Hotel Mela - NYC

We stayed at Hotel Mela, just half a block from Times Square. It was reasonably priced, for a hotel in New York, and I saved $100 by booking through Hotels.com. Originally, when I had to switch the date of my stay, the person at Hotel Mela said it was fine, but Hotels.com would just need to call them to complete the transaction.

When we tried to call through Hotels.com, the person they spoke to said we'd have to forfeit our full deposit (about $300), and we couldn't rebook. Then I called a third time and spoke with a third person, and he said he could switch it for me with no extra cost, and I didn't have to do it through Hotels.com.

I'm really grateful for his help. It would have been nice to resolve this the first time I called, but I was glad it was resolved.

We tried to check in early, but the room wasn't ready. They were very helpful storing our luggage for us before the room was ready, and checking me in quickly as I was in a rush to make it to a meeting.

When we got into the room, we realized there was food in the mini fridge from the last guest. Darcy said it looked rotten. I didn't look. I called the front desk, and they were apologetic, and sent someone up immediately to clean the fridge.

I like to try new places when I travel, so while I may not go out of my way to stay at Hotel Mela again, I would recommend it. The room size was big for downtown NYC, and the decor was nice.

Overall service rating: 3.5

Sheraton - Portsmouth, NH

We stayed at the Sheraton in Portsmouth last night. We'd stayed here before, and it's a fairly nice hotel - nothing extraordinary, but nice enough and right downtown, so we've enjoyed staying here before. I saw it was pet friendly, so I booked it again. Unfortunately, when I arrived, I leared it's only pet tolerable, not pet friendly.

Upon checking in and signing a release about the dog, they handed me a piece of paper saying I couldn't leave the dog in the room alone, and if I did, he would be send to the pound. That's terrible! We had plans to see a concert and go out to dinner, and we had to change all of our plans. It was fine, and we still had a nice time, but it was unfortunate they didn't make that clear either when I booked the room or when I signed in.

The person who checked me in was perfectly fine, but she glossed over the pet rules so she wouldn't have to answer to them, and so she earns a service rating of 2.5.