Ink 48 Hotel — Hotel in New York

Brown water, bad customer service, noisy rooms, leaky air conditioning and poor room quality best describes this hotel.

Andrew (hotel manager) and Sergio (front office manager) were really the highlights of the hotel, the rest was a major letdown, including the other front desk help (no name tag but has long dreadlocks). When we arrived after our cruise, we were greeted by Andrew. It was about 10 am and he kindly informed us that our room (Hudson suite) wasn't ready yet, but he could put a rush on it and have it available by 11:30. We let him know it wasn't necessary as we were going to the museum and wouldn't be back until 2 pm. At that point, we would need to get ready for another event we were planning on going to. An offer was made to hold our bags, and we accepted.

After returning at 2 pm, the front desk help was no longer Andrew, but the man with dreadlocks. We informed him of our earlier check-in, and he was very brash and unhelpful. He stated with arrogance that the rooms shouldn't be expected before 3 pm, and we would need to wait. We again informed him of our previous conversation with Andrew and asked us to sit in the waiting area while he reluctantly got onto the phone with housekeeping. With no update at 2:20 I asked if there was a location we could use to get ready (hair and makeup), and he said no place like that existed other than the bathroom. At that time, Andrew appeared and, with a few keystrokes, smiled and said our room was ready. When we went to our room, 1516, it was the view that you saw on the website. The view was great, and the room was as it looked on the website. The problem we had was that it smelled moldy in the room. After getting ready, I walked next to the bed and stepped on wet carpet (3 foot circle by the air conditioning unit). As we were going to our event, I let Mr. Dreadlocks know of the issue and asked him if he would like our room keys (subtle hint to see if he wanted to offer us a different room on return). His response was, "we don't need your key. We have our own access."

When we returned at 10pm, Sergio was at the desk, and we gave him our back story. He was very apologetic for our experience and showed general concern to our experience. He showed no record of a report being made to building engineering and wasn't sure our issue was fixed. He had mentioned that they have had problems with that air conditioning system in the past, where it leaks water on the floor. This would explain the smell in the room for sure. Sergio mentioned that we should verify if the floor was wet and, if so, offer us a different room. We went to our room and, of course, the floor was still wet. Sergio took us to room 1015 which is still considered a Hudson room. While similar, it was very different than the website listing.

Room 1015 was 5 floors lower than our previous room. This meant that there was now a building blocking half of our view of the Hudson. There was one air conditioning unit while the other room had two. This room was also slightly smaller. It was closer to the street which means you hear every horn, engine, and the yelling/singing/music from the club next to the hotel. While I can tell there was an attempt to make these rooms look nice, the final finishes are WAY off. Think of the saying, "looks good from far, but far from good." There was paint over spray on floors and windows, shower handle to change the water from the shower head to side sprayers didnt work and found it was broken when it came off in my hand. The door was once shut on the door chain/bar and had a hole in it, and the WORST part was when filling the bathtub, the water was BROWN. It was disgusting. If it wasn't for Andrew and Sergio, I would have changed hotels at 10pm because it was just a bad...

No idea how this hotel has 4 stars. I had two major issues with my stay: The room itself - the AC was broken in the middle of summer when averaging around 95 degrees, toilet was clogged and not flushing when we entered, the noise from outside is deafening (we opened the window in hopes it'll cool down the steaming room but even with it closed, we heard all the outside noise), AND to top it all off, one of the elevators stopped randomly as we were going up. The elevators looks very outdated. The SERVICE IS EVEN WORSE - when we checked into our room to find the broken AC and toilet, we called front desk. They already knew of these issues as others were experiencing similar problems, apologized, and told us they would move us to another room with a half off our stay. They did not give us a time as to when we could move (it ended up being 3 PM the next day so we had to sleep in the heat drenched in sweat to the sounds of the NY streets) and NEVER came to fix the bathroom. So we were in the room, sweating, unsure of when our move will me, with a broken toilet. To make things worse, we had a restaurant reservation around 4 PM and when the room move was getting delayed, we asked the front desk to hold on to our belongings because they couldn't move it for us for some reason? They agreed, we brought down all our belongings and loaded them to the cart in hopes that they'll bring it to our new room. Fast forward to after dinner, we come back and our stuff is in the lobby unattended! ALL OUR STUFF!

Things get worse though. We knew that they were willing to comp half of our stay (2.5 days out of 5), so we just dealt with all the difficulties. Even when we checked out, they reassured us that the refund should be back in our account in 3-5 days. We wait a week and I check in with the hotel, and they said they don't have the power to give us the refund and told us to talk to the 3rd party we booked with. Then I call my third party and when they called the hotel, INK 48 said they never agreed to the half off comp and told them that they gave us half off our resort fees. Mind you, we were supposed to be reimbursed around $800 but they took of $90 and called it.

We called them multiple times (because it's basically impossible to reach front desk) and when my friend drove over 40 minutes to talk to them, they just flat out said they never would agree to that and told her begrudgingly that they'll refund ONE NIGHT after my friend advocated for us for TWO HOURS. WHEN I CALLED THIRD PARTY, THEY SAID INK48 DIDN'T EVEN CONFIRM THAT ONE NIGHT STAY COMP. Absolutely infuriating and a waste of my time, my friend's time, and the poor third party site that was trying to reach INK-48 hotel.

To add a little more, the front desk rarely picks up the call during and outside of the stay. ALSO when my friend went in person to talk about this, there was another group that came to complain about the same thing. They were promised some compensation for broken AC & toilet, but they were also sent back with nothing.

This hotel isn't the worst hotel to stay at but the way they run their hotel and customer service is slimy and horrid.

If you want to book, just cross your fingers that the AC and toilet are functioning so you don't have to deal with the workers other than...

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the quality of accommodation provided as part of our holiday package booked through Virgin Atlantic. Our recent stay at Ink 48 Hotel in New York from 5th to 10th December was far below the standard expected for a 4-star property and left us feeling extremely disappointed. Given the poor experience, I am requesting a form of compensation or partial refund.

Before outlining the issues with our stay, I want to acknowledge the excellent service we received from your UK Customer Service team prior to our trip. We needed to make a late change to my wife’s surname on the booking following our recent marriage, and the representative who assisted us was incredibly helpful and friendly. Her professionalism and efficiency set a high expectation for the rest of our holiday, but unfortunately, the experience at Ink 48 fell far short of this standard.

We encountered numerous issues during our stay that significantly impacted our holiday: Unwelcoming Arrival • Upon arrival late at night, the receptionist was abrupt and dismissive, failing to provide the warm and professional greeting we expected after a long journey. First Room (4th Floor) • The room was unclean, with visible stains on the carpet and chair. • Basic amenities such as tea, coffee, milk, and a kettle were not provided. When we requested these, they never arrived. • There were only four coat hangers for three guests, which was wholly inadequate. • Dust behind the drawers and a non-functional TV remote further added to the poor impression. • The room was excessively noisy due to its low-floor location, making it impossible to sleep well. Upgrade Issues (12th Floor) • After complaining the next morning, we were moved to a room on the 12th floor, which initially appeared better. However, it was freezing cold. • We reported this to reception at 7:30 AM, yet nothing was done by the time we returned at 7:30 PM. • After waiting 45 minutes for assistance, I had to escalate the issue in person. The engineer eventually found that the air conditioning unit hadn’t been switched on—a basic oversight. • Even after the AC was switched on, it only blew cold air, failing to provide any heat. We were left uncomfortable throughout the night in an unacceptably cold room. Facilities • The coffee shop in the hotel was also freezing cold, with even the staff wearing coats. It was uncomfortable and unusable as a space to relax. Inconvenient Location • The hotel is situated far from the main attractions, adding unnecessary inconvenience to an already disappointing experience.

This holiday was meant to be a special trip for my mother, my wife, and myself, but the poor service and lack of attention to detail at Ink 48 Hotel left us feeling frustrated and let down. While your UK Customer Service team gave us a fantastic start to the experience, this level of care was not reflected in the accommodation...