Residence Inn by Marriott New York Downtown Manhattan/World Trade Center Area — Hotel in New York

NO SECURITY - Attacked by man. Stayed for over a week as a family. Our flight was delayed and ended up arriving close to midnight. When unloading the luggage from the taxi, we were attacked at the hotel entrance and IN the hotel by a man. There was NO SECURITY present to help. It was the single most frightening experience of my life, particularly when he came charging towards me and was feeling around his hoodie pocket for what I thought could be a gun or a knife. My husband noticed and started yelling and running after him and, in that moment, I ran to the lift to get help. We also had our toddler with us! When I frantically got to the 2nd floor lobby, the receptionist showed no sympathy and very slowly called for security. My husband called the police. We notified the manager the following day and she mentioned she would speak to the security company and that she would check the security camera footage. There was no follow-up communication which was extremely disappointing, especially given the severity of the incident. Even a simple phone call to ask how we were doing would’ve been nice.

I was so shaken up by the incident that I ended up mostly staying in the hotel room with my toddler while my husband went to work. The room was outdated but had a sofa, desk and small kitchenette. Cooking-wise there was a portable induction cooker with 1 pot provided. Not the full kitchen we had hoped for – so kept cooking to a minimum. The full fridge was appreciated. Breakfast was included daily but they couldn’t cater to my toddler’s dairy & egg allergy. They didn’t know what ingredients were in the bagel they served, which was surprising, but I appreciated the honesty.

The room was meant to be cleaned daily and it was done most mornings without any issues (my toddler and I would hang in the hotel lobby while cleaning was done) except for when one particular housekeeper was assigned, she didn’t clean our room 3 days in a row as she kept coming during my toddler’s nap time. Supposedly, she couldn’t come back later.

Cherry on-top was the request for late check-out. Given the incident, I didn’t feel safe venturing the streets of NYC with my toddler so we requested for late check-out till we had to go to the airport at 6pm. The manager extended our check-out till 4pm but then said any later than that, there was NO availability UNLESS we paid for another night. No availability is an outright lie if there’s availability if we paid for it! Was grateful for the 4pm late check-out but felt accommodating till 5 or 6pm given there WAS availability was the least they could do…

Would NOT recommend this hotel for lack of security. Felt unsafe the entire time and was very disappointed by how the team had handled the situation. Had there been security present, feel like our NYC trip would have panned out...

Firstly, the reception staff and the staff in the self service food area and security in the lobby were all friendly, welcoming and helpful. We could not have asked for more from them. The price was reasonable, we paid $1330 including breakfast for 5 nights in March and booked months in advance. This was similar hotel in London in April.

The hotel was located in lower Manhattan’s financial district very close to ground zero. This location had a nice feel to it, close to water and the statin island ferry. If you need to be closer to all the main site seeing locations then a midtown hotel would be better.

The room itself I was not so fussed about. The photos in the advertisement were clearly taken when the rooms were first decorated and in rooms that had more windows and better lighting.

On entering our room 1701, it had a fridge and a small kitchen area. We could not find any cutlery so popped to reception and asked if we could have some. We were told it was in the dishwasher because it was used by the previous guest and that we had to empty it to get some. That’s never happened before.

It had 2 double beds, a desk area that had a round end to it. This could have been used as a table. However, there was only one seat. There was no wall mirror at the desk so you were forced to take turns in the bathroom when getting ready to go out. This slows things down if you are sight seeing.

There was a wardrobe with too few hanging spaces because there was an ironing board in it taking up the hanging space. I’ve never seen that before. Usually, you as receptionist and they provide one if required. The wardrobe also only had 6 coat hangers for 2 people, which was definitely not enough.

The room was a reasonable size but was extremely gloomy, this made me feel quite depressed after a couple of days. Very poor yellow lights made this worse. It was dusty in the draws and along surfaces and generally looked tired. Which added to the gloomy mood.

The thing that in the end mad me angry was the chamber made. She knocked the door and walked straight in on 3 separate occasions. Every time we called out to stop and wait before she entered and every time she just came in before we could reach the door. This room had a little kitchen area which created a passage way between the door to the room and the sleeping area. On one occasion the room maid walked right into the room and up to the beds whilst we we in bed to ask about cleaning the room.

I complained to receptionist every time and was told to write to the manager. This is unacceptable and not the responsibility of the guest who has advised that there is an issue.

In the photo added all the lights are turned on and the curtain and blinds opened on a...

Thank you for reaching out for my feedback. To be honest I was a little disappointed. My experience at check in was not very welcoming (not complaining) but was just kind of cold as if I’m just some guy checking in. I would have thought my Marriott membership status (Platinum Elite) would have meant something, but it apparently did not.

Also when I asked about any rooms in higher floor or any upgraded rooms/nicer views, I was immediately turned down. At other properties the front desk at least would check for available options. I’m surprised no higher rooms were available given occupancy numbers are low. In fact, I asked my friend who checked in after me about his room (17th floor) is only a Basic tier member got a better view.

To add to my frustration, upon arriving to my room there was no remote for the TV. I called the front desk about it, who sent the building engineer who arrived promptly with one and confirmed it worked before leaving. Shortly after I noticed the AC unit was not working as expected. The room was not cooling down and the thermostat seemed unresponsive. I called again and the engineer returned. He confirmed “something is weird” and I happened to see him open the electrical panel, reset breaker and then AC started up ok. He told me it should be ok now.

This was a temporary fix as the AC unit stopped again , with thermostat being unresponsive. In stead of calling down again, I’m forced to just manually reset the breaker so the unit will work. I had to do this throughout my stay.

On the bright side, the room looks nice, bed is comfortable and the price range respectable. I appreciated the bottle of water at check in as well.

In the end I’m dissatisfied and was really hoping for a better experience. I understand we are still in pandemic times, but thought the service would be better. I’m planning a return trip to NY in coming months , but will likely consider an alternative property if being honest.

Lastly, I received an email from a Residence Inn Sales/Marketing person asking about my stay. I basically sent the note above to him stating my unsatisfactory stay. His response was poor and definitely did not make me feel better. No attempt to forward to customer service. He just wanted to get additional marketing information from me!

I wish I was writing a more cheerful review, but wanted to provide my feedback. I've been a loyal customer and was really surprised this happened, considering how...