Imperial Court Hotel - New York City, USA 

Very dissapointed
Posted: Sat, Mar 01 2008
Having stayed at a large number of hotels around the world, including other places in America, we left this hotel with a great deal of heartache and frustration. It started from the moment we called them to make some enquiries about the distance from certain areas. The receptionist told us 'I am very busy' and rudely put the phone down. We booked the hotel through their website, which claimed that one night is free when u book 8. So we went through this option, and actually extended our stay to 8 nights instead of 7, to make use of that one extra night at this expensive time in the city (new years). However, when we got to the final page ready to make the payment, it charged us for 8 nights anyway. I called the hotel and spoke to the receptionist. He went onto the site with us to see where the problem was, and then told us that there are some errors in the website, and that we should just continue with the booking and that we would be refunded at the end of our stay. He even said that it was good we marked the error, and that we would immediately report it to his manager. I then asked to speak to manager just to confirm everything he had said. The manager (David) wasn't there at the time, so we called him back the next day. The manager confirmed with us what had been explained to us the day before, and so we went ahead with the booking. However, on our final day at the hotel, the manager denied speaking to me, and said that the offer was probably not on at the time. He dismissed us telling us we were stupid to have gone through with the credit card transaction on the web and then expect that one night to be refunded at the hotel. But that is what had been said to us over the phone, by him! So we lost our money there, as the manager obviously did not have this policy of listening to the customer and stood there throwing insults at us instead, denying he had spoken to us. His own staff member had exclaimed that there was an error on the website! About the rooms, they were very basic. The toilet overflowed when it was flushed. It happened in the evening, and the receptionist told us we would have to clean the mess ourselves. He gave us a bedsheet to clean it with. That was not possible, so we could not even use our bathroom during the night. If you still want to stay in this hotel, do not do it during the colder months. The rooms are freezing. After a number of calls to reception, they finally came to see what was wrong with the heating, and eventually transferred us to a so called superior room. This room was just a slightly bigger version of what we already had, and to top it off, there was another woman's hair on one of the towels, and in the bathtub! The people at reception are very rude, and cannot be asked anything about the city, as they are clueless. Overall, it was the manager's attitude which really dissapointed us. He did not act like a manager at all, but just wanted to get rid of us at the time, as he had other guests standing nearby, and i guess he didn't want them to hear about the problems. We had cousins staying at the millenium hotel on times sq. and they actually didn't pay that much more than us (they weren't there for new years eve though). That hotel gave excellent service, and the rooms really are worth the money you'd be spending. Spend a bit more and go somewhere else. The stress and bother is not worth it at the imperial court hotel.