Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
fantastic location, spacious room |
| Disadvantages: |
many floors rundown, aircon unit directly below our window |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I'd heard so many bad stories about the Pennsylvania that I was a bit apprehensive before we arrived over. With decent hotel rooms at a premium in NY, its hit-and-miss what sort of room you'll get for the type of money you'd pay for a 4 or 5 star elsewhere.
The front of the hotel and the lobby are impressive - marble floors, shining reception, deep carpet. The give-away is the crowd of increasingly dis-heartened would-be guests assembled in the middle, waiting desperately to check-in. To say the reception staff are inefficient and unhelpful would be quite an understatement.
When we finally got our room keys, reassuring ourselves that it was just a base anyway, while still being secretly optimistic that our room would be as nice as the reception area, we rushed to our floor...
... which predictably, was nothing like the lobby! There was paint peeling from the doors, damp on the carpet and lights about to run out. Funnily enough, it seems to differ from corridor to corridor - I had a bit of a look around and some looked quite well kept, where others were far worse than ours.
The room was huge! two double beds, two random
rooms off the room, ample storage and a big desk in the corner. As far as decoration goes, it was dull and aging, and we could hear the air-con unit from outside. The bathroom was damp and a bit grubby looking, and smelled of horrible hospital disinfectant.
Having said all that, I do need to reiterate that we were just using the room as a base, and for that purpose it was perfect. There was plenty of space, and the
hotel couldn't be in a more convenient location. It just depends what you're visiting New York for - if its shop all day, drink all night, the Pennsylvania is ideal; if you plan on spending a lot of time in your hotel room, or want something sumptuous, it probably won't suit.
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