Frustratingly Sloppy
Just arrived back from our stay at the James Hotel in SoHo. 
The majority of the staff at the James are terrific: courteous, friendly and knowledgable. Michael Daniels on breakfast service was particularly professional and took the time to engage with us about our trip. He clearly has a thorough knowledge of New York City and its best venues and locations. The James would possibly make better use of his skills as a concierge (this position seemed to be hot-desked and was hit-and-miss in its quality). This wasn't a major issue for us, though.
The big issue we had with the James was that when it was good it was excellent, but when it was bad, it was diabolical. I have honestly never experienced such a resentful attitude from hotel staff. There were only one or two bad staff members on the James team, but they completely nullify the best efforts of their colleagues. The rest of the James staff have every right to feel cheated and betrayed by this ruinous minority.
The cleaning and room service was shocking. Dirty cups left to pile up, consumables not replenished and the worst possible attitudes. We had to call downstairs EVERY DAY of our stay to tell them things were dirty, missing, not replenished, unfinished etc.
On one occasion, guest services brought two clean cups after we informed the hotel that we had no clean ones as the dirty ones had not been cleared.
When they arrived, we had this little conversation at the door:
Us: "Can you take these two dirty cups for us?"
James Staff (already walking away): "No. You have to call room service for that, I’m a houseman".
The tone of this member of staff’s voice was unnecessarily forceful and resentful.
We made a complaint to the manager of the hotel about this, and she was very apologetic about the shortcomings and the rudeness of her staff. She promised us that all of our needs would be catered for the rest of our stay. Unfortunately, the lack of care and attention to detail continued to the point where we became bored of ringing for a breakfast order form and telling them that they hadn’t cleared away our breakfast cups and replenished the tea and coffee.
This, in addition to the shower knob missing from our shower and a blocked sink when we arrived (which were quickly and efficiently rectified) only highlighted that more attention should be spent on the housekeeping.
The view from Jimmy's bar is terrific and it's worth going up there before 9pm (before the crowds arrive). But it's not enough to justify a stay at the James.
So, we can’t recommend the James and we won’t be going back because it’s just not worth the risk. Lots of terrific staff (as I stated earlier) like Felix, Christopher, Nicole, Michael Daniels and others. I just feel bad for these people that they have colleagues that are severely jeopardising their hotel’s reputation. 
Finally, charging $40 for a rollaway bed for one of our five nights, that we never requested may have just been an honest mistake. Check your bill at the end of your stay, just like we checked ours, so you don’t pay extra.
It’s OK trying to be the coolest hotel in town, but they really need to get the basics right first.