Incentra Village House — Hotel in New York

Our stay at the Incentra Village Guest House was disappointing in their responsiveness to say the least, and absolutely disgusting in terms of cleanliness and sanitary conditions. A synopsis is below with photos and video attached.

Sanitary conditions: 0/10 Responsiveness: 1/10 Location: 8/10

To begin, it was very difficult to contact anyone for information or assistance. Leading up to our trip over the long Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to make sure we could receive a late check-in. I tried calling, leaving multiple messages, and emailing without hearing anything in return for days. Finally the day before our trip I received a short text to the effect of “that’s fine”. Ok, at this point I’m at least happy to know.

We get to the guest house between 9 and 10pm. At first everything seems fine and quaint; a bit dusty, but we weren’t looking for a 5 star hotel and we enjoy quirk over luxury, so we were initially happy to have found this place. We quickly drop off our things, head out for dinner, and fall asleep immediately after getting back - but not for very long. We were in a garden-facing room - they called it “garden-view” but we could only see the top of the mechanicals on the nextdoor building - and one of those mechanicals was making a super loud, ungodly screeching sound that would kick on for roughly 5 to 10 minutes at a time (video). We shut the window - which had been held open by a kitchen knife ??? (pictured) - but the sound was impossible to ignore even with earplugs. We managed to get through the night and planned to talk to someone about it in the morning.

The next morning, my wife went to shower and was disgusted by the large patches of dark mold all over the bottom of the shower curtain (pictured). To make it worse, the curtain was too long for the shower and she was unable to avoid stepping on it. The water running over the moldy shower curtain caused a brown foamy patch to form in the tub (pictured). I called the number given to me to reach the front desk “24/7”; no answer. I called multiple times, left messages and texts. We hoped to get a room change for the remainder of the weekend to avoid the sound outside, and to bring the shower curtain to their attention.

However, as we were finishing getting ready for the day, we noticed a few small thick curly hairs all over the bed spread (pictured). Upon further inspection my wife noticed a heavy patch of foundation makeup, which was not hers, on the pillowcase (pictured). In the next instant we spotted a dried contact lens (pictured) stuck to the bedspread beside yet another hair. This was the end for us; we packed our bags and left, gagging. This was beyond uncleanliness and far into unsanitary conditions, which is bad enough, but all the more worrying in the days of post-COVID.

We had to scramble to find another place to stay last minute for the holiday weekend. A full 3 hours later we finally received a text saying “you can move to the main room on your floor”. We let them know we were not returning and will be contacting them for a refund when we returned home from our vacation. No word on that yet; I’ll update this review with...

We arrived in the evening from London, tired & frazzled but excited to be in NYC. We were met by a friendly gentleman who helped us to our room. |It was then literally a matter of steps to a bar for reviving burgers and a Margarita! |We were in “Tabor” and, despite the busy road, it was quiet and we slept well throughout. (AND child free….YAY! Definitely not suitable for kids.)|It was the perfect retreat for naps, with which to punctuate busy days, walking the Highline, shopping at Chelsea Market, strolling Little Island, riding the subway, visiting the Whitney and dipping in and out of the plentiful local bars and restaurants. All of the above were only a short distance away. |One night, waylaid by one too many drinks at the sociable tavern opposite, we grabbed a pizza, sat at our little table and watched Seinfeld by the fire. |Yes, I said fire! We were allowed to buy a particular log from the local store and light a fire in the grate. |This made for an extremely special experience. |The room was made up most days - unless we were napping. Plenty of towels, products provided, hot water and good, comfortable bedding. |A little kitchenette had tea, coffee and creamers, a fridge & microwave. There were even nightlights on the mantelpiece lanterns. |Plenty of drawer space, mirrors and wardrobe. Good WiFi. |OK, the bed was creaky, the wiring let us down once, the curtains were a bit ineffectual and one could be mean & nitpick about tired décor in spots. |But if you’d rather have:|friendly, chatty, helpful staff; characterful surroundings;|a peaceful nights sleep and a genuine taste of village life - complete with a romantic, glowing hearth, THIS is the place for you. |And us……hopefully next year……we’re saving up…..so just don’t book “Tabor” next...

It's quite hard to reconcile the 5 star reviews here with my experience. The first thing that intrigues you is a Vacate notice at the front door saying "The (NYC) Dept of Building has determined these building perilously unsafe.." (see picture). I thought maybe this was part of the experience- like a game?! And enter. Whilst reception manager/staffer was friendly - and said 'you dont know how many people ask me this..', he didnt care for my suggestion that Incentra should probably put a note next to it saying 'Don't worry- this is New York, its all good'. Nevertheless. I was warmly welcomed and was shown to my room. My Room- Washington, was an upgrade from another room I booked (was the original room in the perilous section? I dont know). So here is the summary: positives- the sheets were clean, the room was cleaned well and the cleaner actually came in and dusted and made the bed (worth the tip I left- must be v difficult for her/him/they). The negs: it's in a serious state of disrepair. The term shmeg comes to mind. You know when hotels these days cant be bothered to put a duvet cover on and use a throw that everyone has used and simply sandwiches it in sheets. Think that but the throw has seen everyone and some for three generations. The toilet didn't work- the chain flusher required mechanics- lifting lid, hand in toilet stuff. eeeew. I did call about it- was told just push (handle) harder. Er nope. Everything is so worn down, broken, frayed- dirty. At $350 pn (incl taxes) - given its New York west side, well thats what you will pay +: and I was flying solo and a seasoned traveller. I have seen some sights and stayed in some rooms- but not here...