It gets better.....
The housekeeping department has these cards with pictures of things on it. It says to circle the items you need, and they'll leave them. So we circled a few things, and left the card before we left. When we got back that night, not only had they NOT left us any of the items we requested, they left us enough towels for ONE person, and they tossed our used request form on the display with the TV Guide, which means the next person can't leave a request.
AND...............
Now, when you check into a hotel, the key card is supposed to be activated for X number of days (corresponding with the number of days you're staying). Apparently not at this place. Each night, we had to have the damn thing reactivated (it was kept in the sleeve, nowhere near any other cards, and it was never near a cell phone, which I've heard can deactivate them). They didn't tell us that it needed to be redone every day.
All in all, it was THE WORST hotel I have EVER stayed at (and I'm well travelled, and have stayed in a bazillion and one hotels).
If you're ever in NYC, do NOT stay at the Howard Johnsons at 153-95 Rockaway Blvd, in Jamaica NY (it's near JFK).