Found a cockroach in the bathroom!!!!!
We have had multiple stays in this hotel in the past few years and we have been generally quite happy. To say that this hotel has deteriorated is an understatement. Immediately upon checking into the room on the 16th floor late in the evening we found a live cockroach in the bathroom. We called the front desk, and they did move us to a room on the 29th floor where we did not encounter any more insects in our 4 night stay. Housekeeping came to the original room and captured the critter in a plastic bag. The manager was quite nice, and sent us some chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of sparkly wine the next evening, but we could not really feel comfortable throughout the stay knowing there are cockroaches in the hotel. He assured that the room was fumigated and told us that he showed the insect to the fumigation company.
Apart from the insect infestation, there are multiple other problems with this hotel. The hotel is showing its age, and is in need of a major upgrade. For instance, the carpets on some of the corridors are quite worn down. Another major problem is that the hotel is next door to WTC Sept 11 Memorial. Because of the construction, the sidewalks are closed north of the hotel and you have to use the elevated overpasses to walk anywhere. Furthermore, the hotel has become the public washroom to the Memorial. Although there are signs both at the front and the back of the hotel informing visitors that the Marriott has no public washrooms, at any time there is a line of people waiting to use the washrooms on the main floor. They get access to the hotel through the back door which is not always locked or through the Starbucks which has one entrance from the street and one entrance from the hotel. Although the hotel tries with cleaning these washrooms frequently, you can imagine the state they are in with such frequent use.
Another large problem is the Concierge lounge. It is not open on weekends. Also, for a hotel located in the Financial District and catering to business people, it has only one computer located in Concierge Lounge and only accessible when the lounge is open. At other times, you have to use the computers at the Fed EX office in the lobby that need a credit card for payment. As soon as I sat down to print my boarding passes after waiting for about 10 minutes for the computer to be free, I was yelled at by the person manning the lounge that there are people waiting to use the computer!!!
I doubt we will ever stay again in this hotel. We are hoping we have not brought any cockroaches home with us in our luggage!!