Hotel Carter

This hotel is a dive. I knew it would be old and had few amenities, but it was filthy and with poor security. After trying 5 rooms it was clear "clean" was not going to happen. The first room had a broken AC, was not vacuumed, etc. They gave us another room and I went in to find a lady just out of the shower, obviously startled, as the room was already rented to her. The next room was not clean either - upon arrival there was an open bedside table drawer, complete with bits of food, wrappers, tobacco leaves, and a package of wrapping papers! The top of the table was sticky where a plate had obviously been. Not vacuumed. Next room, also not vacuumed, no TV remote, and someone's dirty soap in the shower. The room we ended up in had a closet door that was locked and could not be used, someone's socks behind the dresser which was pulled away from the wall, plaster of paris chunks and wet toilet paper on the bathroon floor, dirty window sills, etc. This is not all but you get the idea. I gave up and cleaned the 5th room myself - but it took the staff a while to even find cleaner. They're excuse; the cleaning staff are young. The super was supposed to fix the closet but never showed up. They tell you they can't be responsible for theft. Yet in this large hotel, in 4 days we saw only one housecleaning cart (explains some of the cleaning problems). I watched as the housekeeper opened multiple rooms and purposely turned the deadbolt so the door did not close, while she attended to another room. I checked inside, someone obviously was still renting the room with their belongings all around. I waited a few minutes, then went over again and close the door for them. I could have ripped off all their stuff while she was in another room and not aware. It was obvious that they were trying to remodel some areas - some rooms other had were nicer but cleanliness and security should be basic issues to be addresses before anything else. Either staff are not trained and/or not given the time needed to do so. Either way, it is clearly a management issue; they clearly are not concerned about their guests. We did not even have them clean our room while we were there. Even if the fixtures look clean, who's to say they don't wipe the toilet then use the same sponge on the sink! If they can miss a dirty bar of soap, chunks of plaster on the floor, etc. there is no reason to expect that they know what they are doing. I would have referred them to "Hotel Impossible" but they don't deserve the help, I only gave them a "1" because the location was good and stayed because it was late at night and we did not want to spend our little time in New York looking for another hotel, especially after I cleaned the room! Might recommend it to an enemy!

Staff was very friendly - allowed us to check in hours early as soon as a room was ready. Not a luxury hotel, but for $100/night right in Times Square, it was perfect to freshen up, take naps prior to outings and take a clean shower.