Best Western JFK Airport

The elevator was not working and I had to carry my bags up myself to my rooms. They have also neglected to respond to a concern about my deposit for nearly four months. Very poor service! They greatly inconvenience anyone who is using the hotel as a transit stop for international travel!

The GOOD thing is that it includes a free shuttle from JFK Airport and it was clean. These are the reasons I'm not ranking this hotel even lower. For the BAD, please see my long list below: The hotel is literally right next to a sanitation warehouse. The shuttle goes through a gauntlet of trash trucks. I can't wait until they all start backing out of their parking spaces early in the morning. The website describes a nice breakfast, but the current reality is a grab-and-go breakfast consisting of water, a small muffin, a yogurt and a granola bar. However, if you want something hot, you can BUY a sausage breakfast sandwich from behind the counter and heat it in the microwave provided in the former breakfast area. There is a sign on the door instructing you to wear a covid mask, but none of the staff are wearing them. There are no restaurants nearby to walk to. I asked where the closest restaurant was to walk to and was told it was a 7-11 a 12 min. walk away. This does not appear to be a safe area. Sketchy-looking people are loitering down the street, which is not surprising as sanitation areas are not known to be in good neighborhoods. The room is the size of a matchbox. There is a chair crammed between the wall and the bed on my husband's side that he has to climb over to get out of the bed. There is no safe to store valuables. The light in the hallway and bathroom comes on via a motion detector in the middle of the night with no way to keep that from happening. So, when you get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities, you are woken completely by a bright light in your eyes in the hallway (as well as your sleeping partner) and then in the bathroom itself. You turn them off right away, but they come right back on when you move. There is no closet but a small armoire that's 6 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft approximately. We were on the 4th floor, which is the top floor, also. The elevator is extremely slow and takes several minutes to come up. Last night we went to a Mets game and came back late. There was a crazy woman outside of the hotel screaming her lungs out about mistreatment at the hotel. To top it off, this morning, we found out the lights in the bathroom are set to go off 45 seconds after there is no motion. So while you're in the shower, there is no motion detected and the lights go off. You have to wave your arm outside of the shower curtain to activate the lights for another 45 seconds. I cannot believe that this hotel passes the Best Western standards. It makes me much less likely to consider the Best Western brand in the future. There is a Fairfield by Marriott nearby that would likely be a much better option.

I booked a room for my son using my VISA card. He was traveling from China to NYC. At initial booking the funds were not taken from my account. I called TWICE to get an explanation. Second time I was told the money would be taken the day before he arrived. It was not. He ended up having to pay cash at the hotel which left him without money for his onward trip. I called to complain -- nobody at the hotel could answer. I wrote to customer service THREE TIMES -- they had no response except to ask for information that was already in my original complaint. Complete incompetence -- and indifference to my concern. Corporate management at its worst --- one customer is unhappy??? No problem, there are plenty more.