We arrived around 12:00 noon on a busy Saturday afternoon, and spent about 30 minutes in line for check-in. The property could use some velvet rope dividers in the lobby – there are so many check-in desks, yet everyone is supposed to know to queue up at the center one and then disperse accordingly. After checking-in, we were told that our room was not ready, but to supply a phone number which they would call if the room was ready prior to 3:00 pm (it wasn’t, so we didn’t receive a call). We were told to check our overnight bag with the bellman, which we did, and that upon returning to the hotel at check-in, we would just need to request our key, because we had already given our credit card information and been assigned a room number. When we returned hours later, again there was an enormous line for checking in. There was no indication that we would be able to bypass that long line, even though it was our second time standing in it. After speaking with the concierge, he directed us, along with half a dozen other people, to one of the leftmost reception lines for the abbreviated check-in process. But when each of us reached the desk, the clerk asked us each to go back to the main line. Very confusing – it seems that no one knows what the other is doing in the lobby. Even though there were two of us, one could not fetch the overnight bag while the other checked in, because the bellman wouldn’t release the bag without knowing our room number, and we couldn’t ascertain the room number without waiting to check in a second time. This situation must occur frequently at the hotel, yet they’ve made no provisions to ease the process.
Our room was fine – small but in decent shape at first glance. The air conditioning did not work, however, and the windows could be cracked opened other than by calling the maintenance department (it was a very warm fall weekend). We suffered in the uncomfortable temperature until about 10:00 pm, then finally called the front desk. We were told that the hotel was old and on a one-pipe system, meaning no circulating air was available other than the humid, warm air from the outside. The maintenance man could only open one of our two windows, and the one that did open could only be raised by about an inch. So it was a rather unpleasant night temperature-wise. Because we realize that is an old hotel, we tried to overlook the heating and cooling problem. Our bigger problem was the sound and vibration that came from the main ballroom until 12:00 midnight. I realize that it’s the “city that never sleeps”, but we wanted to! The vibration from the music was more of a problem more than the volume – hard to understand, because what else could have been causing the vibrations and pulsations than the music? We were assured by the front desk that the music would stop by 11:00 pm, but our room vibrated until at least midnight, which was a little late for us.
Needless to say, upon check-out the next day, no one asked how our stay was (I guess our call to the front desk the night before was noted on our record, and the clerk knew better than to ask). As Gold members, we were given vouchers for the Starbucks continental breakfast (pastry and drink for each person), but the line was so unreasonably long, that we didn’t even bother. Everyone was waiting for coffee to brew! It’s a coffee shop! On a Sunday morning! I think that this Starbucks outlet is overloaded – I’m sure it was not built with intention of feeding half the hotel guests. As someone else said, we expected more from the Waldorf-Astoria brand in terms of its treatment of Hilton Hhonors members. There is no lounge access, no upgrades. The lobby, while beautiful, is usurped by the outrageously-priced $95 per adult Sunday breakfast buffet. As another poster said, in this enormous hotel, is there no other place to do this but somewhere that is overrun with people checking in and out, and the germs that we bring in on our shoes and luggage? It seems like a prime spot for a health-code violation! I can’t imagine paying over $200 for two adults to eat in the lobby, with guests and visitors traipsing in and out – I can’t believe anyone actually pays for it at all! We also got a voucher for two free drinks from any one of the bars – not a bad deal because they had a value of $20 each (and guess how much a martini costs: $20!)
We won’t stay here again – there are many other high-end properties in the city from which to choose, as well as many preferable Hilton-associated hotels. And if we thought that our problems ended at check-out – not so! When we arrived home and checked our credit card statement, there was an additional $26.13 charge that we didn’t make. It is still pending an investigation by American Express. If it was our charge, why wasn’t it part of the final bill that we signed when we checked out? The bottled water that we removed from the weighted electronic mini-bar two minutes before our departure was included in our final tally (and then removed because we were gold members), so what could this charge possibly have been? I know that it’s a small amount, but I shouldn’t have to pay for something that I didn’t buy or use, and they shouldn’t charge me after the fact.
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