Untitled at 3 Freeman Alley — Hotel in New York

ASTOUNDINGLY BAD. I repeat — ASTOUNDINGLY BAD. I am convinced all good reviews have been written by a. bots, b. influencers, c. the owners themselves. Yes, this is New York City ($$$$) and it's in a prime-ish location($$$$$), and IF you're willing to Kool-Aid man your way through the tourists and Poshmark professionals doing photoshoots in the famously graffiti-ed alley that marks the only entrance to this hotel, then maybe this is the right place for you!

But even then, I'm not sure it's worth the exposure to black mold in a bacteria-infested, shoebox-sized coffin with improper ventilation and no natural sunlight.

Our initial room — $500/day on a weekend — featured the pristine view of a brick wall (about a foot from our window) and such a lack of square footage that two people could not stand or open hand luggage at the same time. But, it's nEw YoRk ¯(ツ)/¯ you say? This would have actually been fine — sure, whatever, not great, but we won't die! — until we realized the wall vent (and surrounding wall) had an ominous black, fuzzy stain, and my throat and eyes began to swell within 10 minutes of being in the room. The bathroom shower, which is within inches of both the toilet (convenient!) and the bed (convenient?), has all the charm of a Gold's Gym locker room and also features the telltale orange-pink residue along the tile floors. There is no fan, no ventilation, no window, not even one facing a brick wall; thus, my (silly, silly) hope that this non-millennial pink sludge was a type of avant-garde design feature was quickly dashed. (I later learned this pink grim is actually Serratia Marcescens — a disgusting, highly contagious form of bacteria that can wreak havoc on the human body. But, not technically ‘mold.’ MY BAD.)

When we brought the issues to the front desk, an employee told us that the black "stain" was due to "leftover water gathering and leaking from the vents," (um, yes...) and the pink "marks" in the shower were caused by rust (hmmmm...)

After we declined their gaslighting… I mean, proposed solution to cut the "stained NOT MOLDY" wallpaper from the wall, we were finally moved to a room a few doors up. While still worse for wear and somehow even smaller despite it being an upgrade — we're like fish in a bigger bowl — we saw the first sign of sweet, sweet sunlight, known nemesis of mold, and felt OK spending nearly a grand for a weekend in this... "urban chic" hotel? (Also, the fan in this bathroom and the safe, in both rooms, did not work. Why include them???) We were grateful for a (convenient albeit reluctant) room swap, despite the initial mold mishap, and have lived to tell the tale of our lackluster 48-hour stay with our friends on Google. However, I am only posting this review as a prophetic warning — because a new guest was put into our MOLDY room that same day.

Was the wallpaper removed?? Were mold removal and cleaning specialists brought in within the few hours in between?? I guess we shall never know — and that's mostly because we will never return. Do not recommend. Save your money. Save your lungs. Save your soul....

This is a good boutique hotel in a convenient location, close to restaurants, shopping and subway lines. Overall a good experience. I stayed here for a few weeks on my own. I had a positive experience overall.

The hotel and rooms are pretty clean. The room was a little small but probably standard size for NYC, just enough space for 1 person in my opinion. The floor and room are relatively quiet, I didn’t have issues sleeping. My room was close to an elevator so I did hear the elevator bell ring sometimes but it didn’t bother me much. Wi-Fi in the room is really good, no issues streaming videos and working remotely. The room itself feels nice, clean and new. It is just a bit small. The bed is a tuft and needle mattress and it’s comfortable, no issues sleeping. Everything works in the room as you expect. For example, the shower’s hot water flows almost instantly. The air conditioning and temperature control is good and not noisy. The hotel is hidden away in an alley so it’s a bit private. There’s a nice and spacious indoor and outdoor seating area and it’s rarely crowded. You get a free coffee and pastry in the morning as guest; it’s pretty good. They use a La Marzocco coffee machine in the cafe.

The hotel location is in a good and convenient. It’s in between the popular neighborhoods of East Village, SoHo and Lower East Side so there’s tons to do around you and super easy to walk to things. There is a Whole Foods with a La Colombe cafe close by. If you need to do laundry, there’s a coin laundromat close by. The hotel location is pretty safe. There are also multiple subway lines close by.

What I didn’t like that much: there’s not a proper desk and chair in the room, just a stool and fold out table. The rooms are just big enough for one person. There are two elevators and they can act bit strange sometimes. Sometimes the elevator button won’t work. Theres only one hotel entrance and it’s in the alleyway. You can’t enter from the garden, only exit. There’s no fitness center. There’s no ice machine, you have to ask the cafe for ice. And NYC hotel prices always feel high but that’s “normal”. These are...

Noise Alert! Worst nights ever. We stayed two nights here. The first night we stayed in the room type called untitled king room 710. It was the worst night i ever had in my life. The noise was extremely bad that we couldn't fall asleep at all for the whole night and the hotel wasn't responsive when i reported until next morning. The noise level sounds the same with window closed. I went down to the reception and requested for a room switch. But the reception let me know that they don't have the access to change room and he is only responsible for the safe security but not these kind of issue. I can only contact this 24/7 text line to request a room change. But it turned out this line is not 24/7 at all. I texted them many times the entire night but no response until 8am in the morning. we really struggled and suffered the whole night, cause it felt like the cars beeps were right by your ears for the entire night. So i went to reception again at 7am and just got the answer(nothing they can do but need to contact the text line). The text line was finally able to get back to me at 8am and let me switched to a room not facing the city, but it was right beside the elevator. I didn't complain any more cause this elevator running noise compare to what we experienced the precious night at least is bearable. The text line also informed me that they waived $70 cleaning fee for the room switch and noise should be expected with description in the website the room has street view. But why this would have been on the customer if your room has problem that cause customer can not sleep there? I get New York is busy and i have been here many many times. But i never stay in a hotel with this bad noise issue and limited support from hotel before. To be honest, sleeping in that room with that kind of noise would cause mental/physical health issues to anyone. I see there are other reviews about the noise complaint as well but apparently the management hasn't been caring to change anything as it's still happening. If you don't plan to sleep, feel free to book it here cause the hotel does have a good vibe...