Kasa Lantern Lower East Side — Hotel in New York

EDIT: For what it's worth the Kasa team immediately reached out after my review and provided a partial refund for my stay.

I did some research and knew this wasn't your average hotel but feel strongly after my stay that the guest experience description on their website is very misleading. This isn't explicitely explained anywhere so I will clarify- there are NO staff on site at this "hotel". No one to greet you at check in, no one to assist with bags, no one to recommend a coffee shop. The only person we ran into was someone who knocked on our door a few minutes after we arrived, claiming to be housekeeping. We explained we'd just checked in and he quickly left with no explanation. We never saw another staff member.

The photo description on the website states "no two Kasas are alike" but what they failed to mention is that you may get a Kasa unlike any of those photographed. The rooms shown in the Studio Queen photos are obviously small- but still much bigger than what we ended up getting. Our Studio Queen was the size of a small child's room and despite being of average size, neither of us were able to walk between the bed and the wall comfortably. The "queen/full" mattress we received (as stated on the tags), was definitely closer to a full and was roughly one foot away from the wall on three sides. An extremely narrow, ~five foot "hallway" leads to the bathroom (decent at 2/3 our room size) and the "kitchenette" is a microwave stacked on top of a mini fridge located within inches of our entry door. Online, a small desk area with a drop down table and chair are pictured- but our table was located under our nonfunctioning TV (??) and in front of our bed. The only chair, squeezed into a corner of the room elsewhere, could not fit at the table as the space between the bed and wall was, again, one foot. Kate Moss wouldn't be able to turn around in this room.

The "rooftop patio" is in fact not on the roof but on floor six and sandwiched between several taller buildings; the "nice view of the city" (their words) is a mostly obscured peak at the street below where it is trash day every day. You will feel at home because bags of trash are stored on the patio too.

You're probably wondering if I reached out to staff. Well, I tried to. But there are no real people on site and no real people at the customer service line either. An automated bot responsed to each of my inquiries with cookie cutter responses apologizing for the inconvenience and encouraging me to rate the conversation, never offering a solution. I had read a positive review about toiletries so we reached out about an extra set of towels for our three day stay. We were told by the bot that each guest receives only one bath and one face towel. The same bot provided loose instructions on how I could get my own coffee creamer (the ones in the room had been spoiled) from a double locked concierge closet in the lobby. Because it was the only thing I thought I might have any control over, I tried. I couldn't get in.

Pros: The bathroom was clean and of normal size. The nespresso machine was nice. The tiny mattress was pretty comfortable and a high quality noise machine is provided to help drown out the surprisingly minimal sounds from the street below. We found dozens of great restaurants and drinking holes within walking distance. I got my deposit back within an hour of checking out.

Cons: See above. At over $1000 for a three night stay, and with the addition of a nearly $300 deposit, this experience is extremely overpriced for what it is to...

tl;dr ROACHES. Don’t stay here!

This hotel is not as advertised. I stayed here for a month and everything in this hotel is dirty, smelly, peeling, chipped, cracked, broken, or stained. And there’s a roach infestation in the building.

I booked a king penthouse which was not what I got. A penthouse takes up an entire top floor. This room was small, a suite at best, and not on the top floor. It was extremely run down and cheaply furnished.

When I opened the door, it left a dirt trail, as can be seen in the photo(s) I attached. There was dirty grout in the shower. The provided dishes in the kitchenette were dirty and greasy. The provided olive oil was expired. Roaches crawled out from the walls. The toilet was dirty and stained a disgusting brown color. A strong urine smell emanated from the kitchen and the living room rug. The toilet paper holder was coming out of the wall, so the roll constantly fell on the ground. The wall sconces were loose and falling out of the wall and would overheat when turned on. The laundry area was dirty, and bug traps are all over, so the hotel staff is well aware of a pest infestation. Despite my report of roaches, pest control never once visited the property. A dirty mop and towel that smelled of mildew sat in one of the washers for the duration of my stay (31 days).

I booked an advance rate and prepaid for my stay so there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t leave and go elsewhere. I was moved rooms once due to roaches and the second room wasn’t any better.

On top of all this, management refused to reimburse my stay, despite the plethora of issues and it being ILLEGAL to rent out rooms with an active pest infestation as it’s a health hazard. They have no empathy or remorse for scamming people....

King-sized bed with mini kitchen

Pros: Seamless, contactless service, very clear check-in instructions, key pad to enter facility and room (you dont need a card to scan), very functional elevator, lots of space to walk around and store luggage, very modern interior design that is simple yet stylish, mini kitchen has all the kitchen supplies you can ask for, malin+goetz shampoo/conditioner/hand soap/body lotion were great, very nice hair dryer, large body mirror, closet with ironing table/iron, luggage rack, provided laundry detergent pods with free laundry room (greatest convenience), TV cast system from smartphone, nice couch bed to lounge on next to the window, A/C and heat system is decent, bed was super comfortable with 4 pillows already provided, shower has hot water (make sure to let the water run for a few minutes to get warmer), extra toilet paper and trash bags were provided, 3 minute walk to Delancey-Essex station, walkable distance to hot spots in the area, everytime i enter the lobby, im greeted by a nice scent

Cons: wifi was bad (super slow), i had to use my own data for internet, water pressure for shower was weak, outside patio is tiny, i was on the 5th floor and could still hear car honks here and there but still tolerable (but what's nyc without the car honks), walls were thin (i woke up to someone else's alarm from across the floor lol)

(If you want extra towels and such, you can request them ahead of time or you can acquire from the closet)

Overall, I will book Kasa Lantern LES again whenever I come back for a visit (i hope the wifi will be...