Hilton Club The Central at 5th New York — Hotel in New York

I would normally steer away from staying at properties like this just due to the price, but when regular hotels in the area were going for similar prices for when I was traveling, paying a small premium stay at such a property near the event I was attending was a no-brainer. Plus, an honest-to-god Japanese bidet! Who wouldn't want that?||The reason why I have "hotel" in quotes is because this is a Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) property. In other words, you can basically become an owner. From talking with the staff since they're not sold out, the vacancies can be used as hotel space. If you stay here there are some extra perks that you could take advantage of, but while I didn't you can inquire with the concierge.||Anyways, arriving via red-eye I reached the property and met Zachary who helped get me checked in. Sadly, since it was a very early arrival and the property was just about fully booked, I ended up with a room on the 3rd floor. Would have been nice to see what the view was from the upper floors, but given the circumstances beggars can't be choosers. Fortunately the rooms have blackout shades which do their job (perhaps way too well as I had to set alarms after the first night).||I had booked one of the larger single rooms and it was actually separated from the rest of the floor which was nice. Some sound did come in at times since it was near the elevator and where housekeeping comes out, but it wasn't that bad at all. The room was indeed spacious, though some of the extra space was windowside extending from the main area where you could find a desk, the coffee machine, and the refrigerator. Oh, and the A/V inputs if you brought your own stuff. A bit odd of a space for me to utilize myself, but again not a big deal.||The bed was huge, even if I sprawled myself across it (and I'm around 6') there was still a lot of open space. The only quibbles were that there was (a) there was little table space beside to put things like my CPAP machine and my phone chargers and such., and (b) their entertainment system "Innspire" was basically useless as casting to the TV caused it to crash repeatedly and if I wanted to watch TV, the channel guide was not accurate. I realize people may not be staying inside to watch TV and the like, but that was a little disappointing to see. Zachary did mention after the fact that there were some update issues with it, but outside of the casting issue, the fact the channel guide was inaccurate and the remote was spotty to use did make it feel like this was something overlooked by the property.||The bathroom was excellent. Of course there was the bidet, but the shower even if it wasn't a rainfall one still felt close enough, and you had the flexible shower hose thingy (I have no idea what that's called), if you wanted to reach spots the fixed showerhead couldn't. I have been taking advantage of the vanity mirrors more, but at least the one in this room while accessible the light wasn't that great with so it was a little more difficult to use for my purposes.||Even still, with all the things mentioned above, this is still a great place to stay for the right price. Zachary also made the experience great as I got to talk with him on my way in, and on the night before my departure. I rarely give kudos to staff because I don't really interact with them that much usually, but in this case it was a welcome thing for me and for the small things I inquired about he was more than happy to accommodate.||Location-wise this is also a great place as it's pretty much next to Grand Central, which means basically direct access to JFK (though I know people apparently hate flying in/out of there) and it's nearby most tourist destinations. If the opportunity arises again, I would gladly pay a small premium to stay here over regular hotels like the Hilton Garden Inn. I just know that in general I'm not really the clientele that would be purchasing a membership to a place like this, so it's nice to get a chance to see...

We have been Hilton Grand Vacation owners for several years but this was the first time using out points to stay in NYC. We were lucky enough to snag a reservation over Labor Day weekend for a One Bedroom Penthouse room. I must say we were impressed! The room was beautiful and with the PH we had a fantastic view! Everyone mentions the heated toilet seat and bidet and of course I must too! What a nice added feature! But we also really enjoyed the power blinds and even the "Master" switch at the door so you don't have to turn everything off individually before you leave the room. Plus, especially for NYC, it was spacious! We had plenty of room for two adults and two kids.

The staff was friendly and helpful as well. On the first night when we realized we did not have bedding for the sofa bed, we called to the front desk and not only did they send it right up, but they sent someone up to make up the bed for us. This was super helpful and so much nicer than the normal quick knock and dum of a pile of bedding into your arms at most hotels.

The only reason I did not give 5 stars is for two reasons. First is that we arrived pretty early in the day (around 9am) and, as expected, our room was not close to ready. No problem, we expected that. We checked in, left our bags will bell services and off we went to explore. When we came back around 3:45pm with two highly exhausted girls, however, our room was STILL not ready. Of course, check in is not until 4:00pm so technically it was not late, but I guess I figured since we had been there so early that perhaps our room could have bene prioritized? This is something I don't understand about hotels. They will have rooms cleaned that sit empty for hours until the guests arrive while in some other cases, the guests are there early and they are made to wait. So we had to wait in their interior courtyard (which was very cute) and our room was FINALLY ready at 4:10pm.

Second reason for 4 stars (versus 5) relates to trash pickup. Staying here as an owner, we do not get daily housekeeping, which we are fine with. But on the second day, I texted down to the front desk to ask what we should do with our trash that was piling up. I was told to just leave it outside our room. So we put it out there, assuming it would be picked up soon. 24 hours later it was STILL sitting outside our room in the hallway. For such a nice place, this just seems a bit unseemly. So they could have been better about that.

Overall, it's probably nit picking. We really did have a great time and would stay there again. Location is fantastic, rooms are nice and staff is exceptional (if they could just be better about trash). I would definitely recommend giving this...

The Hilton Hotel on 5th Ave takes pride at its military mentality - security circles the place 24/7, making sure that people carry their Hilton key cards. You cannot get to your room or inside of the hotel after 10:00 pm, if you don’t have the Hilton key card. Even then, you are asked by staff members who are you, occupation, which room you are staying in, if you are with family, boyfriend and so on. I happen to fall asleep twice on the hotel sofas in the hang-out lobby, because I study and work arduously almost all the time and I tend to become exhausted easily. The two times I was woken up and questioned by the security guards as to who I was, got escorted with security back to my room, the security guards wanted to see my room and who I was with there. Asked to see a key. I showed them but it wasn’t enough. They still pushed to see my room. Very uncomfortable, no privacy. Security told my fellow colleagues that they couldn’t study, nor work in the lounge and eat at the same time. MILITARY MENTALITY AT ITS FINEST. People are well-behaved on the service side, while they collect information about you and comment on everything that you do in terms of how many times you come in and out. Being a journalist I tend to pay close attention to behavioral patterns and the Hilton team crosses many privacy boundaries. Very clean place - they have cleaning team that does this for hours overnight. The food places are great inside as well as the different shops. You are highly judged on appearance and status at this hotel. Comments were made with absolutely no tact or remorse; but again the amenities and the rooms are wonderful. Staff changes daily and the communication between them is not as efficient but still somewhat productive. I enjoyed my stay and I laughed at being woken up and escorted to my room. It is definitely not the best hotel, not one of the best hotels that I have been to. Something about the security guards is highly disturbing and the way they interact with people is frightening and intimidating. They don’t care if you are a woman, they will mistreat you and put you down, or ask you to leave if they decide that you don’t comply to their unwritten rules. I am sending you a photo of the key so you could see what the security puts emphasis on. Have a great...