Don’t open that door!
Two tourists were so disgusted by the bugs they said they found on their mattress at the Astor on the Park Hotel on Central Park West and 107th street that they posted a homemade docu-drama about the ordeal.
“This is no joke. We’re not staying in the Bronx. We’re not staying in Queens. We’re not staying in Brooklyn. This is Manhattan,” Californian Elgin Ozlen said as he gave viewers a tour of the room he was sharing with his girlfriend. He pointed to several bugs crawling around the mattress, and watched them scurry as he touched them with a pen. He also trained the camera on the bites all over his girlfriend’s body. Needless to say, it ruined the trip, which was to celebrate his 30th birthday.
Warning: Don’t watch the video below before lunch, or after lunch. Also before and after breakfast or dinner. Or a snack.
The Astor hasn’t been commenting to the media.
I saw this on Facebook 2 days ago. Until a few months ago I didn’t even realize that building was a hotel. The guy to videoed the clip walks through the entrance doors into an unmanned lobby and into the only elevator. Up to his floor where he puts a key into the lock. I haven’t been in a hotel which used an actual metal key in more than maybe 20 years. It looks like a flophouse. The room can’t be much bigger than about 12′ x 12′. I don’t know how he booked his reservation but not through a reliable site I’m sure. I looked up the place on Yelp and every single review complains about bedbugs and poor accommodations. Most people didn’t even spend the night. I’m not justifying the disgusting conditions. But he should have done a little more homework. There are certainly nicer places in all the other boroughs. But that place should be condemned. Thought I think there are also units for sale in the same building.
In his defense, I saw an interview with him on the news and his mother bought him this trip for his 30th birthday (booked the hotel herself)
Maybe mom isn’t so tech savvy as to do a proper yelp review.
Worst birthday present ever.
You get what pay for…and he clearly paid for bedbugs. If on CPW, I dont know why he didn’t just stay at the Trump International. Um, it’s called the internet, Alvin. Maybe spend more than $250.00/night on a hotel room next time 😉
Ratings are to establish the level of your accomodations. They are not intended to identify hotels that should be closed. This hotel is violating several health and buiding codes. If I get what I pay for, I expect a clean room with the basic necessities, not bed bugs, and faulty electric sockets. NYC health department needs to shut it down immediately.
$250 per night? There are at least 10 other options in the immediate vicinity no more than $150 per night that have better reviews. The Days Inn on 94th is like $120 per night and was filled to capacity on NYE.
I just checked the rates for this place. Lowest I found was $47 per night. Yes. $47.
LOL “this isn’t the Bronx” stupid bedbugs don’t even know their place. REALLY, darlings we only allow the most LAVISH pests in Manhattan!
This place is an illegal SRO anyway. It should be shut down.
Until quite recent years, that “hotel” was a homeless shelter
That area used to be so dangerous, there were still a few vacant boarded up tenements over there a few years ago. Remember when that castle on the corner of 106th was abandoned and a brothel? That’s the old prostituition strip and now I guess they rip off asian Columbia students by calling it “Co-so” which actually has no affiliation with Columbia University at all. The salvation was it was one of the last few hispanic areas on the UWS which used to be very latin. Now spanish people can’t even play dominoes without some “quality of life” officer making their quota comes and harasses them away. “This isn’t the Bronx”, this also isn’t the UWS you see in movies. Welcome to the big city.
I hope WSR delivers a number of follow-up pieces on this “hotel” tracking regulatory responses, management responses (if any) and rectification or shut down.
Where the heck is the Department of Housing? Find out which inspector is getting kickbacks for allowing this trash bin to remain open? One more thing, this has nothing to do with what borough you are in, bedbugs are everywhere. If this couple booked this dump through a travel agency they should sue the travel agency, if they found it on Air BnB they have a complaint department and they can ask for their money back. Good Luck trying to sue the Astor. You would have to remain in NYC to get a court date, unless this trashy filthy dive will settle quickly out of court. I don’t doubt this has happened before, find out which slumlord owns this place, if you can! Whoever owns this place has covered his tracks already.
http://nymag.com/listings/hotel/astor-on-park/ I wonder if NY Mag even went and looked.
sketchy sketchy sketchy
I clicked on Anni’s link for NY Magazine. I feel bad for the mother who booked this thinking she was doing something amazing for her son.
Pros
Rates are low, and it’s more private than a hostel.
Cons
Reserving a room can be complicated, as the hotel doesn’t take any reservations itself. Instead, a company called Tourico Holidays handles their booking, and you can either reserve over the phone, or through one of the two websites they operate: easyclicktravel.com or lastminutetravel.com. The latter will technically find you lower rates, but there’s a major catch: You won’t see the name of the hotel while you browse, so there’s no way of knowing which hotel you’re booking.
Clearly a person who thinks he knows something about NYC but actually doesn’t have a clue. If you can only spend $50 per night for a hotel, then you should probably consider vacationing elsewhere. Just the way it is.
Peta is about to put out a statement
BEDBUGSLIVESMATTER
The have feelings and family’s too!
The link above shows 326 legally recorded issues on this building. Before moving to the city I used apartable to ferret out problems with rental buildings. The reporting goes way back, however, it’s quite a Roach Red Flag – pardon the pun.
Here’s the link: http://apartable.com/buildings/465-Central-Park-West-manhattan
His and his girlfriends problems are only just beginning. In order to insure that they don’t bring back the bedbugs to another location, they will need to carefully isolate any clothes, suitcases and other objects. All will have to be washed at high temperature for several hours. even one bug that survives can then start a new colony in another location. There are special heaters that are used for suitcases. I had a similar experience with equal bite marks in NJ. It is not pleasant. The good news is that there are no lasting ailments connected to bed bugs. My rash disappeared in 2 weeks and fortunately we did not bring any of the bed bugs back to our UWS condo.