This was our third visit to The Lexington. In the past we have found that hotel to be clean and comfortable for the most part. For this trip, we were placed on the 28th floor, supposedly an Elite floor. The room we were given was next to the elevators (2801), and we immediately noticed the rumble of cables spinning, sometimes with a "clunk" that we imaged to be a break of some kind. In order to get to the 28th floor, you take an elevator to the 27th, and then transfer to another elevator which only goes up to 28. In our minds, we believed that since our room was next to that smaller one floor elevator, that all of the noise would eventually fade into the background.
That was not a correct assumption on our part. The bed in room 2801 sits on a platform which you step on to access it. As we attempted to sleep, we came to believe that the elevator cables might actually be contained in the box under the bed. Pretty much all night, the cabled whirred and clunked. One of us tried using noise cancelling headphones to sleep for about 6 hours or so.
The next day we reported the trouble with the room, and the front desk attendant gave us a "knowing smile," and offered to move us to a different room, but only after 5PM. So off we went, a little tired, to complete our activities for the day. When we returned at 5PM, the new room was available. In conversation with the front desk attendant who completed our move, another 'knowing smile' was given, and some acknowledgment that the hotel is aware that the room has received similar complaints in the past - so much so, that some people who apparently love the noise have requested it. This all seemed surprising to us, but we were happy to be moving.
The next room was as large as the last, and seemed to be clean and functional. We deposited our bags and left for dinner. On return (when dark), we tried to turn the light in the bathroom on, but without success. Another call the front desk, and a repairman arrived about 15 minutes later. On inspection, he determined that the breaker must have tripped. In the end though, that was not the case, and a second repairman showed up to assist. They together removed the mirror unit from the wall in the bathroom, and somehow determined that it was not fastened correctly, which created a safety hazard. We were advised that we would need to move again.
About 10 minutes later the manager called and indicated that we would moved to another room. He showed up about 10 minutes later with keys to the new room, so we moved again.
The next room was much smaller than the first two, but again was clean and seemed functional (except that the room safe was now a pay by credit card option, instead of just included by default, as it had been in the prior two rooms). I think as we reflect on the stay, we are still surprised that the hotel placed us in that first room with what we later learned was full knowledge of the noise issues. They certainly didn't advise us about it, or ask if we minded, which it seems like common courtesy would dictate.
The front desk staff that we dealt with was certainly pleasant enough, but maybe the hotel has some kind of policy about pre-discussing complaint-generating items in advance. We will never know. We were ultimately disappointed in the room we ended up in for our final night, but after the first, we were so tired that it probably didn't matter. It just felt like a downgrade in terms of the space, and especially after all of the trouble it seems like it would have been nice to aim a little higher. Maybe there was no availability.
