Submitted by "Michele " on 08/02/2010

I got a room here on hotels.com. I'm from new York and I'm not terribly squeamish... And understand that encountering a cockroach here and there is inevitable, however nothing could have ever prepared me for was lying in wait for me at this dump! It really is the vilest place I have everser foot in and I am a very seasoned traveller (even to so-called 3rd world countries.

The first thing I noticed was the disgusting smell in the filthy corridors, which I have since learned is normal when there is bed bug infestation. Then after about an hour of being asleep I woke up because of some noise and turned on the lights only to see a bed bug as bug as my pinky nail on my pillow.... I had no idea bed bugs were that big and thought it was something else until i killed it and it spurted out so much blood that it scared the he'll out of me. I then noticed ones of all sizes all over the place.... Bed. Walls, clothes. I killed about 30 or more with tissues then packed up my stuff and left the hotel at 1 am. I found a 24 hour landromat downtown where I washed and dried all my clothes... Ended up throwing a lot of stuff that couldn't be put in the drier including a really nice handbag and wallet and a book and I tore up my journal into pieces and ziplocked everything. I still found 2 that hitch hiked out of there... I really hope that was it! But who knows what kind of he'll I have yet to encounter.

Neither hotels.com or this 'hotel' will give me a refund which I will fight... Not for the money but just to have something done about this place. It's unfitfort habitation. I am not exagerating when I say it was the worst experience I have ever had and the nightmare is not over.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 07/06/2009

I am a social worker and worked for 3 years with a client who had lived at Hotel Riverside Studios for 30 years.

Fortunately for my client, he came into some money and I was able to get him out of his residence there. His room was completely infested with mice, roaches, bedbugs and other vermin. I have never seen any place as filthy and unkempt as this hotel. All of my client's possessions were infested as well. I would sit with him in a Doctor's office (on the plastic I put over the seat before he sat down) and see bugs crawling on his shirt, or a roach crawling out from his jacket. My client was an older man with poor eyesight, suffering from advanced stages of physical illness, with a longstanding mental illness and he did not know how to deal with the bug problem or even notice the extent of the problem

Thinking about the odor and the scum there makes me wretch, even 3-6 years later. I reported the situation to the hotel management and to the Health Dept several times between 2003-2006. Unfortunately I never received any response from the Health Department and the Hotel Management ignored my requests to clean this client's room and take care of the bug problems.

During my time visiting this client there, I observed that the owners of the Hotel were preparing for students from the NY School of Television and Film, who were using the facility as a dormitory. The poor students had no idea what they were getting themselves into. I'm sure many of their rooms were infested by the bedbugs.

I actually tried to warn one or two of the students when I met them on the hotel elevator or in the lobby. I even called the School at one point, imagining what it might have been like for me to send my child to NYC only to stay in a place like this. (I got a secretary who apparently took notes but I never heard back). I can't blame them for not believing me - I'm not sure if one can actually fathom the scope of the problem when one first walks into a situation like this.

I think the place should be closed by the Dept of Health and the owners sued by the residents and patrons of the hotel.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios..George" on 05/16/2009

I often stay at this hotel upon my return to New York from Mexico. I always ask to be sure to not put me in a room which they know has a bedbug infestation, and so far it has worked out...BUT...I have seen bedbugs there...In the bathroom which is unusual. I know they are bedbugs because as a youth my home was infested to the point where I had to sleep on the hard dining room table. I always inspect the room and the folds and seems in the mattress and also I check for their very VERY distinctive odor.
But about this hotel...There are permanent residents there that seem to have hygiene and mental health issues. Anyone who has been to this hotel is well aware of the incredible foul oder that emanates from one of the rooms on the ground floor near the back side of the hotel...it is enough to make one vomit , The smell often drifts up the elevator shaft and stairwell for several floors. The hotel does not seem to do anything at all about it. The hygiene problems of this fleabag hotel seem to persist for years...in high season the rooms can get up near 140 a night...
Oh yes...and by the way...when I am there...I sleep with the lights on...
thanks...

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 01/20/2009

We checked into the hotel on the 4th of July, and checked out the same night.I took a dump under the bed and ran out.I was like F*** YOU as I ran out.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 10/02/2008

We are a couple and we stayed at this place during our holidays in September 2008.

When we arrive the first day, we were a bit schocked by the hotel itself (electric cable hanging in corridors, some bathroom were very bad looking, etc...) but the room was clean and laundry service was good.

We seen one of this bug the first day without paying much attention as we did not know about their existence.
I was the first bitten, but I did not care, because of the proximity of the Hudson River I thought it was just mosquitoes.

Thing went worse the next days as my entire body was bitten so was my girlfriends', but again, we concluded with mosquitoes.

The day before we left, we talked about these bites with a person of the hotel who told us if we wanted to change our room, of course we immediately accepted.

Back home, we started to look for information about bites and we found a lot of site (including this one) speaking of bedbugs. As we seen some (and killed one full of blood) we were positively sure we were bitten by them.
Fortunately, we found info as soon as we get back and cleaned everything we had in our luggage.

To conclude, this place is still infected, we send an email to the management and we still waiting for a reply.

PS : excuse my English as it is not my first language.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 07/07/2008

We checked into the hotel on the 4th of July, and checked out the same night. We noticed that there were two bugs crawling around the sheets as soon as the comforter was peeled off. The room was smelly, and the whole hotel looked as if needed a very good cleaning. It's no surprise that bugs inhabit this place. At least they were nice enough about refunding the money.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 04/30/2008

4/18/08

I thought my bf was being paranoid when he suggested the bites on my arms and legs I got on our trip to NY may be due to bed bugs in the hotel room. We were on a budget and I thought the room seemed clean so I didn't feel a need to complain. I saw a roach in the restroom and my bf saw a bug on the bed but still I was skeptical. I often get bitten by bugs outdoors. However, we have now come home, I haven't been outdoors and have gotten a few more bites and my bf has now been bitten. I looked up the bites and they look exactly like bed bug bites. Now we're having to deal with exterminators, etc. in our really nice apt. Definitely not worth the little bit of money we saved.

Submitted by "Hotel Riverside Studios" on 03/06/2008

This is the worst hotel [sic] that I have EVER stayed in. I am not particularly fussy. I have stayed in hostels and low budget hotels in New York but Hotel Riverside Studios is simply the worst slum hotel I have ever stayed in. (I had no idea that it was a hotel for residents, God help them). Neither human beings nor animals should live in such filth and dirt. I changed rooms 4 times during my 5-day stay. I saw bed bugs on the walls, changed rooms once again, only to find a couple of bugs in one of my books one day later. I switched rooms again and checked out 1 day early. The hallways are filled with decades of dirt and filth, vomit and cigarette butts. The hallways smelled of cigarettes and urine. If that wasn't bad enough, the bathrooms were uninhabitable. This slum landlord should be shut down by the NYC health department.

My stay was from October 28-November 1, 2008