Service and quality completely lacking
I stayed at the Park Central Hotel Oct 12-15 and was very disappointed. 
The trouble began at check in. I was arriving late in the evening, but my girlfriend was getting to the hotel in the early afternoon. Her name was on the reservation as the second guest, but the front desk refused to check her in. After a long argument, they agreed that she could check in if she paid for the entire stay up front. Some negotiation brought them down to just the first night paid for up front, but they refused to simply use her card to put on file for incidentals like a regular hotel. She decided to walk around the city for a few hours rather than break the bank. When I arrived, they nevertheless insisted that the entire stay be “put on hold” on my card, instead of simply putting the number on file for incidentals. I’ve never had to do this before, and needless to say I don’t appreciate being treated like a thief. Upon returning to the hotel, my girlfriend tried to reclaim her luggage from the valet check, and they demanded she pay for the 3 hour storage. She needed to store the small carry-on bag only because they wouldn’t let her into the room, well after the check-in time. Ridiculous. Generally, the whole experience was made unacceptable due a combination of insulting policies and unpleasant staff. 
Apart from the fights at check-in, there was a host of things wrong. The room was small, dark and not as clean as I would like. The view was of the back, completely surrounded by other buildings, and even in the morning, no light reached the one small window. This counts as “courtyard”. The room also smelled of dust and mildew. The bed is uncomfortable, I slept badly every night and awoke each moment with backache
The bathroom was ok, but the products they have are not. The soap smells like Lemon Pledge and doesn’t really wash off, especially under the very paltry water pressure from the showerhead. The towels are rough and unabsorbant, quite threadbare. There is no extract fan to clear the steam.
I think it is completely inappropriate for Housekeeping to vacuum the halls at 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning, and to shout in the hallways beyond that.
There is no excuse for a New York hotel that charges New York rates to have paintings missing from the walls in the corridor, the bolts clearly visible, and the plastic on the walls of the elevator to be peeling to such an extent that it feels like a cheap motel. Oh, and I HATE the stupid elevator system that forces a guest to wait and watch 3 others arrive and leave before being allowed on to the one designated for them by the computer.
The only saving grace of this hotel is its location. 3 blocks from Central Park, 4 from Times Square, it’s a walking tourist’s dream. I’m not sure if all the rest of the experience is worth this advantage for the price.