The Westin New York Grand Central — Hotel in New York

We had an extremely poor experience at the Westin NY Grand Central from the start till the end of our stay, and would grade their hospitality as the worst that we have ever encountered. We had checked-in on May 8th late in the evening for a 5-night stay. After a very long international flight and standing for 4 hrs. at JFK to complete immigration we landed in a tired state at the hotel to be greeted by a cold welcome at the front desk (no smile, no welcome to our property, etc...). The room assigned to us was on a lower floor (Floor 12) and when we requested for a room on a higher floor we were informed that the hotel was 100% occupied, and would be moved to a room on a higher floor the next day. We were happy with this feedback and just as we were beginning to settle in the room on Floor 12, we realized a jarring sound from outside our room that gradually started growing on us. We called the front desk and night manager, and informed them about this situation. After a visit by the Security staff and later by their Electrician we were informed that an AC booster was installed outside our room by the hotel, resulting in the loud sound. The hotel lacks basic courtesy as neither the manager nor the front desk called back to check if our issue was resolved while we were dealing with it in a sleepy and exhausted state. We had to call them each time and inform them regarding the feedback from their visiting team members. Later we were informed by the manager that they did not have a single vacant room in the hotel and unfortunately we would need to spend the night in the same room. Finally we gave a push-back on the situation and requested for a refund for that night, as we would not be able to have peaceful sleep. The manager then requested for some time to revert and called back 15 mins later stating that they managed to find a room (seemed to be a miracle in a 100% occupied hotel!). We moved to the newly assigned room on Floor 15, and later realized the room was not checked prior to being assigned. The shower area in the bathroom had a bunch of hair, next morning we realized there was no shower gel in the dispenser. However we were too exhausted to start complaining on these matters as our core focus was to enjoy our vacation. The hotel charges a $30 resort fee per night and provides some benefits in return (includes daily $20 laundry, 1 breakfast coupon per night, and choice of some tourist activities). The tourist activity included an audio tour of Grand Central which was a waste and laughed-off by the Grand Central staff when we visited the information kiosk. Breakfast was pretty average with long queues at most times (Note - if you order a juice as part of the breakfast buffet you cannot request for a coffee/tea later!).

On the last day of our stay the room was not cleaned and when we complained on this, the duty manager again demonstrated cold behavior (implying what was the big deal and they had a rough day) prior to finally getting it cleaned. The check-out process was smooth, however strangely we never received a receipt for our stay although the resort fee was charged to the card, which was quite unlike the process at other Marriott properties.

We never really experienced warm behavior or a smiling face when interacting with the hotel managers and staff. I am sure the hotel will continue to have great occupancy and good reviews given its prime location. However I am sad to say our story is quite different. We left the hotel with poor memories and hope we never have such experiences at a hotel (esp. on a vacation) ever again.

P.S. We are frequent travelers and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Members, and have always had superlative experiences at other Marriott properties, and this was surely...

I had a nice chuckle when I read a recent review here about the abysmal customer service they received at this hotel. It's 100% accurate and their review is my favorite part of staying at this hotel, because actually being there was terrible.

When we checked in, (which took quite a long time) they refused to give us two room cards - that was the first red flag. After we got to our room, we were greeted with multiple pubic hairs on our toilet seat, no soap and additional hairs (thankfully, probably not pubic) in our shower. We had places to be and called the concierge service for some assistance with the bathroom. I specifically say concierge here, because I made the mistake of asking if it was the front desk and was very rudely and immediately corrected on that point.

Long story short, our bathroom was never cleaned, after nicely requesting they do so. I'd already removed the multiple pubic hairs from our toilet seat, but was hoping the shower and soap situation would be dealt with during the seven hours we were out of the room.

Upon returning and noticing that nothing had been done, I went down to the front desk to check in and was immediately met with some of the rudest customer service I've ever dealt with. The woman at the front desk (I can't remember her name but man oh man do I wish I did, because it was probably Rhonda) immediately accused me of calling the wrong number to request our bathroom be cleaned (I didn't) and then shouted that I should just speak to a manager since she wasn't going to be able to help with our issue. I did speak to a manager and to his credit, he seemed to at least be aware that he was in the hospitality business, but he was also ultimately ineffective and would not answer for his employee's overt rudeness. They took $30 off my bill (which they tack on after your reservation and apparently you cannot waive because it gets you a "free" breakfast or drink at the crowded bar) and he sent staff up to my room to refill the missing soap in the shower. Which would have been nice, except they didn't listen to the shower part, so we returned to two additional hand soap bars messily thrown onto the counter in the bathroom, but no soap refill for the shower. So my girlfriend and I had to use hand soap to shower that night/the next morning. Insane.

Overall this stay was 1/10 and I hope the woman at the front desk finds a line of work better suited for her unique set of antisocial skills - maybe a bouncer at a club with equally aggressive clientele.

tl;dr: There were pubic hairs all over our toilet seat and no soap in the shower - requested two separate times for the bathroom to be cleaned - it wasn't. The woman at the front desk was insanely rude, the manager was barely doing his job and this still cost me $266. I would recommend staying elsewhere, or maybe just not going to NYC, as I don't see this level of professional rudeness anywhere else in...

It’s important for me to share my experience, which was unfortunately quite challenging compared to my previous visits.

To begin with, I had pre-checked in via the app a couple of days in advance, and I specified my estimated arrival time. However, upon arriving 30 minutes before the usual check-in time, I was informed that no room was ready for me. This left me puzzled about the purpose of checking in early and providing my arrival time on the app, as it seemed the property was not prepared for my early arrival despite this information.

When my room was finally ready, I went upstairs to settle in and start working. To my dismay, when I went to use the bathroom, I found urine under the toilet seat. It wasn’t just a small amount and was clearly noticeable. Additionally, there were no bath linens available in the bathroom. I reported both issues via the app and was assured they would be addressed. After 30 minutes, a staff member arrived and handed me a stack of old thin towels without entering the room to place them in the bathroom. I placed the towels on the counter myself and continued to wait for the toilet to be cleaned and sanitized. The towels he delivered were completely flat and should have been thrown out. They were clearly past their prime.

Shortly thereafter, another staff member arrived with the water I had requested but informed me that he was not responsible for cleaning the toilet and suggested I call housekeeping. 15 minutes later, a very kind gentleman from housekeeping arrived, thoroughly cleaned the bathroom, and provided more suitable plush towels as well as a bathmat that was missing in the stack of towels given to me, which I needed. The housekeeping manager also arrived, apologized for the inconvenience.

Thinking the bathroom ordeal was finally resolved, I prepared to take a shower, only to discover that the bottle of shower gel was completely empty. I apologized to the front desk for calling again and informed them of the lack of shower gel. After another 30-minute wait, a staff member arrived with a full bottle of shower gel but handed it to me without replacing the old bottle, leaving me uncertain about how to do this myself. I don’t work at a hotel and had no ideal on how to remove the old bottle to replace it with this new one so I just left it on the shower floor.

My entire evening was spent discovering general housekeeping mistakes and waiting for them to be corrected instead of enjoying my brief stay in NYC. This experience was far from ideal and significantly impacted my visit. There are other properties more convenient to my NYC office location but I chose the Westin at GC because my last visit was great and I love the updated bathrooms and toiletries.

I would have gladly shared my feedback with the front desk when I checked out to retrieve my folio before leaving, but sadly I was never asked how my...