Hilton Garden Inn New York Manhattan Midtown East - Newly Renovated

the location is so good, closest to Subway and food restaurants, cvs and everything. This Hotel is very comfortable and clen.

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Join me, reader, for a kafkaesque tale of incompetence, dysfunction, and desperation.

My stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Manhattan/Midtown East was the worst encounter I have had at any hotel, Airbnb, homestay, or any other form of lodging. I have had better experiences camping.

This story includes tears — not only my own, but also those of a front desk clerk.

Things began normally enough when my partner and I tried our luck at checking in early, around 1:30PM. We were told they would probably have a room for us at 2:30PM. We sat in the crowded, loud lobby with other guests, then tried again at 2:30PM. We were told to wait again, until 3PM. We waited.

We overheard other guests complaining that their room keys didn’t work. The desk staff reported that locks were being changed, and made new keys for these guests. These guests were then able to get into their rooms. They had to wait in endless lines for the elevator; it seemed extremely annoying, but that’s life sometimes. We couldn’t wait to get out of the lobby. Twelve hours later, we would look back on this as a time of innocence.

At 3PM, we got our room key. My partner asked if our keys would be changed. The staff replied that our floor would have the locks changed the next day. We would need to come back for new keys then. Oh, if only we had known…

At the time, we felt lucky: we could forego the long line for the elevator and walk up to the 4th floor. When we entered our room, we found an ADA-accessible space. The extra room was welcome! The bathroom design was not. The roll-in shower (nice) was poorly designed (not nice); it flooded not only the entire bathroom, but also the whole tiled entry area. I felt bad for anyone who uses mobility aids who might need to navigate these wet tile floors. In any case, we would deal with it. We unpacked for our four-night stay.

We were in town for a conference, so we met up with colleagues in the afternoon, then grabbed drinks with a friend in the evening. We returned happily to the hotel around 11:30PM. We walked to the 4th floor. We held our key card to the reader…and nothing happened. We tried the other card. Nothing. We tried again.

Nothing.

My partner walked back downstairs and returned with two new keys. We triumphantly held one to the newly-replaced key reader.

Nothing.

We tried the other card.

Nothing.

We tried and tried. Nothing. He returned to the desk. He trudged back upstairs with yet another set of keys. Nothing. I sat on the floor and commiserated with other guests whose keys were not working. They received replacements. Their replacements worked. Ours did not.

The front desk clerk did not believe my partner — perhaps we were using the wrong key or trying to open the wrong room. Perhaps we did not know how to touch a key card to a reader. Whatever they suspected, they came to our room to try for themselves. They could not enter.

Midnight came and went.

We stayed upbeat, recapping our evening, joking with other guests, and sharing our incredulity that this could take so long.

Eventually, despite promises to return, we realized that no one was coming to let us in. My partner returned to the lobby. More keys, no entry.

1AM came and went.

I realized that sitting near the room was futile, so I joined my partner in the lobby. I explained that I was here for work. I had no access to my laptop, my clothing, anything. They needed to use a master key to let us in. It turns out, they had already tried. There was no way in.

Think about that: the hotel could not gain entry to its own room. What if we had time-sensitive medication inside? What if we had taken advantage of their pet-friendly policy and had a cat or dog in the room? The horrifying possibilities rolled through my mind as the hours continued to pass.

Eventually, I had to beg to have a downstairs bathroom unlocked, as I had no restroom of my own to use. (It had no toilet paper, of course.) I tried to fill a cup of water at the bottle filling station. Barely a trickle came out. My phone died, then my smartwatch. I was dehydrated, exhausted, and increasingly panicking about work.

I begged the front desk clerk to do anything at all. 2AM came and went. I cried. I explained that I had a major professional presentation in the morning. I had no phone, no clothing, and no computer. At least, I needed another room where I could go sleep while my partner waited to gain access to our things. The clerk insisted on trying our existing room again. Of course, we could not get inside. This was just another waste of time.

The mood in the lobby was unhinged. The clerk cried while trying to contact a manager. A woman waiting for a room seemingly through some kind of sketchy backchannel system — a “lady of the night,” perhaps? — talked loudly on FaceTime. The automatic door opened and closed every few seconds. We teetered on the edge of insanity.

Around 2:45AM, I was finally given another room, as well as a tiny toothbrush and a packet of toothpaste. I figured I would set the alarm clock in the room, since I could not use the alarm on my dead phone. There was no alarm clock. I called to set up a wake-up call, but when the same frenzied front desk clerk picked up and promised to call me herself, I realized I could not rely on this system. I could not entrust my presentation to her.

My partner needed a room to sleep in — separately from mine, so I could sleep as immediately as possible, while he continued to try to get to all of our belongings — and I realized I had no choice except to wait for him to be placed in a room. That way, I could make sure he could call me to wake me up. His phone still had a tiny bit of battery, which is the only way we knew what time it was.

3AM came and went. My partner was still in the lobby. He was given a room around 3:15AM. I tried to use room-to-room calling to contact him. It did not work. The clerk tried to connect us. We got stuck in a loop of dial tones and busy signals, occasionally connecting with the front desk clerk who offered to pass messages between us. After far too long, we were eventually on the line with each other.

Nothing in this godforsaken place works.

I tried to sleep around 3:30AM. With the HVAC system constantly kicking on and off and a minimum listed temperature of 68°F — in reality the temp was usually above 70°F, clearly a cost-cutting measure among so many others — sleep did not come easily. A flashing smoke detector did not help. Of course, with access to my own things (lightweight sleep clothes; an eye mask; a phone charger so I could play white noise) they would not have been a big deal. But of course, I had no such luxuries.

I managed a hearty 4ish hours of sleep.

My wake-up call never came.

After 7AM, my partner awoke and returned to the desk. The building engineer swiftly opened the door to our original room. No one ever explained to us what had happened, or how it was acceptable for the hotel not to be able to gain access to its own rooms.

My work trip was thoroughly ruined. My professional reputation has been damaged because this Hilton property could not operate as a legitimate hotel.

The on-site manger the next day, Ms. Wright, was “very sorry to hear about [our] experience.” I left my business card with a desk clerk when I checked out and requested that someone contact me; of course, no one did.

The management company (HHM Hotels, formerly Hersha Hospitality Management) could not be reached by phone. They did not respond to an email.

If you are looking for good source material for a creative project to explore themes of indignity, absurdity, and mismanagement, I highly recommend a visit to the Hilton Garden Inn Manhattan/Midtown East. If you are hoping for a pleasant or even tolerable hotel experience, I implore you to stay elsewhere.

My husband and I booked 3 nights for a long weekend visiting family who are in the Midtown area. This was an awesome hotel choice. The hotel has been newly renovated, everything was very functional. Great bed, shower, etc. Simple and tasteful decor. The price point was very reasonable for what we got. Breakfast downstairs was also well priced, decent food and friendly service. The only downside of the hotel was on Saturday it took a really long time to get an elevator. Was better on Sunday. Definitely recommend!

Clean, newly renovated hotel in a great location - walk to coffee shops, restaurants, and the subway is 1/2 block away!
Helpful staff. No problems with the elevators here, but I am used to NYC hotels so I expected to wait and was pleasantly surprised that it was not as long as others have said. Highly recommend!

It has been well over a decade since we last visited NY. We had previously stayed at the Hilton Doubletree, on Lexington, but this is no more, so we chose the Hilton Garden Inn, on 52nd st for price and location.
The hotel is located on east 52nd St. just a few yards down from 3rd Avenue, and a block from Lexington Ave, which has a convenient subway station serving a number of lines.
The next Avenue down (east) from the hotel is 2nd Ave, which offers many restaurants, a major pharmacy, deli’s and grocery stores. And a stroll up to 59th Bridge under which is a ‘Trader’s Joe’ store.
The hotel itself has recently had major renovations to some of its 200+ rooms
We had been booked in at a basic level 6. No great view but the building opposite was just far enough away to alleviate feelings of confinement.
The room itself was large and well appointed. Some have complained re the bed but we found it very comfortable. And bedside facilities excellent. Each had a reasonably sized side-table with good sized drawer. There is a goose-neck light for reading and a larger, wall side light above the table. The stand-out feature was the charging facilities. One USB C, point, two USB 2 points and next to them a power point. All points worked.
The facing wall, above the desk, had a large TV, which worked well, though we only watched one item…the World Cup Final! But unlike some hotels with smaller screens, this one was large enough to view comfortably from the bed.
To the right of the desk there is a standing led light, very bright! Next to this the open-plan wardrobe (not a fan of this style), and ironing board, and beneath, at floor level, the safe. Not easily accessible, but possible ‘safer’ than desk mounted ones! There also was a 3-drawer unit under the desk. and a strip light on the wall behind the tv.
On the left of the desk a pod coffee machine and utensils. We drink a lot of coffee and would request extra pods which the staff happily supplied! And an unusual feature was a microwave oven.
The bathroom was excellent. It incorporated the now-standard wall mounted dispensers both at the wash basin and in bath section. A big plus was the large wall mounted, illuminated mirror above the wash basin. (Excellent for shaving!)
The shower is located above the bath, and the curtain fitted snugly well below the sides so no water leakage onto the bathroom floor.
I have read on some reviews that people complained that they couldn’t turn the shower on without getting wet! I suspect they may have meant not getting wet with cold water! I find this perplexing. The bath tap has plunger control on top. So run the water until warm, stand at back of tub, lean forward and pull the plunger up and a lovely shower of warm water ensues! But maybe the reference was to a separate shower away from bath.
An almost unique feature was that the air-con unit was floor mounted under the window, though the control is wall mounted. The unit has two speeds, and on high very quickly cools (or heats) the room, a bit noisy but, but once the room cooled, we turned off the unit and room stayed cool for a long time. The wall mounted control enables room temp setting, which when reached turns the unit off.
Housekeeping was fine.
A main complaint from reviews was the lifts. There are only two and both can seem slow. Especially in the late morning times as housekeeping staff are using them. At times it does seem that only one lift is available. But really, this was to us a minor irritation.
The hotel offers a small restaurant-come sports bar, with moderate prices. Included is a Large TV and a fair sized pool table.
From the window of our room (608) we could just see some greenery. On investigation this proved to be ‘Greenacre Park’. It is a lovely, serene place to relax for a coffee or breakfast or snack at any time. It is accessed best by walking up to 3rd ave, then left down 51st street and is found on the left a little way down. The area is paved, multilevel, has a delightful waterfall, trees and a number of seats, some under the trees and some under cover. The park was created and donated by members of the Rockerfellow family.

By and large, the hotel counter staff were pleasant and very accommodating.
Can we recommend this hotel? Yes! It is a little gem, just off the beaten track but close enough to services and a pleasant stroll to the delights of the main city areas.

As a Hilton Honors member, I try to be loyal to the brand. This was a terrible experience. Consistently seemed short staffed, 1 elevator working so long lines and wait times to go up or down (super fun with 27 floors), no answer or reply when messaging front desk, and to top it off fire alarms and evacuations in the middle of the night.

Think walls- so although street noise on my high floor was minimal, I had to listen to neighbors and door slamming at all hours.

Never again. Do better.

Everything

Room was very clean and had all the basic requirements of a room. Bed was comfy, TV was large and good to watch Netflix or other shows, and there was a Kheurig coffee machine and coffee pods. Nice window view. Location is near Lexington station of Train E, so convenient to get to 5th Ave, MOMA, World trade center,etc.

The room, the location and the staff.

Is it not mention food is halal or not .

Large rooms bathroom and shower there tv had cable and it was quiet