Hampton Inn Flemington — Hotel in Raritan Township

I booked a room on Priceline. I had the Hampton confirmation number, the Priceline confirmation number, and proof of charge to my credit card. When I checked in Saturday night after a very long travel day at 12 midnight, the night front desk attendant could see my reservation in the system but he said it wasn't confirmed and my card was declined. I showed him proof of the confirmation numbers and the credit card's successful charge, and he still would not honor my reservation. He asked for the card I used to make the reservation and then said he needed it for incidentals. I gave it to him and he swiped it, then he gave me a room key.

The next morning after I checkout out, I got a text message from my credit card company asking me if I authorized a second charge for Hampton Inn. He used the card swipe to charge me a second time for the room rate.

I called Priceline and after 25 minutes, they said they contacted Hampton and they would look into it. Then Priceline asked me to email them all the documentation, and I instead just disputed the charge with my cc company.

I did not authorize this night front desk attendant to charge me for a room I already paid for; I only gave him my card for incidentals (of which there were none), and he unscrupulously charged my card. He should have just taken my information and had a manager speak to me in the morning, since I provided 3 types of proof of purchase/confirmation that the room was indeed booked and paid for.

Room was fine, bed was comfortable, bathroom was recently remodeled and clean/modern.

Cleaning crew was also quite loud starting at 7am, so it did disturb my sleep (despite the do not disturb sign on the doorknob) when I really needed it.

The hotel rate was over $200 for the middle of NJ on a Saturday night in August so it wasn't a great value to begin with.

Just didn't have a good transactional experience with my reservation at the front desk, and I should never have been charged a second time and certainly not without my consent or authorization. Thus I can't give more than a...

This is one of the best managed and cleanest Hilton properties i have been at (1 of 4) in the past 1.5 months of my travels.

The rooms are freshly renovated, which isn’t even shown online as of yet & is a surprise when you arrive! Plus, the dining area / restaurant that is available for breakfast has a pleasant & comfy feeling for eating alone or with friends / family.

Benny, the front manager, was available when i checked in (fortunately!). He is extremely knowledgeable regarding hotel management & how to manage 3rd party bookings.

The agent i booked thru hadn’t sent my reservations through by the time i had arrived. He calmly explained the process because i was annoyed with the company. He took his time, found a number to contact them & called. He talked through the issue (they had forgotten a step to provide the hotel a required booking number) with the clerk on the phone & helped her push my confirmation number thru.

This was above & beyond customer service - i should have been the one to talk to the agent since it's my booking. And to also watch Benny help this representative in the Philippines do her own job by walking her thru the steps so that she was able to push the reservation thru was quite impressive. He knew how & helped this woman do her job in another country! And he spoke in Tagalog at points she couldn’t understand English words.

Impressive, Benny! You are a world class manager. And what a kind gentleman on the phone. My hero (& the agency rep woman) for a day! ...

Very up-to-date! Room 215 seemed recently renovated. Lights, power, and usb ports on both nightstands, the desk, and the counter for luggage so extremely well equiped for the modern traveller. The decor is modern with tile entry/bathroom and short carpet in the rest of the room. Some nice artistic touches to give it warmth. There was a thermostat on the wall, but not functioning. Instead the controls were directly on the unit under the window. They appearently swapped out the unit for one that didn't have remote thermostat capabilities at some point. No option for constant fan when set to AC mode.

Room 215 is away from the main road so relatively little road noise. All was quiet except for the rather loud clunking when the AC kicked-on. If was pretty short, but if you might be disturbed by such noises, another room might be a better choice.

The staff were all very friendly - especially the breakfast host. I think they are pretty much back to the full breakfast they previously had before the pandemic. Warm choices included eggs and waffles - the host said there was also normally a meat as well but they had ran out (at 7am). The muffins were quite good - better than the prepackaged variety. There were also cereal, bagels, juice, coffee, oranges, and apples.

The attached IHOP is currently closed. The pool was also still closed - waiting for a filter. The elevator was broken.

Definitely recommend it as a nice place to stay...