My spouse and I
stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Central Park South/Midtown West for two nights
on a weekend in early December 2017. We booked our stay online using the Hilton
website, and we remitted Hilton HHonors points for a complimentary 2-night
stay.
The HGI is located
on West 54th Street, between 8th Avenue and Broadway. It
holds the distinction of being the largest HGI in North America, with 400+
rooms in the categories of queen, king, second-floor king/queen/double deluxe with
outdoor terraces, and king city view) spread over 30 floors. The day prior to
our stay, we selected room 2704 during the online check-in process because that
room offered a view of West 54th Street. However, we did not realize
that we had chosen a handicap-accessible room, with provisions for auditory and
mobility issues. The hotel
offers a fitness center, business center, and pantry (all accessible 24 hours),
as well as a doorman, bellman, and concierge. The adjacent Empire
Steakhouse functions as the hotel restaurant, although it is frequented the
public as well.
As previously mentioned, we received a handicap-accessible room that had an
automatic door opener button, hearing-accessible “doorbell”, large tiled
“foyer” that could accommodate a power wheelchair, roll-in shower with
fold-down bench seat and both wall-mounted and hand-held spray attachments,
grab bars in the bathroom, a free-standing closet/armoire with low hanging bars
(the closet also held the single-use coffee maker, mini-refrigerator, microwave,
iron, and ironing board), and extended pull bars to close the draperies.
Besides those accessibility features, our room offered a king-size bed with a
nightstand and reading lamp on each side and a long desk/television console/desk
with a rolling chair. Next time, we would like to book one of the junior
suites, because those units include a 400-square foot terrace, plus a deluxe
bathroom with a separate shower and soaking tub.
We experienced some issues with the elevator on the weekend that we stayed,
as well as with our electronic room key and with the electrical features in our
room (the power strip/outlet block on the desk didn’t work, and we also had a
burned out lightbulb in one bedside lamp). The issues were nothing that would
prevent us from staying at this HGI again, particularly if we could score one
of the terrace suites; however, with so many other Hilton properties in
Manhattan, even several within the same neighborhood, we might try somewhere
different next time.
