The hotel provided by the program has a 4-star ("upscale") rating. That means refrigerator, microwave, rollover bed ($50/night), laundry service, breakfast and wifi (free for travel group) are premium options. In contrast, Hampton Inn – one of my preferred hotels – is rated 3-star ("mid-tier") and offers those premium options – particularly refrigerators, microwaves, breakfast and wifi - as complimentary. 4-star rating does not mean 4-star quality, as we found out.
The room reserved for us was a Metro View Room Double type with two full beds. According to the staff, a rollover bed is not allowed due to a fire code. We could upgrade to a room that had either an bigger bed or an additional one for a substantial premium. For example, a Queen Suite – queen bed plus sofa bed – is almost an extra $240/night. Exception can be made for issues beyond the control of the guests. A family from our group received a complimentary upgrade to another room when the one they had was flooding due to a leak.
While waiting for the everyone to show up at the Registration & Orientation meeting on Day 1, I went to the lobby to check in. According to Olimpia at the front desk, it was a policy to charge a deposit on the customer's credit card (even though the room was already paid for). As I told Wife later, I expected to follow up with my bank to resolve this. A hotel I stayed in last year charged my credit card twice for the stay but refused to take responsibility to remove the duplicate charge.
The elevator hall (above left photo) is guarded by two suits. Their job is to verify that each person had a legitimate reason to be in the hotel, whether employee, guest or resident. A show of the key card allows the person(s) access to the elevators and the splendid marble flooring leading up to them.
The photo above shows the luggage storage service that is unmanned half the time. Located to the right of the elevator hall, it consists of a front desk (left) and a check-in counter (right). The hotel check-in counter is next to that check-in counter.
Our room #2045 was right by the elevators. Sounds of their doors opening and closing, and human chatter, were too audible. So were the busy NYC traffic on the ground. Thankfully, I brought ear plugs. The room looked like its last renovation was nearly 50 years ago, judging by the presence of water sprinklers above the beds. There was noticeable wear and tear on the doors and walls. The bathtub was so last century. It had been more than 30 years since I last saw two pair of taps, one for the shower head and the other for the spout.
In the past, I usually experienced difficulty getting to sleep on the first night. A lot had to do with the pillow especially when it was thin. It got better in the last few years, but not tonight. Different arrangements, pillows and ventilations kept me up for hours. I shared a full bed with wife, which meant less space than I was comfortable with. The pillows came in two sizes but were all equally thin. I was also switching back and forth between single pillow and double pillows, tossing and turning, and eventually settling on single. The a/c vent – located on the far wall, as opposed to the ceiling by the windows – ensured that one part of the room was cooler than the other. My side of the bed was near the front door – the warmer part. 74°F on the thermostat felt like 79°F. I was perspiring. So the thermostat was adjusted to 72°F. It was probably 2am when I finally went to sleep. From Day 2 onwards, I made sure the thermostat was at 70°F before heading to bed.
Most modern hotels have queen-sized beds (as a minimum), a/c vents on the ceiling (and/or floor), doors that shut properly, complimentary mini-fridge, coffee maker and microwave oven, and a lighting setup that is conducive no matter where the guest is situated. The only thing modern about the hotel was the lobby. As for the room, management chose to keep things stuck in the past (i.e. prewar times). Ours could definitely accommodate a queen and a sofa bed. It was a matter of rearranging the furniture around. As previously mentioned, the a/c ventilation was terrible. Then there was the front door. Whenever we left or entered our room, we had to apply effort to sure that it shut completely. Otherwise, anyone without key access could enter.
It would be nice to have a tall lamp next to the sofa chairs, preferably by the corner wall where the AC outlet was. Or swap the little table in the middle with a larger one to accommodate a table lamp. With the ceiling lamp providing the only central lighting for the room, it was almost dark at the sofa chair on the right. I could barely see the keyboard on my laptop even with the curtains pulled during the day.
The elevator hall on every floor had a landline phone connected directly to a hotel operator. That came in handy when I couldn't find the ice machine – it was on the 19th floor. However, there weren't any trash bins by the elevators or anywhere on the floor except in the room. By the end of Day 3, both trash bins in our room were full. We removed the "Do Not Disturb" sign from the front door so that the cleaning crew could come in the next morning to remove the trash. They also made the beds and pillows, thereby resetting my pillow position and shape. That is why I always put the "Do Not Disturb" on the front door. Thankfully, it was a minor issue as I had little difficulty sleeping for the remaining two nights.
Day 4: Tesla
Day 4 was free time for us to do whatever we wanted. After returning from dinner at Shake Shack, I explored the rest of the hotel. The plan was to take the stairs to the lower levels, and then take the elevator to the 33rd floor. On the 18th floor, a sign by the stairs warned residents not to trespass on the guest floors. This meant I was entering the residential floors. In addition to the sign, the grey doors leading to the stairs had no windows. Since there was no visual indications that guests were not allowed, I continued on.
With the exception of 10th to 12th floors, the rest of the floors from 18th downwards were utilized by the Educational Housing Services (EHS) to provide “dormitory-style student and intern housing facilities”. The hotel was one of many buildings providing this service in the Big Apple, completed with poster boards, mail boxes and Quiet Hours sign throughout each floor. The EHS had an office on the 15th floor for registrations and check-ins.
The corridors were surprisingly quiet, and it wasn't yet quiet hours when I was there – 7:15pm. I expected to hear footsteps and a little chatter from students going to and fro. It was the same in every floor, except for the 15th where the EHS office was. The 10th to 12th floors were for office spaces. Tour Guide Joe said that he had an office on the 10th. I don't remember which floor was the photo below taken, probably the 10th.
The Manhattan Center was adjacent to the hotel. It stood at 10 stories high. The doors with the words "Manhattan Center" on them could be either its corporate office or its entrance from the hotel. I continued on downstairs to more residential floors, then took an elevator to the 20th floor, got off and transferred to another elevator for the 33rd floor. I wish I had taken some pictures of the latter floor. Its decor looked upscale compared to the floors from the 20th downwards.
I followed the signs to rooms #3327 and #3328 – Tesla's former place of residence. It was located at the end of a corridor after taking two lefts from the elevator hall. The memorial consisted of a poster board filled with pictorial and written memorabilia, and a pair of plaques one on each door. "Beth Frank @farbav" at YouTube stayed at room 3327 in July 2018, and posted a video showing what it looked like. It looked no different from our room except smaller. According to the Tesla Memorial Society website, the two door plaques might have erected been at the same time as the commemorative plaque outside the hotel: July 10, 2001.
The last time I saw Tesla was on Doctor Who, specifically in the episode "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror". It wonderfully depicts the rivalry between Edison and Tesla, references the war of the currents, and utilizes the Wardenclyffe Tower (historically, it was constructed but never finished) in the climatic scene.
That was a fun short adventure. Back to the regularly scheduled program. One good thing about our room being on the 20th floor: no need to transfer elevators.
During the check-out on Day 6, I informed the front desk staffer to remove the deposit from my credit card. He tapped some keys on the computer and told me it was done. I waited till the next day, logged in to my bank account and confirmed that the charge was indeed gone. "Trust, but verify."
Overall, our room had plenty of minor-to-major issues but none that couldn't be managed. If it was entirely up to me, I wouldn't pick this hotel. Nor do I recommend it. It's the one thing in the entire program that I won't miss.
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