I ended up staying here for two nights last week, and as promised, I'm reporting back on my experience, which was particularly poor overall. I fed back to the hotel at the time, and have since provided feedback via the IHG survey I received following my stay.

The good: I was allocated a newly refurbed room, which was spacious, clean and the bed was comfortable. The room was basic, but perfectly acceptable, the bathroom was fine, and the location is good for Times Square and midtown. The staff overall were friendly, professional and helpful, with one notable exception (see below).

The bad: Wifi was intermittent at best, woeful at worst, and there was construction noise directly above the room during the day, so I asked the front desk if I could change rooms the next morning. They were quick to oblige with a new room on the same floor, which resolved these issues.

The ugly: Around midnight the second night there was a knock on the door despite 'Do Not Disturb' showing, and then I heard a key inserted and the door opened to where the latch had caught it. Turns out another guest had been allocated the room, which I suppose can happen, but it really shouldn't. The new guest was hugely apologetic and headed back to the front desk. Then at approximately 1:00am, there were repeated knocks at my door, and once again the door being opened by someone with a key. This time it was the Duty Manager explaining that there had been a 'system failure' and she needed to verify my name and the duration of my stay, as they were not able to ascertain who was occupying the room. Given it was 1:00am and I was asleep, I was both disorientated and confused, and it took me a moment to ascertain what was happening, but the Duty Manager accepted the details I provided, apologised and then abruptly left. Still confused at what occurred, and now wide awake, I went downstairs to the front desk to ask to speak to the Duty Manager again, as I wanted clarification as to what had happened, and why she thought it appropriate to disturb a guest at 1:00am in the morning. I have never encountered anything like this during a hotel stay.

While initially courteous and somewhat apologetic, the Duty Manager wasn't really able to explain how the error had occurred, nor was she able to explain why she felt it appropriate to disturb a guest at 1:00am in the morning. Her justification was to ensure no arriving guest was allocated an occupied room, however as I explained to her, this had already occurred an hour earlier. She said she wasn't aware of that happening earlier. She offered points by way of compensation, however I assured her I was not seeking points, I wanted to understand how a hotel could allow this kind of thing to happen. She essentially shrugged it off and said 'It makes no difference to my paycheck' and suggested I complain when I got my post-stay survey, as management only listen to guests and not hotel staff. I was surprised at her dismissive candour, which was in contrast to the positive engagement I had found with front desk and bell staff.

There was also a rather visible protest on the street outside the hotel against workplace practices and labour issues, which suggests there are a number of ongoing issues between staff and management. The protest wasn't agressive and didn't impact the guest experience, but it did make me wonder what is going on at the property.

Needless to say, based on this experience, I find it highly unlikely I'd stay at the property again by choice.