We were there nearly 20 minutes before we saw a human that appeared to work there, maybe maintenance or part of the housekeeping crew; not sure as he didnât have identification on his shirt, but he was undoubtedly an employee, but didnât work behind the desk. He asked all of us in broken English (he seemed of middle eastern descent) and pointed at a sign not obviously visible, saying, âCheck in at 3 pm, check-in at tres (Spanish)â as he pointed to the sign and then left the area.
There was a $60 (in cash) deposit that was required before theyâd give you your room key, no credit card accepted. Upon checking out, you would get this back in full (when we checked out, they just handed it to us with no room inspection, so Iâm not sure what that was for.) The thing that rubbed us the wrong way was that this wasnât listed on their site or through Hotels.com, and they had an ATM conveniently in their lobby, which the NYC 21 Hotel owned. At the time of this writing, Hotels.com listed it as âREQUIRED AT CHECK-IN: Credit card, debit card, or cash deposit required for incidental charges.â It costs $2.50 to get your money out as no banks are relatively close to the hotel. So, you're forced to get money or find your bank. So, either way, this Hotel is screwing you out of another $2.50.
At nearly $200 a night, save your money. Iâve had better experiences at motels.
The good things:
Hot water and good water pressure
Right next to the F subway train
Check-out took seconds