Hotel Hendricks — Hotel in New York

May 2024 - After a very nice and pleasant trip to Washington D.C., New York was the next stop and Hotel Hendricks in Midtown Manhattan proved to be the complete opposite experience to the stay we just had - the rude staff and lack of accommodations will not make me return to this hotel.

Upon entering the hotel for a late night check-in. Ironically the welcome screen in the room on the TV had a note that stated “We are happy to have you here and look forward to making your stay a comfortable and enjoyable one. Please reach out to our Front Desk Team should you need any assistance.”

The next morning while taking a shower I found out that all 3 big containers for the shampoo, conditioner and body wash were completely empty. I went down to Front Desk (2 young associates were there), to let them know our basic needs are empty, please refill. They told me, “Since COVID, we are not refilling them.” So I asked “Why not remove the containers? How do I take a shower?” In which they could not answer the question and just gave me a couple small bottles, then asked: “Any more questions? ANY MORE QUESTIONS? ANYMORE QUESTIONS?” 3 times repeatedly in an aggressive manner. I then asked what the service fees included. She answered “Free wifi, Fitness center, water etc.” In which I responded with “Can I have some water?” My wife told her we didn't have any water when we checked in last night. And their answer was “We service as needed.” Then she repeated again “Any more questions? ANY MORE QUESTIONS? ANY MORE QUESTIONS?” I asked her name. She replied Mary. Then she repeated again “Any more questions? ANY MORE QUESTIONS? ANY MORE QUESTIONS?” I told to her that she had no sense of hospitality, since I’ve been in the industry for over 30 years myself - it is the bare minimum to accommodate a hotel guest and find a solution to their questions, however she clearly did not want to be there and seemed like she was trying to get rid of us. In which she replied, annoyed, “I was just answering your questions.” Nonetheless, it was a terrible experience from the front desk staff and poor service to not accommodate their hotel guests.

The next morning I came down to the restaurant to see if I could reheat some leftovers since our room did not have a microwave (later to find out no rooms have a microwave). They directed me to check with the front desk staff because they have no microwave for customers. At the front desk, they went to the back and asked their manager, then came out and without hesitation said “Sorry, I can’t do it” without even offering any other solution. I understand they are trying to have customers eat at their two restaurants, but to not have a microwave in the room or just a general shared area with a microwave for guests to use in this so-called 4 star accommodation is quite disappointing. Not to mention that, when I mentioned that the fridge in the room was not cold, they quickly said “It’s not a fridge, it’s a cooler.”

While checking out I asked for the final bill to be printed, but they said they could not and they will email me. Again I understand the digital age and saving paper, but if a guest requests a printout they should be able to provide. Of course when I checked later, they charged me more in resort fees.

I am very glad I did not book directly through the hotel and did via a travel online, so I was able to get back the fraudulent charges.

In conclusion the Hotel website pictures are misleading - the hotel is old and faded. The staff is not accommodating in the least, the hotel rooms lack lighting, clock, microwave, fridge, storage, bathroom shelving and even a small detail of not pushing down the trashcans bags when replacing prove that the staff have given up. There was even a gap in the bathroom door and did not close all the way. The only nice person was Fatima in housekeeping - she was very helpful and made the experience bearable. Although Hotel Hendricks is conveniently located I would not recommend it to anyone else due to the worst guest experience I’ve ever...

Horrible HORRIBLE, hotel. Do NOT stay here.

The staff attitude will make you wish you never came.

It might be ok if you're in and out for two days. But anything longer? AWFUL service.

FOR ONE, the wifi in my room didn't work. I was here for multiple days & for work, so I needed wifi. Tell me, would you book a 4 or 3.7 star hotel expecting yourself to not even be able to send an email? Why was I paying 300 a night for my work to be so disrupted?

Phone in room didn't work, so I had to go downstairs to let the front desk know. They sent in a junior level engineer and he was so grumpy. Not a smile, not an apology, and just defensiveness: "nobody else has this problem." Well okay, but I do. And I have a macbook pro & iphone 13. Why give me attitude?

FIVE DAYS LATER my work is still completely disrupted. Basically cannot rely on the wifi to do anything, much less do a video call. I go down to the front desk and let them know again (bear in mind I'm paying for a supposedly 4 star hotel for all the days in between and literally losing income). They send the head engineer responsible for 3 hotels into my room, and you'd think he was more polite than the junior engineer, but nope. Interrupted me at almost every sentence. I even suggest that if I were to need to move a room, I'd be ok with that. But he grumbles "nobody else has this problem," again, wholly making the customer wrong.

He tinkers around a bit, & the laptop after that has been able to use wifi. But. This is on the 6th day.

And. Wifi on phone is still inconsistent. So as a Canadian I'm paying for int'l data charges every night while here, bc god forbid I reach out to them again.

SECONDLY, the cleaning staff. LOUD CHATTER with each other at 830am on a Saturday morning (May 4 to be exact). Why???? Why does the manager allow this? Why do the staff think this behavior normal? Yes, tourists might be up and out before 830am & be unaffected, but this is New York, and people wanting to stay here for work and wanting to maybe sleep in should be MORE THAN GRANTED THAT RIGHT. Especially in a so called fake 3-4 start hotel. But you'd be better off in a 2 star motel, honestly.

THIRD, the carelessness w the cleaning. I'm compassionate with cleaning staff, anyone doing menial work, but the carelessness across so many days is extremely hard to ignore. For ex, she dropped my apple keyboard (it must have fell out of my laptop bag when she was cleaning). Places it on my desk but squashes + bends the paper underneath it! So she could not place it flat.. she had to place it on top of now BENT paper??

They don't give you glass glasses in the bathroom - they give 2 one-time use paper cups (thin ones). SINCE THESE ARE TO REPLACE THE GLASS CUPS... why do they miss replacing them half the time? It's literally the hotel's culture to not provide glass.. so why do you sometimes give me the paper cups, and sometimes not? Especially when the old ones are clearly thrown out in their mini garbages. I'm not trying to sound nit picky, but it's like.. It's not a comb, or 3rd towel, i.e. some nonstandard things. Why be SO inconsistent on something your guests probably consistently do - brush their teeth?

FOURTH, like I said, my phone in my room doesn't work. I've told them 4 times. And they just listen and stare at me blankly. No plan to fix it? What. the. heck? The phone didn't work when I was at the Marriott and the engineer was sent in the same day to fix it. WHY do MULTIPLE STAFF here allow the phone to not work KEEP going unnoticed?

FIFTH, I nicely stated to front staff that if they saw the uber eats guy standing there, to leave it with them so he doesn't have to call me. ALEX on May 4 was so defensive, & said "it's his job, so why are you blaming me?" What? Why so emotionally unregulated? Why so defensive? That is literally the REPEATED pattern of the staff.

Location is 4 stars. But CONSISTENTLY poorly trained staff make this a ONE START HOTEL.

BOOK ANYWHERE...

When we first arrived at the hotel, we were told that our reservation had been moved to a sister hotel because they had not yet received their CO from the city. My husband and I had been traveling all day so that was kind of a bummer, to say the least. That being said, the staff called an uber and we were shuttled off to the sister and our first night was to be comped. After arriving at the sister hotel (staff was perfectly friendly) but the hotel itself was not what we were comfortable in or hoping for. I reached back out to Arielle at Hendricks and requested that we come back as soon as their CO was received and could be as early as the following day. She ran it up the proverbial flagpole and after a few conversations, we were welcomed back to the Hendrick's with open arms. Let me say something here, I was in the hospitality industry, food and beverage specifically for more than a decade and I realize that NYC is literally THE highest bar that a standard can be set. Simply because of the saturation in the marketplace, anyone doing business IN NYC HAS to strive for absolute excellence or they're dead in the water before they even begin. Hendricks staff has that excellence in spades and this is WHY: their staff is HAPPY TO BE THERE. Their staff is genuinely interested in doing not just a good job, but a great job in caring for their guests. Arielle, Darrell, Sean, Wanda (and the list goes on) on more than one occasion, took steps to anticipate our needs and wants at every opportunity. Whether we were walking up to the front door, getting into a cab, desiring information about an area, but here's the thing, everyone held eye contact, smiled sincerely, retained information about who WE ARE (names, current city, jobs) and where we come from that we hardly realized that these people were staff but neighbors, and friends. Staying in a hotel that is just starting their journey with guests is always a gamble. Systems aren't dialed in, amenities in rooms are a little wonky, steps of service aren't yet ingrained. With the Hendricks that simply isn't the case. The rooms are beautiful They look like you're sleeping in a brand new Mercedes if a Mercedes were a hotel. Urban Glam Unleashed is a PERFECT tag line. They're glamour and elegance in spades and functionality not often seen. The details in our experience were what brought added value. Things like a phone text concierge welcome and an individualized welcome even on the television using my name made me feel as though my patronage was valued. And when you feel valued by a business AND it's staff, you've won. Period. I don't care if there's a hiccup. One of the elevators needed attendance on our first day. You know what happened? THEY SERVICED IT IMMEDIATELY. And then one three different occasions staff asked US how our experience with the elevators were and what we were experiencing even though we weren't reporting or having issues. THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR PROPERTY and THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR GUESTS EXPERIENCE. A chef I worked with a few years ago used to say "It's not how bad you crash and burn, but how well you get back up and fire like a BOSS!" I'm seeing several "reviews" (that I simply don't believe are true) in attack of the Hendricks hotel. I call BS. They went above and beyond at every single opportunity to ensure that our experience was next level and they achieved that. I have never felt more appreciated as a guest. Not in Paris, not in London, not in Barcelona, not in Los Angeles, not in Sarasota, not in Venice, Italy (and those are just cities I've visited in the last 24 months). Their leadership is obviously on point and I am so excited to return and stay with them again at the...