The Radisson-Lexington Hotel in New York

Just checked in at the Radisson Lexington on Lexington Avenue in New York city and I’m highly disappointed. It’s quite expensive - about $460 per day - and it’s just horrible. The problem with this hotel is that it’s like a rotten cake with a shiny good looking icing on top of it.

Here’s a description of the rotten part:

• A heavy smell of humid dust strikes you as soon as you enter the room.
• The window is so dirty I could barely see through it.
• Power plugs are totally misplaced. I had to crawl under the table in order to plug my laptop and my phone. Later I discovered that some extension plugs are hidden on the sides of the desk lamp.
• When I had to crawl under the table to find that plug I realized where the bad smell was coming from: the carpet: it’s old, dusty and falling apart.
• You have to pay for your internet connection: $10 per day. At $460 per day for the room, I would have expected that to be included. The room we had last week in San Francisco was $120 per day and high speed internet access was included.
• The bathroom sink was dirty and I had to clean it up myself. And I found someone else’s hair in the tub. Later I found that the sink also had a small leak.
• Due to the humidity in the air the wallpaper on some of the walls was going off in the corners. I touched the wallpaper which was detaching from the wall and it was humid.

So that’s the rotten part of the cake. Now for the icing:

• Big flat panel TV in the room. That’s nice if you’re here to watch TV, but given the general situation of the room, I’m gonna spend here as little time as possible.
• Good quality bed, clean linen - this should normally go unnoticed but given the bad situation of the rest of the room, it is actually a surprise.
• Very expensive Herman-Miller Aeron chair in the room. But again, the room is not my office. I would’ve preferred by far a nice clean carpet that doesn’t smell bad, dry walls, a clean window and a clean bathroom along with a less expensive chair.

So I think my advise is clear: don’t go to Radisson Lexington in New York. It’s expensive and not worth the money. I found all this when I checked in there on December 9, 2007. I would be glad to post any positive upgrade on the situation so let me know if you have any news.