The Watson Hotel — Hotel in New York

Before I start with my horror story, I will say that this hotel's only saving grace was their bartender working in the lobby. He was an absolute gem; courteous, excellent customer service, pleasant, all around great guy.

Now, for the overall - Easily the worst hotel I've stayed at pretty much from beginning to end.

We called before arriving to see if our room would be ready at 12, which they said it would be. When we arrived at little after 12, the concierge said the room would be ready instead by 3. Which was fine, but we wanted to drop off our bags. To hold our bags they wanted to charge us. So instead we thought it would be better to leave our bags in the car. When we spoke to the parking lot attendant, he said we couldn't go to our car and for them to drive it up it would cost us $10! Considering the fact that that we would need to go back and get our luggage it would cost a total of $20... just to drive the car 50 feet. At this point it's about the principle- we called ahead of time, we arrived at the time we would say, the only people who were not operating on time was the hotel staff.. and they wanted us to pay for it.

So we're mildly irritated at this point, but since they advertise the hotel pool is free to guests we think, "Whatever, we'll just go to the pool bar with our luggage and have a drink while we wait." After bringing our luggage to the top floor we're stopped at the pool entry way. The guy at the counter says we can't go in unless we're active guests (apparently it isn't the case if the room isn't ready). We have two options: pay $100 as if we are not staying at the hotel, or go all the way back down to the lobby, have the concierge call this guy and tell him it's ok for us to go in. I'm looking at this guy at the desk (with a phone) and ask him why he can't just call the lobby. "Nope" apparently I need something signed so I, the customer with bags, need to go 15 flights down and do it all myself.

You would think a hotel that charges you for everything would AT LEAST have the money for decent rooms. Wrong. Room is outdated, smells weird, and when I go to put my bags on the floor, I see a mouse trap under the desk. When I brought it to the attention of staff, they shrugged it off.

Long story short, this was a miserable experience. It's obviously an inexpensive hotel, so I wasn't expecting to be treated like a princess. However, as a paying customer, I do expect to be treated with a certain level of dignity. Their customer service is the worst I've...

This review only has one star because zero wasn't an option. Let's start from the beginning. My two girlfriends and I stayed here during our girls trip weekend. When we pulled up to check in and valet we weren't offered any help with our bags which we were clearly struggling with. Strike one. However, the check in itself was very smooth. We got to our room and were quickly disappointed. It's was outdated, grungy, and dirty. The shower had black mold and the toilet hardly flushed. Underneath the beds was home to random trash wrappers. Chocolate wrappers and maybe a legos toy wrapper. Uh ok. Strike two. The room was unusually hot so we decided to go to the pool and hopefully cool down. Wow. Let me say that again backwards. Wow! That was weird. The owner of the hotel was there and began talking to us. Which was nice, we're social people. But. The dude literally stood in the pool next to us talking about himself, law suits the hotels had, and past customer complaints for about an hour while we were continuously being splashed by the 20 parentless kids there. Just wasn't too professional or productive and made things uncomfortable. I've never in my life saw the owner of a hotel lounging around the pool whistling and shouting demands at the staff in front of guests. Strike 3. We left the pool and stopped at the hotel bar for some snacks. The food was horrible and I would be mortified if my establishment served it. I wish I had taken pictures of it but was so dumbfounded I didn't think of it. When we mentioned to the bartender that the pigs in a blanket didn't look ok to eat he said "it's a fried food what do you expect?" Well sir, I expect my food to look edible. And not like it rotted in the back of a fridge for a month. Needless to say one of my girlfriends spent her evening in the bathroom with said toilet that hardly flushed. Poor thing. Strike 4. Oh yea. The room was still smoldering. I called the front desk and they offered a box fan uh ok. The final straw was when we went to get the car from valet to leave. Once again not being offered help with our bags. When trying to pay the valet guy told us 3 different totals and tried getting us to swipe our credit cards multiple times even after it said it had gone through. Sketchy. Are we still counting strikes? Overall the only thing this place has going for it is the location. If you're still reading I beg you to forget this place exists and find elsewhere to stay. No matter how attractive...

Located in a great central location. Nice rooms and swimming pool. Plenty of amenities including very clean rooms, linen and guest areas. Located near everything including clothing stores, food and pharmacies. World class food and tons of sight seeing activities nearby; including plays, musicals, art, water views and lots of museums to visit. Large airports are nearby, including plenty of busses, taxis and Uber to travel around the area. Bicycles, mopeds and scooters are also very popular. World class meeting rooms and quality caterers are available, and lots of space for meetings and parties. The hotel is close to other local activities and cities that contribute to a variety of things to do... Enjoy a peaceful rest sleep in a fabulous room, the awake to eat and enjoy a delicious breakfast in a stunning dining room with excellent dining service, and plan the day of business or play. Take the train to visit unique clothing stores or take a taxi to the city and visit amazing museums and cultural sites. There are numerous beautiful parks with paths to walk, picnic spaces to eat and relax, or water fountains to visit and throw pennies into for good luck. Take a relaxing boat ride or jump on the subway to numerous locations and destinations. Busses are everywhere and are easy to access and very affordable for travel around the city. The people are friendly and the hotel and surrounding area in has people from all over the world both visiting and working, making it a very diverse place. The hotel is worth the visit and time. Lots of things to do; anyone can find what they need and there's always activities to do. The rooms are clean and spacious. The rooms smell fresh and the linens are clean and spotless. The hallways are clean are well maintained. The pool is clean and the deck has plenty of chairs for sitting by the pool. The lobby is clean and always attended, and the staff is very polite and professional. The building has a history that will enhance any visit, and the professional staff and quality services make the hotel a must visit for everyone. Once outside the hotel, beautiful parks, shopping and retail, business events and delicious restaurants are just steps away from the hotel doors. Popular transportation by area residents is walking, bicycle, scooter, taxi, bus, train, boat, and subway trains. A must vist anytime...