Posted on 10/05/2009 10:01:29 AM PDT by big black dog
La Semana Hotel, New York City
**
I'd rather take a nap at the Macy's bathroom than this place
I had just arrived in New York City, exhausted and out of breathe and wasn't going to be in Brooklyn 'til later that afternoon to spend a few nights with some friends, and so I went on the web to find a few hotels in the city for a hotel by the hour rate...to get the essentials done...take a short nap, shower, get myself cleaned up. Holy crap! This place is a complete hell-hole! Broken glass mirrors, cracked tiles, the door locks don't work well, there's a weird ceiling that's not even shut....seriously, this place is a lot dirtier than the bathroom in the airplane...seriously! I don't care how cheap it is....I'd rather pay up $100 a night at the Holiday Inn than this piece of you know what.
**
Surrealistic
The most bizarre experience I have ever had in a hotel - by far.
The room was very small and especially narrow. A large mirror was fitted on two walls, apparently to create the illusion of a larger room.
There was a jacuzzi in the room - literally in the room. It had a crude stencil on the inside "Max fill", and the bottom had a number of marks on the bottom of indeterminate composition. We decided not to try it. The TV was on a perch about 12 feet high, and it was only possible to get one station, as the satellite reciever was non-functional.
The bathroom had no door or curtain. The medicine cabinet had a door that could not be open, but rather hung fully open, ready to smash your forehead if you let your concentration lapse while using the sink.
It did have a functioning hair dryer, though.
There was a space heater sitting on the floor, with the only place to plug it in being an extension cord -clearly unsafe considering that we had to plug-in the mini-fridge there as well.
There was a functioning floor lamp and one light in the toilet partition.
Even though there were at least 6 other lamps in the high ceiling, NONE of them worked, and the switches for them were largely missing the plastic toggle covers. The bed had no bedspread or blanket, merely an extra sheet. They did provide a blanket when I asked at the desk, and I'm sure it would have been good to 60 F if it wasn't sweltering in the room due to the air conditioner working fin futile fashion due to it being completely wrapped in plastic.
There were other things - including bad porn art and exposed pipes that haven't been cleaned in many years. This hotel is suited to Joe Buck and Ratzo at their most desperate - everyone else should look elsewhere.
**
DO NOT STAY HERE FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR…
It is a pity I read the comments about this hotel only after our return - the only positive impression was a single friendly person on the staff (the rest of them being absolutely uninterested and/or uninformed about anything). The room was tiny and had no heating (only a noisy electrical fan heater waking us up every half hour), the windows were very drafty (with an outside temperature of 5° Celsius), although they didn't open. There was almost no place to put our things (for lack of space and for lack of a closet and with only a tiny table). The carpet was quite carelessly vacuumed (previous guests' litter still under the bed). In addition, there was no fridge, despite announced in the room’s description, we didn’t even bother turning on the TV (arriving from Europe that day). The bed could only be left by one person climbing over the other (I wonder what “karebear100” from St. Paul are used to doing back home…?). When we tried to get a different room, we were offered a windowless (!!!) one – quite likely that it is only used on an hourly basis, as suggested by other reviewers. All this for a daily rate (225 $ including tax) which seems more appropriate for a week, considering the value you get.
**
Cockroach - Dump - Scam - Do Not Go There
La Semana Hotel - This is the worst place I have ever seen! they put false publicity on the web!
La Semana Hotel - DO NOT GO THERE!
La Semana Hotel - Toilet door does not close! La Semana Hotel - Bath in the room! transparent curtain. La Semana Hotel - if you take the jacuzzi room, well it does not work. La Semana Hotel - they have heating system on wheels - so it is freaking cold.
La Semana Hotel - some room are on the street side, and there is a bar with 200 people waiting in line at night - impossible to sleep.
La Semana Hotel - look like a place you rent per hour... (even if I have never been to a place like this)
this is outrageous!!!
La Semana Hotel - DO NOT GO THERE. NOT EVEN IF YOU GET PAID TO GO!
**
Complete DUMP! Do NOT stay here!
Hotels at NYC are generally old, but this place is an ABSOLUTE DUMP! I felt like I was in a 3rd world hostel. DO NOT STAY HERE. I made the mistake of booking this hotel after being fooled by pleasant photos on their website, but what a huge mistake that was!
The sheets and blankets were not clean. The walls were cracked, the ceiling was cracked, and the central vents ran visibly from one room to the next via huge cracks in the walls and ceilings. The bathroom was a sham. No shampoo or toothpaste was provided. The door did not even lock. The bathroom floor and shower tiles were all cracked. A hole was cut into the wall, very near the celing, in which a tv was placed. What a joke! Walls were very thin, and the noise from other rooms could be EASILY heard. Worse of all was the staff, which was composed of unprofessional young adult foreigners who freely smoked and cursed in the presence of guests.
If I ever rented out a room such as the one I stayed at in this hotel, I would be jailed. Likewise, the owners of this hotel should be arrested. DO NOT STAY HERE!
**
Horrible doss house
This was possibly the worst hotel i have stayed in in 10 years! The staff seemed bemused that I had booked and couldn't find any paperwork - they then photocopied my passport and took a credit card payment (couldn't help feeling this was to clone my card).
The first room offered was dark and airless with a huge jacuzzi and smaller bed - lots of noise from fridge and airco. The room I took was like a dark corridor with bed and huge jacuzzi, but quieter. No chair, nowhere to put suitcase, no cups..... Bed was comfortable, however.
In England, this kind of room would normally be charged by the hour! Amazing price $229 - but arrived too late to hunt for an alternative. Expedia have over-rated room before (in my opinion) but this was outrageous.
**
Not a Hotel, a BORDELLO!
Two words: HOURLY RATES!
By no means am I a fussy traveler. I've roughed it in some real sketchy hotels and hostels throughout Europe and the US. But this place is by far the worst hotel ever.
Upon check-in, the clerk had no "recolection" of my reservation, nor our pre-payment. He didn't bother to check his computer - the same computer on which we spotted him perusing pornography. As we settled our room dispute not one, but two, couples went upstairs to use one of their advertised "hot tub rooms" for a few hours. And also there were large creepy floor-to-cieling mirrors on each wall. Those dark mirrors, that appear to be two-way. Creepy.
Also, the staff smokes inside. And there were no pillows. And broken lights and A/C.
**
A poor excuse for a hotel
Our room had no window, a disconnected air conditioner (finally activated after we spent a sleepless night in the stuffy, nonmoving air) that was located 8 feet up the wall (so we had to stand on the tub sides to reach the controls), no towel rack, no water glasses (no ice bucket, because there's no ice machine), minimal lighting (three tiny bulbs hanging from wires running across the ceiling), no maid service during the day between our two nights, a thin mattress that sloped to the center. Two positives: a small refrigerator in the room, and the room was clean (though the hallway had a range of funky smells). We stayed here only because of a special arrangement, but I can't imagine any series of events that would lead me to stay there again.
**
One real expensive dump
I checked in around 6:00 on a Saturday evening the place reeked of pot as he walked with me to the room because I didn't have any clean towels at the time. The night clerk kept coming upstairs to change the rooms every five minutes when they didn't need changing and he would just hang around in the hallway for like ten minutes before he decided what he was going to do next. Who knows whether the guy was spying on us or not but he probably was. The place was not cool for $163 a night. The name of the hotel should be here's a room your stupid. The room was a closet sized room with no curtains on the window everybody could see in I was like ok. They gave us a thin blanket we were freeziing most of the time. I really didn't want to ask for a blanket because that night clerk really gave me the creeps. Basically stay away it it not worth the price that was the cheapest room they had
Hotels rented by the hour are for sex only. Note the mirrows.
I own it. Quit dissing my prostitutes.
If you go to the TripAdvisor site, the comments are basically saying the hotel looks like it should charge by the hour (it’s apparently that crappy). The regular rate is around $225 - $229 per night based upon the aforementioned comments.
...you know that.
condommints $.75
>>> Wait until you have to spend a night in a four bit
A-RAB hotel and your hotel would seem like a palace. <<<
I’ve stayed in some real nasty flop houses in the Third World (e.g., grey water from the spigots or army ants crawling up the walls), but 20 years ago the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC was a shocker because it was (a) expensive and (b) a pigsty.
blankie-blankie hotels in Rio de Janiero are awesome
there was one in Sao Conrado that was great...decent food too...all very discreet...private pool, roof opening up...just incredible
ah to be a young man about the world again
(pre-AIDs)
worst hotel for the money in my day......stayed in a rough place in San Jose Guatemala once....dirt floor, hammocks
Jamaica had a problem back then with decent staff...cultural laziness and bad manners....Butch and Eddie fixed that
Ok, you got me....
“condommints $.75”
No, that big pink mint was free—but it tasted waxy and wee wee-ee.
When I was 11 my younger brother and I put a quarter each in a gas station machine in Tulsa, OK that promised a `pussy-stretcher.’
Sure enough, it coughed up a tiny paper cat reclining on a little stretcher.
“Large Mirrors along one wall” and “A very long narrow room”?
I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure there’s a secret room built out of the space they stole from your room, and thus the two way mirror.
When I hear stories like this it always reminds me of the British hotel on National Lampoons European Vacation...
Sounds nicer than a place I stayed in near the Oakland Airport. Slept in the tub with the matress pulled over me because of the continual gunfire outside.
In the metropolitan NYC area(including the outlying suburbs) no legitimate motel charges by the hour. Those are what are known here as “No-tell Motels”. Their express purpose is for hourly trysts of the more sordid kind. No local would even think of booking a room for a nap and a shower, it just isn’t done. Goodness knows what horrific pornographic encounters go on in those places. Out of towners should stick with the reputable chain hotels or a YMCA.
Weird. Semana is Spanish for weekend and the name sounds inviting.
Wow! Glad I don’t travel much anymore, but it was “entertaining” reading about this place.
Yikes.
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