Morris Guest House — Hotel in New York

Options in the Bronx are scarce, but stay away from Morris Guest House if you can. First, I'll give you the lay of the land, and then I'll get into my personal nightmare experience with photos provided. My goal here is to help people avoid the scenario I went through. If you decide to book, at least you will be prepared.

To add to your decision, take a look at other reviews. There are some 5-star reviews, but many of them are vague, short, and from people with exactly one review on their profile. Then take a look at the consistency and specificity of the negative reviews. You'll see common themes.

If you're expecting a standard hotel experience, this isn't what Morris Guest House is meant to be, so look elsewhere. If you are looking for more of a hostel situation, it's more comparable, but still bad. The only semi-positive I can think of for Morris Guest House is that it happens to be close to a 6 train station.

The main door is unlocked by a code, and it's unclear if this coffee ever changes. That's basically the only amount of security that exists, so visitors are coming in and out behind guests quite often. How do I know this? The walls are paper thin, so even on upper floors, you can hear people walking, talking, closing doors, opening doors, snoring, having sex, and laughing about people having sex. It's not ideal if you need some real rest on your own time. Obviously, this might not be every day, but proceed at your own risk.

Even with a non-smoking policy, it's obvious that people still do. I don't blame Morris Guest House for this, since guests are going to do whatever they want. There is no one around to enforce any rules or policies of any sort. In one of my photos, you can see all the cigarette stains on the shelving.

And yet, these were things I was willing to forgive, until my own personal safety and privacy felt violated and Morris Guest House pretty much shrugged. After my first night, I decided to bring ALL of my belongings with me and not leave it in the room. I didn't feel that great about all the visitors coming in and out of the property. It was possibly the best decision I made all weekend.

When I got back to my room that night, it was clear that someone had been inside when I specifically did not request housekeeping. They have signs posted that housekeeping is only upon request. Even if I did request cleaners, or it was an honest mistake, the room was NOT cleaned (which is what makes this even more confusing). Someone had come in my room, taken the sheets off the covers and mattress, left stains visible, and left the trash (photos attached). I was standing in a room without a proper place to sleep, but trapped without other options that late in the night. I ended up laying down with my day clothes on.

I wanted a full refund for that second night, but my complaint process through Hotels.com was a nightmare. They claimed they couldn't do anything about it, and Morris Guest House just ignored me. I'm blocked from leaving a public review on Hotels.com, which is shady, but possibly because I've already logged a complaint for...

I booked a room in the Morris Guest House based on the photos of the rooms and the number of positive reviews I read. The reality of the place made me wonder how many of the reviews I saw on various hotel booking sites are fake. ||||I arrived very tired after a long day of travel and the first thing I saw was a large rat running down the front stairs. When I called the phone number provided in order to get the code to open the front door, the anonymous voice on the phone became irritated when I didn't enter the code correctly the first time. ||||When I got into my room it looked nothing like the photos you see in the listings. It was very grim and shabby, and there were no covers on the bed, just a sheet.||There was no staff on the premises - not a single person who might have been able to give me a blanket or answer any questions.||||In the listings it mentions "shared bathrooms" - and I was fine with that, until I discovered that the bathroom was just a toilet, making it impossible to take a shower during my stay there. ||||I wasn't expecting anything fancy, but based on the photos, I was expecting a bright, cheerful place. What I experienced felt like a really creepy, shabby welfare hotel. The last straw was noticing that the peephole in the door of my room was stuffed with a wad of toilet paper that had a brown smear on it.|||| I regret that I didn't take a photo of my room, but I did take a photo of the view out my window, which I'm providing.|||| I made a HUGE mistake in booking the room for 6 nights. I was so disturbed by the place I immediately called and said I couldn't stay there and needed a refund. I was willing to pay for one night but needed a refund for the other 5 nights. The voice on the phone told me that was impossible - that it was nonrefundable.||||The whole experience was a very depressing...

Okay. I stopped here, a visit by myself because I was recovering from surgery and needed a place away from home. Reasons I picked Morris Guest House? It’s in the neighborhood, close to home, and most especially the pictures of the rooms and the price tagged along with it where the best around. The rooms are very nice. You can expect to hear sexual activity from the rooms nearby. So your room isn’t exactly soundproof, you will hear conversations from the next door, the tv, any music their playing, etc. This didn’t bother me I was here just to recover and for a short time. The noises weren’t loud to the point i wanted to leave. It could be something you might consider. Bathrooms are shared along the hall. And overall the guest house has a very modern look and you can tell it’s been recently renovated due to the old style look the home gives from the exterior. If you need to make a quick stop in the neighborhood of Morris-Burnside, I would recommend it but keep in mind the few things I had mentioned. One thing they should work on and by far the most disappointing is not having a phone number guests can call anytime just in case there’s any issues. Yes there is surveillance cameras in the entire house but if you don’t have a person on shift 24/7 at least provide a number they can contact just in case there’s any issues. I almost got locked out my room and another guest had to help me open my door. This was very scary for me as a guest because there was no employee on shift to open my door. The fact I had to get a random person to help me is unacceptable. So remember if you do decide to stay don’t forget your...