Hilton HHonors - Millenium Hilton Trip Reports and Reviews

We chose to stay at this Hilton because it has a VIP award of only 100,000 points for 6 nights (the only one at this point level in NYC) and it has a pool with health club. We were visiting for a combination family get together and 50th birthday celebration for my husband. I wrote to the general manager prior to our stay explaining the special occasion of our visit (and pointing out my gold status) for this award stay and was not disappointed. We were given a Jr. suite with a seperate living room with pullout sofa (perfect for our daughter), 6 breakfast coupons in lieu of executive floor use, since they do not have one at this hotel and a bottle of chilled champagne with a card wishing my husband happy 50th birthday. Our suite was on the 43rd floor and we had a great view of the harbor and Statue of Liberty and World Trade Center right across the street. Although not as convenient to midtown we did have access to no fewer than 6 subway lines right outside our door or across the street. We were most pleased with our accomodations and would recomend this 8 year young property in NY. Only one complaint, the automated mini bar made it impossible for us to store any food in our room unless we wanted to keep refilling the ice bucket http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

vindesante,

Thanks for letting the cat out of the bag. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Just kidding. I'm a big, BIG fan of this property. I've been upgraded there more often than not, usually to a junior suite with a spectacular view. As you said there are no fewer than half a dozen subway lines within a NY block of the place. I've never thought of its location as an inconvenience; actually, I prefer it over midtown. Better rooms and much less bustle at night.

I agree. I just stayed at the Hilton NY last weekend. The lounge was SRO for breakfast and the room, despite being on the 39th floor and a recent renovation, was just OK. I'll stick to the Millenium next time, tho I'm afraid with all this good pub, those great frequent weekend rates may soon become a thing of the past.

I stayed at the Millenium Hilton for my wedding night...it was a beautiful hotel.

When checking in we told the desk agent that it was our wedding night and we got upgraded to a towers room free. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Although a bit small, the room was spectacular, with a great view of downtown...perhaps one of the best rooms I've stayed in. I highly suggest this hilton for anyone who is staying downtown.

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www.denycontinentalthefreddie.com (http://www.denycontinentalthefreddie.com)

We stayed there on an award over Thanksgiving weekend and were also impressed with how we were treated (2 HH Golds). The only difference was we were given a junior suite with a view of uptown.

Just spent three free nites at this hotel, where I have been staying a couple of times before... Used to get junior suites and/or higher floors upgrades as a Diamond.
This time, was put into a regular room on the 37th floor. No anemities, just ONE continental breakfast coupon per day (we were two!).
Very disappointed...

You got a free room on the 37th floor of a nice hotel in a great city, plus (one) breakfast...I agree that you should have had two breakfast coupons, but I hope you didn't let that spoil your visit to New York!

[This message has been edited by ClassicalGal (edited 05-20-2001).]

Originally posted by Sylvest941:
Just spent three free nites at this hotel, where I have been staying a couple of times before... Used to get junior suites and/or higher floors upgrades as a Diamond.
This time, was put into a regular room on the 37th floor. No anemities, just ONE continental breakfast coupon per day (we were two!).
Very disappointed...

They had no exec lounge that you could visit and thereby get breakfast for 2 gratis?

Second, although the Hilton Int'l properties DO NOT GUARANTEE YOU BREAKFAST (read the fine print of the offer and see how it differs from that of the US hotels) I think that you are guaranteed both an upgrade to a Towers level room (space availalbe), as well as the breakfast, although, they could be chintzy and give it only for one, UNLESS YOU ARE BOTH HHONORS GOLD OR ABOVE!! Given that most who cruise this board, should at the very least be GOLD, then they would have no rationale why they are not giving the other member of your party the coupon, as well.

Please explain further, mon ami!

I am currently writing from a 24th floor Junior Suite at the Millenium Hilton. Not bad for a 129$ rate!. I got one coupon for breakfest, but I'm only one here this time so it doesn't bother me. Last night they were fully booked so it might be the reason for a no-upgrade situation. When I arrived at 6AM from a 12-hour TLV-EWR flight they didn't have a room for me.

I can understand the disappointment, but where was the deception?

Just thought I'd report on a recent stay I had at the Hilton Millenium in New York. I got two rooms (unfortunately on two separate folios), one for myself and one for my mom. The junior suite I got cost $112 ($141 with tax), and the standard room was $117ish ($146 with tax). This included a $3.40 energy surcharge.

Didn't get upgraded to a second junior suite for being gold, alas. But both rooms were nice. The junior suite had a little sitting room area, with a sofa and a TV and a chair, but no door or anything. The bathroom was nice. My mom's regular room seemed fine as well.

Getting gold benefits was a bit of a hassle. I had to ask for breakfast coupons, and I still didn't get them, so I had to ask again. It seemed like they were more disorganized than trying to avoid giving me the benefits. The breakfast coupons are for a continental breakfast, which was fine for us. You can upgrade to a hot breakfast for 4 or 5 bucks. I got two coupons for my one gold membership, but I did book two rooms.

As far as amenities, I got a bottle of carbonated water (yuck) and two wafer chocolate mints. That was in the junior suite. Nothing in the standard room.

Oh, and we had dinner at Barbetta's, which is near the theatre district. Fixed-price pre theatre meals (5 courses) are $45-$50. The food was fine, though I'm not much of a food connoisseur myself, and ritzy restaurants always make me giggle. ("Look, look, they put a miniature tree in that lady's entree! And look at this decorative drizzle on my plate, tee hee...") Then again, I'm pretty uncouth. I like eating at Subway just fine, but Mom wanted something nice. :-)

We had a great pre-cruise stay at the Millenium Hilton in NYC. We were upgraded to a corner suite with a great view of the Statue of Liberty. In the evening received wonderful chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies and a pitcher of milk with a nice note saying the milk was to help my husband's bones (he was recovering from a broken leg.) We did have a weird happening--voices like some kind of a radio coming from the pillar in the corner of the bedroom. We had someone from housekeeping come up with a new iron and he heard it also. Very strange. Then on Sunday I asked for a later checkout until 1 pm. Was told by 2 different people that it was impossible. So asked for a bellman for our luggage at 11:45 am and no one arrived for over an hour when close to 1 pm I called again and someone came right. We did get the later checkout in a roundabout way. We had the breakfast coupons and buffet and the staff was great. Even used the pool--would return again--wonder if the voices would still be there?

actually, it's spelled 'millennium'.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tcook052:
actually, it's spelled 'millennium'. </font>

No, it's not. While the word "millennium" is correct with two n's, the spelling of the hotel only has one.

Whoever named the hotel messed up.

Mike

Thanks for the report!
We are staying there on 10/4 before our cruise. For the upgrade, are you gold or diamond? We are gold. As for the milk and cookies, when we were at the HWV last January I mentioned that Mom was here on her anniversary and Dad was not able to come since he is in a nursing home. Voila! A bottle of champagne surrounded with orchids appeared in the room on our return with a nice note.
One last question, roughly how much time and fare was the taxi ride to the Port up at 55th street. In my mind I thought the port was on the lower end of town, then find it was in midtown!!
JudyJFLA
Hoping there is still most of Bermuda left to see...

We are gold. I have friends in Bermuda and while there is a lot of damage it should be fine for a cruise visit. Hope you have calm seas. As for the taxi ride we had a driver who took us for a ride--literally. He went south to go north with a feeble excuse of roads closed but not all the roads were closed. I would think it would be about a $10 ride although the traffic at the pier can be bad. We left the hotel around 1 pm to avoid some of the crowds. If you go too much earlier you run into people leaving the ship.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nako:
No, it's not. While the word "millennium" is correct with two n's, the spelling of the hotel only has one.

Whoever named the hotel messed up.

Mike</font>

My apologies for making assumptions. Thanks for the heads-up.

We stayed in NYC at the Hilton Millennium and I took some digital pictures that show a bit of where we were. A link to these is shared for all to view below. It may not be much, but this set includes pictures taken of or from our room on the 42nd floor and also shows the hotel so new visitors can see what it is like, etc. We got a corner room which faced toward uptown and the East River. We are GOLD and when I called to confirm my res, they told me to contact the hotel directly. I had put the request for a corner room with the 800# main reservations, and when I called the hotel directly, they had this info and confirmed it with us. They told me it would be a nice room and it was. When we got there, I was reminded that we were upgraded and we were handed our 4 free breakfast coupons! 2 each; 2 days--perfect!! That saves you about $20 per person per morning!

Note that pictures of the WTC site and pictures of its current restoration plans are also included. We had a family member lost there but we did not mind the view we had from this hotel. Those who do not want to be there should note its direct proximity to the WTC site... You may check out my link at Shutterfly.com and see everything for yourself. Note that it should not require any sign up or anything like that just to view them. The pictures may prove useful under certain personal circumstances:

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b32cce73a4cd

Last month, I had put a question to this forum in another thread asking which Hilton to consider staying in and most people suggested this place. Let me tell you that your suggestions were great and I thank everyone who gave me input! We loved it and we will go back, but I thought I would point out a few things to those who have never been. We had not been to this or any NYC Hilton.

We started out in Boston taking a $10 each way bus called Fung Wah. Sounds interesting but if you check out the site, http://www.fungwahbus.com and look at the rates, you will see that it is worth paying only $42 for the both of us to go RT to NYC for the weekend! That is, of course, if you are from Boston. I THINK they go RT to and from Washington DC also, but I am not certain.

I had mentioned in my older thread that I would comment on this bus choice and I must say that it was good and it was definitely worth using them. We booked online and you must go to the office in China Town in Boston to get your tickets signed before boarding the AC'd nice big bus.

But first, picture this: A loud, fast-talking old Chinese woman with tons of relations milling around passing slips pf paper and money as we crammed into this small cafe in the rain on Friday with our back packs. Sounds a bit like what Ellis Island must have been like in the olde days, but hey, everybody does it so it's all good. The bus was rather nice and we had some room in the back of the decent ride, full with others like us and some locals too. In just 4.5 hrs (one short stop at McD's on the way) we were in the city! We walked from China Town thru Little Italy and saw that the Feast of San Gennaro was going on at Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston Streets.

We then decided to go to the Hotel so we grabbed an N or R train to get to our hotel, located by the WTC site. We took the subway everywhere and I think it is the cheapest way to travel. Being from Boston, we know it is OK also.

The Millenium Hilton:
1-212-693-2001 (maybe it's one of those rare words that can have two spellings--who knows; who cares?)

Written for experts and novices alike, my little diddy here is meant to describe the excellent service and amenities we found at our weekend home, as well as our take on it. They treated us like Gold at this newly renovated high rise hotel and though I am Gold VIP with Hilton Honors program, I felt amazed at the level of service we received there. 4 free brekky coupons and an upgraded suite to start... Plus you even get to 'double dip' and pick up more points and frequent flier miles together! I didn't even know that but loved it anyway. Picked up 500 NWA miles PLUS 2,665 HHilton points! 533 of these are due to the GOLD 25% bonus you apparantly also get. Cool!

We had actually used up many saved points that I had amassed in recent times by converting Delta, United and Continental miles into Hilton Honors hotel credits. Because of recent changes many in here already know of, you can only transfer IN miles from American Airlines right now, but these coveted miles are the easiest to redeem for free flights so it's a tough choice to want to do that. But the stay was so nice, I may go for it to grab some free nights again! We used up 70,000 points for 2 weekend nights at this category 5 (of 6) hotel and that's worth the few hundred per night we saved! I have some left and it was worth it all! That's what these points and miles are for anyway, right? Glad I was into all of this mileage stuff! It paid off yet again.

Hilton did not have a coffee maker in the room but we had Starbucks in the lobby and I had a gift card obtained by using MyPoints.com, the online services that you can use to click to get free points and gifts over time. For those who may not know, this service gave me enough for the card and some of those Hilton points as well, so I think it's certainly worth joining up and just sifting through free email offers that you read and delete for credits! Time pays off and it takes very little in the end. In fact, I think MyPoints is great because what it does it lets YOU chose what you want in your inbox and you get many emails (like spam) but you get points for having them come (unlike spam). If spammers only knew they should give, we would bite! I use MyPoints because of the points!

The reason I bring these many finer detailed things up is for the next traveler who is into saving money, but still living large. This weekend trip to NYC cost us like NO money and that, my friends, is KEY when in New York! We were NOT on business, after all! It was a grande weekend luxury getaway that worked out just as we hoped for!

We forgot the milk and cookies thing but hey, I need to cut down on the cookies anyway. Had that Starbucks card too, so I could always grab some there. We found the staff in the lobby to be be very helpful and friendly, and very available. No probs at all! All nice! That is key to my stay since we get the feeling they are there only for US! (You obviously do not get that when you tour places like the busy Empire State Building)

Anyway, you DO need to be concerned with savings when you use or even open that little mini bar fridge in your room, because just opening it up to take out one Heineken beer cost me upwards of $6! Wow, that's very "business" of them! (that's NY, I guess)

Of course, I simply replaced the bottle with one I bought down the street the next day for only $2, and I grabbed a few more to put on ice for myself. I explained to the front desk that I was just looking and they kindly removed the charge from my tiny services bill, which included tips and things later on. It turns out that if you even just open the fridge, it has a sensor on it that charges you instantly for something. So don't let curiosity kill the cat! BUT in the end, that was no biggie and we loved the hotel! I only charged a few tips for things like breakfast, etc, to my room in the end.

Call me what you will, but I'd rather tip the hotel staff the $4 than to spend that much for a beer. Yeah, I know, but other than admitting the above, many here would probably do the same, so save any negative jabs! We DID tip heavily anyway (except in a local nearby eatery that charged us WAY tooo much for Their sodas and other drinks. We let them know when we failed to tip the norm, but hey, we enjoyed all it anyway)

Again, I am just pointing these little initial things out for the reader who needs details on the type of stay chosen. Hilton was great! The area in downtown is coming alive and there were a lot of events going on each day. The hotel provides a nice card that tells you of the events and times/locations of such things. For example, in Battery Park, there was a culture festival, and we learned about the details of the festival in Little Italy because of this info card as well.

We fit a lot in and we also wish we had more time but yeah, I think I can say I will do it all again. Our room, which I requested based on the kind advice of other travelers, was awesome. We were in a corner suite that overlooked uptown in one window and the East River in the other. As I said, we were on the 42nd floor. Of course, this meant that we had to face the PIT of the WTC site, but Dad's soul and spirit now rest back at home and NOT on the ground or metalic remains of the WTC so we were OK with that. We did, of course, imagine... [ http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif ]

Ahhh well... I believe future plans (shown in some of my photos) will allow for some of this area to still be viewed once new buildings are constructed. From everything I saw, these plans address all the questions and concerned of everyone involved. I too had a say in what the Lower Manhattan Development Co will be doing. LMDC has been careful to address many issues on the WTC subject matter and this is a good thing.

In the end, I recommend the hotel and am still thinking back on our excellent trip to NYC. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Realizing our hotel is right next to Fulton
Street, we walked down to the piers of this
beautiful outdoor area and checked out some of the stores, bars and places to grab an outdoor bite. It is like Boston's Fanieul Hall and has excellent views of the city in the background. Nice night spot as well.

As far as other activities go, we had watched the Travel Channel last week and gained some other cool tips on things to do whilst down there. One thing is to go to the tourist info office in Time Square and for free, they will snap your picture and then display it on the huge TV for a few minutes in a funny movie sponsored by the HSBC bank. They have a big billboard right there and it comes on in 5 minutes! I took some digital shots of us up there while we were watching it play live above the streets laughing.

If you wish to check out one of our short vids and see me on the HSBC billboard in NYC, log onto the HSBC bank site below and enter the code for my free Windows Media shorts! It is valid for 30 days total. (what a great marketing scheme they’ve come up with, huh?) Of course, when live, your view of the square is real. This web site shows a graphics version... Still fun though.

http://us.hsbc.com/
Then click lower left-side navigator bar to find the place where you enter this section and see the fun in Time Square:

Jeff: "Outer Space"
67522103

If you wish to see yourself on the HSBC billboard in NYC, visit Time Square during the day and go for it.

The Travel Channel also told us about things to do at Ellis Island and since this hotel is only a short walk to Battery Park, where you can take ferries over, we did just that.

While at Ellis Island, we checked out some
archived computer files in the massive olde
immigration archives that they have available on site. For the mere cost of $5, we joined up and sat at a terminal where we could log on and view records of passengers who came to the United States at certain times in our past...

We learned the following:

From 1892 to 1924, more than 22 million
immigrants, passengers, and crew members came
through Ellis Island and the Port of New York. In their words, The ship companies that transported these passengers kept detailed passenger lists, called "ship manifests." Now, thanks to the generous efforts of volunteers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these manifests have been transcribed into a vast electronic archive, which you can easily search to find an individual passenger.

So, if you also wish to log onto the FREE web
site version of all of this and check out the
records of your own relations whether you visit or not, I believe you can do so by going to:

http://www.ellisisland.org

And that's just the half of what we did on one day this past weekend! go down and have some fun! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

-Good thing we had decent weather also! No Hurricane Isabel hit us at all.

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If speed is not your thing, distance may as well be. Enjoy and embrace it all!

I don't see how Hilton could make such a big error if they were in fact trying to name it "Millennium". The 1 "n" must have some special meaning to it.

You can't really protect a common dictionary word with a trademark. Mazda did a similar thing as Hilton with the name of it's Milennia car.

We stayed at the Millenium Hilton 5-7th Sept. Requested a Gold upgrade when booking online and were delighted with the corner jnr. suite on the 44th floor we were upgraded to upon arrival. Our view was of the WTC and uptown, we kept the curtains open and had a fabulous sunrise the next morning. We did get breakfast vouchers, the staff were all extremely pleasant.... no milk and cookies though!

There are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms, it would be a nice touch if there were, but I'll opt for the fabulous view anyday! Would definitely stay there again.

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by xyzzy:
You can't really protect a common dictionary word with a trademark. Mazda did a similar thing as Hilton with the name of it's Milennia car.</font>

Why bother copyrighting a misspelling in the first place?

Have 2 rooms reserved for 2 nights 11/14-16...as Diamond, what upgrade is likely to be received? Never been to Milenium (my spelling)yet.

the short version of mine will reveal that you should ask them for a top floor corner suite --the one we had was 4211 and it was awesome. They have them facing up town and other people talked about ones facing out to the statue of liberty.

either way you will love it.

rich or poor, dont forget that fridge thing I mention in prev post! Save the $

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM

Ditto on everyone's reports. We stayed on 10/5 in room 1911. On our arrival (as Gold) we were upgraded to a corner suite with the same view of the WTC site and the Woolworth building and the church. What a room! In fact it was the best part of our Bermuda cruise since the ship broke down and we went thru a tropical storm, but that is another story!!! In fact the room was so great and NEW that we opted to blow off the show for the night and hang out in the heated pool area (one of the nicest we have seen). Service was excellent. In fact at the free breakfast buffet in the morning, the server came to find me in line to ask which flavor of tea I would prefer. Breakfast would have been $41 for the both of us. We did wander up to the 55th floor and were greeted with a wonderful view of the Brooklyn Bridge. If returning back to NYC I would opt to stay at this property again any day. The subway is 30 feet from the front door and the Century 21 store is fun to shop next door, akin to Macy's at Xmas, even on a dead Saturday night!!
JudyJFLA

The Millenium is my favorite hotel in all of New York (that I can afford). I've never been a fan of the midtown hotels.

IME, since it's downtown and caters to the business crowd, upgrades are fairly easy to come by for weekend stays.

Gotta love those corner junior suites. Last time I was there we had a room looking smack dab uptown, with the Empire State building dead ahead. Bonus that the subway is right there.

Had my GREAT stay 2 weekends ago. Booked 2 rooms for 2 nights. They upgraded us to a 2 bedroom suite on 54! Actually, its connecting 1 King and 1 Queen bedrooms with a living/dining room between them. Total of 3 plasma TV's and incredible views on 3 sides. Breakfast coupons for all. LOVED it!

with all these positive reviews I'm sure looking forward to our 3 night stay coming up.

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Visit FlyerTalk Dining http://flyertalk.com/diningfr.shtml
“I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.”

What is the nearest subway entrance/exit in relation to the Hilton Milenium? What line it is if you have that info as well.

Thanks,

Willie

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Visit FlyerTalk Dining http://flyertalk.com/diningfr.shtml
“I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.”

This subway map shows the Hilton:

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/mapdown.pdf

We used the Cortland St. N/R stop. One of the exits from that platform was practically right at the Hilton in one direction and directly across the street in the other. We would have used the E train (which is SLIGHTLY further away, but would have been a straight shot from Penn Station), but they weren't running the E that weekend due to maintenance work so we had to double connect instead.

As Diamnd, Milenium is A+, 2 bedroom suite on 54,,great views and furnishings, plasma TV's too.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rtpflyer:
We used the Cortland St. N/R stop. One of the exits from that platform was practically right at the Hilton in one direction and directly across the street in the other.</font>

yep, could not have been easier. We were there for a couple of theater shows and the N/R line takes one right to Times Square where our theaters were w/in a few blocks of.

checkin/out was seamless, smooth.

Upgraded to parlor suite as gold. great views.

cheap rates.

some opera nut was cranking opera at 3:30am in the morning. Call to front desk had it taken care of, security came up pronto.

I do know where my future stays will be in Manhattan, here.

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Visit FlyerTalk Dining http://flyertalk.com/diningfr.shtml
“I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.”

Just booked for a couple of weeks time.

As a Gold will I get breakfast coupons? I ask because I think I paid an extra $10 for a rate including breakfast (Bounceback weekend). I might as well try and save the $10 if I can

A couple of additional questions:
What's the health club like? Is the equipment new?
Any alternative to paying the outrageous $45 parking fee at the weekend? Is there any street parking round there?

You will get breakfast coupons.

Stayed here last August. Its as good as people say, esp the pool. 20% of the rooms seem to be corner suites (only 10 rooms per floor) so upgrade is very likely. I too got a corner suite for Gold.

Stayed here the Fri night before Valentine's day. Booked that afternoon, was upgraded to a corner suite on check in (I'm gold), only the 29th floor though :-(

I wish I knew about the free bfast coupons in advance, because I paid the extra $10 for the bounceback rate.

Had a corner suite at the Millenium Hilton recently - it was very nice. Great views. Took some photos of the room which you can see at:

http://www.hotelscoop.com/hotelDetail1a.php?Hotelid=4138

Which rooms on the high floors have better views? My last stay was on the 50th floor but was facing ground zero.

Which rooms on the high floors have better views? My last stay was on the 50th floor but was facing ground zero.

I was also reluctant to take a room facing ground zero, so I made several inquires at the front desk. It comes down to a bit of a tradeoff: apparently the corner suites and other, larger suites all face ground zero. If you are satisfied with a regular room, then you can ask for one on the opposite side of the building. Actually, I think the corner suites are not so bad because one window (in the bedroom) faces ground zero, but you can close those curtains if you prefer and still have plenty of light and plenty of view from the other windows.

Enjoy your stay!

The overwhelming majority of the rooms face Ground Zero (which is to the West). There's an adjacent building to the East with ~zero clearance, so no guest rooms face the east directly. The eastern side of the building has elevator lobbies, stairwells and maid supply rooms rather than guest rooms.

I only saw the 53rd floor - 5302 is a Junior Suite that faces south (Statue of Liberty view) and west. I think 5301 was also a Junior Suite, with a South and East view (Statue and possibly Brooklyn/Manhattan Bridges). 5308 was a full suite that occupied the entire north end of the floor - I'd be surprised if even a Diamond would get this as an upgrade. Other than 5301 and 5308 all rooms had Ground Zero view.

These room numbers may not apply on lower floors - according to the floor plan on the back of the door, many of the rooms on 53 were suites that appeared to take up what would be 2 rooms on a lower floor.

Thanks! ^

This hotel is good and I'd certainly stay here again. I was a little concerned about the location as most of my business is midtown, but every subway line seems to come through here and I'm normally travelling off peak so it wasn't a problem at all - if anything a benefit as I really like the area. The "desk" area is really good, they've thought about it properly and the work chair is very comfortable. The phone in the room is cordless, which I liked.

As others have reported the staff are very good (and very well trained; a new front desk guy was being trained when I arrived - he couldn't check me in as he was observing his colleague. Four days later he's still working in a pair, only now the senior clerk is doing the observing...).

The niggles:

1. The minibars with sensors irritate me as I like to empty them (without consuming the products) and put my own things in for the duration of my stay. I went down to the front desk to ask them to empty it for me (to avoid charges, not just through laziness) and they sent me up a fridge.

2. The absence of a coffee machine is surprising. For anyone staying more than a couple of nights, head right next door to Century 21 where you can pick up a kettle and a cafetiere for $20.

3. There appears to be free Hilton wireless in the lobby (and possibly elsewhere in the hotel) but from where I was (20th floor, west side) there's only patchy wireless networks from local offices. They send you up an ethernet cable for a $10 deposit, and the highspeed internet is about $6 a day. For someone from the UK this is still a steal, but for the room rate (ok, mine was an award, but that's not the point) it ought to be free.

4. The pool area (5th floor with a bit of a view) is nice, but the piped muzak is dreadful; the kind of thing you'd expect in the elevator at a cheap motel with pretensions.

5. The water pressure in the shower wasn't great. It wasn't bad, as such, but it wasn't great either. The showers at the pool were much better.

Shortly I'll be posting details of where I ate near the hotel in the NYC Cheap Food thread. I'll link to it here when I'm done.

Re: 1 & 2: Good for you! We'll be going back in the fall and both of those ideas sound like winners. I had bought a 12-pack (no 6-packs offered?) of soda at the Rite-Aid down the street and had to drink them warm over ice.

Re: #3: The WiFi is actually set up to service the restaurant up one floor from the lobby (much better signal there) but it's strong enough in the lobby to let you drink a beer in the ber while you're checking your email. I think my wife got a little tired of me dragging the laptop to breakfast every morning (at least she didn't have to fight me over the newspaper... ;) ). Up on 53 the only networks I could see were encrypted.

Just a quick little note about our stay at the Millenium over the 4th of July weekend.

HHonors status : Diamond
Rate : $143.10 / night (after checking almost daily for a few weeks (AAA)).
Upgrade : Yes, to room 3610 (Junior suite).
Breakfast coupons : Yes, without asking, and they basically just give you a credit that you can apply to any breakfast on the menu. They also give you a full price receipt (Might be nice if you are submitting for reimbursment from your employer :), not that I condone that sort of thing)
Dates : July 2nd - July 5th.
Fireworks : Yes, we could see them from our room (We were sitting on the air conditioning unit looking south west).
View : Excellent.

Other various thoughts. The bar and resturant are located on the third floor. It was empty most of the time. The concierge staff seemed good (especially Melissa). They arranged to have my wifes fav flowers waiting in the room, and did it correct. Good resturant recomendations. Every third person at the bar asked the bartenders about the WTC attack. The room overlooked ground zero. We were able to see the laying of the cornerstone for the new tower. We got turndown service every night, two new bottles of water every night, two chocolates every night.

Any questions, I would be happy to answer.

All in all, a good stay, I would certainly go again.

Rate : $143.10 / night (after checking almost daily for a few weeks (AAA)).
.

That is a really good rate. I haven't seen anything below $150ish(advance booking rate, AAA are about $10 higher) on my stays in the past 6 months.

Bkniaz, thanks for the report. Good information, good rate! Next July 4th... @:-)

I've managed to get this room a few times, including this past Saturday and Sunday night. Is this one of the coolest rooms in the chain? I know lots of people here have had the pleasure of that room. Never seen a blizzard from 53 stories up before.

If they just added a small kitchen to it.....

We had room 2702 on Saturday night, amazing view of the blizzard and Ground Zero. Seth, the doorman, somehow convinced a taxi driver to take us to Queens when our car service flaked out and no other cab drive would do it. The restaurant was packed on Sunday morning and supposedly most people had extended their reservations to Monday so no late checkouts could be accomodated. Any hotel within walking distance of both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts works for me.

Describe 5308 pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease..????

I suppose the crews weren't out in the storm, but any noise problems at the hotel now from the construction on Dey Street?

I stayed in this hotel last week, and didn't get room 5308 (got a corner room jr. suite - all jr suites are corner rooms?).

But I did ask the very knowledgeable front desk staff about the 50th floor rooms. He said that they are given out by the sales dept, unless the hotel is full, in which case if a Diamond member asked for a suite, they'd be upgraded to that one. So I guess if you contacted the sales dept with a legitimate reason (ie: you'll be travelling to NYC every week for the next year?), they'd upgrade you to the suite.

Or, I guess you can contact the hotel manager:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=418999&highlight=millenium+hilton

and here's another thread about upgrades in this hotel (which I've not read):
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132330&highlight=millenium+hilton

I'm not sure if the rooms remains empty if noone books them, but he did check, and saw that they were occupied during my stay.

The jr. suite was fine, the layout didn't bother me.

I'd definitely stay at this hotel again,the staff were both friendly and professional. I had a fedex package I had to drop off before I left, and I asked the concierge if there was a Kinkos or dropoff bin nearby where I could drop it off, and they asked why couldn't I just leave it with them. I asked them what the charge was, since it seems like some hotels are charging you to leave fedex pkgs with them (Starwood?!), and the concierge laughed at me!

The hotel is clean and in a very convenient location, literally right across the street from the PATH train and subway station. I suspect that it's point category will be going up from 5 to 6 before long. I've stayed at the Waldorf before, and there is just no comparison. I think once anyone's stayed here, they wouldn't stay at any other Hilton in NYC, unless they absolutely had to be closer to midtown.

I've never asked for it, and I've had it three times in the last year. I never ask for upgrades.

It's on the 53rd floor, three sided, so you have views in three directions.

Bedroom, one and a half baths (walk in shower, jacuzzi in one I believe), living room, dining room table, two lcd's, separate heating, three or four closets, and if you are a huge group, it adjoins another suite next to it.

The views are incredible

All it needs is a fireplace.

Wow that sounds tremendous. The holy grail of upgrades :) I am sure the views are spectacular!

I've never asked for it, and I've had it three times in the last year. I never ask for upgrades.

Based on what the front desk told me, I think you were pretty lucky. But maybe they look at how many times you've stayed there before when picking which room they reserve for you? How many nights are your stays there usually?

I know that some hotels in the Hilton chain I went back to repeatedly eventually recognized me as a "repeat customer" and gave me better than average upgrades based on this, without my having to ask.

I remember someone mentioning that the Waldorf does this for repeat customers.

I'm a traveler who earned Diamond primarily through small town Hamptons. If I book a reward stay here do you think there's a chance at a room like this? I've been researching since this morning on all threads with Millenium in them. Seems as if upgrades are good for travelers who stay in NY often. But again, it just seems I'm in there just once or twice a year. But it'd be nice to check out a Yankees game and actually enjoy myself in the area with the benefit of a nice upgrade. It's why I enjoy this company so much.

Totally depends on the numbers of diamonds in the hotel and how full they are. On weekend, probably a fairly good chance, on a week day when something is going on like a huge convention, maybe not.

I'm always weekends there, so there is usually a very good chance, though I've always been treated very well there.

I can't afford them for the during the week stays.

Be sure to book your reward nights now as this property will be going to Cat. 6 effective 1 June 2006.

http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding.aspx?lp=categorychangehilton

I'm a traveler who earned Diamond primarily through small town Hamptons. If I book a reward stay here do you think there's a chance at a room like this? I've been researching since this morning on all threads with Millenium in them. Seems as if upgrades are good for travelers who stay in NY often. But again, it just seems I'm in there just once or twice a year. But it'd be nice to check out a Yankees game and actually enjoy myself in the area with the benefit of a nice upgrade. It's why I enjoy this company so much.


I think if you emailed/called the manager with a legitmate reason, if the room wasn't already booked, and if the hotel's standard diamond upgrade jr. suites were booked, you'd have a chance.

I got upgraded to the 53rd floor on the back end of a trip to Europe with my mother. We stayed there one night before leaving (jr. suite) and one night on the return (Mayoral Suite). My mother's jaw dropped when we walked into the room after coming over from Newark. All I did with the reservation was ask for an upgrade. I believe I even paid $10 less for the night with the Mayoral Suite ($159, I think). I know.. can't get a room in NYC for that rate.

If that's the case then count me lucky too. Got it on a 1 night stay (shame I didnt arrive until after midnight), first visit to this hotel.

Based on what the front desk told me, I think you were pretty lucky. But maybe they look at how many times you've stayed there before when picking which room they reserve for you? How many nights are your stays there usually?

I know that some hotels in the Hilton chain I went back to repeatedly eventually recognized me as a "repeat customer" and gave me better than average upgrades based on this, without my having to ask.

I remember someone mentioning that the Waldorf does this for repeat customers.

I am staying with my wife at the Millen(n)ium in July.

We fly into JFK, what is the best way of getting to the Millennium? I don't mind spending ~$45 for a cab - but I didn't know if it is cheaper/quicker using public transport? We are staying for a weekend so will not have that much luggage.

Take the airtrain from your terminal at JFK to Jamaica. At Jamaica take the E train to the end of the line. You'll exit across the road from the hotel. Entire trip will cost $14 total ($7 each) and will take under an hour, door to door. Cab will cost closer to $60 ($45 plus tolls plus tip) and can take a similar amount of time depending on traffic.

In short: if you're destination is on the E train (and yours is) and you only have rollaboard luggage, it's a no brainer.

I am staying with my wife at the Millen(n)ium in July.

We fly into JFK, what is the best way of getting to the Millennium? I don't mind spending ~$45 for a cab - but I didn't know if it is cheaper/quicker using public transport? We are staying for a weekend so will not have that much luggage.
I am looking for the same info. I will be in for June 27. Thanks. I am asking for BKK air port to Millen(n)ium in BKK. According the Hilton web, it is $8.00. It will be my first day in Thailand. I will fly in 8:00 pm.

I am looking for the same info. I will be in for June 27. Thanks. I am asking for BKK air port to Millen(n)ium in BKK. According the Hilton web, it is $8.00. It will be my first day in Thailand. I will fly in 8:00 pm.

I think you'd have a better shot getting your question answered on this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=442063&page=1&highlight=Millennium+Bangkok

This thread is about the Millenium in New York as opposed to the Millennium in Bangkok. :)

Take the airtrain from your terminal at JFK to Jamaica. At Jamaica take the E train to the end of the line. You'll exit across the road from the hotel. Entire trip will cost $14 total ($7 each) and will take under an hour, door to door. Cab will cost closer to $60 ($45 plus tolls plus tip) and can take a similar amount of time depending on traffic.

In short: if you're destination is on the E train (and yours is) and you only have rollaboard luggage, it's a no brainer.

I suspect it'd be 15-20 minutes faster to take the AirTrain to Howard Beach and take the A to Fulton St. It's not quite as close as the E WTC stop is to the Millenium, but still only a 5-10 minute walk or so, so with minimal luggage it shouldn't be too bad.

(Can't remember the exact timing, but since I live near Chambers St. I researched it once and the A train version was faster than going all the way around on the E.)

I suspect it'd be 15-20 minutes faster to take the AirTrain to Howard Beach and take the A to Fulton St. It's not quite as close as the E WTC stop is to the Millenium, but still only a 5-10 minute walk or so, so with minimal luggage it shouldn't be too bad.

(Can't remember the exact timing, but since I live near Chambers St. I researched it once and the A train version was faster than going all the way around on the E.)

No doubt. That is one long ride on the E train.

They're doing some kind of repair work on the Millenium right now, so it's a bit of a drag to get into the hotel. It's supposed to be all fixed up in a few days.

I suspect it'd be 15-20 minutes faster to take the AirTrain to Howard Beach and take the A to Fulton St.

You're local, so you know more about this than me. I've done the A train to Howard Beach once (many years ago before the AirTrain) and I remember it as the longest tube ride in my life.

They're doing some kind of repair work on the Millenium right now, so it's a bit of a drag to get into the hotel. It's supposed to be all fixed up in a few days.

It's not bad - they're just using the side entrance instead of the front entrance - but some drivers aren't expecting it. I've just had them drop me off across the street and then just walk over. It's not much of a problem.

The cab made it sound like a big deal to me; he took a special detour ;) Maybe he had motivations other than my personal safety. :)

No doubt. That is one long ride on the E train.

Of course, according to some random guy sitting next to me on an E train many moons ago, this is the only MTA line that stays underground from start to finish (not counting the TS-Grand Central shuttle train). If you are the type to appreciate such a novelty, then here's your chance!! :D

They're doing some kind of repair work on the Millenium right now, so it's a bit of a drag to get into the hotel. It's supposed to be all fixed up in a few days.

I don't think it's construction on the Hilton building itself. I'm pretty sure the work going on right now that has the front entrance to Church St. closed is due to a major subway project going on to build a new transit center that links six existing subway stations in Lower Manhattan. Part of this project involves a new underground pedestrian concourse under Dey St., which runs up the south side of the Millenium Hilton. I was last there in late December 2005 and the project was well underway along Dey St. between Church and Broadway, and the Courtlandt St. N/R subway station under the Millenium was closed. Based on the project schedule on the MTA website, I'd expect to see some ongoing construction in the area through 2007.

Even with the construction, I'm going to be staying at the Millenium again this coming weekend, and am really looking forward to another visit to this great Hilton property. Once again it's on an award stay; my last category five award before the property becomes a category six June 1. While the great rooms and service I've had on previous stays certainly justify the increase in points needed for an award, I'm certainly going to miss what has been a great HHonors award bargain for New York.

. . . Even with the construction, I'm going to be staying at the Millenium again this coming weekend, and am really looking forward to another visit to this great Hilton property. . .

Can you let us know how that construction is going. The last time I was there, it was supposed to be over by now--at least, that's what I read into what I was told. It wasn't bad, just loud in the morning. I was booked into the Millenium, but moved up to the NY Hilton. If there are no problems with the Millenium, I will transfer the reservation back downtown.

Sure I'll be glad to post an update next week.

I suspect it'd be 15-20 minutes faster to take the AirTrain to Howard Beach and take the A to Fulton St. It's not quite as close as the E WTC stop is to the Millenium, but still only a 5-10 minute walk or so, so with minimal luggage it shouldn't be too bad.

(Can't remember the exact timing, but since I live near Chambers St. I researched it once and the A train version was faster than going all the way around on the E.)

If you're going to ride the A train from Howard Beach, then it is far better to ride it to Chambers St, as opposed to Fulton St. Chambers is connected to the World Trade stop on the E train, and it is a much shorter walk. In fact the south end of the Chamber's Street plaform is within sight from the north end of the E platform at WTC.

Just checked out of the Millenium Hilton this morning after a three night award stay. I had five people in two rooms. At check-in, without me asking, both rooms were upgraded to king junior suites on the 18th floor, and we were given breakfast certificates for all five of us for all three mornings. As with my previous experience at this hotel, the certificates were good for the full buffet, not just a continental breakfast. Service was excellent as always. This was my third stay at this property in the last 12 months and I continue to be impressed by how generous they are with the diamond perks, as well as the professionalism of all of the staff, and the added touches. Every evening housekeeping came in with a fresh bucket of ice, bottles of water for each guest, and chocolates.

The construction out front is still going on and will be for some time to come. However, using the side entrance on Fulton Street was not all that bad. I noticed no noise at night or before 7:30 AM from the construction up on the 18th floor, even though work was going on all weekend. What little noise could be heard during the day was not that bad and I certainly could have slept through it. The biggest issue with the construction is the continued closure of the Courtlandt St. R/W subway stop directly under the hotel's front door. The station is not due to reopen until April 2007. While the E line across the street and nearby A, C, 1, 2, and 3 lines will all get you many places, the R/W Courtlandt St. stop was always nice because it provides the hotel with a direct link to Times Square with no transfers, and it is the closet subway stop to the hotel's front door.

My only complaint is that this hotel is going up to a category six, which it probably should be. I'm just going to miss redeeming awards here for a significantly smaller number of points than other NYC Hilton properties.

The following is taken from Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g60763-d262330-Reviews-Millenium_Hilton-New_York_City_New_York.html

Also, subway travel is very hit or miss to this area because they are rebuilding two of the stations and service is frequently suspended or re-routed during the weekends.

Obviously in ssullivans' post, it mentions the ongoing construction - but as I am visiting at the weekend in July, does anyone know are the problems with "rerouting" likely to be serious?.. Especially if I'm coming in on Airtrain/Subway?

The following is taken from Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g60763-d262330-Reviews-Millenium_Hilton-New_York_City_New_York.html



Obviously in ssullivans' post, it mentions the ongoing construction - but as I am visiting at the weekend in July, does anyone know are the problems with "rerouting" likely to be serious?.. Especially if I'm coming in on Airtrain/Subway?

Reroutes happen all the time. the best thing is to check the MTA - NYC Transit website (http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/service/advisory.htm) before your trip to see if anny of the above lines are affected.

If you arriving into (New York) Penn Station the train lines you are interested in are the 1,2,3, A, C, and E. Each of these lines run within a block the Hotel.

I hope this helps.

... does anyone know are the problems with "rerouting" likely to be serious?.. Especially if I'm coming in on Airtrain/Subway?

We had no issues with rerouting or service interruptions on the A, C, E, 1, 2, or 3 lines while I was there two weeks ago for the weekend.

Pay no attention to ssullivan. He's just whistlin' dixie. :) (kidding)

I actually stayed at this property the week before ssullivan stayed up there. I too was on an award stay with 4 people in an upgraded king junior suite. This was a touristy visit, so I knew I'd be tired, no matter where I slept. So I insisted on the floor while the other three enjoyed the beds. The staff was amazing from top to bottom. The evening housekeeper (is that the term?) was curteous and extremely liberal with providing extra sheets, comforters, pillows, and pads for my makeshift bed on the floor. In the middle of the stay, they even allowed us to move up from the 8th floor to the 45th (facing midtown) so that we wouldn't have to worry about hearing the Monday morning rush hour traffic. So that was very cool of them too.

Anyway, all in all, a great experience. I still wish internet was free; but we were able to find some signals around where we could just send a quick email.

The construction is not related to the hotel itself. It's all on the road and sidepath outside. The ACE23 station is open, but E is the train that usually reroutes on weekend evenings (is that weeknights or is weeknights Monday through Friday?). So make sure you get off one stop before Chambers and then take the A or C down one more block. Those 2 are on the same line, so you'll simply get off, turn around and wait for the next train to come through.

I returned Tuesday morning to the UK after a weekend (3 nights) at the Millenium Hilton with Mrs AdamUK.

Usually I am a big Marriott fan, however after reading Tripadvisor reviews I went for the Hilton - It was Mrs AdamUKs' 50th Birthday (Shh she looks in her 30s really :D )

We arrived about 5pm after some fun in baggage claim at JFK due to lightning strikes holding the deplane of bags. We received a friendly welcome on reception. (I had previously emailed the manager to see if a room upgrade was possible due to the celebration and received a reply saying it was noted, but no guarantees.)

We were upgraded to a Junior Suite and were given complimentary breakfast for my wifes' birthday. ^ ^ ^

Our views were absolutely amazing both towards the Empire State Building and over Ground Zero.

The whole visit was amazing and I was totally blown away by the service and quality we experienced.

The only niggle we found was the subway system being slightly annoying over the weekend due to the 2 & 3 express only running on local and the 1 running as an express but terminating at 14th St going downtown, meaning getting into Times Square was a little time consuming.

On a side note - the "Freedom Tower" replacing the WTC towers looks absolutely amazing from the artists impressions.

Excellent job Hilton ^

I just wanted to say what great service I just got from an emotional 4-day stay over 9/11 at this property. Upgraded to great room on 55th floor and excellent service. My second stay at this property....Excellent and particular thanks to front desk manager Jimmy Santostefano

Got to post again how much I love this hotel. Spent last night there, and once again without asking, they moved us to one of the three view suites, one side overlooking the east river, one overlooking ground zero, and the other the Hudson.

I've never been in a regular room there, once a Junior Suite, but every other time one of the three view suites way up (this was 5210)

Whenever I need to stay in the city, I always check here first hoping they have a decent rate (this was 229, booked a couple days ago, for the next weekend night I need in Oct, it's way over $400, so not my first choice just yet)

I got upgraded to 5310 a couple of weeks ago. Corner room that stretches the width of the building, with amazing views of the Hudson River/WTC site on one side and Brooklyn Bridge/Financial District on the other side.

5308 was in the middle of the hallway, not at the end, so not a corner room. Are you sure you didn't mean 5310?

Next time I'm going to ask if the Mayoral Suite is available.. ;)

next time i am NY i will be staying at this hotel ( shich will hopefully be soon ). what are the odds of me getting an upgrade like this as a gold? probably not good. but i have heard plenty of enough good things about this hotel to care right now.

Interesting reading. I'm in NYC later this month as a Gold (usually stay at SPG/Hyatt/Marriott but bucked the trend for the moment) for a special occassion. The hotel itself is fully booked (well HH.com won't sell any more rooms).

I'd love to score an upgrade to a Jr. Suite overlooking the Hudson (already paying about $500 for one night!) How do I got about emailing the manager, and where is his contact info? I feel really off about emailing just for an upgrade though! Is there a knack to these?

Matt

I got upgraded to 5310 a couple of weeks ago. Corner room that stretches the width of the building, with amazing views of the Hudson River/WTC site on one side and Brooklyn Bridge/Financial District on the other side.

5308 was in the middle of the hallway, not at the end, so not a corner room. Are you sure you didn't mean 5310?

Next time I'm going to ask if the Mayoral Suite is available.. ;)


I have a feeling they renumbered the rooms at some point, or the floor plans are not the same. I went through the old folios to see if I had one room or another last week, convinced I had been in the room I was in last weekend, and I wasn't. There can't be too many of those rooms up there, like one per floor

My folio for both October and February stays, when I'm sure it was the same room shows 5308. The last stay, which was the same room on 52, was 5210, so it makes you wonder.

The guy at the front desk was chatting about it while he was charging the parking on the way out, he said it's the second best room they have, the only one better is the 2 BR Governor's suite, which he described as the same room, just with two bedrooms

They use to have Presidential Suites, but they have converted them to meeting rooms. I've been there for a couple meetings, really nice, I could just picture getting the entire floor for like a zillion dollars.

They use to have Presidential Suites, but they have converted them to meeting rooms. I've been there for a couple meetings, really nice, I could just picture getting the entire floor for like a zillion dollars.

The highest floor is the 55th floor, and I walked around there once during a stay this year, and one suite is labeled as the "Mayoral Suite" and the other is "Governal Suite" (or Presidential Suite, I forget which.)

There's another link on this board by someone who stayed in one of those rooms, but it was from two years ago (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132330&page=3&pp=15&highlight=5501)

What is the situation with the subways at weekends at the Millenium Hilton? I went back in July and there were loads of changes for Sat/Sun due to construction and the subway station outside the hotel (Courtland St?) was closed.... is this still the case?

Also are they still using the side entrance?

Just arrived for a GLON stay. Nicely upgraded to a high-floor corner king and comp. full bkfst coupons^ . The front entrance (Church St.) is back in business. The Cortland St 1-9 line station directly in front of the hotel is still closed until April. Construction still has some side streets closed but sidewalks are open.

The reviews are so good I'm tempted to stay here.
Can anyone tell me whether the rooms are good-sized for 2 adults and 2 kids? I'd be booking a double-double on points, am HH Gold. Chance for upgrade on a weekend?
Many thanks!

They don't have executive floor here...but generally offer upgrade to Junior Suite (1 King + Sofa) to Gold. You could look for one of the nice corner 2 Double Bedded Rooms on the higher floors to suit your needs best though. Vouchers for breakfast in the restaurant. Overall very nice hotel.

Thank you, andrewfm.

Used points as a Diamond for a quick one night stay. Arrived a little after noon and was planning on dropping the bags but we were told we were upgraded and our room was ready. 34th floor corner suite looking North.

Very clean and quiet, really nice hotel. Enjoyed a nice breakfast prior to my wife's assault on Century 21 next door.

Would definitely return as we never ventured north of 14th street, so no need for a midtown property. I'm interested in seeing how many points for the HGI or Hampton opening in SoHo.

I have read this entire thread for self-help purposes but could not find what I was looking for.

Wife and I will be driving into the city in November and spending three nights at the Millenium. TA posters suggest (1) parking at a protected, manned lot near South Street under FDR Drive for $21/night or (2) parking at the Newark Gateway Hilton, also for $21/24 hours per their web page, and taking the PATH train into the city. Millenium parking is somewhere in the $45/night range.

I also considered taking the train from DC (where we will be flying into) but that will set me back over $500, so that's out.

Would appreciate any insights to this issue and/or suggestions from others who have successfully avoided the high parking rates at this hotel. Thanks in advance.

I booked an AXON for early Nov and CSR said all that is bookable right now is Queen room. Checked my email confirm and see CSR neglected to mention "accessible" part.

Anyway, my question is - when should I contact hotel re: upgrade request? I'm ~3 weeks out. Wait a bit? or do it now? Email or phone?

I'm Diamond.

I booked an AXON for early Nov and CSR said all that is bookable right now is Queen room. Checked my email confirm and see CSR neglected to mention "accessible" part.

Anyway, my question is - when should I contact hotel re: upgrade request? I'm ~3 weeks out. Wait a bit? or do it now? Email or phone?

I'm Diamond.

I've never failed to get an upgrade in a dozen or more stays as Diamond, so I think the odds are quite good. However, I've never actually contacted them to request it, so I have no input on that question.

Last time I've been there, was upgraded to the presidential suite (amazing room) without requesting any upgrade....

Okay, I'll just wait 'n' see. Thanks, MikeLaw & dauphine.

ADD: I suppose it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on my online res to see if room type changes.

I just completed a 4 night stay at the Millenium Hilton in New York. I was extremely disappointed with ther service. Four specific gripes:

1) After getting to my room I found it was on the noisy southwest corner of the building, where jackhammers and pile drivers operate from 6am to about 11:30pm. I called the front desk to ask to be moved. My first call rang for a long time but went unanswered. My second call rang for a long time before being answered with, "May I put you on hold?" but was never picked back up (I hung up after 10 minutes and tried again). My third call was answered promptly, leading me to believe they'd forgotten me on hold. The front desk said they had absolutely no rooms available. Really, no rooms? I was the absolute last person to check in for the evening? Anyway, they assured me they'd put me on a waiting list for a move, but I never got a call back from them during my 4 day stay. Past some point I got tired of calling back and being ignored or dealing with incompetent people (see below), so I gave up.

2) I called the front desk twice about extending my stay. The first time they told me they were booked. Hilton's website showed rooms available, so I called back and spoke to someone else. The second time, they told me they had rooms but quoted a rate almost $100 higher than the website's "best available rate". At this point I decided staying long at this property was the LAST thing I wanted to do so I gave up.

3) Door men stood around useless most of the time. There were usually 2-3 standing around the front doors, but in about 12 times passing through the front door only once did they try to assist. The doors at this hotel are heavy and difficult to manage while hauling baggage.

4) My Diamond status was never acknowledged. I did have an upgrade to a junior suite from checking in online but no other benefits such as breakfast coupons. Throughout the whole stay the entire staff I interacted with treated me like a common shmoe.

Overall, this was the worst service I've had a full-service HH property ever. Those extra nights I wanted? I booked them at a Hampton, where I have every confidence I'll receive superior service.

I recently stayed a Saturday night here. I was automatically upgraded to a corner suite facing the Hudson and overlooking the WTC site. I got the free breakfast coupon as well. You may want to avoid this side of the building if you like to sleep in. The construction began early even on Sunday morning. I was on the 28th floor, so I'm not sure if it gets much quieter the higher you go.

Any recent Diamond experience from the NYC Millenium Hilton? What kind of upgrade do they offer? Do they still offer breakfast or other perks?

Any recent Diamond experience from the NYC Millenium Hilton? What kind of upgrade do they offer? Do they still offer breakfast or other perks?


Was there for a one night stay on April 12th. Lots of construction going on at ground zero and within the hotel. Was offered ear plugs and sound cancellation machines.

Diamond was offered brearkfast and upgraded to a jr suite.

Was there for a one night stay on April 12th. Lots of construction going on at ground zero and within the hotel. Was offered ear plugs and sound cancellation machines.

Diamond was offered brearkfast and upgraded to a jr suite.

Thanks!

As I understand it the suites are on the lower floors, only regular rooms on the top floors... I guess construction noice will be reduced if going high in the building :)

Thanks!

As I understand it the suites are on the lower floors, only regular rooms on the top floors... I guess construction noice will be reduced if going high in the building :)


There should be 2 suites on all floors, except the top floor or two. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

There are some suites on all upper floors. As Gold in late Feb. for a four-night stay, we were offered a jr. suite on 40 + full bkfst coupons for the very nice buffet bkfst. We could have gotten a higher-floor suite the next day if we had wanted to move. Although our room overlooked the (former) WTC site, because of the cold weather, the construction was ltd. during night hours. During our stay, the greater noise was from a hotel project to reconfigure the accessible rooms.

Stayed here last weekend, was on a weekend rate @ USD 169 per night. Got an upgrade to a corner junior suite. As a silver was well pleased and room was ready at 9am^

We had the pleasure of spending one night at the Millenium Hilton in April 2008. We had a fundraiser to go to at Rockefeller Center, and the price offered for one night at the Millenium ($237) blew the doors off any of the midtown options. We took a cab from the airport, but used subways the rest of the way, so the inconvenience factor was minimal.

We got a two room junior suite on the 42 floor. The ground zero and hotel construction projects were going full tilt, but neither construction project disturbed us and we are light sleepers.

We were given two bottles of water and were offered full breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. I got the buffet, but my wife goofed and ordered off the menu, and exceeded the limit that they would allow us to spend by $0.25. That blew our whole budget!:rolleyes: When they presented the bill they were sheepish to bring it up, but we got them to laugh when I joked that hopefully by paying the excess charge, Steven Schwartzman would be able to buy gas for his car that weekend.

There was one gesture that the hotel did that earned our ironclad loyalty. When we checked out the weather was a little foggy, but mostly dry. The weather forecast by Mr. G (or was it Dr. Frank Field?), said that no rain was expected (he turned out to be right). When we went to the desk to check out, the clerk asked if we need an umbrella. We said no, thank you. The desk clerk looked outside one more time and said, "we'll it looks like it is going to rain, why don't I get you an umbrella." Before we had time to object, he went to a room behind the desk, and provided us this lovely umbrella, and insisted that we take it with us. That has to be one of nicest gestures any service provider has ever extended to us. We have often joked since then that the umbrella is too nice to use, and that instead we should encase the umbrella in glass and hang it on our wall.

I think that the Millenium Hilton knows that they are in a tough situation (it is even tough for taxis to pull over and unload their passengers’ luggage to give to the bell person). Because the Millenium knows that they are in a tough situation, we noticed a real positive attitude among the staff. They really hustle and try to keep their guests as satisfied as possible. I felt that way before the umbrella gift and I certainly feel that way now.

The only problem with our stay at the Millenium had to do with our personal experiences. Our room overlooked ground zero and even when we sat for breakfast they gave us a table overlooking ground zero. I used to work at 7 World Trade Center. My wife was at ground zero on the night of 9/11 (she was responding to a request for all available doctors to come to the area to help provide care for any wounded which may be found - unfortunately there was no wounded for the volunteer doctors to tend to). This trip was the first time either of us went to ground zero since that awful day. Initially, it was tough. Eventually, I looked at all the people using the PATH station, shopping at Century 21 and doing all the normal things that constitute living in an urban society. I figured, if they can move on with their lives, then so can we.

Does anyone know if the contruction within the hotel itself has come to an end?

We were there last weekend and no construction in the hotel itself. Still plenty of construction at the WTC site. I felt the hotel was fabulous. There is no executive lounge. We booked an inexpensive conference rate and were upgraded to a 2 room corner suite on the 42nd floor. We received 2 breakfast coupons for each day of our stay which covered the buffet cost. Everyone in the hotel was kind to us and gladly assisted us with every request. I highly recommend this hotel.

I stayed at the Millenium Hilton on June 11, 2008, 45th floor in a junior suite.

The room was very nice and the hotel seems top notch, however I was VERY DISAPPOINTED with my stay. I can say the staff members that I dealt with were very friendly, however they were not very helpful with my problem.

The Hilton website indicated that because of WTC reconstruction the possibility of construction noise existed at the property. I've slept through hurricanes and wicked thunderstorms so I was not concerned about the sound of bulldozers, jackhammers or other construction sounds. In fact, I heard some of the bulldozers and other construction equipment only in the early morning before checking out.

The problem I had was a low drone, like a hum that could be heard when I lay down on the bed or on the couch. I had a junior corner suite looking out to New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty and overlooking the World Trade Center site. The sound could be heard when I put my ear near an exterior wall and also in the bathroom.

I tried using the hotel-supplied earplugs to no avail. I tried using my $300 noise canceling headphones and they did not work. I tried to use both together in vain.

I contacted guest services about the noise I was hearing and thought it might be coming from another room or perhaps from the Sound Machines the hotel was allowing guests to borrow. It turned out the sound machine created nature sounds and was not like the sound I was hearing.

I did not sleep at all that night and I checked out soon after 6am. I told the desk clerk about my experience and although he apologized he did not seem to care.

I contacted HHonors through their on-line tool and heard back from a member of management who had been in contact with my co-worker on the matter of her cancellation from the Millenium.

I would not recommend this property to anyone while the WTC is under construction as the hotel will use this to neglect you.

Just checked out of the Millenium Hilton NYC (you know, the one with the misspelt name) having stayed there three nights on the 44th floor. Good: rate of $125 midweek (paid $100 more last summer), comp upgrade to jr. suite (so far 100% upgraded in three stays), pool (a rarity in NYC), WTC const. noise is much less than last year.==== Bad: the HH breakfast (which they charge $23 for if you're not HH gold or diamond) is poor: three kinds of canned fruit, box cereal, bananas, bread. That's it. And the coffee is terrible- undrinkable imho. No free waters in room. Robert, the clerk who checked me in said my room wasn't avail., but he would call when it was. Never called. After checking in, they didn't give me bfast coupons. That evening, I asked and received bfast coupons- two of which were misdone (punched drinks instead of bfast), turn-down service 2 of the three nights.

I'll get it out of the way: We're only Lowly Silver.

So, we don't expect any free upgrades.

However, they have a new deal where you can offer to e-upgrade on check-in...the rates work out to be less than if you booked an upgraded room directly. You don't know if you got the upgrade until you check-in, and then you pay extra for it.

I'm trying to decide whether it is worth it - since most of you get free upgrades, I wonder if you would offer an opinion if you think a King Bed Corner City View room is worth $40/night, and if a King Bed Jr. Suite City View is worth $60/nt over the price of a regular standard room.

There were a couple of other upgrade opportunities but these were the only 2 we were interested in.

We are staying on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in the summer. Do you think there would be ANY chance of a free upgrade for us if we just kept the standard room (anyone's crystal ball working?)

I enjoy the jr. suite and if you have two people + who want/need their own space i would think it is worth it. there is a living room with couch, table, tv and chair, then a hall that passes the bathroom on the way to the bedroom part. the bedroom has it's own tv. please note that this is a jr. suite and not a real suite (i.e. no door separating the two parts of the 'suite)'. I have never stayed in one of the oversized rooms, but looking at the diagram on the back of the entry door, they look slightly bigger than the jr. suite. the most important thing is to get a high floor room- otherwise the wtc noise may be too much.

I'll get it out of the way: We're only Lowly Silver.

So, we don't expect any free upgrades.

However, they have a new deal where you can offer to e-upgrade on check-in...the rates work out to be less than if you booked an upgraded room directly. You don't know if you got the upgrade until you check-in, and then you pay extra for it.

I'm trying to decide whether it is worth it - since most of you get free upgrades, I wonder if you would offer an opinion if you think a King Bed Corner City View room is worth $40/night, and if a King Bed Jr. Suite City View is worth $60/nt over the price of a regular standard room.

There were a couple of other upgrade opportunities but these were the only 2 we were interested in.

We are staying on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in the summer. Do you think there would be ANY chance of a free upgrade for us if we just kept the standard room (anyone's crystal ball working?)

I just found the Nor1 thread and have read it end to end. All my questions have been answered - thanks.