griff228

🤣🤣

El_Duderito

I had my award stay earlier this week. I intended to cancel due to changed travel plans, but was just within the 72h cancelation period. I never noticed an award stay not having a 24h cancelation policy. Well, my fault for not canceling earlier.
My travel would put me in New York on my checkout day around 9AM and I could be at the hotel 11AM I figured - in time for a quick nap and shower.
I tried to contact the hotel through various channels (not via phone, though) including the Diamond desk, but even the Diamond desk could not find an email address to get in touch with the property.
I wanted to try to cancel at first, but since that was unlikely to happen at least let them know that I'll arrive late and ask for a late checkout. I did check in while on the plane via the app hoping to get the chat functionality, but that was never enabled.

At the hotel I told the staff what happened and got a 1PM 'late' checkout. Multiple questions were answered with the excuse "we are a NEW hotel". My request for a business card/email address was answered with "we don't have that yet. We are a new hotel." Lounge? "new hotel". I was told that I'll receive an email with contact information. The agent did not mention the $18 benefit and I didn't use it.
There was no water bottle in the room; not even in the fridge. The room was upgraded to a "Deluxe hi floor" and for New York was quite large. The a/c was a bit noisy and the bathroom showed it's age with what could be described as black mold behind the glass of the picture hung above the toilet, dust on the a/c vent and yellowed light switches and outlets.
WiFi stopped working around noon; They checked me out, sent the folio and disabled my room key.

On my way out a housekeeping manager was just outside my room and I told her about the mold and missing water bottles. There was barely a "I'll call a technician", but no sorry whatsoever.
Not a single person I was in contact with seemed to be happy to be working there. I'll continue my search for a decent affordable property in Manhattan.

san888

epi231

I stayed at Hilton Times Square for two nights in early December, and my stay was perfectly reasonable. Staff at the reception desk and in the hallways were pretty friendly. I forgot my toothpaste and shaving cream at home, and the front desk staff offered me replacements without hesitation. The room (standard king) was large by New York standards, everything worked as expected, and there were two bottles of water by the coffee maker. The resort fee is annoying, but I ended up spending enough at the market and the restaurant (for breakfast) to make it work for me. I also like the location: one side (42nd St) was very bright and loud, while the other (41st St) was quieter; the location also made it relatively easy to get in and out without spending too much time driving in Manhattan.

Andriyko

I stayed here for 3 nights a week ago and enjoyed it. I had stayed here a few times before the hotel closed during the pandemic and was sad that it closed, so I was happy to learn on FT that it re-opened.

This time I chose this hotel mostly for the price - I paid $508.17 for 3 nights, including taxes and the mandatory fee. This is cheap for NYC and the location.

I did not receive the automatic upgrade e-mail 3 days in advance, nor was I pre-upgraded on the day. I checked in around 5pm and asked the very lovely agent if I could have a corner room, which she happily assigned to me. My benefits were explained to me. I was travelling on my own but booked for 2 people and added my husband's name to the reservation as 'he was arriving a bit later.' (cheeky, I know).

The room was as I remembered - very spacious by NYC standards. The hotel did not feel dated. Everything looked perfectly well maintained. There were 2 water bottles in the room, and they were replaced every day. There is a coffee maker in the room, and the coffee pods were replaced every day by the very attentive housekeeping staff.

The dining credit is not cumulative and it seemed that it was applied automatically. When I checked the folio I saw that I had a drink at the bar when I arrived and then a matching credit was applied, I had dinner at the hotel and the rest of the credit was applied. The restaurant is only open for breakfast but the bar does serve food (the menu is below). I had the crabcake and it was very good (disclaimer - I absolutely love crabcakes so I may be easy to please since they are not something I can find in restaurants in Europe).

I made a huge mistake by having breakfast at the hotel. I had the American buffet, which was $55.75 with tax and mandatory gratuity (there is no waited service apartment from tea/coffee). For what I had it was a robbery. I thought I only had continental items (there is a much cheaper continental option), but it turned out I did not. I am not a big breakfast eater, so felt upset for paying so much for very little that I got. I left for NJ the next day to see family so I just grabbed a sandwich on the way to the train station rather than repeat the same mistake again.

I checked out early in the morning and the agent thoroughly checked that all due credits were applied, which he confirmed.

Overall, a very nice stay and an excellent room for the money that I paid. Had I not been stupid for getting the full buffet it'd have had even better memories. But that was on me - I was jetlagged and alone and did not know where else to go.


Corner room

Corner room

Crab cake

Breakfast offering

Breakfast offering

My $55.74 breakfast plate (I also had a cup of coffee although the server brought the whole pot to my table).

Breakfast offering

Breakfast offering

Breakfast offering

Bar food menu

Bar food menu

Westcoaster

Great review and pictures. Thanks!

KLflyerRalph

Any recent experiences if this hotel (tries to) charge the ‘$35 Mandatory Charge per night’ on Reward stays? I know the HH terms specify that ‘resort fees’ are excluded on Reward stays, but don’t want to end up in a definition argument.

Physci

I stayed there in early September on a reward stay and they did not apply the charge.

lowfareair

Did you still get the resort fee benefits like the dining credit (so $71 total between that and the Diamond dining credit)?

Physci

yes, got the diamond dining credit.

lowfareair

Combined with the resort fee dining credit of $35 for a $71 nightly credit? (Not sure if that was the benefit then, but it's what's showing when booking a room now)

Physci

No, you only get the resort fee dining credit if you pay the resort fee. Only got the diamond dining credit.

chistery

I'm staying for the first time since it reopened.

The rooms look exactly the same, just with the large toiletries stuck to the bathroom wall.

The shop is a nice touch I thought. Except it shut at 4pm. Check in is at 4pm. I'm leaving at 6am. I've been charged $35 mandatory fee, given a $35 credit and I now can only use it in the bar.

The fridge in the room was also full with the last persons food, so cleaning is not top notch here it seems.

KLflyerRalph

Can confirm the Mandatory Charge is not applied on Reward stays.

Other than that this hotel will fleece you. I have given up asking for upgrades, late check-out etc. in the US. But having to pay to store luggage for a few hours, a basic hospitality offering everywhere else, is pathetic.