Hotel Giraffe by Library Hotel Collection — Hotel in New York

One of my worst experiences in a hotel so far.

SUMMARY -They don't accept international cards. -They are rude and not polite. They won't try to help customers. -They charged me twice arguing that my card was "declined". They don't want to refund the money, they asked me to talk to my bank. It was a US$538 night reservation. The second transaction wasn't declined and they couldn't show me any receipt showing that the second transaction was declines, so I ended up paying almost $US1000 for a very standard hotel in NY. -Rob Devito, the Front Office Manager, instead of trying to help the clients, he confronts the clients blaming him for the problems that the hotel staff has generated. -It seems that the good rating score that they have was achieved some years in the past. They are not the same ones they used to be, so don't trust the current overall rating.

FULL STORY We chose Hotel Giraffe for a special night based on the outstanding reviews on Google Maps. Unfortunately, the Front Desk staff is way far from those ratings, including the manager. We paid $538 for a Wednesday night and I honestly feel any $200-$300 hotel would have a much better (and polite) staff/service.

We have used our international cards all over the US without any issues. Today, none of them worked when we tried to pay at the hotel. Instead of trying to help us, they just insinuated that we didn't have any money on the cards and that we should call our bank while sitting in the lobby to not disturb other customers (note that there was no other customer at the front desk at that time). That was rude, so we used those cards to pay for our lunch just 20 minutes before we arrived at the hotel. I would have expected Front Office staff to help us, trying with different payment terminals at least, just to double-check that it was not the hotel's fault. Instead of that, they just mentioned, in a very rude way, that they just charged "another foreigners" without any issues.

After that, we tried with 2 other credit cards, those two from the US, the last one ended up working so we got access to our room. Surprisingly, the third and the fourth card were charged, with two different amounts. My third card was charged $538 (+$20 that my bank charged me a commission for the transaction), and my fourth card was charged $638 (including a $100 unexpected deposit).

When I saw both charges, I went back to the Front Desk. The front office staff was very defensive from the beginning, as if they already knew what had happened. They were just mentioning that it was not their fault and that I had to solve it by myself with my bank. I showed them both charges from Hotel Giraffe from both credit card apps. The Front Office Manager, Rob Devito came into the scene but he kept the same position. Everything was my fault and it was an issue with my bank, so I had to solve it and they would do nothing for me. I would say that, whether is the customer's fault or not, I would expect a Front Office Manager to listen to the customer first, keep a nice and polite tone, and try to help as much as they could. That was not the case at all. Rob kept a very rude attitude since he started talking to me, and he confronted me several times with a very defiant attitude He basically did nothing to try to help me until I asked for proof about those "declined" payments. I then realized that they were doing random charges to our cards, ones including the "deposit" and others without including it. For my third card, they charged $538 but the "decline confirmation" they showed to me was for $638 (not for the $638 that they actually charged me). So they couldn't prove that the charge of $538 wasn't declined and I ended up paying almost $1000 for 1 night at a very standard NY hotel. After having to waste 90 minutes trying to talk with my bank, but I had to hang up the phone so I could at lest walk around NYC...

This has been a very frustrating situation. I am very disappointed with my experience at Giraffe. They ruined my night in NY.

Hope this helps other...

I'm tough on hotels, especially expensive ones... I think if you're going to charge an arm and a leg to be a temporary homebase while demanding a premium price you had better be amazing at what you do.|Hotel Giraffe most definitely is good at what they do, they charge somewhat of a premium and yet there's no major dings to this place that would keep me from recommending it to everyone I know who visits NYC. I wanted a perfect hotel with the following items:|-not at or around Time Square|-safe neighborhood with good subway access|-had rooms truly fit for 3 people (none of this 2 'double beds' nonsense that 90% of NYC hotels do now)|-no barn door bathroom|-breakfast provided free|-not outlandishly expensive (I think I paid $450/night or so?)||Hotel Giraffe checked all the boxes and simply put this place is great.||The location, a block from Madison Park (which is also awesome), which is next to the Flatiron Building, is perfect. Many subway stations within 1-2 block walk here. Many Citi bike docking stations around. Easy access (20-30 minutes) to LaGuardia Airport.||The surrounding neighborhood along Park Avenue here is great, busy with young white collar workers commuting in the morning and joggers in the afternoon and overall surprisingly quiet at night (except for the occasional ambulance with horns blaring at 2 am). Very safe.||The hotel is very boutique'y with character yet modern. The 2 elevators are perfectly-suited to the building's guests, no long waits. The WiFi is decent. The in-room coffee machines work well and the housekeeping replenishes k-cups every day. The king bed is exquisite, the sofa bed could use some upgrading (seriously, why do sofa bed manufacturers insist upon using old engineering rules of putting a horizonal bar directly where the back/shoulders goes?!) and the balcony doors do well to keep the insane NYC noise outside (except for the occasional aforementioned ambulances).|All outlets worked, the TV worked well, the bathroom has an actual door (thankfully NOT a barn door for the dear Marriott-haters such as myself) however the door has a bizarre and massive refracting glass window on it. You can't necessarily see exactly what someone is doing in the bathroom from the hallway but you can obviously tell if their clothed or not and if they're sitting on the throne or not. |It's odd. We'd rather they just put in an actual full door there, or if they must have the window at least put on like frosted glass inserts, so instead of seeing Pablo Picasso-like abstract person in the bathroom you see a late-age Claude Monet impressionist blur of a person.||As far as the breakfast goes, it was nice, not great, not horrible. Greek or non-Greek yogurt option. Bagels, croissants, bread, packets of instant oatmeal, mini-boxes of cereal, skim and non-skim milk, coffee machine, bananas, apples, oranges. |Basic stuff which is fine. There's plenty of true "brekkie/breaky" places within an easy walk from the hotel.||Overall just a great place. Good service. Nice front door/bell hops and front desk and breakfast attendants and housekeepers and just a...

I'm tough on hotels, especially expensive ones... I think if you're going to charge an arm and a leg to be a temporary homebase while demanding a premium price you had better be amazing at what you do. Hotel Giraffe most definitely is good at what they do, they charge somewhat of a premium and yet there's no major dings to this place that would keep me from recommending it to everyone I know who visits NYC. I wanted a perfect hotel with the following items: -not at or around Time Square -safe neighborhood with good subway access -had rooms truly fit for 3 people (none of this 2 'double beds' nonsense that 90% of NYC hotels do now) -no barn door bathroom -breakfast provided free -not outlandishly expensive (I think I paid $450/night or so?)

Hotel Giraffe checked all the boxes and simply put this place is great.

The location, a block from Madison Park (which is also awesome), which is next to the Flatiron Building, is perfect. Many subway stations within 1-2 block walk here. Many Citi bike docking stations around. Easy access (20-30 minutes) to LaGuardia Airport.

The surrounding neighborhood along Park Avenue here is great, busy with young white collar workers commuting in the morning and joggers in the afternoon and overall surprisingly quiet at night (except for the occasional ambulance with horns blaring at 2 am). Very safe.

The hotel is very boutique'y with character yet modern. The 2 elevators are perfectly-suited to the building's guests, no long waits. The WiFi is decent. The in-room coffee machines work well and the housekeeping replenishes k-cups every day. The king bed is exquisite, the sofa bed could use some upgrading (seriously, why do sofa bed manufacturers insist upon using old engineering rules of putting a horizonal bar directly where the back/shoulders goes?!) and the balcony doors do well to keep the insane NYC noise outside (except for the occasional aforementioned ambulances). All outlets worked, the TV worked well, the bathroom has an actual door (thankfully NOT a barn door for the dear Marriott-haters such as myself) however the door has a bizarre and massive refracting glass window on it. You can't necessarily see exactly what someone is doing in the bathroom from the hallway but you can obviously tell if their clothed or not and if they're sitting on the throne or not. It's odd. We'd rather they just put in an actual full door there, or if they must have the window at least put on like frosted glass inserts, so instead of seeing Pablo Picasso-like abstract person in the bathroom you see a late-age Claude Monet impressionist blur of a person.

As far as the breakfast goes, it was nice, not great, not horrible. Greek or non-Greek yogurt option. Bagels, croissants, bread, packets of instant oatmeal, mini-boxes of cereal, skim and non-skim milk, coffee machine, bananas, apples, oranges. Basic stuff which is fine. There's plenty of true "brekkie/breaky" places within an easy walk from the hotel.

Overall just a great place. Good service. Nice front door/bell hops and front desk and breakfast attendants and housekeepers and just a...