Paramount

We booked a last minute holiday to New York literally on the day. We booked our holiday through BA at around 11am and were at the airport by 2pm. We didn’t know what to expect when we booked the hotel but decided just to embrace it, When we checked in we were met by an incredibly rude receptionist but this was nothing compared to our shock and horror when we opened our room door - the room smelt damp and needed serious repairs. I opened the window and the window fell straight down and nearly took me out with it - I reported it to Reception and was told ‘the windows are old don’t open it’ AC unit was ridiculously loud - no respect for customers and just didn’t feel like we had good service the only thing good about the hotel is the location but location shouldn’t compromise safety of guests / quality of rooms . Won’t be staying again Read less

The story for a European client is quite unbelievable, but even when I told my American friends about it, they were really horrified. Well, there's nothing to say about the ideal position of the hotel. It's perfect to reach a lot of places to see and explore by foot. It's big and acceptably clean. But the customer service is something worthy of being recorded. Can you imagine a 19th floor hotel in NY center where you have to wait (sometimes for more than 20 minutes) to get an information or tell the reception about a room problem (like my key doesn't work)? The lobby was always crowded with tens of persons and of the 3 desks available (let's discard the one for the concierge who was hardly ever present), only one was attended, with an employee ready to "bark" at you when you were showing signs of impatience. Everything started when I wanted to raise my hotel room temperature. I had a cold and I was freezing. The technician who was sent to my room answered that it was April and that the system couldn't be modified. It made me sleep with 2 extra pullovers for the rest of my stay. And it was OK. Few days later though, we started to ask ourselves questions about why it was impossible to make international calls from the hotel. We had paid upon our arrival 350 dollars to use both the phone and the gym, which we never had the time to search for. We were simply using our Italian numbers roaming when outside the hotel. But something was unclear: why pay if the phone wasn't working. It took us 3 days to get a clue. We complained more than once upon calling from our room. They promised 2 or 3 times to send a technician which they never did. But on the day after the last complaints, upon getting back to the hotel, we discovered we couldn't get inside our room. They had simply blocked it. After wasting 30 min by changing the card (the incompetent guy who did it couldn't be aware of the real problem), the room still didn't open. We got back to the reception and there, a nice guy called Steven (the only nice person we ever met among the staff) explained that upon our arrival and for 3 days, the credit card machines had had a problem and didn't function (I mean: is that possible?!!!). It meant that we had not paid what was due, nor did we pay the 100 dollars deposit they usually ask for. Only when we gave back our credit card, Steven sent a member of the security to unblock our room hotel. (Thank you Steven). It was like: no credit card, no room and no luggage. Are clients thieves or what? Is it how it usually functions? What if we had an emergency, like take a medicine or something???? Last but not least: we asked the hotel for a cab to the airport on the day we were leaving. We paid a deposit. (the total was around 70 or 75 dollars). When the cab came, they sent with us on the same taxi another group of Italians who were going to La Guardia airport. We were going to JFK. Luckily enough, the hotel taxi driver accompanied us first at JFK. I can recall the imprecations of the other Italian tourists who certainly got there 45 minutes late. The end of the story is that they got 2 full payments for the same taxi!!! Of course, when it's in front of the hotel, it's too late to retract, and quite impossible to even think of dividing the sum with the other passengers (they paid the same sum we did!!). The car was big enough for 7 passengers. But that wasn't the issue. The issue is that you constantly feel you're being framed, and they're constantly ready to do it. So beware of Paramount, people. We' ll never go back there. Read less

Bathroom toilet was very undiserable put in a silly place that you could not sit on it like you nor,ally would, great location , view was not great as was to the side of another building, and only downside was being approached by someone outside hotel two mins after getting out of taxi to see if we wanted to buy drugs 😱 also the fact if you want coffee before 8am or late at night you have to leave the hotel would recommend coffee making facilities in rooms Read less