My husband and I booked this hotel because the price was good considering the location and the TripAdvisor reviews were pretty good. The location was amazing...right in the middle of Times Square. Aside from the location, this hotel fell incredibly short.
We entered the hotel on the ground floor where a few employees were always hanging around a desk. I didn't understand their function until I heard the desk phone ring and one employee answered "Security." They never spoke to us over our 5 day trip and didn't monitor who was coming in or out. They were not at all friendly and were just hanging out talking to each other...not sure how they functioned as security. From the ground floor, we took an elevator to the 3rd floor lobby/bar/check-in/concierge. The lady who checked us in barely made eye contact, and we seemed to be bothering her by making her work. I had included on the reservation that we were there to celebrate our anniversary and my husband's 40th birthday...not so much as a "happy birthday" said to him. The decor of the lobby and the hotel room was cold & dark. The bed seemed clean, but the wallpaper was torn and/or bulging off of the wall in several places, the bathtub was stained, the desk chair was stained, and the couch had a very unpleasant smell.
We were told that Wi-Fi was available for $12.95 per day; we haven't paid for Wi-Fi service at a hotel in a long, long time, so we thought that was silly. I needed to print out a few things during our trip, so I went to the business center on the 6th floor only to find that you had to pay by the minute to use the internet. REALLY? When I inquired about this to the front-desk staff, we were told that the hotel doesn't run the business center, so they can't do anything about it. Not at all impressed by such an excuse. At least be honest and admit that the hotel has chosen not to offer free business services. We were told that free Wi-Fi was available in the lobby, but we could never get it to work.
We tried to use the concierge service twice to help us with subway routes for a few destinations. The first time, the lady seemed extremely befuddled but eventually helped us out with directions. The second time, the man opened up a subway map, ripped a hole in the middle of it, and then gave me the map...could not have put less effort into it. We were confused by the level of service we received from the "security" staff, front desk staff and concierge, because we saw other customers who were being treated well. It appeared that the customers who looked like they had money to burn received better treatment. We were only there for sightseeing, so we were generally dressed in jeans & comfortable shoes. The service was just so bad...I can't overstate it. We stayed at a much nicer hotel on the first night of our trip (the #1 rated NYC hotel on TripAdvisor). We had an impeccably clean room, amazing service, free Wi-Fi and staff who recognized my husband's birthday. I regretted booking Doubletree for the remainder of our trip, but I won't make this mistake again.
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