NO 5 star hotel
Nov 13, 2024 Susiontour Stuttgart, Germany
We (several persons in several rooms, standard and deluxe) stayed 10 days in the Hard Rock Hotel New York.
Before I list the positive and negative things, I want to give our impressions towards our main point of criticism: the non-existing service in this "5 star" hotel.
When we arrived, nobody had the idea to ask us if we needed help with the…
Read more
We (several persons in several rooms, standard and deluxe) stayed 10 days in the Hard Rock Hotel New York.
Before I list the positive and negative things, I want to give our impressions towards our main point of criticism: the non-existing service in this "5 star" hotel.
When we arrived, nobody had the idea to ask us if we needed help with the luggage, neither the guys in the entrance hall nor the receptionists.
I had written 3 emails at different intervals in advance telling the hotel certain wishes for our rooms (nothing complicated). Obviously nobody had read my emails or they were just not interested in guests' wishes, because they had not taken care of our wishes at all. When we checked in our rooms were in middle floors of the building. At that time it was not possible any more to give us a higher floor, which I had asked weeks before already. Sadly I must say, that I wasn't surprised about that lack of interest in their guest. Because the hotel's answer to all emails was the same: a standard email which led me to a page, where I could enhance my stay for additional costs. Obvisously the Hard Rock Hotel isn't interested to please their guests without a surcharge.
During our stay we had continuously the impression, that neither the concierge nor the receptionist were much interested in helping us, let alone make us happy. For example (and I could give you more than this one) when we asked the concierge to organize a rental car for the next day, he just handed us a piece of paper with a list of rental car companies.
But the most disappointing point was that there was not even a note from the hotel on my friend's milestone birthday. I had told the hotel in advance (you remember, the 3 emails) and again at the check in the date of her birthday. To be honest, in a 5 star hotel I would have expected some kind of a small courtesy (a piece of chocolate, a single flower, a coupon for a cocktail ...), a nice note would be the least. But there was nothing at all!
Our checkout showed once again the hotel's lack of interest in their guests. No "I hope your stay was pleasant", no "Do you need help with your luggage" and no "Thank you for staying with us". We payed nearly 20.000 $ (yes, 4 zeros), so is it to much to expect one of these sentences?
Now my list of positive and negative features:
POSITIVE:
nice entrance hall,
standard room:
decor nice and tasteful (but not luxorious!), 2 seats with a table (instead of a desk): one armchair, one golden plastic-leather dinerstyle seat
large TV,
really large shower with waterfall-shower. The operating instructions of the shower were super clear and easy.
USB ports in the nightstand
location of the hotel close to Times Square
different types of good pillows
good blackout blind
good, not mounted hairdryer
fridge, microwave, slippers complimentary on request
bathroom in the deluxe room large, beautyful with shower and bathtub
NEGATIVE:
the rooms are on the small side, even the deluxe ones. They are just bigger because of the larger bathroom. But on the other side, they don't have any entrance area at all. But ok, we are in New York and we have a small sitting area.
no real bathroom in the standard room. Behind a slinding door is the toilett with the (really nice, large) shower next to it (glass door between toilet an shower). The washbasin is in the entrance next to the wardrobe. There is a sliding glass door between bedroom and entrance with a picture on it. But there are still some areas to see through, which can be an issue if you are not travelling alone. As I was alone in the room it was ok by me
room is superdark despite large windows: even when the sun is shining and if you put all curtains aside it is so dark in the room, that you have to put the lights on, especially in the entrance / basin area. But if you put the lights on, everybody from the close opposite building can watch you. So I ended up puting the blinds down on a sunny day. Very strange.
no nice view. On the opposite side of the quite narrow street just other hotels. If you're lucky, you see a little bit of some billboards.
You can't open the window not even a bit to let fresh air in. The aircondition and heating was fast and good, but in a room with 2 people sleeping after having eaten garlic, the airconditioning took for hours to get the smell out of the room.
no drawer at the nightstands, just an open shelf.
very bad: at the kingsize bed there are light switches just on one side. The person on the other side has no possibility to put the lights on or off from the bed
storage much too small. I was alone, so it just worked for me. But 2 people couldn't
put all their stuff in the wardrobe. This can be a real problem, because the room is too small to let the suitcases lay open on the floor. There is no space for 2 (or even one large) empty suitcases. My friends in the deluxe room ended up sleeping next to their empty suitcases, so that you could enter the kingsize bed just from one side.
no minibar, but they bring you a complimentary fridge
no real fluffy duvet, but just a heavy, thin one
no turndown service
no breakfast buffet (be careful, if you book when it is said "breakfast included": this meant in our case a 20$ coupon for the restaurant for the room (not for every guest). Do I have to tell you that the prices here are extremely high? The breakfast restaurant looks nice, but it is very cold, because it is open to the entrance hall.
no complimentary on-demand-movies
shampoo / conditioner were not provided each day, even if it was nearly empty. The 2 cotton swabs which we got when we moved in, were never provided again; not once in 10 days! I went and bought my own cotton swabs. 5 stars, just saying.
I had the impression, that in these 10 days my sheets were just straightened, never changed. Ok, I kept them clean and there was no obvious need to change it. And maybe I'm wrong (but I don't think so). I guess the maids are used to guest which stay just 3 nights and are not told when to change linens if someone stays longer. But I would have preferred following solution, which I found in a (ok, just 4 star) hotel: A little card on the nichtstands could say: "Please leave this card on the bed if you would like to have your linens changed".
conclusion: a nice hotel for a (even for NY) much too high price if you consider the bad service (I don't blame the working people, I blame the persons who didn't train them how treat guests in a 5 star hotel). I can't understand what they got the 5th star for.
Read less
