The Blakely New York

DO NOT BOOK HERE Review of The Blakely Hotel Powered by LuxUrban Pending review STAY AWAY This hotel is the worst hotel I have ever had the displeasure of booking with. The hotel does not have a phone center, so there is absolutely no way to call anyone. This is unsafe for any person staying at the hotel. Not knowing this, because their website promises someone will be available to speak on the phone 24/7, I tried to call hotel over and over again, with no response. I was then informed that there is no call center whatsoever for this hotel . This is completely unacceptable and unsafe for people staying there. I could not, and still cannot, get anyone on the phone. I was sent an email saying that I had to provide the hotel with pictures of my state identification card, and a lot of other personal information. I was very uncomfortable with that, but after calling multiple times, and not getting a hold of anyone, I filled it out. The authorization was actually declined, meaning that the hotel had no authorization to charge the credit card, but (via a short email) the hotel told me that they are still going to charge the credit card. At this point, I had a very bad feeling about this hotel and asked them to cancel the reservation (that I made just an hour beforehand). They responded (by email, because there is no phone), that they are charging the card (despite not being authorized to do so), and there is nothing I can do about it. Their website broadcasts "FREE CANCELLATIONS" up to 72 hours before the stay, and it also promises that the customer can reach someone on the phone 24/7. Both of these are blatant lies and are misleading. I spoke with my bank, and they are removing the charges, and were shocked by how unprofessional this hotel was acting. Frankly, they thought it was a scary situation as well and did not think I would be safe staying there. This hotel's practices violate so many basic consumer protection/false advertising laws. I will be submitting complaints to NYC consumer protection agencies and the BBB, among others. I have never seen a hotel (or any type of company for that matter) operate this way. It truly has to be some kind of scam.