Comments on: Boutique hotel in Manhattan: Run away!

By: walt

walt — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:16:14 +0000

OK, I see now. If you’re not a well-seasoned NY traveler or hip to the code words, you’re ripe for the shafting and ought not to complain. Or, maybe better yet, us rubes should just stay away from the Big City.

Might make an interesting set of messages for the chamber of commerce and/or visitor’s bureau: “If you don’t know our code words and you haven’t already been here often enough to know all the legal cons, don’t come.”

By: jackson

jackson — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:49:02 +0000

Their website (easy to Google) says boutique for the budget-minded. The key word is budget. Yes, $178 is a lot for a room, but a city where rates usually start at $400, you get what you pay for. Same is true for Supershuttle. Any well seasoned NY traveler knows to steer clear of the glorified carpool.

By: walt

walt — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 02:07:13 +0000

Chioggia: Yes, if I’d made the reservation after October 6; yes, if I’d read all of the first few reviews in full; yes, if I’d had other options, I’d be aware of the fifth-floor-with-no-elevator and narrow-bathroom problems (but not the “no alarm clock or radio for you, bucko!”) If, that is, I’d gone to every trip advice site; TripAdvisor’s neither the only one nor necessarily the one I’d go to first.

But I didn’t make the reservation after October 6, so that review wasn’t even there. (As it happens, TripAdvisor *was* one place I looked.) Nor did I really have such a large set of choices, or so much time, that I could do comprehensive reading of user reviews. This was a real-world situation, and I found–and still find–the most prominent set of “facts” to be at best misleading.

By: Chioggia

Chioggia — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:27:11 +0000

Uhh…try tripadvisor.com.

By: walt

walt — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:46:57 +0000

Well, there’s nothing at all on the website or in hotel ratings that would indicate hostel. And it strikes me that $178 a day (including tax) is pretty pricey for a hostel.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:01:10 +0000

Uh, I know the website says “boutique style”, but isn’t Union Square Inn a Hostel/hotel? I’m pretty sure that is why it has no frill accoms.
To bad you didn’t know that before booking.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 22:25:06 +0000

Wow! I just was asked to speak at a conference in Manhattan in the Spring, so I will definitely keep this in mind when we get to talking about accommodations. I’ve stayed in a lot of fleabags in NYC while in college and I just don’t think it’s right to be putting a speaker in a place like that.

By: walt

walt — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:10:29 +0000

Ah, but you had a closet and two beds!

I doubt that I’ll get around to updating the website very soon; I’d like to get some real writing done first, and it’s been more than a week. When I do, it will basically say “conference hotel or at least a full-service business-class hotel, e.g., Hilton, Embassy Suites, Marriott, Hyatt, Westin, or equivalent.”

I hate updating that page, frankly: It seems so demanding. But as I’m getting less young, and flying keeps getting less pleasant (now there’s a euphemism), and I get to liking time at home more (particularly since that’s where I do all my writing, and where my wife is)…well, I’m dealing with a dropoff in speaking invitations by thinking that this is a good thing. I’m almost at the point where, if it’s not part of my job or it’s not a state library conference or similar occasion where I stand to learn a lot, I’ll “start from no” instead of “starting from yes.” But I’m not quite there yet, and won’t do anything drastic until after the holiday/SAD season is over.

By: Jill Hurst-Wahl

Jill Hurst-Wahl — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 20:32:10 +0000

This reminds me a bit of the hotel I stayed at in Toronto for the 2005 SLA conference. It was a European style hotel, although I don’t know if they used that phrasing (www.thestrathconahotel.com). Small room, tiny-tiny closet, small bathroom, but decent amenities. Although I had reserved a “big” bed for my husband and I, we got a small room with twin beds! Thankfully it was 2 blocks from the convention center, clean, etc. So we survived and had stories to tell.

I’ll have to check to see how you now describe what accommodations you want. I’m sure I’ll learn from them for my own travel.