Hotel East Houston's Manager Responds To Guest Complaints

April 2, 2008 at 2:19 PM | by juliana | 1 Comment

When the East Houston Hotel opened up on the Lower East Side last Fall, the first reviews that came in weren't so nice.

The first guests had to deal with hanging wire hazards and no food during the proposed continental breakfast hour. Another guest complained that the hotel has a dizzying reservations process and bewildering cancellations policies, not to mention some hotel name confusion.

Yet one more guest complained that a Best Buy gift card had been stolen from the room and the accommodations were pretty drab.

These complaints don't sit well with the hotel's manager Tim Cho who says the hotel has made great strides in improving its experience for hotel guests since the first weeks of opening.

Since we at HotelChatter like to encourage a dialog not just between fellow hotel guests but between management and guests, we've given Tim Cho the opportunity to respond to such complaints. Read his full letter after the jump.

Dear sirs,

My name is Tim Cho and I work as the Front Desk Manager of the Hotel East Houston.

First of all, I am terribly sorry to read that the unnamed guest in the article found our rooms to be less than satisfactory. The loose wire and missing bathroom outlet switch plate have been repaired since our soft opening. We are seriously considering adding more lighting options for our guestrooms. Thank you for your suggestions. Our continental breakfast has been expanded to include more options and is now more closely monitored to ensure that we have enough to satisfy all our guests.

In response to LinkMan's comment on the article, the variation of our hotel's name is by design as we want our location on E. Houston St. to be the focal point of our property. Though we are now officially Hotel East Houston, we want our guests to be able to inquire of us by either name. I do regret that your parents had such a difficult time with their reservation. We have since made our cancellation policy clear and consistent on all levels. Our cancellation procedure has been simplified. All guests can now cancel by contacting our desk directly by phone or by email.

Thirdly, in regards to Luciferbumps' post, our property is a complete reconstruction of an old decaying building. We wanted to preserve the original façade of the building to honor the history of the neighborhood. But the property, by all intents and purposes, is a new building as everything behind the carefully preserved façade is new. Reconstruction has been completed in September of 2007.

If any of the guests and posters I've responded to would like to visit us again to see the improvements first hand, please contact me directly at timc@hoteleasthouston.com and it will be my pleasure to personally assist you with your reservations. In addition, I will be happy arrange a discounted rate based on our occupancy. I hope you will give us the opportunity to host you again in the near future.

Best regards,

Tim Cho
Front Desk Manager
Hotel East Houston

[Photo: East Village Podcasts]

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