Hampton Inn Manhattan/Times Square Central — Hotel in New York

Had a wonderful stay and would highly recommend this place to my friends.

My wife and I came in for a long weekend (Middle of November) to catch some shows and check out some good restaurants. This was a perfect place for us to stay. I'm a light packer; I have time; My plans are flexible; I like using the subway; I'm not young but I get around just fine; I like to stay at Hampton Inn's; I like to spend my vacation budget on other activities besides sleeping. If you're this traveler, you'll love this place. There were glitches so can't go to 5 stars but my experience was certainly 4 star.

For the location and price this place can't be beat. It's small. EVERYTHING is small. That isn't a criticism it's just fact. Most public spaces serve double duty. Like the cafeteria becomes the early luggage check in storage area. Set your expectations that this is going to be a cozy environment or spend more money somewhere else.

It's crowded. You're in the busiest city in the country. You're in the busiest blocks of that busy city. There are 24 units on my floor and there are 37 floors of rooms. I'm guessing there's 800 rooms occupied on any night so you're sleeping and eating breakfast with over 2000 people. Set your expectations before you pass through the doors and you'll be surprised that you don't even notice the crowd.

I was so impressed with the staff. My room and the halls were clean and so was the cafeteria. The desk was always attended and everyone was very friendly and professional. I always felt welcome and safe.

Two criticisms. First, I don't understand the revolving door? It says only one person at a time and it's not lying. If you squeeze two people in it just stops and makes me feel silly?? Second the public restroom is not at all public. It's hidden in the lower level and you have to have your keycard to use it. That doesn't help much when you're checking in and don't yet have a card.

If you're still reading this you're probably wavering on whether you'd like to stay. For this Midwest couple this place was perfect but you may find that your needs just can't be met here. .

That said; in my humble opinion :

Don't bring a stroller here. Won't fit in the room or the elevator.

Don't stay here if you're not invigorated by crowds and prepared to maneuver through them every minute of your stay.

Don't bring your elderly parents. They WILL get run over.

Don't try and fit 4 people in 1 room; reserve a suite instead.

Finally I want to give special Kudos to the whole team working the November 15th weekend. Something happened to their computers and they lost the entire reservation system for all of us coming in on Friday. They were manually handing out rooms. Yes it was a trainwreck but I was really impressed how well they handled it. I would have just walked away. THANK...

Rooms: The rooms were small, but this was to be expected in NYC. NYC is like Europe -- you won't get what you would expect from the star rating and money as you would in must of the rest of the United States. It helps to know that going into it.

VIEW: Do not pay for a city-view room unless they give you a room on the SOUTH SIDE of the building. We were there for four nights and felt ripped off. We did call the front desk when we first checked in and the lady told us something to the effect of, "Too bad. Everything over the 27th floor is a view room." We were tired and didn't fight it. Two days later, a lady in the elevator was telling us that she felt ripped off with one of those north facing "view rooms" and demanded to be moved to a lower floor at the reduced rate. I wished that we had thought of that so we called and guy at the front desk admitted to us that the south-facing views are much nicer and switched us to a south room. The south-facing room was worth the extra $50, but we still feel ripped off about the first 3 nights.

Location: The location was great as long as you don't mind being in the middle of everything. The street was relatively quiet for the Time Square area and several subway lines are within a 5 minute walk. The Port Authority Bus Terminal is a block away and Penn Station is a 10-minute walk (or a quick subway ride). Of course, if you head up into Times Square, the crazies come out and it's very hectic. You won't likely meet New Yorkers there. There are mostly tourists, scam artists, and pick pockets. One of the "Disney" characters actually called me a name when my wife accepted his offer to take a picture and I told her that you have to "tip" those guys (knowing that she didn't have any cash on her, and knowing that I wouldn't have wanted her to pull cash out in that particular spot even if she had it).

Services & facilities: It was great for an NYC hotel. Yeah, the rooms were small, and the elevators were slow (3 elevators for over 30 floors), but the breakfast was great and the lobby was nice. Security was good -- you have to use your room key to get into the lobby even during the day. You also need your room key to get to your floor in the elevator or to the downstairs laundry and exercise room.

Housekeeping: We do have a gripe about the housekeeping. They don't clean your room (including new coffee and fresh towels) unless you request it. ...but they don't tell you that you need to request it when you check in. When they do service your room, they do a great job... just be sure to request it. So the reason that it's a gripe is that if they told you up front, you could request it and it would be no problem. But the way you learn that you have to request it is by showing up at 11:00 PM and realizing that you have no clean towels or coffee for...

The stars is for the location and front desk. 0 stars for the room. Front desk was great! My family and I were so excited to be in New York that we went to the room to drop off our belongings and left right back out. We made it back to the hotel about 8pm and that is when we decided to check the beds before 1 of us showered. Upon pulling the covers back is when we realized the rooms hadn't been checked properly by the hotel staff because the beds had black crumbs on the sheets as if someone crumbled Oreo cookies on both beds. Pillowcases had black marks on them as well. I called the front desk to infom them there is no way I paid $1128.00 for this room and there are crumbs in the bed. I was told by the front desk person to come to the front desk to get keys to another room. We beginned to pack our things to move to another room. I went down to the front desk, I gave them my room number and after standing there over 3min I was told by the manager "We have no rooms available for your room type but will send someone up to clean the bed." At that point I'm pissed and thinking who wants to sleep in a room with visible black crumbs in the bed? I asked the manager how can I be compenstated for this issue? I was told by the manager she would give me 5,000 points. Lol ok! Get back to the room and 2 guys knock on the door with nothing in their hand. They asked if i needed anything? I told them the beds need to be changed they came back with 1 flat sheet and 1 fitted sheet. After making the bed I told them the pillowcases needed to be changed as well. After changing the pillowcases they were about to leave and once again I asked "are you going to change this bed too?" I know if they didn't change the sheets on the bed you changed the sheets on they didn't change the sheets on the second bed. He changed the sheets and asked if i wanted the pillowcases changed too? At that point I knew the people here are not working with a full deck of cards. I told him yes and after he left...we were so afraid that we were going to take some home with us we didn't bring other than clothes and shoes. The room we were in was very small... i'm not for sure if they had upgrades or not but the room we stayed in was a double queen bed room and from the looks of it...it was only enough room for 1 bed. room is not worth the money. Towels and wash clothes are not crispy white. Ugh never again!! The location is great!! Come out the hotel door, go left and walk to the light your at the bus and train terminal. Come out the hotel door, go right and make a right at the light...you at Times Square. Great location but room was not pleasant for me...