Hilton Garden Inn Long Island City New York — Hotel in New York

Let me start off by saying, if you're the type of person that doesn't mind subways and saving money while still staying in a classy hotel - this is the place for you hands down. I like to note down things as best as possible since I also rely on Google to see where I want to stay.

I've stayed in Long Island City before at a Howard Johnson, 5 years ago (2010). My previous experience was good, but no where near as great as this hotel. Below are the points that I feel will strongly persuade you to stay at this hotel.

1. You are steps away from several subway lines. Queen's Plaza (lines E,M,R) is literally 50 meteres from the hotel entrance (not even exaggerating). I was so surprised that I could get to Central Park in 8 minutes by taking the subway. I highly recommend if you stay more than 3 nights to get the 7 day unlimited ride pass because you will see how convenient it is to get around.

Queensboro Plaza is about a 5 minute walk from the hotel and has lines N,Q, and 7. I would only use this line depending on where I was travelling back from, but again - highly convenient.

2. This area is incredibly loud, with several subways passing through and traffic all day you would think it would be a nightmare trying to go to sleep. This is not the case. The hotel rooms are equipped with sound-proof Schüco windows that have a rating of 110 dB sound proofing. In English, that means it can hold off a small planes engine. You can see the difference when you open and close the windows

3. The hotel was built on an odd sized piece of land, so the architecture is a bit odd but they somehow built a great hotel on the property. I believe the corner suites are the smallest (I stayed in this) but they have one of the best views since you get more windows. Each room is equipped with a 42 inch TV. Yes that’s right, a 42 inch massive HDTV. Tons of channels, you will never get bored (we lived on FX, E!, and the Food Network) The bathrooms are beautiful. The light up mirror and brand new toilet and shower made the experience so comfortable. They also provide Neutrogena toiletries The bed was incredibly comfortable and clean, had no issues with that.

4. Now the best part of the hotel rooms has to be the mini fridge and microwave. I’ve been to hotels where the mini fridges were not cold but this hotel knows how to deliver! My girlfriend and I wanted to avoid spending a ton of money on breakfast every morning. So what did we do? We bought a carton of milk, yogurt, a bundle of bananas, and small snacks to fill us up in the morning before lunch. The microwave and mini fridge helped a ton. Also kept a few drinks in there to keep us cool. If you’re on a tight budget, use the fridge to store food! We took a bunch of plastic cutlery from the Whole Food Market (in Columbus Circle) so you can do the same too. Oh yeah, how can I also forget about the Keurig machine! You get coffee and tea K-cups. You can request for more tea or coffee depending on your preference (or even bring your own).

5. We did not eat at the hotel, but I heard the food is great. If you are looking for local eats, we checked out Burger Garage (amazing turkey burgers), Lucky Pizzeria, and the Dutch Kills Pub. The hotel also has fruit water in the afternoon and freshly baked cookies as a snack in the evening.

6. Lastly, the views from the hotel room. We originally asked for a Manhattan View (booked two months in advance) but did not get this. We were upset at first, but got over it as the view we had wasn’t too bad at all (see the video on my profile) facing south east. Test your luck and see what you do, but the hotel can cannot guarantee this. We got to the hotel around 1 PM and got early check-in which was great. If you arrive too early, they will hold your luggage for you for free.

We arrived from Newark airport and took NJ transit to Penn station, and came straight by the E train (but when we arrived the E line was closed for maintenance so the workaround took us about 3 hours where it should have...

I stayed originally at this Hilton Garden Inn back in December 2017 (apologies for not leaving a review then!), and we had such a pleasant experience we did decide to come back the next time we visited NYC. ||The best thing about this Hilton Garden Inn is the close location to both Queens Plaza (literally 20 seconds walk away if you pick the correct subway entrance) and Queensboro Plaza (a little further, but only a few minutes walk) subway stations to get you into Manhattan within 10-15 minutes. This alone makes it so worth the price!! When I go on city breaks, my thing is to find hotels a little further out of the center but close to public transport links and it makes a huge difference in value - this is the absolute perfect fit to this rule for those who don't mind staying out of the center of Manhattan. In addition, I have never felt unsafe in the area that the Hotel is located in too, it's a busy public road very close to the hotel (you can't hear this from the room) so you're never in a quiet area alone if you're walking at night from the Subway.||This is not a 5-star hotel so if you're looking for this it may not be your thing, but it is I think one of the best value hotels that can be found in the whole of New York City! When you compare the price of this hotel to other similar hotels in Manhattan, this can be purchased at sometimes more than half the price of other similar (and worse) hotels that in central Manhattan, and does seem to be one of the cheaper ones located outside Manhattan too, but the cheaper price doesn't mean a lack of quality when compared with others!||The rooms (from memory) hadn't changed between our two stays in 2017 and 2023 (and do seem older than this) so perhaps could be doing with an update, but they are large rooms and ours had a small sofa located at the end of the room too - beds very comfy.||Unfortunately, the air con didn't work our first evening so it was stuffy on the first night, however we didn't bother to raise this as we were so jet lagged from our flight and I'm more than confident the team would've have resolved this for us if we did! Thankfully, it worked the rest of our stay so the room was extremely comfortable after this time.||We were located on the 11th floor (I think), and apart from one day where one of the two lifts were broken, we didn't have to spend long waiting for the lifts and got from reception to our room in a few short moments.||The reception/lobby/breakfast area seems to have been updated between our stays in 2017-2023, is modern and clean with a large bar area too if required. We didn't have breakfast there or food so can't comment on the food offering.||We stayed due to a planned engagement in NYC (she said yes!) and we did tell the Reception Team about this (apologies, we can't remember the woman's name) to see if there was anything they could do as a congratulations, just a simple message in the room for example - she did say leave it with her. We got back later that night, and they left a congratulations card as well as a little gift from the hotel to get some celebratory coffees on them - the gift was so unexpected and such a lovely touch, we cannot thank them enough for this! This was 11th-12th March 2023 so personal thanks to who sorted this for us at the time :)||As long as the price remained competitive and it was still great value, we would without hesitation stay here again the next time we stayed in NYC! We look forward to our...

The Hilton Garden Inn LIC is a hidden gem within the hustle and bustle of NYC and more specifically Queensboro Plaza area. From arrival, warm smiles, being welcomed and acknowledging loyalty status, the expectations of my stay were being given a super high bar. After a smooth checkin and clear direction were given to my room, the story only gets better. Clean and cozy room, comfortable bed and the stylish Garden Inn accommodations that I’ve come to expect did not disappoint. “Everyone is Welcome Here” is certainly an understatement. ||After settling in the front desk was able to provide information about the subway (2 min walk to the E & M at Queens Plaza , 7 and N at Queensboro Plaza) and a 3 min-ish walk to coffee shops, drug store, and a great food court concept establishment were provided and appreciated. The neighborhood is clean and feels safe. ||Had the opportunity to have a couple drinks under the caring, friendly and welcoming hospitality of the bartenders. Although, I didn’t really take advantage of the restaurant - heard nothing but good reviews about the food. ||So, now to the problems with my stay, because I look for those, as inevitably something may come up - it’s all in how any problems are addressed and handled. First, the battery died in the safe. I stopped by the front desk - it was fixed within the hour. Second, I wanted extra bath towels, not really a problem - more of a request and those too were brought to my room within a short time of request. This is a 17 story hotel and may take a little time for staff to get to your room. Although, elevators move pretty efficiently and are not shoe boxes like other NYC hotels. Lastly, I had to check out - it was such an awesome stay I didn’t want to leave. :)||Parking is right next door to the hotel. It was suggested that on the weekends that you make a reservation in advance to secure parking and I did so I wouldn’t have to find parking elsewhere. ||I had two stays at this great hotel once in April and once in the beginning of June. I will certainly be back even if my trip to NYC area is focused in Manhattan, the ease of accessing the subway is great! ||Shout out to the front desk staff for accommodating my requests, the bartenders for continuing the warm vibe and experience, and certainly to maintenance and housekeeping for keeping the building clean and operating. And to the front desk and bartender who directed me to the right, or in this case the left elevator for my stylish room with a view. ;) I greatly appreciated your humor and warm welcome when coming back each night during my stay. Thank you Hilton Garden Inn - a property Hilton should be super proud to have as part of...