Hampton Inn & Suites Newark-Harrison-Riverwalk — Hotel in Harrison

Disappointment, overrated, inconsistent. As a hotel owner/manager, these should be some of the worst descriptions for guests staying at your hotel. And yet here we are with the Hampton Inn Riverwalk.

I've stayed here in the past and had glowing reviews to offer. Apparently the hotel is under new management, and that management has made cuts to the customer experience. It shows. Reviews are now inconsistent. I'm not sure who is leaving 4s and 5s for review. Here's my experience:

Was searching for a value priced functionally competent hotel to stay for an upcoming visit to NYC. We traveled as family - husband, wife, and 11 month old. Did a Google search for FREE parking, wifi, breakfast, plus family friendly. Hampton Inn came up in the search. I recall from past visits that Hampton Inns do have free parking, wifi, and breakfast. When staying before, I didn't have family so wasn't searching or looking for family friendly features. But I figured if it came up in the search they could provide so booked - and made special request for a pack-and-play for our 11 month old when booking (in the special requests/comments section of the reservation)

Fast forward to checking in, I find out the Hampton Inn has NO pack-and-play. Could I get a call about that in advance since I made my request on Hilton's website in advance? Guess not. STRIKE ONE

Also while checking in, I am asked if I have a car. Yes I do. I am then told parking is $19 per night. Excuse me? Why is Hampton Inn Riverwalk coming up on Google Searches for free parking when it is no longer available. I've stayed here in the past and the parking was free, which is why I did not search the hotel's website to confirm. On the hotel website it does list $19 per night parking fee and does not say free parking, but somehow is still being reported to Google as free parking since it shows up in Google searches under free parking. STRIKE TWO

After checking in and heading up to our room, we find the thermostat set to 72 degrees - ON COOL. The function to switch to heating was not available. We had to rely on a warm mist humidifier to warm up the room. Oh and when we went out, the room was not cleaned/turned down by the time we came back after a full day out visiting family and friends in NYC/NJ. STRIKE THREE AND FOUR

Upon coming downstairs the next morning seeking a shuttle to Newark Penn Station to catch PATH or NJTransit to NYC, we are told the hotel no longer offers a shuttle of any kind. I knew there was no airport shuttle but there used to be a local shuttle that took you to Penn Station and around downtown Newark - I took that shuttle before. Now you have to take a hotel ordered taxi or call your own Uber to pay to get you to Penn Station and then into NYC. That means $19 per night to park + at least $10 Uber each way to Penn Station + the cost of NJTransit ticket to NYC ($6.25 each way) - you're looking at $50 EACH DAY just for transportation and parking to NYC. On top of standard hotel costs. STRIKE FIVE.

While the free wifi is great and the free breakfast is nice, I will no longer stay at the Hampton Inn Riverwalk with my family and can no longer recommend to other families. The quality of stay experience is inconsistent (rooms are not turned down/cleaned regularly). The hotel does not cater to families with young children (though there are high chairs in the lobby for dining - they don't have/offer pack-and-play). Parking is not free. Shuttle is not provided. If I have to pay extra for these features and amenities, I can identify more conveniently located hotels to Newark Penn Station, Newark Broad Street Station, and Harrison PATH station for access to NYC.

NOTE: if you are only dependent on car and NOT using mass transit, the hotel is ideally located with easy access to NJ route 21 and Interstate I-280 (still gotta pay for...

o Arrival - The clerk, though pleasant, didn't provide all the information she should have (e.g. about wifi, breakfast, and parking). ||We checked in online hoping to get to our room quickly. Instead, it took 30 minutes (and two trips back to the front desk) for us to get into our room. After two sets of electronic keys didn't open the room door, we learned that the problem was dead batteries, which a maintenance person replaced. This problem didn't reflect well on routine maintenance or on the alertness of staff to what should have been a signal: a blinking red light on the door mechanism. Other signs of neglected maintenance: chipped door paint and loose formica trim hanging from the edge of one night table.||o View - A water view is available at an extra charge, but we were very happy looking out on the town, Route 280, and trains going by. (BTW, train noise was not a problem in our room -- 521, in about the middle of the floor.) We were also very happy with the spaciousness of the king "studio suite" -- considerably larger than a regular king room; it was well worth the small extra charge.||o Lighting - The room had several light fixtures (bedside lamps, a desk lamp, and a standing lamp beside a chair, and high hats in the "kitchen" area) but even with all of them on, it was dark.||o Location - The hotel was very convenient to the rock-climbing competition we attended in Newark, about a half-mile walk away, and to the Newark Museum, which we also visited. We also enjoyed being within easy reach of several good Harrison restaurants., including La Fiamma and Charley's.||o Heating -- Instructions on the HVAC unit said to use the wall thermostat, but it had no effect on the room temperature. We reported this problem to the front desk but never heard from maintenance. Finally, we figured out the issue for ourselves: the controls on the HVAC unit did indeed work.||o Checkout - We were unable to have checkout delayed to 2p, an AARP benefit described on the Hilton website when we booked the room. The manager denied that such an offer existed and came across as hostile and unpleasant when we made the request.||o Parking - We were never asked if we were parking a car. Nevertheless a charge appeared on our final bill. We knew from our reservation that there's a charge but wondered if all guests are automatically charged for parking -- and if some who didn't park don't notice the charge and end up paying for a service they didn't use. BTW, the lot has no signs indicating that it's paid parking.||o Security - A special shout out for the security person who was on duty on Friday night, at about 11:30p. He was extremely helpful when we told him that our daughter, who was about to join us at the hotel, was having trouble finding a place to park. (On the other hand, it would have helped if there were signage in the closeby parking lot alerting guests to the existence of an overflow lot.)||o...

No stars - During check in staff didn’t give us any about the hotel. When I asked about parking she told me it was $19 per day. We paid that and went to the room. While unloading, security told us 3 times they would tow our vehicle because we didn’t have a pass to park. When I went back to the desk she said, you need one but you didn’t ask. Why would I ask for a pass I didn’t know I needed? The next night after being at a funeral all day, half of the parking lot was closed and there was no where to park. The front desk said she didn’t know what to tell us other than try to find street parking or another lot. I told her we paid to park in the lot that was now closed and there was no parking on the street. She said there was nothing she could do but make a note on the account and tell the manager tomorrow. It was 11pm. The neighborhood is not safe and the only parking was nearly a mile from the hotel. My husband had to say in the vehicle half the night because he dropped us off and then had to stay in the vehicle until he could find somewhere closer to park, so it was safe for him to walk back to the hotel. It was completely unsafe. Especially since we already paid for parking at the hotel!

The room was awful- the toilet seat was broken so a woman could not sit on it, the sink drain was missing the stopper so when I dropped by toothbrush it went completely down the drain. The bathtub also did not have a stopper so if you dropped a razor it too would go straight down the drain. One of the window treatments were broken. It was supposed to be a valance but instead the sheet of fabric hung straight down and was tacked to the wall like someone took a sheet and covered the window. You couldn’t open or close it. The towels were disgusting!!! The ones in the room all had brown spots on them so I got new ones. The new towels and bath clothes had spots as well and were so dingy looking. Simply disgusting!!! We had to use the paper towels to wash up. The floor in the kitchen area was sticky. The cabinet door in the kitchen area was broken and hanging against the cabinet. Our digital key never worked and front desk said they didn’t know how to fix it. The room key stopped working after each and every use, 7 times we had to go to the desk and reset the keys. If we weren’t in town for a funeral, we would have canceled the stay all together. We have stayed at many Hilton hotels and this was the absolute worst ever. After being at a funeral all day, for my husband to spend half the night in our vehicle because it was too unsafe to walk back to the hotel, was just the worst experience ever. Why would they charge ours for parking, if the lot was going to be closed? Why not tell us that in advance so we are not out of options at 11pm. Truly cannot express how upsetting this...