Hotel on Rivington — Hotel in New York

Overall, I had a decent start at the Hotel on Rivington. I wasn't sure what to expect with the Small Luxury Hotel (SLC) relationship with Hilton, but it was overall okay. That said, there are some improvement areas and things people should be aware of.

The location is good if you're looking for activities to do around NYC. Very walkable to lower Manhattan sites, and close to many subway stops. The surrounding restaurants and bars are busy at night, so it's not the quietest. I had a high floor so I didn't notice too much traffic noise, but be aware that it's a busy neighborhood. There aren't a lot of rooms on each floor so it was relatively quiet in the halls.

The hotel is under renovation (as of mid-June 2025). There is scaffolding out front, and some of the lobby area is blocked off, including one elevator. Unlike other recent reviews, I actually didn't find the wait times for the elevator to be more than a few minutes at most, but I did have to stop at several floors on the way down, so do allow yourself extra time.

The staff was consistently very friendly. The front desk people greeted me early and thanked me for my patronage, the housekeepers helped me switch out the pillows, and every person working on the construction said hello and apologized for the mess and noise.

The room I received (King suite) was amongst the largest I've had in this location of NYC. Being on the 18th floor, the views were great. I had a lot of room to spread out, and the place did feel airy, and thankfully kept quite clean. I did have to close the blinds and turn up the air conditioning as the sun shining into all the windows made the room quite hot. The bed was a foam mattress, which was comfortable enough but not the most luxurious, nor were the foam pillows (or the feather ones before they were switched out).

As a Hilton Gold member, I received the free Continental breakfast that was very good. There was nobody else in the restaurant when I went, so I had access to the full spread of pastries and breads, charcuterie, fruit, yogurt and drinks. Honestly, it was an upscale Continental breakfast that is way better than I've seen elsewhere, but I probably wouldn't have paid for it otherwise.

That said, there are some issues with this hotel that are worth noting:

Firstly, this is a relatively new but renovated former apartment or condo building, and the finishes are perhaps more designed to look good than to work properly. The bathroom was full dark metallic tile with a black toilet, and it was honestly hard to see anything. The faucets were hard to use and weren't in great shape aesthetically (rusted screws, scratched toilet seat). The shower was massive (with a built-in seat), but unnecessarily so. I even had to fix the toilet because the tank chain broke and would not flush.

Secondly, most of the light switches were a fancy decor style, but were installed improperly and sunk in the wall. The switches were all over the place and there were no convenient lamps where you'd want them, such as beside the bed out by the sitting area.

Thirdly, none of the decor and artwork matched at all. The full floor-to-ceiling drapes were a contrasting brown velvet and were missing the sheer inner track that would have been nice.

Fourthly, some other things in the room were broken, including the bathroom door handle, and the safe deposit box was non-functional as it was jammed in the locked position. Some of the plank floors were unglued and popping up, but at least not in the high-traffic areas.

What these issues just point to is an overall lack of care for the functionality and upkeep of the place. None of them were deal-breakers, but I've never had this litany of minor issues all at once in any hotel I've ever stayed at.

Bottom line: would I stay here again? Probably, but only for the right price. As of right now, it does not live up to the true "luxury" name, so just be aware. I have high hopes that when construction is done, and assuming they have very good management and Hilton standards of upkeep, the place will be...

What a debacle! What a dump!

My wife and I checked into the Hotel on Rivington and were given our keys to an Atelier King balcony room on the 14th floor. We immediately noticed that the room was 80 degrees, despite the fact that the hvac was set to 73, the small fridge in the room was also warm, the hot water was cold, and the room phone did not work.

Maintenance worked on the hvac, fridge, and hot water, and got them working properly. The phone remained inoperable, but we didn't care about that. We were exhausted after our 12-hour drive to New York, so we finally unpacked. Then I went to use the room safe and I noticed that there was no face to it. I called maintenance again from my cellphone. The safe was not repairable, so we were switched to another room. My wife and I packed up our stuff and moved.

The air conditioning, fridge, and hot water in this room — also on the 14th floor — all worked fairly well, and this safe was open, with properly blinking lights on its face. The phone in this room was also dead, but again, we didn't care about that. We unpacked once again. Then I went to use the safe, and I realized that not only did the safe not work (it repeatedly did not accept the numbers I pressed), but it seemed to be loose. To my astonishment, I literally slid the safe off of the shelf it was on and walked away with it. It was not bolted to anything. Needless to say, we could not use the room safe. We had to keep our valuables with us wherever we went in the city.

Moments later, I entered the bathroom and began shutting the door, when I noticed that the bottom of the door scraped the tile floor so badly, it made loud screeching noises in the process that would wake up the dead, and it had to be lifted by the handle to get it to close, and to open it. The door was falling off the frame.

There were no shelves in the bathroom to hold the clean towels, so they were hung by housekeeping on a metal bar under the sink that was the sink frame. Half of the towels fell onto the dirty floor. There was a clear window in the shower that exposed our naked bodies to all of the tall buildings within view. No shade. We were also exposed to those buildings when sitting on the toilet. And that window with handle and lock did not open for ventilation. It was stuck shut. From the balcony, we saw other bathroom windows that were open. We only glanced at them momentarily, as we did not want to look into people's bathrooms.

There were no drawers in the room. Only shelves in a closet. The small sofa in the room was disgustingly filthy. We dared not sit on it or place any of our belongings on it. The mattress was lumpy and uncomfortable. The gap under the room door was so large that the hallway carpeting was clearly visible from inside the room, and the inside of the room was visible from the hallway. We placed a rolled-up towel there to get some privacy.

We saw reviews of this hotel with photos of the lovely balconies with bistro tables and chairs. There were no tables and no chairs. In fact, the balconies of both rooms were rusted and so decrepit, we were scared to stand out there for more than a couple of minutes.

We later learned that the hotel had been purchased a dozen years ago and was not maintained properly and has fallen into disrepair. We were also told that they recently began refurbishing rooms on the 16th floor and above. We were given the crap rooms on the 14th.

We stayed two nights, canceled our reservation for the additional three nights, and got the hell out of there. Thankfully, we weren't charged for the canceled nights. The hotel's online photos look good. They are not...

Alright, where do I begin? Let’s start with the elevators—there are two, but only one was working during my stay. With 16 floors, this meant I was waiting at least 15 to 30 minutes just to catch the elevator, especially during peak times like checkout.

One moment in particular really highlighted how bad the situation was: I was coming from the gym on the 3rd floor and waited 15 minutes for the elevator. When it still didn’t arrive, I decided to take the stairs to my room on the 12th floor. I only made it to the 8th before getting winded and had to wait again for the elevator. This is completely unacceptable—especially for anyone who is elderly, disabled, or has mobility challenges. The elevators are a major issue and must be fixed immediately.

As for the hotel experience itself—this is advertised as a 4- or 5-star property, but it absolutely does not live up to that standard. For $600 a night, I expected a high-end, clean, and polished experience. What I received was more in line with a 2- to 3-star hotel.

Yes, my room had a small balcony and a beautiful, deep sunken bathtub—which was honestly the best part. But everything else fell short. The interior decor was mismatched and felt cheap. The bathroom was not clean. The curtains were dirty. The wall art didn’t match the space at all. The balcony doors were incredibly difficult to open.

At around 7 PM one evening, a man was painting the hallway walls—with no signs indicating wet paint. I literally had to step over his supplies to get by. For a hotel charging this much, that kind of scene is wildly unprofessional.

The gym was also a letdown. I arrived at 11 AM to find towels strewn all over and the space generally unclean. Even though there was maintenance staff on duty, no one had taken care of the mess. I ended up cleaning the equipment myself and picking up the towels because I couldn’t stand the mess.

Breakfast was another huge disappointment. The continental breakfast cost $29 and was not included in the stay. It consisted of danishes, bagels, fruit, and salad—no protein options like eggs but they did have ham ( which I don’t eat) whatsoever. I don’t eat ham, but my toss salad had clearly been in contact with ham juices, which indicates serious cross-contamination. I tasted the ham after one bite of the salad. That’s a health and dietary concern.

To be fair, the front desk staff was friendly and professional, and the hotel lobby is nicely designed. They do have a bar open from 5 PM to 11 PM, which was a nice touch. I didn’t utilize the bar but it still was a nice touch.

However, despite the few positives, I feel completely misled. I did not get the experience I paid for. The hotel is under renovation, the quality is not up to standard, and many of the features were either unavailable, broken, or unacceptable. The low-quality, strange artwork in the hallways just added to the sense that this hotel is trying to charge luxury prices without delivering luxury service or accommodations.

Final Verdict: I would absolutely rate this as a 2- to 3-star hotel, and it should cost no more than $300 per night. Given the condition of the hotel and the poor overall experience, I am requesting a refund. I feel misled and did not get what I paid for. Based on conversations with other guests, I know I’m not alone in this.

Save your money—this hotel is...