Sl0nim
Solo Travel · December 20254/10
I found what seemed like a good deal for this hotel, and it was still very expensive. But this is Manhattan in September, so there’s not much you can do except pay the price.
I chose this Hampton Inn...I found what seemed like a good deal for this hotel, and it was still very expensive. But this is Manhattan in September, so there’s not much you can do except pay the price.
I chose this Hampton Inn mainly because of its very central location. I wanted to be close to Port Authority and Penn Station for transportation, and I also liked the fact that breakfast was included in the room rate, as it usually is with Hampton hotels.
Spoiler: I didn’t eat breakfast even once. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I literally couldn’t get to it.
The other reviews are not lying. The rooms are small and a bit dated, and the hotel could definitely benefit from a renovation. That honestly didn’t bother me too much. The location almost makes up for it.
The real problem with this hotel is its size and layout. There are 184 rooms spread across 32 floors, served by just two small elevators. I was staying on the 17th floor, which turned out to be the worst possible place to be. Every time I tried to use the elevator, I had to wait long minutes until one arrived, and almost every time it was already completely full.
This may sound exaggerated, but it’s a true story. I had an event that started at 9:00 PM, and even though it was only about a 30-minute subway ride away, I left my room early at 7:00 PM, planning to enjoy the nice evening and walk around the city beforehand. Instead, I called the elevator and ended up waiting endlessly. I actually managed to get into an elevator only at 8:15 PM. That’s 75 minutes of waiting, just to go down. Technically, I could have used the stairs (17 floors), but I was dealing with a back injury that limited my movement, so I had no real choice but to wait. All my plans were ruined, and I arrived at the event at the very last minute. This is simply not normal.
I skipped breakfast for exactly the same reason. It was impossible to get there. Another guest told me I didn’t miss much anyway, since the breakfast room is too small for the number of guests and turns into an unpleasant, crowded line.
Overall, this experience was very far from what I expect from the “Hilton standard,” which Hampton properties usually take seriously. I’ve stayed at Hampton hotels in London, Berlin, and Warsaw, and they were all excellent, including great breakfasts. Here, the experience felt like a basic budget hotel whose only real advantage is being close to the action. And calling anything that costs over $300 per night “budget” already feels strange.
On the positive side, the staff was friendly and helpful, and there were occasionally free cookies available in the lobby (at least I assume they were free, since I took some).
In any case, if I had known about the elevator situation in advance, I wouldn’t have booked this hotel even for half the price.Show More
