Embassy Suites by Hilton New York Manhattan Times Square — Hotel in New York

I typically don't write reviews because it's just not worth my time but this experience was so horrible I have to warn others. DO NOT STAY HERE! These people have taken poor service to a whole new level. Being retired military I booked through the Armed Forces Travel network hoping to get a decent discount. The rate was lower than the hotel's website so I was pleased at first. When I arrived there was construction at the entrance and no clear indication that you had to go around to the side to enter and the workers had to direct me to it. First annoyance. I was about an hour and a half early but wanted to see if, by chance, a room was ready. Unfortunately it wasn't but the clerk promised to contact me if one became available. He was quick to get a $150 credit card charge for "incidentals". When I returned at the 4PM check in time, I was dismayed to discover the room still not ready. There were about 20 other people in the same boat. I'm sure they would be quick to assess a "late checkout" fee if you went one minute past checkout but not having your room ready at check in gets you nothing. They didn't even set out any water or snacks until you asked for it in person. After standing around for about 40 minutes my room was finally ready. The room was small, but it was Manhattan, so that is to be expected. The mattress was hard and uncomfortable, the sheets were super thin and rough and seemed like they had been washed about 10,000 times and the pillows went flat as soon as your head hit them. Embassy Suites does a "manager's reception" from 5-630PM. You sign in and get two drink tickets. The available drinks were domestic beer or wine or a cocktail punch of their making. I finally got there about 615 to find a huge line that didn't move an inch. The bartender was WAY more interested in telling the people behind me that they were the end of the line instead of doing her job bartending. She even called over some type of manager to complain as if it's the hotel guest's responsibility to make sure no one else gets in line. When I finally made it to the front (about 30 minutes later), I just wanted to exchange my drink tickets for two bottles of beer. She told me she was "out". Really? They couldn't anticipate that? There were other beers available, but these were "premium" beers and not for the reception. Wow. One of the reasons I wanted to stay at Embassy Suites was for the hot breakfast. Don't waste your time. There was an omelette chef. I went up to the counter as there was no indication as to how the process worked but the chef wouldn't even look up to make any eye contact. Maybe he didn't speak English, but at least he could learn enough to say "Good morning. Fill out ticket at table behind you." Of course the tip jar was prominently displayed up front however. I left frustrated but saw what other people were doing and filled out a ticket. The omelette was ready rather quickly but I discovered that it was because it wasn't cooked. I think he was precooking the egg and then just filling whatever toppings listed on the ticket, flipping it over and it was done, or at least that is what it seemed like. First class. When I checked out, the clerk told me the system "was down" and he couldn't print me a receipt. Red flag. I had to call Hilton the next day to get one to discover a daily "urban destination fee" of $34.42. So, despite your booking listing the rate, taxes and fees, you need to factor in an additional $34.42 per day for this bogus extra fee. The only good thing about this hotel is that it is within walking distance to the subway as well as Times Square. However, New York has gone so far downhill that tourists are putting their lives in danger just walking around central Manhattan. On my way to Times Square I passed a store with a gaggle of people, police and TV cameras. I naively thought maybe there was a famous person inside. Alas, no, an illegal had just been caught shoplifting and then shot a tourist. Stay away and don't stay at this Embassy Suites. Now for the fake "we're sorry...

SO GROSS! Bugs and old hair in my room - the hotel ignored cleaning requests for 4 days! ⎯ I stayed at Embassy Suites Times Square for 4 nights in July. Here's THE BEST, THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE WORST. ⎯ THE BEST: The staff at breakfast and evening reception were the best part of this hotel. (not the breakfast or reception itself - see below) They were all lovely and helpful every day. ⎯ THE GOOD: The location is fine for mobile people when the weather is nice. The nearest subway isn't on the closest corner, but it's about a 5-8 minute walk. There's fresh, cold water in the lobby during the day, but be aware that the dispensers aren't refilled at night. ⎯ THE BAD I appreciate free breakfast on family trips, and my kids are usually over the moon about Embassy Suites breakfasts. But this is the not a hotel breakfast to look forward to. There were over 24 omelet orders in front of mine one day. The buffet doesn't seem heated and seating is a joke. Our group of 3 sat at a 4-top or squeezed into a 2-seater each morning. Each day, every single time someone got up, a new person would start hovering to claim our table. ⎯ Advice: Skip the chaos and sticky tables - Grab coffee or juice, plus yogurt and an apple to go. Avoid the mess of the dining room altogether. ⎯ Set expectations LOW for the evening reception. The food is just pretzels, goldfish crackers, steamed vegetables (???) and a gigantic community bowl of french onion dip. ⎯

THE WORST I reported dead bugs and hair on the bathroom ceiling just after we got to our room. I notified staff in person and via the Hilton app every single day. Each time, I was assured it would be cleaned. It never was. By the last day of my stay, housekeeping ignored my room and didn't even replenish towels. ⎯ I'm not an overly picky person, but knowing and seeing the state of my bathroom, there was absolutely no way I was going to reuse anything that had been on the bathroom floor. I had to meet someone in the hallway to get fresh towels. ⎯ On the third night, they offered to move us—but by then we were all already in bed and my kids were asleep! We had less than 36 hours left and I was traveling with two children. They also said we could switch in the morning. Meaning, we would pack up our room one day early, move to a new room, then partially unpack for our last night before packing AGAIN for an early departure. ⎯ It was such a silly offer - We just needed ONE person to breifly enter the room and clean the dead bugs and hair from our bathroom. I had given them multiple chances to fix a small, specific issue, and they repeatedly failed. I even took photos just hours before checkout that clearly showed the same bugs and hair from the first night still stuck to the ceiling. ⎯ Wanda Brady, the assistant general manager for the hotel, requested that I call her. After listening to me recap my experience, she stated that the staff "didn't ignore my requests, you just perceived that you were ignored," because I couldn't see the messages about me in their internal communication channels. ⎯ ✨ Let me be honest: knowing that the staff was talking about my room, the cleanliness issue, and maybe me as a person (?), yet still not resolving the issue won't EVER make me feel less ignored.✨ ⎯ Ms. Brady also repeatedly insisted that offering such a late room switch at a time of day when my family was already sleeping was reasonable. I disagree. I NEVER EVEN REQUESTED A DIFFERENT ROOM! All I wanted was for someone to clean dead bugs and hair from my room. I needed basic cleanliness, which I was promised again and again and never received. ⎯ I’ve accepted a partial refund because it's better than no refund. But I don't believe I should have to pay for any night where I reported dead bugs and old hair that the staff just wouldn't clean. I requested service more than once a day, every day and the staff ignored me. ⎯ ⭐️ I expect hotel management to reply here with a vague apology and another promise to “make it right.” Don’t be fooled—that’s exactly what I was told for four days...

We were in New York again for a quick weekend trip so we could attend an event on Coney Island.

As an avid record collector, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the hotel is directly across the street from Rock & Soul records! That store was incredible and I was very happy that it was directly across the street from the Embassy Suites. I left NY with some new vinyl. 😁

The hotel location was phenomenal. Absolutely top shelf. Super close to Times Square. So much was within walking distance. And it's not very far from the train stop so we could get around quite easily. Even all the way to Coney Island. The walk to the hotel after getting to NY with our bags was quick and painless. Only a few blocks of walking.

The staff were super friendly and professional. The included breakfast was really good. My only gripe is that it's always PACKED. So maneuvering around in the cafeteria was difficult. They had a free "guest mixer" in the evening which was fun, but again, too packed for the small space. For breakfast, they even had people cooking you custom omelettes on request. Don't even bother with the coffee. It was probably the worst hotel coffee I've ever had and I've stayed at a lot of hotels in many different locations and countries. We simply went down the street instead. We did meet some amazing folks at breakfast which was a fantastic way to begin our last day in New York.

The rooms were nice. Except every time we opened our door and entered the room, one of us hit our foot, knee, or leg on the corner of the bed. Literally every. Single. Time. I wish they could have added 6 inches inside the room from where the bed currently was positioned. Like most rooms in NYC, they aren't very big. The view from our room on the 27th floor was enjoyable. Especially when we realized that were stayed on the weekend of the Dominican Parade.

My biggest issue with this hotel outside of constantly smashing something against the bed was the elevator situation. There are 3 elevators. It seems like it always took forever to get to our room. (27th floor) Either the elevator was too full and we had to catch the next one or even worse, it would always stop at the 21st floor even though nobody was there. We weren't the only guests who experienced this either. It became the running joke all weekend that maybe the 21st floor was haunted and we expected to see a little kid on a big wheel buzzing around like it was the Overlook Hotel in the Shining. 😅 Even when we were on the elevator, it was always packed and we stopped at so many floors to let people out. Or it would stop, the doors would open, and no one would be waiting. Especially on the 21st floor. I think maybe once or twice it actually didn't stop on floor 21 and we were surprised.

We didn't try the bar in the lobby. We had a daily $30 credit to use. (Per room/couple) It was a use it or lose it after that day type of deal. Unfortunately it was only good from 5 PM - 6:30 PM and we were typically not in the hotel during those hours to actually utilize the credit.

The lobby snacks & drinks was pretty well stocked but we were sad when we realized they didn't have any ice cream, they only had gelato.

The final night the entire hotel WiFi went down. When we left the next day we had to sign out via a sheet on a clipboard. I guess it was a huge infrastructure problem across the company. Minor inconvenience and things happen, technology breaks, but I did spend an hour the previous night troubleshooting my phone connectivity only to call the front desk and realize that the entire network was down. I've had this issue at hotels before and it wasn't a hotel wide thing, it was me, my phone was the problem. 😅

We absolutely loved the location and the staff. The rooms were nice but I think my big toe still hurts from whacking it on the bed so many times. The time it took to get from the lobby to our room (or down to the cafe floor) was pretty dreadful. But for a reasonable rate we'd definitely stay there again because the location...