How I Was Able To Book A Room At A Homeless Shelter in Brooklyn

(TL;DNR - I did not end up with a room in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn.)

I took a quick trip to New York City this weekend, planned a month ago. Got a super cheap airfare into the finally-renovated LaGuardia, a not-so-cheap hotel room, and made plans for shows, dinners and museums with my brother, my son, his fiance, and a collection of mutual friends.

I decided to stay in Brooklyn this time, and booked at the New York City Aloft Brooklyn hotel, in downtown Brooklyn. It’s a few blocks from the A and C trains, so quick and easy access to Manhattan and to my kid’s place in Bed-Stuy. The Aloft is a Marriott property, and I booked directly with the hotel, online.

Imagine my surprise to get an email on Sunday before my Thursday departure that the Aloft was closed “due to COVID” and my reservation had been switched “at no extra cost” to the Sheraton next door.

I found myself wondering what kind of very sudden COVID outbreak would result in an entire hotel being closed. So I googled it. And guess what?

Aloft Brooklyn has been closed for almost a year.

It was being used to house residents of the city’s homeless shelters during COVID, in hopes that by housing them in a hotel and not in the usual communal bunk rooms, the spread of COVID would be reduced. Which seems smart, and is great, and honestly, hotel-style shelters should probably be the norm…but.

As an older female, solo-traveling in NYC - travel that includes returning from Manhattan late at night after shows…I wasn’t quite sure staying next to a homeless shelter was a great idea. I mean, I certainly don’t tend to book hotels next to shelters, as a rule. And I was really not clear on how I was able to book this hotel in the first place.

So I called the Sheraton. And was informed that the Aloft was closed because of COVID, and it was most definitely not being used as a shelter, and they had moved me to the Sheraton “right next door”, so what was the problem? And no, they could not move my reservation to a different Marriott property.

I called Marriott. They had no idea that the Aloft was even closed, or why. They could also not move my reservation to another Marriott property, I would have to call Aloft. I pointed out that Aloft was closed, so how could I call them? The rep I spoke with was sure that if I called during “regular business hours” someone would answer the phone. At this hotel that was closed.

I started looking at other hotels. But since Marriott did not notify me until 4 days before my trip that my reservation was at a hotel THAT WAS CLOSED and they were MOVING MY RESERVATION WITH NO INPUT FROM ME - every hotel in NYC was either booked or was priced at twice what I was already paying.

Enter Twitter Rant Brother, who helpfully posted the situation to Twitter and tagged Marriott Bonvoy. And got an immediate response that I should call them - even though I already had. A different rep was decidedly more helpful, but also puzzled about how I was even able to book at Aloft - and noted that now it looked like I had two reservations, one at Aloft and one at the Sheraton. She then proceeded to look for other Marriott properties to move my booking - except I would have to pay the current, much higher rates. I tried to explain how this was not OK - this was a Marriott-created problem, why should I be paying for it?

While the rep was nice and tried to be helpful, the call ended without any resolution beyond the suggestion that I could try again with the Sheraton to either move my booking or get some price adjustment for the inconvenience and, to be honest, the very un-Marriott-like customer service.

In other words, Marriott was dumping it all back on me, their customer. to try to resolve.

I called the Sheraton and at least got some more reasonable explanations, kinda. The Aloft had indeed been used as a shelter, but was supposed to re-open as a hotel in October or November - and this is why I was able to book. Meanwhile, the Red Cross was looking to shift residents displaced by Hurricane Ida flooding from the other hotels where they were housed, to the Aloft - which the Aloft agreed to do, and again, good on them! But - and this is where the story falters a bit - they apparently continued to allow bookings at the Aloft. Which were then shifted to the Sheraton at the last minute. And I was not the only one they did this to recently, and I was not even the first reservation to experience it. Reviews as far back at July indicate they could book at the closed Aloft, and then were switched at the last minute.

And no, they could not offer me any points, discounts, airport transportation, food vouchers, or any of the other typical “oops we messed up” offers. “You are already getting a deal,” was the response. “The Sheraton is a higher-end property.” Ha.

And they wonder why people were pissed.

I ended up staying with the Sheraton. I could find nothing in Brooklyn or Manhattan that would not cost me an additional $600 or more for my 4-night stay. It was…OK. This “higher-end” property is shabby, with updates limited to a bedside USB port. Key cards worked most of the time - I only had elevator issues 3-4 times (including getting stuck on the 8th floor, with doors that would not open, and riding up to the 24th floor so I could come down to my floor without needing my card to work. I mean, hardly worth mentioning!), and one room access delay which was resolved after multiple tries.

As I walked by the Aloft next door, it was very clear it had not operated as a hotel in quite some time. Is it a “homeless shelter?” No. Are there folks living there? Yes.

At least now you cannot book there. New since I started my complaint last week is this message when you plug in dates: