DoubleTree by Hilton New York Downtown

Booked this hotel because the hotel in Jersey City we'd 'booked' hadn't actually been booked so we needed a place to crash for 2 nights. Easy booking and fairly easy to find, about 10 mins from the 9/11 memorial. Big tall building with 43 levels. Lobby on floor 2 where reception was very smiley and helpful. Small grab and go area with crisps, chocolate, microwave items etc. Our room was on floor 33 and the elevator wait wasn't too bad at any point. Maybe just the time of year as lots of reviews state otherwise. The room was small but perfectly functional. Decent bed, fridge, air con, USB ports on both sides and a view of the top of One World. There was also a coffee machine, a safe and a couple of chairs. The bathroom was clean and everything worked. The one bug downside was the paper thin walls as you could hear everything, and I mean everything from the rooms either side. The locale is decent, close to the Staten Island Ferry, Wall Street, the charging bull and World Trade Centre. Lots of eateries and bars around and a Duane Reade at the end of the block for cheaper drinks and snacks. I'm sure there'll be better hotels around the area but for the price paid I can't really fault it.

Absolutely awful. Where to start, the staff were awful, they were unbelievably rude. We encountered many guests talking about this throughout our stay as well. On our last morning we finally met the first friendly member of staff of our entire trip, this was the luggage storage Porter. Rooms basic but as expected from a Hilton Doubletree. Booked expecting this however the bed was so uncomfortable and the aircon so loud you couldn’t sleep. If you turned the aircon off the room got stuffy, the rooms and corridors also smelt horrible. The lifts were a nightmare, 3 lifts for about 45 floors. The worst part was that they locked the stairs from the ground floor so you had no option but to wait! Then you had the staff using the lifts to go up and down 1-2 floors. We witnessesed staff going from using the gym to the staff area but using their keys to bypass the reception and entrance to prevent guests getting on! The housekeeping staff start hammering on doors at 9am every morning wanting to clean rooms and you hear them going room to room shouting at guests through doors to try get in and clean. Can I suggest you focus on departures first and check the system for check out and then do stayovers? You woke at least 4/5 rooms each morning to find 1 that was out. I think the sign in the lift telling guests not to come to reception to check out but to just leave sums but how little this hotel cares about its guests. Absolutely horrible experience!

Very tired and small rooms, with scratched and worn furniture , uncomfortable soft foam bed, and pretty noisy to boot (I asked for a quiet room but was woken multiple times by slammed doors). But the real kicker is that there are only three small lifts for 3000plus rooms, so you will spend a lot of time waiting for them and they’re always full to capacity. Reception desk staff are variable - some nice and some treat you like you’re inconveniencing them (especially at checkout). Would not recommend and definitely not four stars.

What I liked: * Modern design with bright lights everywhere. * Strategic location, a good option for downtown Manhattan * Comfortable bed * The room was well cleaned, the housekeeping did an excellent job What I disliked: * Slow elevator, 44 floors using the same three sets of elevators, I had to wait for more than 10+ minutes before an elevator came during peak check out time. * The hot water as cold upon arrival in the morning. Raised the issue, they sent someone over to look at it, the reason he provided did not make sense. Likely he just made up an excuse, the water became very hot. But in the evening, the shower was cold and took nearly 5 minutes to warm up and got to an acceptable temperature. The hot water still was not as hot as the one from the morning after the staff came over to "fix" it, but ok for a short term stay. Not acceptable for long term though. Other things to know: * If you have health issue like heart issue or asthma, it may not be a good idea staying in this hotel with its elevator situation. If there is a medical emergency where every second counts, this hotel may not get you out "as soon as possible." * If you have large suitcase, and are in floors 6 and up, you likely will need to use the elevators, and it can be a long wait, though they have stairs. * Concierge/storage area is on the ground/first floor. * There is a restaurant called Antica on the ground floor where it severs all three meals at a fee. For NYC/Manhattan, it's an attractive lodging option given its price point, amenities, and location, if you have no health issue and not in a rush to get to somewhere on time and don't mind the long wait for the elevators, then it can be a good option. 10 minutes to Wall Street/NYSE, 10 minutes to the boarding area/Battery Park for ferries to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; and there are multiple subway stations within 2-5 minutes' walk. Plenty of deli, restaurants, and supermarket nearby. Cold shower water and slow elevator are two reasons why this hotel gets only a 4 star not 5 star. Cold shower can be fixed. The elevator is something the hotel can't change. The hotel did apologize for the inconvenience.