Windsor Hotel — Hotel in New York

We booked it because of the price. Hotels were very high priced at the start of the 2019 holiday season and we found the Windsor on a booking website (that in itself was an issue since I was booking for 4 people, two adults, two teens. The booking website allowed four of us but the Windsor insisted we had booked a room for three people (I had confirmation for four) many emails between the Windsor and us and between the booking company and us and we were forced to "upgrade" for $35 per night to a larger room to accommodate the four of us. I should have cancelled then but rooms were outrageous the week we were planning to be there so I agreed to the the extra $35 a night and hoped for the best. ||||We were on the top floor (7, aka "The Penthouse") which I don't think had been rented in some time. It was FREEZING. The marble floor hurt to walk on but after our 4th day/night of having the heat on became bearable. The elevator opens directly into the room and that was weird and unnerving but ultimately was no big issue. Elevator cards didn't work well and had to be changed out several times. Unfortunately, the elevator also stopped working into our stay so we were forced to climb up and down the 7 stories. ||||The hotel is just tired and desperately in need of a good cleaning and some newer accoutrements. The 8 or 9 windows in the penthouse had old, dingy, bent and broken white mini binds and they looked horrible and did nothing to keep the light out (and there are a lot of lights on the rooftop terrace that are on all night long). The window on the opposite side of the room had the only curtain in the room and it was filthy and worn, shoved under the in window AC unit. None of the light fixtures had a full compliment of working lightbulbs, the floor lamp didn't work at all. There was a refrigerator and safe in the room (we didn't use the 'fridge so I don't know if it works or not). Wifi works. No coffee maker in room (no cups or plastic drinking glasses either). No coffee in lobby either (thankfully there is a decent store/deli on the corner for coffee and breakfast sandwiches/bagels). ||||Our room came with a King sized bed (very firm mattress) and a twin (lovely mattress) and we also had a rollaway (also a good mattress). All of the sheets were clean (flat and fitted) and there were extra blankets in a dresser which we needed the first and second nights while the room warmed up. Thankfully NO bedbugs (probably it was too cold for them!). Hot water took about 10 minutes to get to our room, but when it finally arrived it was nice and hot and we got two consecutive hot showers out of it. Towels were clean but old and scratchy. No washcloths or hand towels were provided. ||||Rooftop terrace (directly accessible from the penthouse and accessible via stairwell for the rest of the building) was the best part of the experience. Views of Lower Manhattan were fantastic, views of midtown were also good. The Windsor is directly across the street from park and very close to subway. We walked all around the area into Chinatown and Little Italy, to the Brooklyn Bridge and 911 Memorial and the Battery. The Windsor Hotel was a good location for that part of Manhattan (a little trickier but easy to get to for Midtown and Uptown via Subway).||||The staff were pleasant, but didn't go out of the way to be friendly or helpfuI. The last night the elevator was broken and since the elevator opens directly into the penthouse, we weren't sure how we'd get in the room. The front desk guy spent 5 mins on the phone with the manager before disappearing down the hallway. A few minutes later he came huffing and puffing down the stairwell as he'd run up to unlock the door from the rooftop terrace into our room. At midnight, after a full day of walking around Manhattan, the last thing we wanted to do was climb 7 stories of stairs, but we had to. We had to carry our luggage down those same stairs the next morning for check out. I doubt we'll stay here again unless management spends some time and money sprucing...

We booked it because of the price. Hotels were very high priced at the start of the 2019 holiday season and we found the Windsor on a booking website (that in itself was an issue since I was booking for 4 people, two adults, two teens. The booking website allowed four of us but the Windsor insisted we had booked a room for three people (I had confirmation for four) many emails between the Windsor and us and between the booking company and us and we were forced to "upgrade" for $35 per night to a larger room to accommodate the four of us. I should have cancelled then but rooms were outrageous the week we were planning to be there so I agreed to the the extra $35 a night and hoped for the best. ||||We were on the top floor (7, aka "The Penthouse") which I don't think had been rented in some time. It was FREEZING. The marble floor hurt to walk on but after our 4th day/night of having the heat on became bearable. The elevator opens directly into the room and that was weird and unnerving but ultimately was no big issue. Elevator cards didn't work well and had to be changed out several times. Unfortunately, the elevator also stopped working into our stay so we were forced to climb up and down the 7 stories. ||||The hotel is just tired and desperately in need of a good cleaning and some newer accoutrements. The 8 or 9 windows in the penthouse had old, dingy, bent and broken white mini binds and they looked horrible and did nothing to keep the light out (and there are a lot of lights on the rooftop terrace that are on all night long). The window on the opposite side of the room had the only curtain in the room and it was filthy and worn, shoved under the in window AC unit. None of the light fixtures had a full compliment of working lightbulbs, the floor lamp didn't work at all. There was a refrigerator and safe in the room (we didn't use the 'fridge so I don't know if it works or not). Wifi works. No coffee maker in room (no cups or plastic drinking glasses either). No coffee in lobby either (thankfully there is a decent store/deli on the corner for coffee and breakfast sandwiches/bagels). ||||Our room came with a King sized bed (very firm mattress) and a twin (lovely mattress) and we also had a rollaway (also a good mattress). All of the sheets were clean (flat and fitted) and there were extra blankets in a dresser which we needed the first and second nights while the room warmed up. Thankfully NO bedbugs (probably it was too cold for them!). Hot water took about 10 minutes to get to our room, but when it finally arrived it was nice and hot and we got two consecutive hot showers out of it. Towels were clean but old and scratchy. No washcloths or hand towels were provided. ||||Rooftop terrace (directly accessible from the penthouse and accessible via stairwell for the rest of the building) was the best part of the experience. Views of Lower Manhattan were fantastic, views of midtown were also good. The Windsor is directly across the street from park and very close to subway. We walked all around the area into Chinatown and Little Italy, to the Brooklyn Bridge and 911 Memorial and the Battery. The Windsor Hotel was a good location for that part of Manhattan (a little trickier but easy to get to for Midtown and Uptown via Subway).||||The staff were pleasant, but didn't go out of the way to be friendly or helpfuI. The last night the elevator was broken and since the elevator opens directly into the penthouse, we weren't sure how we'd get in the room. The front desk guy spent 5 mins on the phone with the manager before disappearing down the hallway. A few minutes later he came huffing and puffing down the stairwell as he'd run up to unlock the door from the rooftop terrace into our room. At midnight, after a full day of walking around Manhattan, the last thing we wanted to do was climb 7 stories of stairs, but we had to. We had to carry our luggage down those same stairs the next morning for check out. I doubt we'll stay here again unless management spends some time and money sprucing...

Cleanliness, staff service, property conditions, and amenities are all TERRIBLE!! Arriving early, the sign said check in is at 3, my email said 2. The worker said it was okay to check in at 2. Coming back around 2:30, the elevators didn't work and had to take two large luggage's upstairs. No one offered to take them for us, the guy at the front desk just chuckled. We went up stairs and the room was not even cleaned up yet. The worker said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I think it would take longer to make a room clean. But when we got in the room, the key didn't even work. Had to go back down four floors and back up to get a new key. Inside the room, instantly you can tell the sheets were not changed. They had wrinkles and hair on it. The bathroom had hair in the sink. I tried calling the front desk from their telephone and it didn't even work! Again I walked back down from the fourth floor and asked for clean sheets and a clean comforter. Even the clean sheets had stains. Outside in the hallway the clean sheets and clean stacks of towels were stacked on the floor. GROSS. Late at night I wanted to microwave my food, their sign on the microwave said it was out of service but employee let me use it and worked fine. So why does the sign say "out of service"??! Even the lobby bathroom said it was out of service but someone went in to use it. I don't get it. Back at the room the mattress is totally just a piece of cardboard. When checking out, we wanted to leave our luggage in the closet until we could get another hotel. The guy said it was full, I said he could stack some luggage on top of each other but he just stood there. I started moving things around myself and the guy just watched. Terrible lazy service. There was also another couple complaining about the cleanliness of their room and wanted their bathroom to be cleaned up. The worker said he asked another guy to clean it and the other guy said he could not clean it and even if he wanted to help, he couldn't. What kind of response is that?! Awful hotel!! This place doesn't even deserve one star!! DO NOT STAY HERE. It is worth spending the extra money on a better quality hotel. Please...