in the morning, but that we need access to our room as soon as possible. Our clothes, toiletries, medication, and other personal effects are in there, and we should not be without them, even for this long. I told him we would be down first thing in the morning for a check-in, and urged him to contact us at any time in the night with an update on when we could get into our room.

A call within 20 minutes after laying down in another room’s bed informed us that there was nothing else they could do, and that they would have to wait for management to get back to them in the morning. The staff told us that we should come down at 6:00am for an update. I did so, and the front desk staff again attempted to call the hotel supervisor, who again did not answer or call him back. Frustrated, I went back up to our room and began calling the supervisor incessantly, now being out of our room for over six hours. I finally got a hold of him and told the manager that we had important things in the room that we were without, including evening and morning medication that we needed to take. The manager said that the locksmith was on his way and would be there in 15 minutes. He asked me what medication we needed, offering to help us get what we needed. I told him it was none of his business, but also that if the locksmith would be here in 15 minutes then he could not get us replacement medication within that time period. The locksmith arrived late, and we got into our room after 7:00 am. We were offered 25% the price of one night.

This hotel is in a great location, the bed was comfortable and is relatively inexpensive, but if you can help it please do not stay here. I want to prevent others from going through this experience, but also want to let management know that it is not okay to treat people this way, let alone guests at...

We arrived at hotel 42 a couple minutes past check in time (3:00pm) and were given room keys to a room that obviously already had an occupant. There were no people in the room but, from opening the door it was clear that someone was staying there as there were medications and a hairbrush in the bathroom and clothes strewn across a chair by the bed. This was very alarming because we could’ve walked in on a stranger. Additionally, we could’ve been the people walked in on. There should never be a question of security in a hotel because guests should feel confident that the front desk won’t be giving out keys to the same room to multiple parties. Therefore this initial situation created an overall feeling of improper security and negligence by the front desk. When we told the front desk associate, we weren’t met with an apologetic response or any urgency. One of us was waiting by the occupied room on the third floor while the other was in the lobby waiting for a new room. Someone came by the first room and confirmed that indeed someone was currently staying there. After 15-20 minutes the manager gave us a new room on the first floor (which is supposedly only for single night occupants) and promised us that we would be moved up to the top floor the next day. This never happened, we stayed our entire stay of four nights in the first floor room. After putting our bags down in the new room, we requested to speak with the manager again but were told he was in a meeting. We asked several more times that day but he continued to be “in a meeting.” We told the front desk associate our room number and asked that he come speak to us. The manager never came to our room, we never spoke to him after asking, and, in fact, we didn’t see him for the rest of our stay.

On the 42 hotel website it is mentioned that there is a $100 damage deposit which we were anticipating. However, it doesn’t state that this is on a per night basis and that there would actually be a $400 hold on our account. It should be clear on the website that it is per night.

The room itself is much smaller in person than what is presented and stated on the website. There were small nicks on the furniture, dirty baseboards, stained rug, and an unfinished/patchwork ceiling in the bathroom. Every so often, the toilet would cease flushing and continue circulating water for long stretches of time. The sink hardware was wonky, and it would take a while for hot water to start coming out. The hot sink water would be cloudy and not clear. These sorts of things are not what you would expect out of a room that is nearly $300 per night, regardless of its location.

I believe if management truly cares about its customers' experience, they would offer a refund. This is not a place I would recommend staying.

EDIT 8.28.2024

See attached photo of the response from the "owner" which is uhhhh let's see FOUR MONTHS after the original review. Hilarious to the least, as they claimed at the time of checking out that there would be a refund issued, not some worthless discount at their dreadful hotel four months after the fact. Wouldn't stay again if you payed me. Thanks, chief.

EDIT AGAIN 8.28.2024

The "owner" is leaving the same response and discount offer to every negative review that has been posted regardless of the persons own experience. This might be the biggest joke of a hotel business or any business for that matter that I have ever come across in my life.

Please, everyone, DO...

My husband & I stayed here for a week at the beginning of June. I spent a long time researching hotels and boroughs in NYC as it was my first time visiting the city and I wanted to find a balance between seeing touristy New York and getting to know the real New York. The hotel is very clean, the bed was incredibly comfortable and all the staff members that we encountered were friendly and helpful. It was very good value when we booked it based on the area and the comfortability of the hotel - we did book about 9 months in advance and the price more than doubled by the time we arrived. If I’m honest, given that the higher price was similar to established and well rated hotels in North Williamsburg, I am not sure it’s worth that but if you get a good deal, then it’s excellent value for money. I was concerned considering some of the google reviews based on cancellations on the day and general difficulties that others had experienced and as a result, I did email to confirm our booking and time of arrival a few days in advance; they were quick to respond and confirm. It is on the edge of Williamsburg and definitely in the area that is yet to be”up and come” rather than the part of Williamsburg that is very trendy. That being said, we didn’t feel unsafe and we walked around late at night. It’s literally round the corner from the subway which was very convenient and it took you straight in to Manhattan.. We loved Williamsburg and Brooklyn and really enjoyed getting to know a real part of New York. It was also a lot quieter than in Manhattan which we appreciated. Overall we would stay here again and think the area will definitely be part of the general Williamsburg gentrification.

One negative was that on our arrival, the room we were initially allocated had a very loose door handle as if someone had tried to loosen it in order to gain access to the room. It looked like someone had taken a chisel to it. Needless to say, this was very concerning for us and we complained to the concierge immediately as we were not happy to stay in a room that appeared so insecure. The concierge was very helpful and sent a member of staff up to examine it there and then. As it was clearly very loose, the staff agreed that we couldn’t stay in that room and took it out of service to be fixed. We were happy with how the incident was dealt with and the staff ensured that they rebuilt our confidence in the security of the hotel. I do think this could be rectified by having key card access at the front entrance to the hotel as literally anyone can walk in and if the receptionist isn’t around, it’s possible they wouldn’t...