We booked a queen balcony room for our wedding night and had a horrific experience; while the rest of our wedding experience was absolutely magical, it was hard not to let our spirits feel dampened by treatment and accommodations (or lack thereof) we received at this hotel.
The morning of our wedding, we notified the hotel that we would be arriving late and that we would need to change the payment information on file. They sounded accommodating and advised us to just provide our new payment method at the time of arrival.
When we arrived after midnight that night, still in full wedding attire, the front desk receptionist said little more than hello to greet us. (“Congratulations” would have been nice, but as we learned, hospitality is not this hotel’s strong suit. Check out was a similarly cold interaction.) The late night agent was condescending, and said that in order to change our payment information, we would need to cancel our reservation and rebook through him. When we explained that we had been told differently over the phone that morning, he whined that my husband was interrupting him when he tried to speak. In the end, we were able to change our payment information online and receive our room keys after the receptionist silently typed on his computer for 15 or so minutes. In a scene like something out of 1970’s Times Square, a sex worker broke the tension as she interrupted our interaction with the desk guy to complain that her room was dirty, while shouting at someone on the phone.
As for the room — this is certainly not a 4-star hotel. With that said, the room also failed to meet basic cleaning standards, COVID or not. There was no soap in the bathroom, the shower floor was covered in pink mold, the floors were dirty, the ceiling lamp was adorned with dead insects, and the light switch covers were cracked. Drain flies lived in the bathroom, which wasn’t surprising as the shower could definitely use a snake treatment or some Draino at least. Oddly, the lamps were also all unplugged, with plugs bent.
As someone who used to work in hotel hospitality, I foolishly expected some variety of accommodation or congratulations after we had informed the hotel that was it was our wedding night. At the hotel where I used to work in midtown, for example, we would send chocolate-covered strawberries and a small bottle of champagne to newlyweds’ rooms, especially when (as in our case), we had booked a block of rooms for friends and family. We learned that McCarren Hotel & Pool does not offer room service at all, though, and couldn’t care they less that we chose them as our wedding night’s final destination. We learned this after calling the front desk twice, since they did not pick up at all after the first twenty rings the first time.
With all that said, if you’re looking to stay in Williamsburg, I recommend booking elsewhere — the Pod, the Wythe, the William Vale or the Williamsburg hotel are all better options with friendlier staff, cleaner and more comfortable accommodations, and nicer views. Steer clear of here; it’s definitely gone downhill in the last few years.
