Smyth Tribeca — Hotel in New York

We booked 6 days of family (2 adults, kids 13 and 10) vacation here after reading many good reviews. To be fair, the location is convenient if you want to do sightseeing and the rooms are clean and large compared to NYC standards. Our main issue was that we had booked a stay including breakfast and the director of the placed refused to provide this service and did everything to load the cost on us.

When we arrived, the staff could not find our booking (via booking.com). A bit surprising since the hotel should receive a confirmation same than we did. Anyways, we got the room and headed down for breakfast the next morning. When we asked how it works, we were instructed by a nice lady at the desk that the breakfast would be in the restaurant "Smyth Tavern" next door. Since that is actually a separate entity, we were told that we have an allowance per person and day, and need to turn in the receipt afterwards at the hotel desk.

We did this for 5 days until I noticed that my room key was not working when coming back in the evening. Checked with the desk where the hotel director told me that I need to deposit another credit card for potential expenses. Wondering why because that is what we did upon arrival, but the kids were tired and we needed to go to the room. Gave her the card, she swiped it and did not mention any other issue.

That night I noticed an attempt to withdraw over 700 USD that bounced because of my current settings. I am always more cautious when travelling and reduced the limit.

So next day we checked back with the manager and she told us that actually no breakfast was included. We showed her the confirmation that said "breakfast included" but she insisted this was a problem between us and booking.com. We called the booking.com hotline and got the confirmation that the breakfast is indeed included with a certain allowance per day and person. We also got instructed to pay no additional amount to the hotel under any circumstances. Easier said than done if the director throws a tantrum and insists that booking.com told them something completely different and we needed to pay. We reminded her that her employee, an african-american woman, confirmed to us the first morning that we have an allowance to be consumed next door. She said that can't be because she is the only african-american woman working here. What?! Suddenly another of the receptionists showed up and told her that he had seen us talking to Angela that morning. Ah, Angela worked here that day! And he also confirmed that Angela said breakfast was included.

The director could not really speak against that (hope the guy did not get fired) but still insisted that the allowance was per adult only, and not for kids. Weird, because kids had "breakfast included" as well. We had to get going to the airport and as a tourist you are in a difficult place anyways with things like that. So we ended up paying around 300 USD of difference when we should have paid nothing. When we left, the director told her employee that "they need to take that offer off the booking.com site". So much to that.

We were very disappointed by the treatment of the director. How can you try to play your customers, lie to their faces and admit only small parts once you have to. She showed no interest in finding an appropriate solution but tried to label us as dishonest and make us pay for their mistake. This lady will ruin the place in the long term and needs...

There were two managers (or hosts?) I encountered, one who was extremely skilled with customer service, and one who was not. I will call them Person1 (skilled) and Person2 (not so skilled).

The PROS:

Walking distance to my work Great neighborhood, as I used to live in the area Very friendly front desk staff Very Reasonable room rates Very Reasonable valet parking rates

The CONS:

1 Hour Late Check: Our room was 1 hour late from check in time because the staff had to clean up extra from the previous guest. That was fine with me, I was okay to wait. Person1 was extremely compassionate and offered us a $75 voucher for the bar or Smyth Tavern. I was pleasantly surprised and appreciative. 3 of my friends came to meet me at the hotel (as I was expecting to be ready to head out for dinner by then), and I asked Person2 (Person1 had stepped away) if we could grab $75 worth of drinks at the Tavern while we waited for the room. Person2 said "No, there are too many of you, plus your friends are not guests of the hotel. We can give you a glass of champagne each instead." I completely understood we weren't entitled to anything at all, so I said "Okay thank you." But I still don't understand why Person2 was so exasperated, as I knew the comp was limited to $75. Even if it went above $75, they could have charged the extra to my room. Instead the group of us had to stand awkwardly at the front desk while this strange exchange happened...

Dirty Room: The trash from the previous guest was not emptied, and was filled over the brim. The corner of the closet door was broken off, and there was a strange brown streak on the wall of the bathroom.

Malfunctioning Bedroom door: We stayed in a suite where there was a bedroom door. When my husband shut the door to the bedroom from the outside, we were locked out of the bedroom. We went to the front desk and they called the hotel "engineer" (similar to a super?) to fix it. He did a great job, and we were thankful.

$1100+ bill from the Hotel (!!): After we checked out, I was extremely dissatisfied and confused to receive a bill for $1100+. I called the Hotel and thankfully Person1 answered. He apologized for all of the inconveniences I experienced, and corrected the mistaken charges to $300+ (which was accurate for parking and hotel fees). He even took off one of the fees because of the trash that was not emptied from the previous guest. I was extremely grateful for the ease of this conversation.

The $65 straw that broke the camel's back: 2+ weeks later, I received yet another charge on my card for $65 from the hotel. My stay was already over 3 weeks ago. This is why I am writing this review, this is completely unacceptable and borderline-fraudulent behavior from whoever is approving and executing these charges at the hotel. No matter how convenient and great the location, how great SOME of the staff are, I will never stay at this...

If possible, I'll never stay anywhere else again. Tribeca is safe, fun and walking distance to Soho, WTC and Ground Zero and ofcourse Carbone. The Smyth Tribeca is a lovely hotel, where the check in/out staff is just incredible. I had the pleasure of Edgar checking me in, Jaime assisting with my requests and Mario on the bags. I wish these three gentlemen would be my front desk staff at every hotel I ever go to. They really made my stay at Smyth Tribeca exceptional! Traveling for work, I needed to hold meetings in my room so I booked the Penthouse Terrace suite, which was really a treat. Located in the northwest corner of the building, the entire suite was well lit with natural light. Loads of windows and all the blackout curtains you need. The northwest facing terrace is spacious, with ample sitting in the far left corner and a large table for dining al-fresco. Standing tables along the north edge and 2 lounge chairs to enjoy the sun. At night I'd turn on their industrial sized heaters and enjoy a drink on the terrace. Having a coffee out there first thing really was a bonus and you really can't beat dining al-fresco privately. ||||I would have given this hotel a 100/100 but there were a few misses that causes me to give a 93/100. ||1) 7am on my first morning, the bluetooth speakers in the bedroom blasted at full volume dance music with zero warning and no way to turn it off. It's jarring at 7am when I finished conference calls at 4am. That was not awesome. ||2) the member of staff that answered the phone did not provide the best customer service, their indifference was a bit off putting. ||3) for as lovely and spacious the room was and having a kitchenette with fridge, sink, stove/oven/microwave, there were no dishes and napkins available in the suite. I would have been really convenient to just have everything already in the suite but easy fix, just called down for some place settings and dishware. ||||Other than these 3 inconveniences, if there is availability, I will always stay here, unless Edgar, Jaime and Mario are no longer here 😇they really made my stay exceptional! Thank you to Smyth Tribeca and to Edgar,...