What do you think of East Village Hotel?
Jun 6th, 2012, 06:26 PM
#81
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without a doubt the biggest and nicest WF I've ever seen.
They're beginning to build one in between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, that will be over 50,000 square feet! We've been waiting for this location to break ground for about seven years. But I have to admit, that size and its distance from any subway (unlike the others in the city) scare me to death!!
There is an unusual system for checking out at that store.
That's the same system they have in use at the Union Square store. (Smaller locations like Columbus Circle and Chelsea don't have it.)
Just went through it a few hours ago. Gotta love the nickname, Whole Paycheck.
// The Cosmopolitan Hotel is just a few blocks from Blue Spoon Coffee Co, on Chambers. Yummy sandwiches and coffee in this tiny shop. In the other direction, up West Broadway, Odeon is still same as it ever was after all these years - it's a sentimental favorite of mine, since it was one of the first places I dined when I moved here.
It's also an easy walk to Chinatown for dim sum, or over the Brooklyn Bridge for views of the skyline and treats in Dumbo on the other side!
They're beginning to build one in between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, that will be over 50,000 square feet! We've been waiting for this location to break ground for about seven years. But I have to admit, that size and its distance from any subway (unlike the others in the city) scare me to death!!
There is an unusual system for checking out at that store.
That's the same system they have in use at the Union Square store. (Smaller locations like Columbus Circle and Chelsea don't have it.)
Just went through it a few hours ago. Gotta love the nickname, Whole Paycheck.
// The Cosmopolitan Hotel is just a few blocks from Blue Spoon Coffee Co, on Chambers. Yummy sandwiches and coffee in this tiny shop. In the other direction, up West Broadway, Odeon is still same as it ever was after all these years - it's a sentimental favorite of mine, since it was one of the first places I dined when I moved here.
It's also an easy walk to Chinatown for dim sum, or over the Brooklyn Bridge for views of the skyline and treats in Dumbo on the other side!
Jun 6th, 2012, 07:49 PM
#82
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ggreen, yes, I have had many good lunches and good coffee at Blue Spoon.
I really like Kitchenette, a 50s style Mom's diner w/great lunches and legendary brunch, also right there on Chambers. I have not eaten dinner there but they are open til 11 pm and have a nice homey dinner menu. Very reasonable prices and good quality food.
I also really like Zucker's Deli, across st. from Cosmopolitan Hotel. It is small and not much eat-in space (although I ahve always been able to sit to eat lunch), but it is very good for traditional deli sandwiches and killer soups and wonderful bagels, pickles, and everythign else you expect form a good NYC deli. And it is a very friendly place also, nice workers there.
I love Tribeca, it is one of my 3 favorite neighborhoods in NYC.
I really like Kitchenette, a 50s style Mom's diner w/great lunches and legendary brunch, also right there on Chambers. I have not eaten dinner there but they are open til 11 pm and have a nice homey dinner menu. Very reasonable prices and good quality food.
I also really like Zucker's Deli, across st. from Cosmopolitan Hotel. It is small and not much eat-in space (although I ahve always been able to sit to eat lunch), but it is very good for traditional deli sandwiches and killer soups and wonderful bagels, pickles, and everythign else you expect form a good NYC deli. And it is a very friendly place also, nice workers there.
I love Tribeca, it is one of my 3 favorite neighborhoods in NYC.
Jun 6th, 2012, 10:07 PM
#83
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Emd3, what are your other 2?
I have the objective of discovering Brooklyn on this trip - just no time before.
As happy as I am about a Whole Foods near my hotel, no branch is likely to impress me, having seen the 80,000 sq. ft. one in Austin. But it will be very handy.
I have the objective of discovering Brooklyn on this trip - just no time before.
As happy as I am about a Whole Foods near my hotel, no branch is likely to impress me, having seen the 80,000 sq. ft. one in Austin
. But it will be very handy.
Jun 7th, 2012, 05:28 AM
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We'll be staying at the Cosmopolitan this weekend - first time, although I have friends who swear by it. Since it's a spur of the moment trip, trust me when I say I did NOT get a $113 rate! (Still reasonable by NYC standards, though, especially last minute.) You did well, WillTravel.
I love TriBeCa. I used to work on Park Place so know the area fairly well. Correction: I used to know the area fairly well. I had a heck of a time narrowing down our eating (and drinking) options for a trip that will amount to less than 48 hours, but I think my short list is completed (including some places mentioned above.)
I love TriBeCa. I used to work on Park Place so know the area fairly well. Correction: I used to know the area fairly well. I had a heck of a time narrowing down our eating (and drinking) options for a trip that will amount to less than 48 hours, but I think my short list is completed (including some places mentioned above.)
Jun 7th, 2012, 06:59 AM
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I have the objective of discovering Brooklyn on this trip
Yay! In addition to walking over the bridge, you are at a nexus of subway lines that make a lot of Brooklyn really accessible. All of the following serve downtown Brooklyn, plus:
- 2/3 to Prospect Heights, the Brooklyn Museum and the north/main entrance to Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza
- R to Park Slope, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge... also, switch at Dekalb for the B to Brighton Beach
- A/C to Dumbo and Fort Greene - also, switch at Jay Street for the F to Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens/Red Hook or out to Coney Island; or at Hoyt-Schermerhorn for the G to Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Queens
The only part of Brooklyn that's more of a drag to get to from there would be our newest artsy neighborhood of Bushwick, off the L train farther north.
Yay! In addition to walking over the bridge, you are at a nexus of subway lines that make a lot of Brooklyn really accessible. All of the following serve downtown Brooklyn, plus:
- 2/3 to Prospect Heights, the Brooklyn Museum and the north/main entrance to Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza
- R to Park Slope, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge... also, switch at Dekalb for the B to Brighton Beach
- A/C to Dumbo and Fort Greene - also, switch at Jay Street for the F to Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens/Red Hook or out to Coney Island; or at Hoyt-Schermerhorn for the G to Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Queens
The only part of Brooklyn that's more of a drag to get to from there would be our newest artsy neighborhood of Bushwick, off the L train farther north.
Jul 30th, 2012, 07:35 AM
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Booked a room at the East Village hotel through bookings.com in mid-June based on TA reviews. All looked to be normal until I emailed the GM Steven Meyer yesterday and the email bounced. Then my email to the main address bounced. Calls to bookings.com are in progress. They had trouble raising a human to talk to. Finally they did, a mobile phone. We (myself and booking.com) were informed that Steven was no longer with the company (four weeks after I received my booking confirmation from him). I'm now waiting for a promised new confirmation email from someone who says he represents the property. I paid with a visa card through booking.com so I have no idea what hoops I'll need to jump through to get a refund if this place is shut down. A sincere thank you to you Fodors locals for your investigations. I wish I'd found this forum first.
Jul 30th, 2012, 09:43 AM
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From 8 years of experience on the TA Paris forum, I recognize that a first time, first post is (and should be) suspect. I've never been on this forum before, discovered the topic "What do you think of East Village Hotel?" on a google search, and decided to register my ordeal with locals as some people do on the TA Paris forum. I often go out and do footwork for visitors in Paris so I especially appreciate this insightful local help in the case of my first stay in New York, a city I know little about. ekscrunchy, I'm the real deal. Honest. I really should have prefaced my first post with some context.
Jul 30th, 2012, 01:42 PM
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Archrivalinc, what an awful situation to be in! I don't have any suggestions except to offer some sympathy. I agree with nytraveler that finding new lodgings would be advisable! You have a "paper trail" with bookings.com and your bounced emails - did you save the "mailer daemon" bounce-backs? - so at least through Visa you should be in good stead.
(As a side note, as a long-time poster here, I didn't see your post as a flame like what frustrated first-posters occasionally practice - that are suspect as you rightly say. And I appreciate your added context!)
It would be great if you come back and let us know what happens with your East Village Hotel experience! If this post was helpful to you even after the fact, whatever you go through next will hopefully be useful to someone else...
I hope the anxiety and this experience don't diminish your trip to our city. Let us know if we can be of any additional help!
(As a side note, as a long-time poster here, I didn't see your post as a flame like what frustrated first-posters occasionally practice - that are suspect as you rightly say. And I appreciate your added context!)
It would be great if you come back and let us know what happens with your East Village Hotel experience! If this post was helpful to you even after the fact, whatever you go through next will hopefully be useful to someone else...
I hope the anxiety and this experience don't diminish your trip to our city. Let us know if we can be of any additional help!
Aug 29th, 2012, 12:21 AM
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First, thanks to all for all the quality background info here. Short story is; we came out relatively unscathed. If you're interested, the long story follows;
In the end, we dodged the bullet and backed out of this booking successfully. Bookings.com came through on the cancellation for the 5 night booking and the hotel finally credited-back the one-night deposit. I do have a few observations to share:
THE HOTEL seemed fine at first glance. Their unconventional check-in system wouldn't have scared us if we were booking a B&B but this "hotel" appears to be exactly the same as any full service hotel when viewed through the bookings.com website so all the quirky stuff just raised alarms. At first, the person who sent the initial confirmation email, Steven Meyer appeared very professional and explained that the check-in is a bit different than a typical hotel. We had no problem with that. Actually, we were a bit excited at the prospect of an alternative accommodation with some edge. He was clear and articulate and in his mail, he offered further assistance if we needed anything else prior to arrival. When the booking was confirmed, we briefly enjoyed the confidence that we had booked a winner - exactly in the center of our preferred neighborhood.
Two weeks later we sent an email to Steven Meyer asking some transportation questions and the email bounced. So did a mail to the reservation email address. Then we tried phone (disconnected), etc. and got nowhere. I hit the web and that's when I found this thread.
CALLS TO BOOKINGS.COM were slightly reassuring at first. The polite customer service rep assured me that everything was fine and I didn't need to worry. I recounted my email/phone problems and finally AT MY URGING, she said she'd call the hotel and ask what was up. I was to wait for her call-back. It was already late here in Paris and I stayed up till 1AM but there was no call from them. This happened again when I called bookings.com the next day (during east coast business hours). I waited AGAIN for a call back that never came. Deep breath.... I called them one more time to ask if they'd found out anything and an incredibly rude CS rep cut me off in mid-sentence and told me that it takes time to investigate this and I should just wait for them to get back to me.
it's now 24 hours later and I'm ready to call visa to cancel the credit card transaction and report a fraud. The hotel people had my CC number and I had nothing. I give bookings.com another call just for kicks and finally get someone who was willing to put me on hold while they tried to contact the hotel. When they came back to me, the answer was "we can't reach them at the moment. The number we have doesn't seem to be working". After a lot of negotiation, I gave her some other numbers I had for the hotel that rang without answer and she agreed to keep trying and finally raised a guy named "José" by his cell phone. Apparently Steven Meyer no longer worked for the company and they were "revising their web site" so email was disrupted. I was to wait for José's call and a fresh confirmation email with new codes for entry. I waited the rest of the day. Nothing happened.
The story's too long as it is so I'll cut to the chase - I asked bookings.com to cancel the reservation (I didn't have a back-up hotel yet but I had no choice) and they agreed to that. They said that the hotel would refund the deposit within a week. They may have done so but it didn't show up on our statement for two weeks. But it did in the end. All is well with us except our hotel budget just went through the roof because of the late booking at another hotel.
BTW, I finally got an email from José the following day after cancellation. It was a boilerplate "welcome valued customer" email. No mention of any of the crap I'd been forced to endure.
Anyway, many thanks to all of you. Even if the hotel turns out to be healthy and fully operational when we are in NY, the worry would have killed me if I hadn't pulled out of the deal when I did. They would have had a happy customer if they'd payed even the slightest attention to how they appear to us on the outside of their bubble. I should have pulled out the first time an email bounced - no questions asked!
In the end, we dodged the bullet and backed out of this booking successfully. Bookings.com came through on the cancellation for the 5 night booking and the hotel finally credited-back the one-night deposit. I do have a few observations to share:
THE HOTEL seemed fine at first glance. Their unconventional check-in system wouldn't have scared us if we were booking a B&B but this "hotel" appears to be exactly the same as any full service hotel when viewed through the bookings.com website so all the quirky stuff just raised alarms. At first, the person who sent the initial confirmation email, Steven Meyer appeared very professional and explained that the check-in is a bit different than a typical hotel. We had no problem with that. Actually, we were a bit excited at the prospect of an alternative accommodation with some edge. He was clear and articulate and in his mail, he offered further assistance if we needed anything else prior to arrival. When the booking was confirmed, we briefly enjoyed the confidence that we had booked a winner - exactly in the center of our preferred neighborhood.
Two weeks later we sent an email to Steven Meyer asking some transportation questions and the email bounced. So did a mail to the reservation email address. Then we tried phone (disconnected), etc. and got nowhere. I hit the web and that's when I found this thread.
CALLS TO BOOKINGS.COM were slightly reassuring at first. The polite customer service rep assured me that everything was fine and I didn't need to worry. I recounted my email/phone problems and finally AT MY URGING, she said she'd call the hotel and ask what was up. I was to wait for her call-back. It was already late here in Paris and I stayed up till 1AM but there was no call from them. This happened again when I called bookings.com the next day (during east coast business hours). I waited AGAIN for a call back that never came. Deep breath.... I called them one more time to ask if they'd found out anything and an incredibly rude CS rep cut me off in mid-sentence and told me that it takes time to investigate this and I should just wait for them to get back to me.
it's now 24 hours later and I'm ready to call visa to cancel the credit card transaction and report a fraud. The hotel people had my CC number and I had nothing. I give bookings.com another call just for kicks and finally get someone who was willing to put me on hold while they tried to contact the hotel. When they came back to me, the answer was "we can't reach them at the moment. The number we have doesn't seem to be working". After a lot of negotiation, I gave her some other numbers I had for the hotel that rang without answer and she agreed to keep trying and finally raised a guy named "José" by his cell phone. Apparently Steven Meyer no longer worked for the company and they were "revising their web site" so email was disrupted. I was to wait for José's call and a fresh confirmation email with new codes for entry. I waited the rest of the day. Nothing happened.
The story's too long as it is so I'll cut to the chase - I asked bookings.com to cancel the reservation (I didn't have a back-up hotel yet but I had no choice) and they agreed to that. They said that the hotel would refund the deposit within a week. They may have done so but it didn't show up on our statement for two weeks. But it did in the end. All is well with us except our hotel budget just went through the roof because of the late booking at another hotel.
BTW, I finally got an email from José the following day after cancellation. It was a boilerplate "welcome valued customer" email. No mention of any of the crap I'd been forced to endure.
Anyway, many thanks to all of you. Even if the hotel turns out to be healthy and fully operational when we are in NY, the worry would have killed me if I hadn't pulled out of the deal when I did. They would have had a happy customer if they'd payed even the slightest attention to how they appear to us on the outside of their bubble. I should have pulled out the first time an email bounced - no questions asked!
