Hotel Pennsylvania

When my mother and I arrived the reception staff were not welcoming and rather rude, we were eventually given rm 408 's door card. OMG - dark, cold,smelly large room, bathroom on the left ( which we later found a very large dead cockroach in!) carpet was sticky and dirty, the 2 beds had rusty brackets sticking out of them and the top bedding was stained along with the curtains and walls. The air conditioning unit was something else, absolutely high bound with built up dirt. 3 horrible internal doors lead from this room but behind two it was just boarded up with ply wood and the third door opened into a dark smelly room that had no light switch so who knows what was in there. The bedroom had an old dirty alarm clock on the floor with a broken old tv unit with the tv in it. We asked if we could move rooms, we saw 3 other rooms which were not any better and they said that tomorrow a better room will be available for us, so we stayed in that room for the first night. Just as we were getting ready in the bathroom my mum thought it was a dead mouse on the floor near the toilet it was in fact a huge cockroach that had obviously been there some time. The hand basin was not attached to the wall and all the fixtures and fittings were all rusty. At 6 am the following morning I phoned down to reception asked the manager if she could come up to this room and see where we slept and get this cockroach out of the bathroom, she said managers don't come to the rooms, all she said then was she would get house keeping to deal with the cockroach and the better room she said we could have would be ready after 12 pm no apology or anything ! We went out for the day and when we returned they gave us the door card to the other room on floor 8.I took my 72 yr old mother to that new room and went to the first room to collect our luggage. The beds had been made but the cockroach was still there, so I packed our stuff up and took the cockroach to reception in the plastic cup from the bathroom. I gave the cockroach to the manager behind the reception and he said that is unacceptable and said he will refund the accommodation on that room for 50% plus complimentary breakfast vouchers for the remaining mornings. The new room was just about ok but still not good, but we had a holiday to enjoy and just got on with it. I would recommend that people avoid this hotel as it will be the thing you remember most about your trip!

This is a large, older hotel with high noise level in the huge lobby. There are no frills - no coffee pot, but there is a coffee shop and a cafe downstairs, plus a shop to buy water and snacks. There was an iron and hairdryer. The bed was very comfortable. The room small. Staff were pleasant. If you want luxury this is not for you, but if you want a reasonable cost hotel and you don't plan to spend much time at the hotel this is good value for New York city.

Its location is great but our room was facing to the wall at 17th floor. Carpets were not clean at all and furniture was really old. There are 12 elevators which is more than enough. Hotel is permenantly full but we never waited for elevator. If the price is cheap it may be a good choice but its not lux at all.

We had read mixed reviews about the hotel and so were a little apprehensive about staying here. However, we found the room to be very clean and comfortable. The bathtub was a little questionable, but nothing a pair of shower shoes couldn't fix. Also while some staff members were less than pleasant or helpful it did not put a damper on our experience. Overall, an excellent value for a great location. We will stay here next time we visit.

The place is in the middle of everything. Great location and staff was very nice.

The location of this hotel is great, however for the price of the rooms it is not worth it. The hotel is located directly across from MSG and Penn station. It's old and seems run down. I would not stay here again. It is far too overpriced for what you get. Everything in the room and the entire hotel is old and in need of update. The sheets on the bed had wear spots and the carpet looked like it had been there since they built the hotel. I have stayed in NY before and the hotels I stayed in were for a better value and they were much nicer and also in good locations.

This is a very large, very busy hotel. The room was smaller than it looked on the website, but it had two double beds, small wardrobe, large tv, and a small but adequate bathroom (uk readers, think "travelodge"). No room to swing a cat, but a good "home base". Although the room looked like it needed an update, it was cleaned and given new towels every day, with the rubbish taken out and beds made daily. For a place to sleep,wash and prepare for the day, it was spot on for what we paid. You get what you pay for, and we were satisfied!

Very Rude except for the luggage guys in the basment they need a raise and promotion

Yes,the plaster was peeling, the heating/ac system is ancient, but the hotel was clean, friendly and buzzing with good nature. I was here many times in the 1980's when the city was in rapid decline, and it has turned around for the better... Great location and value, will stay there again!

I thought the Hotel Pennsylvania was a great place to stay based on the location and the price was right. It's old and the walls, ceilings and rugs could use some renovating but it was clean, the lights worked & the plumbing worked. What more do you need? I don't want to pay for 5 star quality if I'm only there to sleep.