ROW NYC — Restaurant in New York

Staying here for 8 days was an experience, so I'll begin this with 5 stars as I share this story.

I was worried after reading all those bad reviews. I remained hopeful that it wouldn't be a terrible experience. And it wasn't! For the first half of the week. And then, things just started going downhill.

I stayed in a one bed deluxe city view corner room, and it was PERFECT for me. There was such a large amount of space, and 2 skyline views - 1 of the intersection to bits of times Square, and the other a north facing general skyline. I did notice the windows were open, but the room itself didn't smell. The windows also can't be opened beyond a certain height, like it was really difficult for me to get an arm out to take a photo (and I have small arms). I noticed a few stains on the ceiling, but in terms of overall cleanliness, it was great.

The AC was weird. It never functioned beyond 5 minutes of it running, and with it being 30°C ALL WEEK, that was sort of an issue, but I attributed my inability to make it work to the overall fact that I've never adjusted any before. Nights saved me, because the temperature would thankfully drop to almost freezing temperatures, which would help cool the room for the next day up to a certain hour, and then I'd stay out of the room for those hot periods so it wouldn't bother me. I kind of realized they knew the AC wasn't working and decided not to mention anything when I came back and discovered my AC unit cover taken apart and not put back together. That was problematic because they did that surprise charge at check-in for a facilities fee per day of the stay, but if I couldn't get access to someone, what was I really paying for? Minus 1 star.

My washroom was great at first. A bit small, but for one person, it was the perfect size. Halfway through the week I started noticing dead flies around the sink and mirror. Then more and more different types of DEAD insects on the soap and shampoo, and bath tub. If I saw something black and tiny, it was likely it was a bug & every night I would notice more and more. I HATE bugs, and seeing this, I thought, maybe it's because the window was open, but when I closed it, I just saw more and more. It was so disgusting and traumatizing. I kept wondering if I was experiencing an omen or plague or something or if I did something wrong to have all these bugs be dropping dead specifically in the washroom and finding more and more every evening as I returned & none of it being cleaned. Minus 1 star.

Housekeeping was inconsistent with refreshing the room. Having family who work in hotels under similar jobs, I feel I am more lenient, but there were so many times they would throw out my half empty bottles of shampoo or bar soap, but then, not replace it or I would leave an empty bottle of shampoo and conditioner, and they wouldn't replace it. And with it being 30 degrees and humid and bugs crawling everywhere, combined, it was all so bad. -1 star.

The hallways definitely need better lighting. It was dark, and felt really sketchy, and as my room was furthest from the elevator, I often found myself looking at my surroundings a lot. The elevators could really be improved, because it was crazy slow. I had to wait 10+ minutes once just for it to arrive both from the lobby level and from my floor, and then it couldn't account for peak periods, so some people had to wait longer because the elevators are small & couldn't hold all the people at once. Minus 1 star.

They have security measures in place, where you have to show your room cards in order to enter the elevator once the sun starts going down, around 6-7ish PM, so that people aren't trying to sneak around. The hotel is very close to times Square (4 min walk, 1 block away), and is nearby some really great restaurants and cafes! Also 20 min walk from Central park, and the subway is literally right around the corner of the intersection. They also offer to hold your bags for free since checkout is at 12PM. That feature was really useful, and I appreciated that they were able to accommodate that....

First and foremost, let me get this out of the way. I am giving Row NYC a 4 for for its price compared to accommodations. If you think you are booking this hotel at the base prices they charge and getting luxury or a room without issues you are sorely mistaken. This is a definitely a you get what you paid for type of hotel.

Now for the review. I agree with most reviews that the hotel is slightly dated with very dim lighting throughout the hotel. The employees were nice and accommodating. Check-in was fairly quick. Even though the room was not ready, I was able to check on Friday morning and return at 4pm to retrieve my card keys. They allow you to drop your luggage or any bags you have free of charge (although tipping is reminded).

The lobby is spacious although for the time being they should alter their website to state that the restaurant is currently not open. They do have the typical hotel bar open at night and the bar serves as the coffee and "breakfast" area in the morning. There are many complaints about the elevators. If i had any complaints about them, it would be their size. They fit at best 6 people per cab with a total of 8 cabs. It might sound annoying, but security asks to see your room key before you enter where the elevators are, I am assuming to keep solicitors and others from roaming their halls. then instead of the typical up/down arrows I was used to, you select what floor you are going too and it tells you what elevator to take which seemed to work well.

The rooms, yes are small, but we were in NY and were only using them to sleep not hang out in so that was ok. The king bed was low to the ground but surprisingly comfortable, but the pillows were the size you would find with a sofa, but what ever. The AC/heater kept the room cold when it wasn't fighting with the bathroom. The bathroom was clean but very cramped. For some reason the bathroom has a shielded hot water radiator that we could not shut off only turn way down, but when we did that it got mad and leaked hot water on the bathroom floor and without a towel it would get the bedroom carpet wet. There wasn't much leg room between the toilet and the radiator either.

After some of the reviews I read, I was really scared on how the room would be, but on the whole, it worked and for the price, I got what I paid for. The best feature of the hotel has to be the price and its location. Its proximity to Times Square and several of the main Theater Houses was a lot closer than even google maps showed it to be. Moulin Rouge, Phantom, Lion King, Times Square are all less than 5 min from Row NYC front door. The big question is, would I stay here again and the answer to that is yes, I would defiantly give it another shot against the bad reviews . Do I believe some of the negative reviews that were left by others, yes. It is purely my opinion with no evidence to support it that they take better car of the rooms as the price points go up. I was around the middle price point and it felt that way so I can see the cheaper rooms possibly being in a little...

My husband & I stayed at the Row Hotel Time Square located at 700 8th Ave in New York 12/10 through 12/14. When we was given our room number and we went to our room, the room was so small, we couldn’t turn without bumping into each other. I stepped into the very small bathroom and noticed a big gob of something that looked like dried up paint in the bathtub, so we right away went back to guest services to report it, after the manager went and investigate the issue, he apologized and gave us another room. Well we get to the new assigned room, it was bigger than the first room but not by much. This room was not clean, the carpet was dirty, the window shades was dirty, the bed suppose to be a King Size, it was two twin size bed pushed together (tacky at it’s best)…. When room service came in to clean the room and change the linen, they put a pillowcase on that had a big stain on it and it was still wet as if someone slobber on it, when I called guess services to report it, I was told, they will send someone up to change it, a guy came up and handed me a pillowcase, I asked him was he changing it, he said no and walked away, I called guest service back and I was told they didn’t have anyone there to change it, I said I will report this to management, she said “yes, do that, that will be best”. The bathroom was small and dirty, the tub had black stuff the appeared to be mold, there was hair on the walls of the tub/shower, there was stains in the sink, turn the water on in the sink, it takes about two mins to get hot. The light in the bathroom was very dimmed, one of the lights was blown in the entry of the room, the nightstand next to the bed, the drawer was broken so it wouldn’t close and the lamp shade on the nightstand were filthy..

When you walk into the hotel lobby, it’s very dark and at night it’s so dimmed, almost as if you are in a dim movie theater, walk into the elevator, the same thing; DARK with dim lighting around the bottom of the elevator, all the room floors was also dark.

The pictures on the website is definitely not what I saw in this hotel so I took my own pictures. My husband and I was there celebrating his 70th birthday and we had a great time, the saddest part of my trip is when it was time to return to my room. As I sanitized everything in that room, I was still very uncomfortable…

We paid to much money to have been so inconvenient, The Row New York should not be under the name for Hotels and it’s definitely not a Four Star Hotel, it should be listed under motel as it’s definitely Motel quality. I will never stay...