Last week I was in New York City for a couple of days on business. Unfortunately, all the hotels I normally stay in were either booked or askign absurdly high rates.

Hotels.com turned up this Comfort Inn in what was described as Times Square which seemed ok, and was certainly cheap ($265 or so before taxes and fees for a Tuesday night) so I booked it.

First room I checked in to, the (wired) Internet access wasn’t working, and they did not yet have wireless, so I had to change rooms. The new room I got moved to had no iron, no coffeemaker, and no remote control for the TV. I left a message with the front desk on my out to dinner (with ECMArchitect Jeff Potts, his wife, and a colleague from the Boston office – had wonderful Italian at Picolo Angelo though I wouldn’t call it generally vegan-friendly) asking that those things be delivered.

Here’s what I came back to:

Coffeemaker still in the box, ironing board still wrapped for delivery – I guess the manager wasn’t kidding when he said they had only recently opened! I think I may have been the first person to stay on that floor, let alone in that room.

They also forgot to deliver actual coffee for the coffeemaker, so I had to call down again.

All in all, though, I’d happily stay there again. (The manager also discounted my bill for the “trouble” – doesn’t directly matter since I expense it, but I appreciated the gesture). It’s a bit of a hike from Times Square proper, between 8th and 9th on 39th street, but the 8th Avenue Subway is right on the corner and you’re only one stop from Penn Station, so it is convenient to the Accela. It was clean, as you’d expect a new hotel to be, and with only 3-4 rooms per floor you’re unlikely to have lots of noise (I heard no city noise despite being on a low floor).