There has just been a very serious incident at the Rodeway Inn on west 71st Street in NYC. Several burglars entered through a cellar door that had been left often, turned off electricity (and therefore internal security cameras) and when 3 staff went to the basement to investigate they were pistol whipped and the hotel robbed. Police believe it likely an insider was part of the plan.

This is not the first crime in this venue: late last year a guest was murdered by two companions he was visiting in the hotel apparently to engage in S&M activity. After which the brand of the hotel was quickly changed but the lack of security remained.

The hotel has no street security cameras and those indoors are minimal, as is staff during late nigh hours. Neighbors in this upscale area have been complaining about illicit activity near the hotel for some time and petitioning for greater security.

All details are still not available but given the obvious lack of security any travelers considering this hotel due to the super low prices are advised to investigate these security concerns before booking a room.

That hotel (used to be the Comfort Inn?) always struck me as so odd, being located smack in the middle of a beautiful residential street on the UWS. I'm so sorry to hear about the recent event, but maybe this will spur the authorities to some sort of action (although I'm not sure what).

sf7307: I think the Comfort Inn is still there

nyt: did you mean Comfort Inn?

Yes, that hotel was until recently a Comfort Inn. Now it's been rebranded as a Rodeway Inn, but it's still a Choice hotel, just another of their brands. There are still several Comfort Inns in New York City.

So is it a safe enough place to stay, given the neighborhood, or no? I appreciate that some bad juju has gone down there, but otoh, stuff happens, right? Or is it really the case that security here is lax?

Was a Comfort Inn - they changed the name right after the murder. But obviously they have done nothing to improve their security.

And yes, it's odd to find such a downscale property in this area - and neighbors say it often attracts undesirable groups to the area.

You know, while the hotel may carry some residue of a former life, it's not at all a downscale place. It's a mid-range tourist-class hotel, no different from any other mid-range hotel in NYC. It's not a luxury property, and I'm sure the people on the block don't like it (who would want a hotel next door), but I wouldn't characterize it as "downscale".

I can't speak to the clientele, the safety, or why this particular property seems to have had so many issues, but you could have such a break-in at any small hotel in NYC. I wonder if the questionable clientele has as much to do with the fact that it doesn't cost a small fortune to stay there.

A battery operated light with camera that comes on whenever the door opens would be a good start. Another motion activated light/camera above all the outside doors would be welcome.
The worst Rodeway I stayed 1 night at was in the east end of Baltimore.

While the recent events are unfortunate, How did security fail with a private threesome tryst gone bad? How was a hotel security to prevent that?

Doug, thanks for your post.

You say "the hotel was robbed". What about the guests?

What does "S&M" have to do with anything?

Not too long ago a young woman was murdered in an upscale hotel--Soho House--in Meatpacking. Wonder if people avoided the place after that.

I know nothing about the Comfort Inn, however.

Well the fact that the basement door was left open all night and there are no lights/cameras outside would indicate to me a that there are serious breaches of security.

And neighbors on the block seemed to indicate that at times people gathered around the hotel (it sounded like a bunch of kids perhaps on spring break since it is a super cheap property.) And one woman indicated she had heard of a guest being assaulted but have not seen that verified elsewhere.

When there are a gazillion hotels in NY why take one with obvious safety issues and limited staff (since all 3 staff in the hotel were pistol whipped by the robbers).

Only the hotel was robbed - but how would you have liked to be a guest and wake up to find no electricity, no answer at the desk and go out into the hall to run into a gun-toting burglar?

Well I guess it depends on your point of view - IMHO both Rodeway and Comfort are downscale chains.

In an upscale neighborhood? Tsk tsk.

We have friends who live on the same block. I'll have to check in with her. It's a lovely street.

We once stayed in a perfectly respectable hotel in Baltimore during a dentists' convention.

In the middle of the night, one of the conventioneers wives showed up in the hall screaming that she would shoot the *^%#} tramp who was with her husband. He apparently did not have a perfect record of fidelity, and she had followed him. The police came.

Dentists! Who knew? I wonder about actuaries; are they secret swingers?

A friend who was a serious antique dealer was tied up and robbed in a Famous Manhattan Hotel by people who had followed him and his wife after they bought jewelry at an antique show.

I would try not to stay at a Comfort Inn, too, but this kind of stuff can and does happen in hotels everywhere, regardless of price and neighborhood. The more expensive hotels are just better at keeping their names out of the press.

It's true that there can be issues everywhere. I once stayed at a hilton in Pittsburgh (on business) to be awakened at 2 am by a fight in the corridor outside my room. Two drunken women were having a screaming hair-pulling physical altercation over a fur coat and they were shortly joined by a bellowing man trying to pull them apart. I assume he was their pimp.

HOWEVER, I called hotel security and within a couple of minutes two guards appeared, broke up the fight and escorted them out of the hotel. And the hotel manager called me, apologized and comped me the room.

The issue is not that problems can happen anywhere - they can. It's if the hotel has sufficient planning and security to handle the problems.

IMHO a hotel that has had 2 such serous issues (and possibly more) in a short time - at least one due to obvious neglect - is not a safe, secure place to stay. What happens the next time the door is left open and a mentally unbalanced person, or a drug-using mugger gets in and wanders the halls?

Maybe OP lives on W 71 St and want to get rid of the riff raff?