I made a reservation at this hotel thinking it was a different one by mistake, but figured, how bad could it be.....

You know things are bad when the free shuttle is an old beat up station wagon.
You know things are bad when you arrive at the hotel and you are pretty certain the people coming in and out of the building are prostitutes.
You know things are bad when the registration clerk is behind a 3 inch glass.
You know things are bad when there is a guy in the lobby with a garbage bag full (looking homeless) of his clothes talking to the registration clerk saying he is expecting a friend to come visit him and to call his room when they arrive.

But we were there and had a reservation, so we figured if we just were to stay the night so we could catch our connection the next morning and locked ourselves in the room, how bad could it be...

We got to the room and there were water stains on the walls and hair in the bathtub....thats when my wife looked at me and said there is no way we are staying here.

They were nice enough to refund our money when we left less than 10 minutes after checking in.

Notice on their website, they dont have full view pictures, very cropped photos.

Ended up here on Friday night after missing a connection to Atlanta due to my flight from London being delayed. I called a few hotels from the courtesy phones at JFK, and it looked nice on the leaflet (don't be fooled!) At $110 (+tax) a night I expected it to be pretty decent, and with a free shuttle and close proximity to the airport I went for it. It was 11pm and I had to be back at the airport at 6am so jsut wanted to get somewhere fast and sleep. I wish I'd have saved my money and slept on the floor on the airport! On arrival I negotiated the price down to $100 seeing as though I would be gone early and not having breakfast. Staff were ok, not particulary friendly, but not rude. Anyway, they gave me my room key and sent my downstairs (No elevator, would have appreciated help with my 2 suitcases but never mind!) The room had the most disgusting smell of tobacco and smoke and everything was very old. The door frames were peeling and cracked, as was the ceiling, the plug sockets looked very dangerous. The window was propped shut with a thin piece of wood (didnt feel too safe being on the parking lot level) and curtains didnt close all the way. I went back to the desk and asked for another room, but that was all they had. If it wasnt so late and I didnt have to be up so early I would have demanded my money back and gone elsewhere. I woke up with a cough and felt really nasty with all that smoke smell and probably mold and damp too. Please pay the extra few dollars and avoid this place. I know NYC is generally more expensive than other cities, but I live in Atlanta and for $110 you can get a pretty decent room. I have stayed in hostels at $30 a night and they have been much more pleasant!

Like many of the other reviewers of this hotel, my daughter and I were compelled to spend the night near JFK due to a weather-related missed flight connection. We were not the only travelers affected and thus all hotels near the airport were sold out except for this one...yeah, bad sign there.

The hotel is as awful as described by other reviewers. The neighborhood is sketchy, the hotel itself is old and in disrepair, and the clientele suggests that the hotel does indeed rent rooms by the hour. I did feel somewhat unsafe and had the door latched and chained at all times, and I also placed the ironing board in front of the door "just in case."

As far as the condition of our specific room - #209 - it appears that based on the other reviews I've read here we had the hotel's "luxury suite." Our two beds were clean. The sheets smelled of bleach which is usually disagreable but in this case, a welcome sign that cleaning had taken place. The room itself seemed to be relatively clean, though I didn't think it was a good idea to walk on the carpet barefoooted. All of the furniture matched and the television worked. The drapes did not close fully, however, and since our window faced the parking lot I was forced to "MacGuyver" them closed with an earring. The bathroom was dilapidated yet clean and functional - mold on the ceiling and the tub caulking but not on the tub, sink or toilet surfaces.

The young men who were working at the front desk when we checked in, and checked out, were nice. The shuttle driver was rude but he got us to the airport. It was worth the rudeness just to be able to leave the JFK Inn behind.

In summary - only stay here if you have to. Ask for Room 209. Find food before you leave the airport because there is nothing available at the hotel except vending machine fare. Pizza delivery is available but if you need cash to pay for it get it at the airport, because most likely the ATM at the JFK Inn will be broken. Remember your stay is only for a few hours and though your stay here might be the worst hotel experience of your life, you'll have a good story to tell afterwards.

I stayed here some years ago now (not March 2010 but it wouldn't let me select any earlier date). I was a solo traveller from Australia and was 18 at the time. I had booked this hotel as I was on a budget and I only needed one night close to JFK as my flight got in at 1am. On checkin I had a difficult conversation with a guy behind perspex glass with holes to speak into and a slit to slide money under, like the subway. I had prepaid before leaving Australia but wish I hadn't because at this stage I would have left and gone elsewhere.
They have 24 hour camera surveillance of the hallways (why would that be necessary I dread to ask) and the room was filthy. The bathroom hadn't been cleaned, there was someone else's soap and hair in the bath and the door lock was broken so I had to put a chair against the door. The room walls were thin and I could hear people having a domestic fight in the room next door.
After 4 hours I was so scared I checked out again, and when I asked for a cab the receptionist challenged me about why I was leaving. He didn't even call me a cab, he arranged for his "mate" in a van to come and collect me. I was terrified I was going to be mugged when I got in the car, the only reason I didn't refuse to get in was that there was a homeless man with no teeth asleep on the couoch in the lobby who woke up and started hassling me and following me around the lobby.
With no idea where I was or which way Manhattan was, I had the van driver take off down the road in a direction and, like a ray of light from heaven, the clouds parted and I found a MArriott after 5 mins in the car where I had him drop me off. I had to put a fiar dent in my credit card for a 4 hour sleep but it was worth every cent. NEVER EVER STAY HERE expecially as a lone female traveller. There is a Holiday Inn nearby where the airline staff stay that is not too expensive and much safer.