Graduate by Hilton New York — Restaurant in New York

Below is a full account of my experience with The Graduate hotel on the weekend of 6 September, 2024.||Background: My husband and I got married on Roosevelt Island on 6 September and reserved a block of rooms at the Graduate for our guests. Check in time is at 4 pm, and our wedding started at 5:30. |Issue 1: Upon arrival, all of our guests, including several older family members who had traveled long hours and distances, were told that the hotel was switching to new management and their reservations could not be located. They waited for what ranged from 30-90 minutes to get access to their rooms. |Impact: Our wedding was forced to start later than scheduled to allow time for our friends and immediate family to drop their bags and change in their rooms (thankfully the venue was nearby). Our photographs were also delayed, and this cut down significantly on the time we had to spend with our guests. |Issue 2: After the wedding, we received notes from multiple guests that their credit cards had been charged twice for their reservations. My cousin also received a notice from her credit card that her card had been compromised.|Impact: Our guests are STILL trying to get the charges reversed by the hotel, and all are having issues talking to anyone who can solve the problem. My cousin had to cancel and replace her compromised credit card.|Issue 3: No one at the front desk was answering phones for the duration of the weekend.|Impact: None of our guests were able to contact the front desk for assistance at any point during their stay.|Issue 4: We provided gift bags to be distributed to all guests upon check-in. None of our guests received the bags upon arrival, and some of them never received them at all.|Impact: We spent over a hundred dollars and hours of time planning, assembling and delivering the bags. All of this time and money was wasted.|Issue 5: At 1:30 in the morning on the night after our wedding, a hotel staff member knocked on the door of my sister’s room to ask her for the name on the reservation.|Impact: In what world is this OK???!!!|Issue 6: About a month before the wedding, my husband and I decided to book a room for ourselves at the Graduate for the night of our wedding so that we could continue to spend time with guests after the reception and not have to spend our wedding night in our apartment. We were told by the Graduate staff that the only room left was a junior suite for $700, which we couldn’t justify. Shortly after that, I found a room at the Graduate available on AirBNB for about half the price (this is apparently standard practice for some hotels), which I booked. On the night of our wedding when I went to check in, they could not locate our reservation. The very kind woman at the front desk gave us a room for the evening, put a hold on my credit card, and told us to come back to the front desk in the morning to sort it out. I went down to the front desk at 8 am the next morning, and waited at least 30 minutes to talk to someone because several flight attendants were trying to check into their rooms multiple times, each time finding that the room they were given was not clean. When it was finally my turn, the woman at the front desk was also unable to locate my reservation and tried to convince me that I had reserved under a different name. I showed her my confirmation email with my name on it, and still she insisted I must have done it under a different name (I only go by one name!). Eventually she was able to locate it using the confirmation number and we sorted it out. |Impact: I was annoyed at both the inconvenience and being blamed for what was clearly mismanagement on the part of the hotel. This poor woman working at the front desk was clearly annoyed as well, which I’m assuming was also the result of a chaotic morning resulting from issues with rooms and bookings.||My husband has tried to call the hotel and speak to a manager FOUR TIMES, and each time, he is disconnected. We would at the very least like someone to acknowledge the inconveniences - from mild to serious - that we and our guests had to endure over the course of the weekend at a hotel that charges well over $400 per room per night. Overall it was a terrible stress for us on what should have been the happiest day/weekend...

Below is a full account of my experience with The Graduate hotel on the weekend of 6 September, 2024. Background: My husband and I got married on Roosevelt Island on 6 September and reserved a block of rooms at the Graduate for our guests. Check in time is at 4 pm, and our wedding started at 5:30. Issue 1: Upon arrival, all of our guests, including several older family members who had traveled long hours and distances, were told that the hotel was switching to new management and their reservations could not be located. They waited for what ranged from 30-90 minutes to get access to their rooms. Impact: Our wedding was forced to start later than scheduled to allow time for our friends and immediate family to drop their bags and change in their rooms (thankfully the venue was nearby). Our photographs were also delayed, and this cut down significantly on the time we had to spend with our guests. Issue 2: After the wedding, we received notes from multiple guests that their credit cards had been charged twice for their reservations. My cousin also received a notice from her credit card that her card had been compromised. Impact: Our guests are STILL trying to get the charges reversed by the hotel, and all are having issues talking to anyone who can solve the problem. My cousin had to cancel and replace her compromised credit card. Issue 3: No one at the front desk was answering phones for the duration of the weekend. Impact: None of our guests were able to contact the front desk for assistance at any point during their stay. Issue 4: We provided gift bags to be distributed to all guests upon check-in. None of our guests received the bags upon arrival, and some of them never received them at all. Impact: We spent over a hundred dollars and hours of time planning, assembling and delivering the bags. All of this time and money was wasted. Issue 5: At 1:30 in the morning on the night after our wedding, a hotel staff member knocked on the door of my sister’s room to ask her for the name on the reservation. Impact: In what world is this OK???!!! Issue 6: About a month before the wedding, my husband and I decided to book a room for ourselves at the Graduate for the night of our wedding so that we could continue to spend time with guests after the reception. We were told that the only room left was a junior suite for $700, which we couldn’t justify. Then I found a room at the Graduate available on AirBNB for about half the price, which I booked. On our wedding night when I went to check in, they could not locate our reservation. The woman at the front desk gave us a room for the evening, put a hold on my card, and told us to come to the front desk in the morning to sort it out. I went down at 8 am and waited at least 30 minutes because several flight attendants were trying to check into their rooms multiple times, each time finding that the room was not clean. When it was finally my turn, the woman at the front desk was also unable to locate my reservation and tried to convince me that I had reserved under a different name. I showed her my confirmation email with my name on it, and still she insisted I must have done it under a different name (I only go by one name!). Eventually she was able to locate it using the confirmation number and we sorted it out. Impact: I was annoyed at both the inconvenience and being blamed for what was clearly mismanagement on the part of the hotel. This poor woman working at the front desk was clearly annoyed as well, which I’m assuming was also the result of a chaotic morning resulting from issues with rooms and bookings. My husband has tried to call the hotel and speak to a manager FOUR TIMES, and each time, he is disconnected. We would at the very least like someone to acknowledge the inconveniences - from mild to serious - that we and our guests had to endure over the course of the weekend at a hotel that charges well over $400 per room per night. Overall it was a terrible stress for us on what should have been the happiest day/weekend...

Upon our arrival at 5:30 pm, there was no valet service available, so I parked my own car and we entered the hotel lobby. Despite the official check-in time being 4:00 pm, our room wasn't prepared, as it hadn't yet been cleaned. The staff informed us that if we would just wait for an hour, the room would be ready for us. However, we had a dinner reservation at 6:30 pm and needed to change, leaving us no choice but to cram into one room since we couldn't access the second room we had reserved. The front desk staff was totally indifferent as to why this could possibly be a problem and offered no other solution for us. This caused a great amount of stress for me - the person who reserved these rooms; I felt responsible. Two out of four people in our party have unique health needs, so sharing a room, even for the brief time of getting ready to go to dinner, was problematic. Also, I wanted to use both rooms since I was paying for them.

After returning to the hotel at around 11:00 pm, we once again had to wait in line to check in since we still hadn't gained access to our second suite. The front desk attendant seemed perplexed and mentioned that we should have checked in earlier. I explained our situation, but he struggled to comprehend the issue. It took him a long time to figure out what was going on and once again we were delayed. At this point, we were exhausted.

The next morning, I attempted to call the front desk three times before finally speaking to someone, as no one was answering the phone. I requested a late check-out for the two rooms I had reserved. They agreed to grant me an extra hour but insisted that my family member call personally for her room, even though I had reserved and paid for both. My family member called several times herself before someone finally answered the phone, and the person she spoke to was also rude to her.

On the bright side, we visited the hotel restaurant for breakfast and received outstanding service from the waiter, and we enjoyed a pleasant meal together. Surprisingly, during check-out, we were asked if we had enjoyed the complimentary continental breakfast, which was perplexing since we hadn't received anything complimentary in the restaurant. I had paid over $100 for my daughter and myself for 2 breakfast entrees, orange juice and lattes, while my family members also paid for their own meals. At this point, I requested assistance from the manager of the hotel.

The general manager came out, and I detailed our experience, from the absence of valet service to the unprepared room, poor communication, and the unsatisfactory response from the staff. As a result, he refunded the cost of our breakfasts and removed a processing fee from my bill, the exact amount of which I'm still uncertain and not sure I received. Despite the incredibly messed up experience, I paid over a thousand dollars for two junior suites for a single night stay. I seriously doubt we'll go back there.

I must note that the rooms were mostly clean and quiet, offering a pleasant view of the city lights, and the beds were comfortable. The restaurant staff provided excellent service, they were kind and cheerful. The unique decor, including the flyboy sculpture at the front desk and the multiple bookshelves were things I was excited to see, but unfortunately that novelty experience was marred by the ridiculous service issues.

Finally, I would recommend cleaning or replacing the area rugs in the rooms and outside the elevators. Additionally, there is a book on your shelf outside the restaurant at eye level for guests to see titled "Mental Retardation" that should probably be removed for...