Elevators
Having to plan for an additional 10-20 every time you want to take the elevator up or down is unacceptable. We were unlucky a few times, when the waiting time was over 40 min. Not only did it take out a huge portion of our day (and if you are in NYC for just a few days, you really want to make the most of it), it also created a super aggressive environment among all guests. On Sunday morning, after waiting for over 40 min to go down for breakfast, my daughter and I finally squeezed into on. The next time the door opened, there was a lady in the hallways screaming to everyone inside like a banshee. Clearly frustrated she shoved her mother and daughter inside despite it was already packed liked sardines. Later that same morning, again in a fully packed elevator, someone started hyperventilating and just had to get out pushing everyone out of the way. These are just two examples...
Bathroom
Upon arrival, the container with the conditioner was already completely empty and was never refilled after the last guests checked out. The container with the bath soap was almost empty. This is highly annoying as you don't know this until you are actually in the shower.
Amenities
There were no slippers in the room. We checked every closet and drawer. When we asked housekeeping, they insisted they were in the room and were quite hesitant in providing the slippers. Btw, there was also no shoe horn in the room.
TV remote
Batteries were empty so we could not turn the TV off (or change the channel etc.). It took roughly 5 hours to get new batteries. After we called, I even went down with the remote to explain the situation to the front desk, and asked them for new batteries on our way out for dinner. We returned over 3 hours later, the same person just said that he sent a message but nobody responded yet. We took the remote and had to wait for another 2 hours or so to get the batteries.
Mezzanine breakfast
It's highly overpriced for the quality of food. We had lunch at the Blue Box Cafe (Tiffany's), which is similar in terms of pricing, but much much higher quality.
Check out
Upon check in we confirmed that we needed the 4pm guaranteed check out (via American Express). However on the day off check out, when we arrived back at our our room at around 3.30pm to take a quick shower before our flight, our keys did not work. It already took us 15 min to get the elevator up and now we were waiting again to take the elevator down to get our keys working again. Meanwhile, housekeeping on our floor kept asking us when we were checking out, which was stressing us out even more. I kept telling them that we are checking out but we can't get into our room. They just kept repeating themselves.
Doorman
When we checked out, we stored all our luggage at reception for a little while. When we retrieved it, they asked if we needed help, which we did as we had 5 suitcases and 3 bags. The person who helped us retrieve the luggage said he would make sure the doorman would help us, but when our car arrived, 3 min later, there was no one to be found. After starting to do it ourselves, the same person came apologizing and insisted we would go into the car and he would offload the trolley and make sure everything would be loaded into the car. I was quite reluctant, but did anyway and my daughter gave him a tip. He left, and luckily the driver noticed that one suitcase was not in the car yet. He just offloaded it from the trolley and just left it on the side of the road.
The Dominick has up until now been my favorite hotel in NYC and have referred many friends to stay here when they visit. I usually come with my husband and this is the first time I took my daughter here. And she was so surprised that I told her that I loved this hotel before our visit, as per her words; "this is probably one of the worst hotels we have ever stayed at". Your location is fantastic. However, the hotel I used to love is no longer there.....
