Long Island Marriott — Hotel in Town of Hempstead

My husband and I reserved a block of rooms for our wedding. The process of that in itself was very tedious. We went back and forth correcting the amount and types of rooms. We finally got the link and only one type of room was available. Waited more for that to get fixed. Finally the day comes and we get to the hotel. 20 minutes just to check in because they have one person working the front desk on a holiday weekend. Now, usually when you do a hotel block, all the rooms are near each other, or at least within a couple floors of each other. Everyone was on different floors and on opposite sides of the hotel. We had people on the 1st floor, 4th floor, 5th floor, 7th floor, 10th floor and 11th floor that were just family, so imagine the rest of our group. Wanna see your maid of honor? Gotta make a 5 minute trek. And that’s if the elevator isn’t busy. By the way, the side my room was on, there was only one working elevator. Now to the rooms; the double bed room was insanely small. Just enough room to get into your bed. So obviously, the groom and his best man don’t have space to get ready for the wedding. We go down and ask for another room. After another 20 minute wait, we’re told all the double bed rooms are the same exact size. We switched him to a king executive room with a roll away bed so they would have space to get ready. We went out to dinner and when we came back, visited MILs room, and oh boy... It stunk like rotten eggs/sulfur, the windows were open, and there weren’t any screens. We were able to get her another room only after speaking to the shift manager. Another issue was, I spoke to four different people about getting 2 regular chairs put into my room. First two were at the front desk, third was the shift manager- this was done at night before 10 pm. I was assured it would be done and I came back to my room around 2 am with no chairs waiting for me. At 5 am I tried contacting the front desk for 10 minutes. When we checked in the night before, we were told that there’s always someone there to take calls day and night. Luckily, I had the Marriott app and was able to chat with someone. Reply time was ok. But after an hour of waiting I followed up and they told me it’ll take longer for them to resolve my problem because they need to find a chair. At this point it’s 7:40 am when my mom comes and says there’s some chairs outside my door. So they dropped it off, didn’t knock, didn’t let me know over chat. Nothing. And the chairs were barstools, so, that was completely useless. They said they couldn’t get normal chairs because the restaurant wasn’t open yet, but it was open last night when I asked 3 times and we couldn’t get the time of day. Aside from those problems, our guests had some inconveniences too. The hotel itself had peeling wallpaper in the halls. Cleaning was mediocre, as in there were fingerprints on things, hair on the floors. My own shower’s drain was clogged or something so I’d be standing in water after a bit. The whole weekend was just way more difficult than it needed to be. Also, unrelated but also something to consider, beware of the flight crews that stay there. This isn’t the hotels fault, but they have no courtesy whatsoever. Considering the prices they charge for these rooms, this really wasn’t it. After this, we won’t be staying at any more...

I'm neutral overall on the hotel. Yes, it is surprisingly outdated. But it also seems really well maintained, at least from what I experienced (edit: spoke too soon. Noticed water leaking from the ceiling in my bathroom onto my toilet towards the end of my stay, rest of review is as originally written. Photos attached though now). My room and bathroom were all clean to my expectations and I'm fairly picky on that matter. Nothing seems broken, ripped, or torn. Outside of the design itself being old, the furnishings don't look tired. I've been to many much more modern hotels, some claiming to be 5-star, where there's mold issues and damaged/broken furnishings. Point being, I'd take outdated but we'll maintained over modern but poorly maintained.

All of the staff have been great. Exceeded my expectations for a Marriott property of this level. Service was closer to what I experience at 5-star locations. Much better than what I often experience in New York.

It loses a star for a symptom of its outdated design, the dreaded between-rooms shared dooway. No sound insulation in that doorway, so I heard all the coughing and music of my neighbor.

Loses another star for the environmental system. AC had good airflow and was cold, wonderful. But it runs on a motion sensor, so it'll turn off when you're laying in bed trying to sleep...which is a problem if you're trying to use the white noise to drown out your neighbor. Also, waking up hot and having to flail your arms around to activate the AC sucks. If the hotel really wants to save power, then do the European method of requiring the room key be left in a slot by the door to maintain A/C. That way the air will run without interruption when the room is occupied, but conserve energy when they leave.

I'd really like to give the place 4 stars, mostly because it's clean and the staff were all great. However, with two items which negatively effected my sleep, the main reason I'm here, I felt 3 was more accurate. But I think it's close to a 4. Modern updates would really help, but the items which haven't been modernized yet aren't small jobs... So I get it.

Not included in this rating: The hotel restaurant, which I would strongly NOT recommend from my dinner experience. Food just was not good at all, overcooked pasta, and overpriced. The breakfast was fine for American buffet...

First time staying at this Marriott. Might be my last! Overall, the hotel needs some love. The lobby is okay, but it probably ends there. I don't think one elevator worked, so I had some long waits to/from the 8th floor. My last day, someone spilled a full coffee in the elevator before any of us got in it, and the front desk didn't seem to know anything about it when I told them. So, to the person who spilled that coffee and didn't bother to tell the hotel - what is wrong with you?

Key Points: Parking - yes, it is free, but it seemed pretty full when I was there. The restaurant - service was SO SLOW. Took forever just to get water and a menu. Very overpriced for a meh Caesar salad and some wine. Ordered DoorDash after that. Amenities - I was there for work and didn't have time to get to the pool or workout room. View - I did have a decent view, I guess. It was of the coliseum, and then there was some fair happening in the lot next to it. Location - I thought it was a decent location, as my office is in New Hyde Park. Was easy enough to get to/from. Front Desk - they were nice and professional. The room - needs some updates. Other than maybe the lobby, the rest of the hotel seems pretty dated. The bathroom in the room I had was TINY TINY. The cold handle of the faucets leaked even when the hot was on. The room seemed stuffy most of the time unless I turned it down to below 70. Had storms one night, and the TV went out as soon as it started raining! I had to unplug the cable and reboot it to get it to work (I will say the front desk was going to send someone until I got it working myself). I didn't have soap the first day and didn't even know I should until a bar showed up the next day (I was using the body wash to clean my hands). There was some random bobby pin and some hair on the bathroom floor when I got there, so was it really cleaned? I didn't notice at first, but one pillow case appeared to have some blood stains on it, and they were definitely not from me. I never could find the safe, so I don't even know if there was one. And they were pretty stingy on the coffee - you got one regular and one decaf.

Overall, I am still a loyal Bonvoy member and will usually try to stay in one of their hotels. But there are other options in the area, and I think I'll try one of them next time I travel to Long...