A woman from Texas got quite a surprise when she accidentally checked into the Out NYC, a gay hotel in New York City.
“Elise K.” is a Yelper who lives in Austin, Texas. According to her Yelp profile, she loves “travel, art, beauty, architecture, design, jewelry, decor, music, performing, reading, dance, LIFE.” Her favorite movie is 1987’s The Last Emperor, and her favorite meal on earth is sushi.
Last August, she booked a room at the Out NYC, not knowing it was a gay hotel, and she wrote an unintentionally hilarious Yelp review about her experience.
“First off,” Elise begins, “it would help to know in advance that this is a gay hotel.”
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“They put me in a room where I was up till 4am due to a club that is next to the south part of the hotel,” she continues. “4am!!!!”
“Music was blasting, pulsating and shaking the room literally. No one at the front desk informed me I’d be woken up and disturbed like that.”
She goes on to write: “Apparently the construction of this place sucks as you can even hear people screaming while making love at all hours of the morning.”
Sounds like a fun place to us. Elise, however, did not appreciate the party atmosphere and asked for a discount.
“They offered to give me 30% off my room,” she writes. “WTF?”
She was also not pleased by the hotel’s lack of shower caps or the “manly” scent of the complimentary bath products.
“They don’t have shower caps,” she writes, “apparently men don’t use them but this woman does. The lotion is really not unisex it has a manly type of scent that is very strong. So the amenities are not female friendly. ”
In her review, Elise acknowledges that the rooms are “cool”, the beds are “comfy,” and the spa and jacuzzi are “amazing,” but she will not be frequenting the hotel again, writing: “I will not return here.”
Elise may not be returning to the hotel, but we know where we’ll be staying the next time we visit the Big Apple.
Captain proton
Since I am one of those people who actually enjoy sleeping after 1am, I too will probably not stay there if I ever get to NY. The Belvedere sounds more my type of place.
Rad
“…and there was no place to feed quarters into the bed!”
Dixie Rect
What a dumb bitch. Go back to Texas and stay there.
ouragannyc
I wouldn’t want to go back either if music was loud until 4 am and I had to listen to the neighbors screaming all day long.
iheartrobots
This article makes a lot out of nothing. The woman’s review is perfectly reasonable.
[email protected]
Stay in Texas and learn to read
gingerscruff
her comments aside poor thing LOL! but as a NYer this is one of the tackiest places in the city
lickety splitz
I’m with Elsie, I want a quiet place to rest after a day of sightseeing. Perfectly understandable mix-up if you’re a traveler doing your own multiple bookings.- From a gay activist who traveled a lot.
Michaelmouse1
She was not being homophobic. I would never want to stay there either. I mean who wants to holiday in a hotel where you can’t sleep? From all reports this is a nite-club with a hotel, not a hotel with a nite-club. I’m frankly surprised they are still in business. The idea of staying at an upmarket Gay hotel has great appeal. But ‘The Out’ clearly is not that place!
mcflyer54
Even my 88 year old grandmother doesn’t use a shower cap. I’ve stayed in dozens of NYC hotels and, in the past 15 years, do not recall seeing a shower cap in any of them. Otherwise I found nothing dishonest about her review but, if she’ll knowledgeable enough to use Yelp! you’d have to wonder how she managed to end up booking a gay hotel without have read some reviews somewhere on the internet.
mcflyer54
@Michaelmouse1: Personally, in my younger days, there were plenty of visits to NYC when a gay hotel like Out NYC would have been perfect. 4AM was nothing for a hardcore party boy and not having to maneuver the subway after a night of heavy drinking would have been wonderful. My guess is the clientele is under 25 and by the time they get back to their room they’re not in any shape to be worried about some noise (music or otherwise).
Teleny
I don’t see anything wrong with what she wrote. I wouldn’t be happy to stay next to a night club either. Guess I’m getting old. 🙂
mezzacanadese
Yikes, does this woman have no clue? If it’s called the “Out”, ding dong! that should ring a bell. As someone mentioned earlier, she should have looked it up on Yelp. Also, she should have brought her own shower cap, as not all hotels have them. And I never rely on the hotel having a lotion I like, so I bring my own.
Caine
I have unfortunately been to the OUT Hotel and as a gay man I thought it pretty much sucked too. I was there right after it opened and it was already falling apart – – – carpet seams coming up and parts of furniture falling off. The whole place is pretentious and unwelcoming. It’s like a gay horror show.
Rockery
Am I too prudent? Did she not do a quick review search on the Hotel she was staying at?
Alan down in Florida
How does one accidentally find an openly gay hotel without knowing in advance that it catered to a gay clientele?
macmantoo
How can someone who is a “yelper” DOESN’T RESEARCH WHERE THEY’RE STAYING IN ANOTHER CITY? She knew or didn’t even stay there. Just another dumbass texan
EdgarCarpenter
I’ve been to gay hotels with attached loud bars and had a good night’s sleep – a decent hotel will build in enough sound damping to make the rooms quiet. One of the things I dislike about NYC is the refusal of developers and bar owners to adhere to the noise laws, which are strict. Another thing I dislike is the incompetent police department which refuses to enforce the noise laws.
The fact that she is from Texas and wanted a good night’s sleep does not justify trashing her – she didn’t object to the gayness of the hotel, she objected to the thin walls, over-strong scents and bad service.
Ann Mason
Although I have mostly positive things to say about my stay at The OUT NYC in 2012, loud music was an issue. I wasn’t on the side of the building which was directly above the night club (and never heard noise from the club while in that room), but on my first night a party was held on the so-called Great Lawn, directly across from my window. After spending the previous night on an airplane, I was eager to get some rest.
The staff was very considerate. They offered to move me to a different part of the building, but I politely declined because the party was nearly over by the time I spoke up.
The OUT NYC is a great party hotel, but I don’t recommend it to business travelers or anyone else who needs to get to sleep early. The party atmosphere isn’t a flaw. It just is what it is, and it’s not for everyone.
It’s difficult to figure out why Elise K. was disturbed by the lack of a shower cap in her room. The CVS store on the corner probably has shower caps, and in my room there was something much more important for guests like me who have lion’s manes instead of normal hair: a hair dryer.
Ann Mason
@Caine: Although I like the place, you make an excellent point about the furnishings, etc. It reminded me of staging you see when you’re looking at a house for sale. It’s pretty to look at when it’s new, but don’t expect it to hold up long. I suspected the company ran low on money during the remodeling (judging by the looks of it, the building was probably a motel at one time)and cut a few corners where they could.
On a more cheerful note, that mattress was extremely comfortable. It was like a marshmallow. Do you recall the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel were traveling? Right before Lucy sat on the edge of the bed, she said she hoped the mattress wasn’t hard. Then she nearly disappeared into it. The same thing happened to me at The OUT NYC, and although it was a shock at first it proved to be the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.
mike657
Wow… not because of her post, but how lame this article is trying to make an issue out of nothing. Nowhere in her comments does she come across as “traumatized”, or shocked/offended that – wait for it – OMG!!! I stayed at a GAY hotel!!! As a gay male, I see nothing wrong with her comments, and in fact find some of them very helpful. Someone was clearly trying to make this into some sort of “poor backwoods Texas girl gets shocked by the big city” story. Her only “mistake” was not realizing this is a gay hotel, which really isn’t that surprising since it pops up on general hotel search engines. For those of you trashing her as ignorant because of this, you might want to note that some mainstream sites don’t even mention it’s a predominantly gay hotel.
The point she was clearly trying to make was that it’s important to know it’s a gay hotel not because OMG – THE GAYS!!!! but because it may not cater to the expectations of some female travelers and the club noise may be bothersome if you just want to sleep. Her comments were actually quite positive compared to some of the opinions I’ve heard from friends that have stayed there.
jwtraveler
“Mistakingly”? Spell-check just underlined the word in red. The writer should try using it. The word is “mistakenly”.
scotshot
Something smells. Who lists their favorite movie as “The last Emperor”?
EvonCook
Sorry, I like all the wild partying, hopefully half-dressed or naked in the corridors and screwing in rooms down the hall, preferably with doors open to invite passerbys, BUT I also want sound conditioning and sound proofing to be able to sleep and keep my own schedule. ANY hotel that has such noise problems, no matter how gay, is NOT satisfactory.
tjr101
She doesn’t sound traumatized to me, pretty reasonable actually. What I find unusual is that she was not aware of what to expect at the hotel, I always read the reviews of any place I am going to pay to sleep at.
sfbeast
All in all, I think she wrote a fairly reasonable review. It wasn’t rude or homophobic. She may be naive or uninformed but certainly not ‘traumatized’.
Snapper59
“Traumatized??”
The only author here who is embellishing his or her story is the person who wrote this one.
I’ve stayed at the Axel Hotel in Barcelona (“We’re gay but straight-friendly”) and there were multiple reviews from straights and lesbians I read online prior that said exactly what this woman said, “You’re not really going to like it.”
AuntieChrist
Landsakes! I get traumatized every time I have to stay in straight motels, all them breeders runnin around draggin their noisy little ankle biters with them. And of course we need to find pet friendly places to stay cause we love to take our gayby along with us. There just are not enough gay run places to stay. It’s a crime that what it is. A crime and a cryin shame.
guydads
We stayed at the OUT NYC for a week last July and found it to be excellent. It was convenient to Broadway and the new gay nightlife in Hell’s Kitchen. The price was very reasonable for the location. We found our room to be clean, comfortable and quiet. We plan on returning again. I would estimate that nearly half of the guests that week were straights: couples and families. The only noise problem we had was 10am Sunday morning when the atrium outside our room hosted a birthday party for a toddler. There were twenty straight couples with dozens of rugrats all celebrating with a brunch. http://guydads.blogspot.com/2013/07/photos-of-nyc-trip.html
barkomatic
I guess a person is homophobic if they have legitimate complaints about a hotel that have nothing to do with the sexuality of some of the guests now. I always assumed that the hotel rooms were insulated from the noises coming from XL. I’m surprised that is not the case and I’d never stay there either.
Gigi Gee
I just tried make a reservation for when we’re next in NYC. Fully booked. WTF Elise!
justjack4859
Come on, that profile is obviously fake. This review is her only one!
GayAtheistLH
This dumb bitch! First, everything she loves is gay, gay, gay but she doesn’t know what “out” means?
Book your next hotel stay somewhere else, Anita Bryant.
halfahomo
Her review, as it is here, does nothing to state she was “traumatized” by her stay there. Shame on Queerty for just adding fuel to no fire at all. This is not a gay bias review and her complaints are perfectly legit.
Josh S
@Captain proton: Is the Belvedere a gay hotel?
JAHarrell61
@mcflyer54: She is from Texas, the land of LARGE HAIR, she prolly purchases her Aqua Net in 50 Gallon Drums.
marcus_collack
Some of the things that she is saying is reasonable, however, you’re on yelp why didn’t you read the other reviews, and realize you’re in New York (where gay people do exist), there’s really no excuse for not knowing.