Dharma Home Suites Hoboken Novia — Hotel in Hoboken

Updated May 2022 Review: Much improved experience this time around. We'll be back.

Original November 2021 Review: We've been huge Dharma Novia fans from its beginning. Our first stay was actually before they finished the roof-top patio, so we're OG! Since then, we've stayed at this property each time we visit our daughter who lives nearby in Hoboken. My wife and I even got a room for my parents a few years ago when they wanted to visit NYC with us. We've never been disappointed.

Until now.

Let's just say that our current unit is definitely "rough around the edges" and showing a lack of maintenance and care. Some of the living room furniture looks like it would be more appropriate in a college apartment than an upscale (read: expensive) condo-type unit. It looks as if Dharma is also marketing this property on airbnb so it may be getting "harder use" with more frequent turnover than it has in years past. Among the telltale signs of a lack of care by management was a missing battery cover on the automatic lock on the entry door, dirty bathroom ventilation fans, dirty HVAC grilles and diffusers (and I suspect the air filter is likewise), inoperable water dispenser on the refrigerator door, dubious-looking extra linens and a closet door handle that came off in my wife's hand when she attempted to open the door! Another head-scratcher are the black scuff marks on the walls - especially in the bedrooms. These could be easily removed by housekeeping with the use of a magic eraser and would go a long way in improving the worn-out appearance of the entire unit.

EDIT TO ADD: A couple of days further into our stay, I noticed that there was water on the floor in front of the kitchen sink. At first, I thought I may have carelessly splashed water, but upon further inspection, it became clear that the source of the water was from a supply-side plumbing leak! From the appearance of the inside of the cabinet, the leak did not develop recently. How this could have gone unreported by previous guests or by housekeeping is a mystery. Because we didn't feel comfortable with the possibility of maintenance staff entering the unit in our absence, the leak remained unreported until the day before our departure. Meanwhile, I placed a pot underneath the leak to prevent any more water from collecting on the floor. For this newest "surprise" I changed my rating from 3/5 to 2/5. The Dharma Novia property problems cannot be entirely explained away by supply chain challenges. This is cultural.

Look, it's not all bad. Overall, the unit appeared clean. We love the space Dharma Novia provides for us - so much better than a hotel room could ever offer. The kitchen is a real plus for us, too. The property is in a terrific location offering guests a good walkability to all sorts of Hoboken eateries and shopping, as well as easy access to the Port Authority, 14th Street Ferry to Midtown and the PATH train to Manhattan. These are terrific built-in amenities.

Hopefully, management will refresh the furnishings soon. The maintenance and housekeeping both need to be plussed-up, too. It's not a bad property, it's just suffering from a lack of "love and attention". Before we visit again, we'll be sure to ask if the units have undergone any improvements and updates since our most recent visit. Here's hoping...

UPDATE: December 4, 2021 - My wife was contacted by email by Dharma management several weeks ago and was offered, unsolicited, a remedy to partially offset our less-than-optimal experience. Today we received this remedy in the form of a partial refund to our credit card. It wasn't a whole lot, but it is very much appreciated - especially since it was initiated completely by the management at Dharma. This was clearly the best lodging option in Hoboken and management can return the Novi property to its previous prominence by reinstating the high quality furniture, housekeeping and maintenance we became accustomed to enjoying during our many previous...

My fiancé, my mom, and I stayed 4 nights at the Dharma Home Suites in Hoboken. We were in town for a family event, and we booked a 1-bedroom apartment with a sofa bed sleeper. The apartment building was easy to find, and it was within walking distance of Trader Joe's, a wine shop, and a CVS (among other things). There is a beer garden around the corner that is VERY good! (Get the apple streusel.) There's another cafe kitty-corner from the building that we didn't get a chance to try. ||||We did not drive; we took Lyft pretty much everywhere, and it was reasonable to get around that way. ||||The apartment itself was spacious, even with my mom set up in the living room. The full kitchen was incredibly helpful. We had ample seating for breakfast, too. ||||There's Roku TV in the apartment; we personally used the Netflix and Sling functions, which were great to have. ||||There's a hot yoga studio/business in the building--we didn't get to go, but we thought about it. :)||||A few traveler notes: ||- We arrived very late on our first night and had a little trouble figuring out how to configure the sofa bed; it does pull out into a sleeper, but it just took some extra elbow grease. ||- Extra linens and towels for the third guest were located inside a closet. ||- We also were without coffee the first morning, so we made sure to pick some up at the grocery store. There were a few filters in the machine, but we bought extra. ||- The August smartlock deadbolt was hard to unlock with the key from the outside. However, there's a lock on the handle that was easy to manage. ||- The Nest thermostat was set to 58. I thought it was better to have it set to Eco mode most of the time instead of running the Cool function all day at that temp. ||- There are no blackout shades, but we had no trouble sleeping in until 8am or so every day because we are heavy sleepers from the...

I stayed at Dharma Home Suites as a travel nurse while working during Covid-19. My stay was pleasant until I checked out. A week after I checked out I received an email saying that both sets of keys had not been returned. When I checked in, I only received one set of keys, which I did return. I informed the reservation contact person of this and he continued to say I received two sets of keys and sent a picture with two sets of keys from prior to my check in. I don’t know when this picture was taken, but I did not receive the two keys shown in the picture. I was told if I did not return the second set of keys that I would be charged $225 to change the lock. I was then asked to see if I could check my belongings to see if I could have taken the key with me. I emailed back saying this wasn’t possible as I never received a second set of keys. I didn’t get a reply back to that email until I emailed a week later saying if Dharma was still taking the amount out of my security deposit despite me never having received the second key, then I at least wanted to know when I would be receiving the remainder of my deposit. I also asked for a manager to get in touch with me to discuss this further. There was no reply to that email, it took almost a week from that email until I received my deposit, minus the amount for the “missing key” fee, and a manager still has not reached out to me. This whole experience has left a bitter ending to my stay at Dharma Home Suites- Novia and I would not recommend...