My mother, daughter and I stayed at The Modernist Hotel in early April for my daughter’s 18th birthday trip. I’m unsure as to why this hotel is rated so highly. To start the hotel is located in Queens, it’s an area not serviced by green or yellow taxi, but it is a ~ten minute walk from a subway station. We stayed on the top floor, the 8th floor, in room 800. This hotel boasts at every opportunity about “art” and being a “gallery hotel”, our room however was completely devoid of even a single piece of art. One of the primary reasons I chose to book this room was it had a kitchenette which was previously pictured to have a two hotspot cooking surface, which have since been removed a from their site and I was sorely disappointed to see we only had a microwave rendering the kitchenette essentially useless. Beyond the lack of ability to actually cook any food the kitchenette is completely unstocked, there are absolutely no cooking utensils or cooking tools or knives to be found. The cupboards feature a few plates, some tiny dessert bowls, some Ikea glasses and wine glasses and that’s it. There is some bizarre barely functioning silverware provided, made of who knows what. This was problematic for me due to health issues and an extremely heightened need for access to food every few hours and needing to avoid precut foods due to their elevated risk of listeria and other food borne illnesses. There is a small freezer in the fridge yet there are no ice trays provided and the ice machine is on a different floor, why was the choice made to not provide ice trays? Why is the most expensive room so poorly equipped? The kitchenette does not reflect the price of this room.
The beds are extremely hard and uncomfortable causing all three in our party to wake up stiff and sore, it’s like sleeping on a blanket laid on the floor. The beds are clean and the pillows are better than most hotels.
One big problem we had was in the evening I would turn down the thermostat in the “bedroom” which is right next to the front door with out so much as a curtain to separate the area or give privacy, to 68 yet wake up sweating in the middle of the night as the thermostat would default back to 72 and fan while we slept. No one ever showed us our room or amenities so if this is a solvable problem it wasn’t explained to us nor was it explained to us how to close the large electric blinds in the “living room”. The lighting is also terrible in the living room where we were forced to get ready while sitting on the floor In front of the floor length because the bathroom is extremely small and there is no vanity. The coffee table is laughably small and there is no rug so it slides all over the floor. Putting your make up on while sitting on the floor in dim lighting does not reflect the price the hotel asks for this room.
The amenities in general are bad. The toiletries are small and generic, the toilet paper was egregiously cheap and practically disintegrated in your hands. The slippers provided were visibly dirty inside with small dark curly hairs that resembled pubic hair in some of them. The bathroom is tiny and poorly equipped, upon booking they were informed it was a party of 3 yet only 2 small sized towels were provided, only 2 robes were hung in the closet which was a risky choice to use considering the state of the dirty slippers, the robes are scratchy and not luxurious in any capacity and do not reflect the price of this room. Upon running out of toilet paper, because so much is required due to its extremely poor quality I attempted to replace a roll in the holder, house keeping never came to our room once in four days and our trash cans were overflowing by day 4, and the toilet roll holder simply fell off the wall.
Finally the staff, while many of the staff were pleasant they didn’t seem to provide any actual service. No one showed us to our room or explained how to use the electric blinds or where the remotes could be found to do so. No one ever helped us lift a bag or offered to assist moving luggage. When we were checking out I was attempting to load our luggage on the cart, with no help from reception who was sitting directly behind me, and the cart started to roll and things were going to fall, I precariously caught the items and stopped the rolling cart with my foot, again with in feet of the receptionist. She sat there unbothered by my predicament and offered zero help, I literally had to holler “HELP!” causing my elderly mother to run to my aid and deal with the cart and baggage with me, reception never lifted a finger or even stood up. This level of service is unacceptable at a motel 6 much less a hotel claiming to be a quality establishment and asking the prices they do.
To summarize, the room was barren and lacked privacy, there was zero art to be found in our room. The kitchenette is essentially useless, you cannot even make instant oatmeal as the bowls provided are minuscule and there’s not even measuring cups, much less other basics that would allow one to use a microwave like a can opener. The bathroom amenities are pitiful, dirty and used. The toilet paper is insultingly cheap. The beds are uncomfortably hard and you are unable to control the temperature of your room allowing you to at least sleep at a comfortable temperature on the slab of a bed. I would not recommend this hotel and found it to be an incredible disappointment. My mother noted through your stay various unclean things around the hotel from gunk stuck to walls near trash and the cleaning staff simply left there despite emptying the trash right next to it to old food on the floor in the elevator, a slipping hazard. The price asked for the quality and service provided is not up to par and we will not be returning nor could I advise anyone else to stay here, the value is terrible.
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