Carla Nicole Sia

Review of Hotel on Rivington

My husband and I stayed in this hotel for a busine...

My husband and I stayed in this hotel for a business trip for 6 nights from June 9 to 16. There are many positives about the hotel but let me go directly to main negative: the front desk.

Upon check in, we were greeted by a woman named ELMARIE who will go down in our books as one of the worst receptionists we have EVER dealt with. So this is what happened: We checked into our hotel room on the 9th floor and were surprised by how untidy the room was (hair on the couch, hair on the bed, dust on bathroom, chipping walls, candle wax in the bathroom burnt, sticky floor). We called Elmarie and told her our situation. She then started arguing with us over the phone saying the room was cleaned. BUT IT WAS NOT. I had to practically beg her to send up housekeeping to inspect it. She then told us that we can be transferred to another room if we are willing to wait outside for a couple of hours. The housekeeping came and we showed them the room. No response from Elmarie for the next 4 hours. We had to call her to ASK FOR AN UPDATE. She said that the room was inspected and it was clean and that there was nothing she can do. SERIOUSLY?! She had to wait 4 hours and us calling her to tell her this? I asked to speak to the manager and thankfully he moved us to a much better room on the 14th floor. Honestly, we've stayed in different kinds of hotels - from the Sheratons of the world to the St Regis to the Ritz - never have I encountered a receptionist as plain arrogant and unhelpful as Elmarie.

But wait, there is more... Strike 2 is when I called the front desk the next day asking for complimentary water. It was again Elmarie. She told me that they should have refilled the fridge. I told her they haven't. Instead of just sending up two freaking bottles, she told me sorry just wait the housekeeping to refill it. It was 7pm. I was done dealing with his horrible receptionist the entire stay.

Aside from Elmarie which is the main negative, the hotel had a lot of positives:

- great view from the room
- comfortable linens and bed
- good airconditioning
- absolutely wonderful location
- great manager who helped transfer us to a better room
- delicious breakfast every morning
- really lovely hotel housekeeping lady who cleaned our room every morning! She was the sweetest!
- rooms bigger than most in NYC

It's really sad and eye-opening that instead of the 5 star review that this hotel could have easily gotten, I have to take off 2 stars all because of Elmarie and her horrible attitude. And it seems like a lot of people have noticed. When we were at breakfast, we chatted with a couple visiting from Europe and they had the same negative feedback about the receptionist (surprise surprise: Elmarie) and her attitude.

To the hotel management, please hire front desk people who help guests solve problems and make their stay better and not the other way around. People like Elmarie are doing a disservice to the great amenities you offer.