Pinoy manager wins battle

MANILA, Philippines - After topping the notorious list of America’s dirtiest hotels for three years, Hotel Carter in New York City’s Times Square theater district was finally taken out of the top spot.

It’s not even on the top 10 anymore, thanks largely to its Batangueño manager Erwin Lumanglas, who literally waged – and won – an all-out war against mice and bugs, as well as dilapidated facilities and dirty premises.

For three years until last year, Hotel Carter had been taunted and ridiculed after consistently topping the annual list of the nation’s filthiest hotels by the popular online travel guide TripAdvisor.

“Roaches, rats, black mold and stains of dubious origin figure prominently in the nearly 800 critiques of the 700-room hotel on West 43rd Street,” writes USA Today, referring to the TripAdvisor survey. 

“The bathroom made me want to vomit,” one TripAdvisor commenter notes.

“Don’t look under the bed!” another cautions.

Although negative online comments still pop up, they have started dwindling recently and have been replaced by “kinder” and “encouraging” reviews from hotel guests, according to Lumanglas, who recently gave us a brief tour of the revitalized 80-year-old hotel.

“Do not expect luxury, but good value and great location,” says one TripAdvisor review.

“The room was clean and quiet. Everything worked and the bed was extremely comfortable,” states another.

“Yes, the carpet is old and yes, the lobby looks like something from the 70s, but there were no roaches, no rats, no leaking water and I even had a fairly new bed,” says one comment.

Lumanglas says his battle against the hotel’s crawling pests began in the middle of last year when he hired a Staten Island-based extermination company for a $30,000-a-year contract.

“Magaling sila (they’re good),” he notes. “They exterminated all the rooms, with or without bugs. They are actually on call whenever their services are needed at Hotel Carter. So far, so good. We might renew the contract for maintenance.”

Along with the pest control, Lumanglas also began renovating rooms, shelling out approximately $5,000 per room.

“Half of our rooms are now in perfect condition,” he says, “and the improvements, major and minor, will continue until all 700 rooms are in good shape.”

He credits the son of the hotel’s owner for giving him the go signal to implement repairs and improvements in the property, which used to be known as Hotel Dixie when it opened in 1930.

“With all due respect to his father (a Vietnamese-American businessman), the son, who took over the operation, has a bigger vision and better understanding because he headed the hotel’s engineering department,” Lumanglas shared

“When I told him, ‘let’s improve little by little’ and upgrade Hotel Carter, he said yes to the idea,” he added. “The father kasi is old school and he’s contented with what he has. The son, of course, is from the new generation and he understands we have to improve if we want to compete. Sayang because we are in a prime location.”

“Anyway, it’s an investment for bigger returns and everyone will be happy,” adds Lumanglas, who lives in one of the hotel’s nicer units.

An accountancy graduate of the University of Batangas, Lumanglas moved to the U.S. in 2006 after working as an accountant in the sports division of ABS-CBN network. He did a myriad of odd jobs – including as a cashier at a Manhattan wine store – before he joined Hotel Carter as a bookkeeper. 

Just a month into his new job, he was promoted to sales manager. And just a few months afterwards, he was named general manager.

“Siguro ma-boka kasi ako at ma-PR (Maybe because I’m gregarious and good at public relations),” he said in his first interview with STARweek early last year. “Hindi sa pagyayabang, pero na-triple ko ang income ng hotel (I don’t want to brag but I tripled the hotel’s income) when I took over.”

Even then, Lumanglas says the TripAdvisor dirtiest list has not affected the business at Hotel Carter. He also questioned the TripAdvisor findings, arguing that not a single citation has been issued by the Department of Health during its annual inspection of the hotel.

“People still come because many of our guests, especially those who are on a tight budget but want to experience New York City, are actually satisfied,” he said then. “They are interested because of the price and location. Many are also curious to find out what the fuss created by TripAdvisor is all about.”

   He adds that some people were expecting too much for $89 a night in the Big Apple. The going rate now at Hotel Carter is $149 a night, he said.

“It’s still very affordable at $149 a night in the capital of the world,” Lumanglas points out. “We had to increase our rate because we’ve been spending a lot on the improvements and renovations.”

While delighted and proud over the delisting of Hotel Carter from TripAdvisor’s embarrasing list, Lumanglas says he is also sad that almost all media outlets who denounced and mocked Hotel Carter when it topped the dirtiest list are nowhere to be found to deliver the good news.

By the way, the dirtiest hotel title for 2010 is now held by Heritage Marina Hotel in San Francisco, California.