Do Not Stay at the London NYC

Due to distractions I never wrote the second post about my trip to NYC in late August, you can read the first post Here. I don’t remember all of the details of the trip as I have made about five more trips to NY since and they kind of all blur together. There is one thing I do remember that I wanted to share, my miserable experience at the London NYC hotel. I booked a room at this all suite hotel through the American Express Centurion Travel Department. As a Fine Hotel and Resort member they are supposed to offer all types of perks if you book through AMEX (room upgrades, free breakfast….). Normally when you make a reservation through American Express the hotel has an envelope waiting for you at the front counter with a letter explaining the extra benefits you get, not this time. I was informed at the front desk that no upgrades were available even though their website showed bigger rooms available, so I was stuck in the smallest room they have (which is actually pretty big for NYC). At first glance the room seemed pretty nice, it was big and had a separate bedroom and living room. Upon further inspection the quality of everything in the room was only slightly better than a Motel 6, the couch was extremely uncomfortable and the bathroom was unimpressive. I asked my American Express Travel Concierge to contact the hotel and let them know that I was not happy with the room and see if they can do something, they tried but the hotel said they had no other rooms available. Before I left to dinner I asked the girl at the front desk if she could do anything, she admitted that they had a few bigger rooms available and that if they were empty in a few hours she could get one for me. When I got back about three hours later the girl was no longer there, I explained to her replacement what she told me and after looking at his computer for a few minutes he said “Sir, I see that you booked our cheapest room, which is the biggest room in NYC for the price, if you wanted a bigger room you should have paid more upfront and you would have got one, why should we give you more than you paid for?”. That’s slightly paraphrased b/c I don’t remember the exact words. I explained that American Express recommended his hotel and that they offer complimentary upgrades so I thought I would actually get the upgrade. Also the night before I stayed at the Plaza hotel and comparing the two rooms there was no way I would ever come back to the London so if he would like my business it might be a good idea to let me have a nicer room, if I like it I will come back. His response was “you got what you paid for, we’re not going to give you any more”. Now I don’t think he had to give me a bigger room, I know that upgrades are not always available but why did he have to be such an asshole? It’s one thing to try to pass off a three star hotel as a 4 or 5 but even a three star should have better customer service than that.