Jonathan D.
Yelp
We figured we would take a last minute trip to New York City over the long Memorial Day weekend. Since we have a $200 credit through American Express, we decided to book through their portal. When searching for hotels, we stumbled upon Ink 48 and by all accounts, it seemed like the perfect little spot to stay while we were in town - rates were reasonable, they are part of the American Express Hotel Collection (upgrade if available and $100 on-site hotel credit), and decently close to everything we were looking to visit when in town.
Ink 48 has a few different room types. We went through each room carefully and decided to book the King Premium room based on the description and pictures provided by the marketing team on Ink 48's website and the American Express site.
Since we took a red eye, we were hoping & praying for a potential early check-in so we could take a quick nap before venturing out. By the time our plan landed, the hotel had already sent us a notification that our room was ready! It looked as though things were going our way!
When we arrived at the hotel, we asked the front desk if there was any potential for any upgrade. Sadly, we were told that there was, but we would be charged for it. This was a bit of a shock, but decided to let it be until later since we were tired and not looking for any argument. Outside of that, the front desk staff member was super nice.
We proceeded to our room and found that the room we had been given was nothing like what was described or pictured on Ink 48's website or American Express' travel portal. We took a quick nap and then proceeded on with our day since we had activities that were at specific times.
When we returned to the hotel, we asked the new front desk lady about the room and she wasn't super pleasant to interact with. She let us know that the room shown on the website has only a few rooms that look like that and they are reserved for VIP guests who stay with the hotel frequently. She told us that she would move us, but they were 100% full for the night.
We went back up to the room and while looking up review to see if others had experienced the same type of issue noted that the hotel still had plenty of rooms open still for our days of stay. During this same time, we had also noticed that the headboard was covered with what we can only assume was something from someone having a super happy evening of fun with someone else.
Since the front desk didn't seem to be able to help or even really explain why things were not as advertised, we decided to reach out to the General Manager (Nick) who we noticed replies to most reviews in a quick and timely manner. Nick was 100% on the ball and willing to help explain the situation and offered to upgrade us at no cost to the Junior Suite (which is the next room type up it appears). Nick even agreed the descriptions and pictures were not really accurate for that room type. We moved into the new room the next day and it was night/day different than the room we originally were assigned.
The beds and pillows were super comfortable. Make sure you pick up some cups from the front desk as the hotel has removed everything from the rooms. The bathroom products smelled great (might even buy some for home), and the spa like shower was wonderful to stand in when getting ready for the morning.
We did take advantage of the $100 credit by using the Print restaurant in the lobby. We shared an egg sandwich which was pretty tasty. You don't need to order via the website, you can walk in and order at the counter and they will deliver it to you.
Lastly, if you are planning to use the subway, this hotel is a bit of a walk (about 10 minutes or so) to the closest terminal. Otherwise, you can easily hail a cab right outside if needed.
Overall, while the room situation was a bit of a failure, Nick and Anthony did an excellent service recovery on a holiday weekend. We enjoyed staying at Ink 48 and would recommend you trying it out.