KIng & Grove Hotel, New York City

The hotel came recommended by a cousin, who knew it as the Lola, but by the time we arrived in Manhattan, it had changed management and its name, and become the King & Grove.

The location of the hotel is great – 29 E 29th Street – so just about all the major touristy stuff is walkable, be it 20 blocks north or 20 south. So from that point of view, location, location, location = outstanding.

But.

I don’t think I have ever seen smaller rooms. The word shoebox springs to mind. With not even a kettle in the room, it was all pretty basic. Clean, A/C, teensy safe for passports, but that was about it.

As I said, no kettle.

Cheap and nasty plastic drinking cups, those disposable ones.

Given that we were staying for about 10 nights, we asked if we could perhaps have a bigger room, so they duly moved us, to one that was infinitesimally bigger, but still no room to swing the proverbial cat.

The darkest, longest lobby imaginable, with a corner bar that didn’t seem to function (why waste the space ? Why not serve morning tea and coffee there, perhaps ?)

I happen to dislike dark interiors, and walls which have curtains in front of them (why ? what are they hiding behind the curtain ? peeling paint ? rising damp ?) which is unfortunate given the décor of King & Grove :