Element Harrison - Newark — Hotel in Harrison

I have been a loyal SPG lifetime gold member since 2010 (with over a 500 nights at different SPG locations), I have always known the front desk people and the other staff at the SPG properties to be super welcoming and friendly. I just never got that feel from the front desk staff here (I also don't want to run into a huge assumption that all the front desk staff were rude, atleast the ones I had to deal with were definitely not the most cordial and welcoming type). Basically I had two reservations at this property over the weekend - one for my parents and another one for myself.My parents checked in a day early and I heard from my parents that during the checkin the front desk staff were pretty rude with them. Having traveled a lot and stayed at different SPG properties I did not really take too much into it, but I felt the same experience while check in.

That aside, I think the biggest disappointment to me was they had an already opened mouthwash in one of our bathrooms!! I had to go down to the front desk to get a new set. In addition, exiting the parking garage (after the final checkout) was another big disappointment! Basically, the hotel uses a common parking lot so you take the ticket and the hotel gives you la pass to go in and out of the garage. We never had to use the car during our stay, but during the checkout the pass would not work and when dialed I the parking garage, one of the guys answered my phone but he was not willing to let me out and asked me to go get a new working pass from the Hotel! There were cars behind me and the guy would still not let me out! Anyway, I leave the car in the exit gate and go to the front desk to get another pass, and even that would not work and the parking guy would still not let me out and said I had to go in and get another pass. (Mind you while all this is happening the cars behind me are backing up) Hence I go in again and there is mass confusion among the front desk staff as they had no idea what was going on. The front desk made some calls and I figured from their conversation the front desk staff had to key in my ticket number into some system, so that the parking authority could track it, either the front desk staff never did or they screwed up my number while entering it into their system. There was not even a iota of apology from the front desk folks for having me run back and forth between the parking exit and the front desk.I found this very dissapointing. We all make mistakes, but be ready to own it up! That is what builds trust and respect. (and by the way I work in services too). Basically a glitch from their side delayed my travel by a good 30 minutes and there was no sense of resentment or apology from the staff! All in all I left this property with pretty mediocre experiences. Overall my experiences at all SPG properties have been pretty good, but this property stands no where close to the ones I have been to. If you don't trust me, check out the review I wrote a review for another SPG property -Sheraton Burlington Conference Center.

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I’ve stayed at the hotel many times over several. The cleanliness, location and customer service are the reasons I always stayed here when visiting New York. This review is just for my last visit July 4th -6th) I made an emergency trip to NY on July 4th because of a death in the family. My stay at the hotel was a disappointment with customer service. When checking out I was told by the front desk that they will add the charges I made at the bar to my bill. I told her there should be no additional charges since I did not charge anything to my room and in addition I do not drink alcohol. She insisted that the system says it was my room so the charges were mine. My insistence that I did not make these charges were rebuffed. The discussion was very adversarial with no empathy from the front desk. She informed me that I can call back the next day when a manager was on duty to discuss the charges. (This was a loud conversation with other guests waiting for service). I left angry.

When I got to the airport and looked at the printout of the bill, the charges were made on 4th of July. Even though my reservation was from the fourth, I arrived after midnight, which was on the 5th. I called back the front desk to inform her of this fact, she responded by telling me that the bar sometimes stays open until 1 AM so I could’ve still made the charges. This was beyond infuriating since any charge after 12 midnight would be on the 5th not the 4th.

I called the next day after 11 AM and spoke with the manager Jasmine. This conversation also lacked empathy and was accusatory in nature. She said that she could not refund my money simply based on speculation. I informed her that I was not speculating, I knew for a fact that I did not make the charges. I attempted to informed her of my arrival time however she interrupted me and spoke over me (she actually told me to keep quite while she speak), to tell me that she has to pull the receipts and look at the room number recorded on the receipt to confirm the charges. Since she had just arrived to work, this will take some time. I enquired, if after looking at the receipts, my room number is there what does that mean? She responded, then you will have to pay. I told her there was no way I was paying for charges added to my bill, that I did not make. She said that she will have to investigate and call me back. I asked for a timeline and she responded with, when I’m done, I will call you. I felt like a person who dared to ask a question while at the DMV. I received a call shortly after from her informing me that the charges will be reverse since someone else in another room had made the charges. After treating a guest as a criminal, they did not even bother to apologize. I love this facility and I always stayed here, I however believe that there’s precipitous drop in the level of customer service. I may be staying elsewhere when...

I’ve been staying at Marriott properties for over 22 years, having stayed nearly 900 nights in all, but this was my first time staying at an Element. I was very impressed with the property and it’s amenities/offerings. Some of what they offer here, for free:|• 2 drink tickets per night to use in their bar (for beer or wine)|• Full breakfast, with a live cooking station where they’ll make an amazing openface egg sandwich similar to an avocado toast|• Nightly tea with three herbal teas to choose from, made fresh from leaves, not bags|The food offered wasn’t the typical watered down scrambled eggs, like in the lower end joints either!||My check-in was ok, not the best it could have been. Some of these amenities above weren’t explained to me, I asked about the breakfast later. The person checking me in said there would be an hour wait for my room, but I had gotten a text in about an hour prior advising to stop by the desk and get my key, as the room was ready.||The room was nice when I got to it. Comfy and plenty of space. Desk was useable, as I used it a lot for work and conference calls. There’s a kitchenette in the room too, with a full size fridge. HVAC wasn’t too loud and actually worked well. Toilet flushed like it should and shower drained like it should. I mention those things because the majority of Marriott properties I’ve stayed in over the past couple of years are going down in quality and those things aren’t always working properly.||Bed was comfy and the bed linens were clean and nicely pressed. They refreshed my room after the first night, but that was it… they didn’t come back after the second night – that’s confusing. ||Parking is easy in the garage directly behind the hotel. The only inconvenience is having to get a prox card from the desk to open the gate to park and leave. You are responsible for this card and have to pay $50 if you don’t return it (according to the sign at the desk). Thus, after leaving, I couldn’t simply drive away, I had to find a place to park along that narrow road to go back in and turn in the card.||If you have business to attend to at the office, this place is attached to the Harrison PATH station, so you literally walk outside, up the steps in the garage and you’re at the train platform. It’s a quick, single stop ride to the Newark Penn Station. I could get to Riverfront Plaza from here in less than 10 minutes from leaving my room.||Overall – Excellent property! Great stay! Service was OK…. If it was better, I would definitely give this place the 5 stars it truly deserves! I’ll...