While I've had fantastic experiences at some great W properties, my recent stay at the W Hoboken was only a decent one. We were in town for the weekend, planning on spending most of our time in the city. While looking for a place to stay, we found that points redemptions on this property were terrible value, but cash rates were less than those of comparable SPG properties across the city. When a 20% off Hot Escapes rate popped up, we jumped on it.

Location

The W Hoboken is in a great location, walking distance to the Hoboken PATH Station and the straight-shot 126 NJ Transit bus into Manhattan. It's also a straightforward $20 Uber/Lyft from EWR. Even without going into the city, there are plenty of bars and restaurants along Washington Street, maybe a two-minute walk away. We had solid views of the Hudson River and the skyline from our third-floor, north-facing Spectacular Room (king bed with bathtub and swivel sofa chair).

Check In

We showed up at 8 am without any expectations and were refused early check-in, which we totally understood. However, there were a number of actual hiccups during our stay. While I'm just a lowly Gold, we were refused late check-out, and we didn't receive the option of a welcome amenity until I pushed for it. The check-in front desk clerk claimed that my status didn't show in the system, so I don't know if my status had any effect on our upgrade from a Cozy Room to a Spectacular Room. We did get a late check-out after I asked another desk clerk a little later into our stay.

Dining

When we got cocktails during the lunch hour at the bar in the Halifax restaurant, they came out terribly. The server sheepishly explained to us that they didn't have any bartenders there, because people didn't drink cocktails during the day. (What?) We didn't end up eating there.

We ended ordered the exact same drink at the Living Room the next evening, and it came out significantly better.

Overall

While the W Hoboken isn't an ancient W property, it's still kind of showing its age. Messed up drapes in the room that didn't slide very smoothly, an old showerhead that sprayed water in every direction (we had a bathtub with a glass wall along half of its length in lieu of a shower curtain, and we couldn't adjust the showerhead so that it wouldn't spray onto the bathroom floor), and two completely busted USB charging ports next to the bed. The property also felt kind of dead. The Living Room was never particularly busy in the evenings, and the lobby was almost always fairly empty, often without even a doorman to open the heavy front doors for anyone.