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Some of the Worst Reviews, Ever
+ 5th Avenue
The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association
April 14, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Some of the worst reviews I’ve ever read come from posts regarding an East
Harlem short-term rental.
The description looks fine from Lodging-World:
Facilities at Private Room In Manhattan
Located within 1.8 miles of Columbia University and 1.95 miles of Yankee Stadium, Private Room in Manhattan provides rooms with air conditioning and a shared bathroom in New York. The property is around 2.5 miles from Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3.5 miles from Strawberry Fields and 5.5 miles from Lincoln Center.
All rooms will provide guests with a microwave. Central Park is 5.5 miles from Private Room in Manhattan, while Museum of Modern Art is 5.5 miles away. The nearest airport is LaGuardia Airport, 4 miles from the accommodation.
Adults only
No smoking all areas
Air conditioning
Heated rooms/public areas
Free Wi-Fi included
Private check-in/check-out
Express check-in/out service
Shared kitchen
Sound-proof rooms
No smoking rooms
8 Rooms Free Wi-Fi Non-smoking rooms available
The guest house is situated a 10-minute drive from the center of New York. Rates at The Private Room In Manhattan are likely to rise due to current high demand - search your dates now to see live prices and lock in our very best rates.
And one of the January 2023 reviews looks fine, even if there is no record of Darwin R ever writing another review on Trip Advisor before or after:
Darwin R wrote a review Jan 2023
Dublin, Ireland
Great Place for a Tight Budget
This was a great stay for a tight budget. The house is a historical house and has easy access to the subway to go downtown. The owner was very friendly and help us out with tips for restaurants. We met other travelers in the house. Overall, a great experience.
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Date of stay: January 2023
But the reviews immediately go south from there:
2 helpful votes
Terrible, Dirty and Disgusting
I am so sorry we stayed here. The place smelled, roaches everywhere, there was no heat at all for the entirety of the stay, there wasn't even toilet paper. The bathrooms are filthy and absolutely disgusting. People were banging on the door all hours of the day and night with people (drug addicts) sleeping on chairs and couches all over the house. The owner wants to blame everyone else and takes no responsibility at all. Demanded my money back and he refused. I will be taking him to court. Run far away from this place.
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Date of stay: February 2022
And:
Jeroen S wrote a review Dec 2022
Las Vegas, Nevada 24 contributions 51 helpful votes
most disgusting place on earth
This is the worst place I have ever staid in my life. There was no heating. Outside is was freezing and inside the temperature was max 2 degrees Celsius ( 35 Degrees Fahrenheit). We had to sleep with our clothes on, also because we were afraid it was dirty to get a disease like scabies or fleas. For me not having a heather on in winter is a criminal fact. Beside the temperature it was a real mess, it was dirty, and I had to sleep with my friend on one bed as the sofa (which was meant to be the second bed) was not straight so you couldn't use is to sleep on.
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Date of stay: December 2022
Interestingly, also in January, there is a second positive review, explaining the lack of heat, previously, and justifying the conditions, given the location:
gus r wrote a review Jan 2023
1 contribution
Good stay in Manhattan. 10m minutes to time Square,
The beds are very comfortable, the host was very helpful even explained me in a map the most important place one by one so I didn't waste time. the house is old but very cozy there are some areas that are too crowded The owner mentioned that his boiler or heat system broke a few weeks ago but its fixed now, as far as my room it was so hot I have to open the windows, those things happen anywhere. To me the room was a good deal considering is in the Island of Manhattan and very close to the main attractions. Its not The Plaza Hotel but for the price(so cheap and private) was very good.
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Date of stay: January 2023
The building’s record in the NYC Department of Buildings’ records shows:
Residential: Multi-Family Walk-up
Owner: GUSTAVO RINCON
5th Avenue
In 1928, Wallace Thurman wrote this unflattering description of Fifth Avenue:
Fifth Avenue begins prosperously at 125th Street, becomes a slum district above 131st Street, and finally slithers off into a warehouse-lined, dingy alleyway above 139th Street. The people seen on Fifth Avenue are either sad or nasty looking. The women seem to be drudges or drunkards, the men pugnacious and loud — petty thieves and vicious parasites. The children are pitiful specimens of ugliness and dirt.
The tenement houses in this vicinity are darkened dungheaps, festering with poverty-stricken and crime-ridden step-children of nature. This is the edge of Harlem's slum district; Fifth Avenue is its board-walk. Push carts line the curbstone, dirty push carts manned by dirtier hucksters, selling fly-specked vegetables and other cheap commodities. Evil faces leer at you from doorways and windows. Brutish men elbow you out of their way, dreary looking women scowl at and curse children playing on the sidewalk. That is Harlem's Fifth Avenue.
Below is an image of the Collyer's home at 5th and 128th Street, 20 years after Thurman's description:
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