The Hotel, Self Fulfilling Expectations II

Our hotel is on 28th Street, just east of Broadway and 5th Avenue. A perfect location. We walk there from Penn Station, after taking the train from Newark. We figure our seven block walk to be quicker than the line for a taxi. The lobby is definitely not as nice as the Pickwick, where we stayed two years ago. It was at the Pickwick that a desk clerk asked if Monica was Mrs. Rasmussen, giving me the confidence to propose via postcard the very next day. The price for the Pickwick has gone up 70%, so we are at the Latham. The web reviews about the Latham are mixed, with some complaints about single mothers who live there. Others point out that small children and single mothers are actually not menacing.

Our room is plenty large. The walls are white. The doors are a drab green. The bed does not feel particularly comfortable, and there are no roses there. The flat screen television is very nice, though we are unlikely to watch much TV during our four days in Manhattan. The bathroom, down the hall, is spacious, with a nice shower, but soap and containers of shampoo are haphazardly left on the floor. I am unable to lock the bathroom door during my first visit there. This is another self-fulfulling expectation. When I return to our room, Monica explains how the bathroom locks work. p.s.-- it is just a matter of closing the door and sliding the lock. The desk staff is helpful and polite.

We have difficulty sleeping the first night, but not the second night. I would say this is a self-fulfilling expectation, but the mattress was actually quite poor. Would I stay at the Latham again? I'd buy a better mattress and move there! Why should only small children and single mothers get the best location in Manhattan?