SpringHill Suites by Marriott East Rutherford Meadowlands/Carlstadt — Hotel in Carlstadt

When I was looking into this hotel for my five-night stay in New Jersey (I prefer to stay in NJ due to the free parking, when I am visiting New York) Anyways, I could not find any helpful full detailed reviews. So here is one for other travelers. When we first arrived, you can park anywhere there is no paying for parking and the parking lot is almost always empty due to the newness of this hotel. After we unloaded the car, we went up to the front desk. Quick easy, card and key (there is a one-time 100 deposit fee) There are six floors in this hotel, the gym is located on the first floor by the elevators. We were on the 4th-floor room 22 (so 422) When we first walked into the room, we were greeted with the truffle bed, desk (2 outlets and 2 USB outlets) depending on the room there are two outlets on the wall as well, and the bar stand (2 outlets) which underneath had the microwave and fridge. After walking past the desk (2 outlets and 2 USB outlets), you go past the TV, which is centered in front of the desk, but you can angle it towards the bed. Under the TV is a small dress table with two draws for storage. Next up depending on what room you are in King or Queen, you come upon the beds. Which has 4 separate operable lights which you can turn off and on with a switch on each light. I was rooming with my mom in a two-queen bedroom and we each had an L.E.D light on the side of the beds, which could be turned on and not disturb the other person. In the middle was a nicely sized nightstand with one draw and light on the wall with two switches that operated two separate light bulbs. The table had the hotel phone, clock, and two outlets with two USB slots. The beds had 3 pillows, they are feather mattresses, one blanket, a sheet, and a textured sheet. In front of the bed, there is a sliding barn door that led into the bathroom. When you first walk there is a sink, the mirror has led lights around it, very up-to-date and modern with a lot of counter space and underneath shelving. The shower is an amazing glass door, I recommend using the towel they laid out on the flood as a bathmat. The shower has three settings the switch on the head moves clockwise my favorite was the jetted third setting. The shampoo, conditioner, and hand/body wash are by Alice + Co botanicals. The scent we had was Lavander and Eucalyptus. Didn't use the shampoo and conditioner but the body wash was very soft. The water control has 4 settings hot is to the left and cold is as soon as you turn it on. The middle settings are for medium cold and hot. There is no support bar so holding on to the glass door was my only option. The toilet is separate from the rest of the bathroom which was great. Now when you step back into the room on the far right is the closet nice walk-in closet with plenty of space for coats and suitcases. Which also has a pillow and blanket for the truffle bed or your comfort. Outside the closet is a big full-body mirror. Next to the mirror is a bench which is above the AC and a window. If you got a room with a city view you will not be disappointed, amazing views of the skyline and MetLife (I attached pictures and videos) You can sit on the bench and enjoy the sunrise and set with a cup of coffee or cocoa (I did it with a slice of pizza lol) My view also had the Hampton inn and a solar area in it, but it didn't take away from the view. I would recommend anyone to visit this hotel. The truffle bed adds two more beds to any room so great space for the family. I hope my review helps someone know more about this hotel.

There are a total of 10 outlets and...

Overall, the hotel was average and acceptable. The room is designed poorly. The sliding bathroom door is right across from the beds. When the door is opened during the night and the light turned on, the entire room lights up. You should put a nightlight in the bathroom. That will allow a person to enter the bathroom, close the door and then turn on the light. Easy $2 fix. The bathroom sliding door has a cheap sliding rail that makes it extremely difficult to open and close. You have to use two hands to crack it open, stand in the opening with your back against the door jam and bench press the door open with your two arms. (If you stay here, you'll see.) Another design problem is the placement of the TV. You are not able to view the TV from the bed area and the seating area at the same time, unless you view the TV from about 150 degree angle from both areas. The seating area is nice with a large very firm sofa and a roll out trundle underneath. The hotel was just built so all the furniture is in good shape. The beds are comfortable enough to allow a good night sleep. Pool is small, enough to get wet but not to get any exercise. Exercise room has new all functioning equipment. Breakfast is very average and seems to cut corners on everything. They have two juices, apple and orange. Most hotel have four juices to select from but these two do check the juice category. They had two hot items, an egg and cheese omelet (equal to other hotels) and a jimmy Dean wrapped sausage and egg biscuit (because they were wrapped, they were soggy and not very pleasant to eat, again cutting corners. Most hotels will have an egg offering, one or two meat offerings and a potato offering. Again, just enough to check the box of Hot Foods, barely. Pastries/Muffins: They had no pastries. They had blueberry muffins and that was it. (I like Blueberry, my wife like others may not care for it), enough to check the box. Most other hotels will have a variety of pastries (apple, strawberry, cinnamon rolls) and muffins (blueberry, chocolate chip and cinnamon). No waffle maker. Coffee: Just enough to check the box, Reg (which I thought was weak), Decaf (I didn't try it), and Hot Water. They had milk and half & half in pitchers, no flavored creamers. I know I went on about the average Breakfast, but I wanted to explain why it was barely average. With the amount of hotels in this area, I will look for another one when I come back. One that will not be so concerned about just...

Hotel was in a perfect location for an event at Met Life Stadium. We requested an early check in and were thrilled when we received an alert at 9:45 that we had a mobile key ready. Much appreciated. Room was clean (except for the closet floor!).

A few reasons why I only gave 4 stars:

The mobile key disappeared from my phone on checkout day at 8am. The Front Desk agent tried to send it back to my phone but was unable to. The actual key cards we had for the room consistently deactivated. Kind of a pain when you are on the 4th floor and have to go back to the desk to have them recharged. (and no, we did not put them near a cell phone or a magnet)

On Friday morning around 11am, I went to the desk to get a key and the Front Desk agent asked ONLY for my room number. No name check, no request for id, not a single thing. This is a HUGE problem. It made me very uncomfortable knowing that at anytime during his shift anyone could ask for a key to any given room. We also asked him numerous times about the bus station, which we could clearly see were located out the door. We only wanted to know what side of the street we should be on to head into NYC, but he couldn't be bothered and just kept saying "it's right outside." Needless to say, we missed the first bus. I will say that every other time the keys stopped working the staff on did a security check before giving a new key.

Saturday morning I came down to get a cup of hot water as our room had no paper cups in it to be able to use in the in room coffee maker. I was scolded by the breakfast attendant for this, because breakfast didn't start until 7am. It was 6:45 and all I wanted was a cup of hot water. It was clear that breakfast was ready to go and they were just counting down the clock till 7, which frankly is just dumb. If the food is ready, let the people eat. We ate breakfast both mornings at the IHOP down the road because of this interaction.

All in all, a great place to stay due to its location and how easy and fast it is to get into NYC once you figure out the bus schedules. Would absolutely...