I stayed at the HGI Times Square a few weeks ago. I've stayed there many times, and the main difference this time was that one of the two rooms I booked smelled strongly like cigarette smoke. We needed two rooms near each other, so we couldn't change as the hotel was very full. Note, the hotel is "non-smoking", so I thought something should have been done before we arrived to rectify the smell. Also, breakfast in the restaurant had terrible service that day, but I haven't experienced that before either.

The furnishings in both rooms were fine, and looked like they had been recently updated.

Also stayed at the DT Times Square this past weekend. I've had previous stays there too. The bed this time was in urgent need of a new mattress, and I thought a few other things in the room could have used a refurb. It looked like they had "partially" updated it.