Breaks my heart to give this bad review.
I am extremly loyal to HIE, so when I found one that was just a few blocks away from Times Square, I was elated. Sadly, this HIE did not live up to my expectations. It breaks my heart to give this poor review, but I must be honest so that other travelers know what they are getting when they book this hotel.
First, let me say that Oksana and Mike may have been the most professional, caring, knowledgeable, and hard working HIE employees that I have ever encountered at a HIE property. They were remarkable and I just cannot say enough positive things about them. In addition, I also want to give kudos to the young lady who was in charge of the breakfast buffet. We arrived late Saturday morning. Our room was not ready, but Mike invited us to go and have a quick breakfast before the buffet shut down for the morning. The lady over the buffet (sorry I did not get her name) was so gracious. She fed us as if we were guests in her home. She made sure that we had plenty of everything - even though she is in the middle of shutting down the buffet. She was wonderful. Thanks to all for the service.
Now to move on to the review of the property. The hotel has a great location, just 4-5 blocks from the middle of Times Square. It was competitively priced for the location, but still very expensive. The rooms are small. The dining areal is small and the lobby is small. But it is New York, so this is to be expected. Unfortunately, the property is dirty. Very dirty. I am pleased to say that we DID NOT encounter any critters (bed bugs, roaches, etc.) but if they don't improve their cleaning standards, it will just be a matter of time before they have to deal with this type of thing. This is a high churn, high turn-over location in the middle of TImes Square so their cleaning standards need to be a tick above the average. Instead thier cleaning standards are well below average. The cleaning staff is the downfall of this property because they are slow, inefficient, and indifferent. The rugs are dirty - so dirty that you don't want to dare take off your shoes. Our room was not vacuumed. The television had a thick layer of dust that had collected on the stand. The desk was dusty and sticky at the same time. There was a container of food that had fallen behind the nightstand. We were able to find it by following the smell. We have no idea how long it had been there. It was awful. The leather chair at the desk was cracked and squeeky. The television channels did not match the channel guide, so it was impossible to find something on television without remote surfing. The bathroom was small and the tubs were dirty. The towels were questionable, so we chose to buy our own. The cleaning staff really needs to pay attention to detail. Despite the high turn over,I think they could do a better job of keeping this place clean.
Management should take note, something is wrong here with the cleaning process. Either this property does not have adequate cleaning staff for the volume of customers, or the cleaning staff is poorly trained and not held accountable for slack work OR some combination of both exists. We arrived at the hotel at 10am- well ahead of our check in time and our room was not ready. This is to be expected because we arrived five hours before check in. But when we returned at 4:30pm- our room still was not ready. In fact, there were scores of people hanging out in the lobby who were also waiting for their rooms. Some of the customers were becoming upset because they had been waiting for a long time to check in. Oksana felt so badly about our long wait, that once our room was finally ready, she upgraded us to a city view room for no additional charge. Great customer service, but it tells us that they are aware that a problem exists. The hotel was completely booked during our stay, but this is no excuse for poor cleaning standards. It was apparant that the place had not been cleaned well in a very, very long time. This was not just an isolated incident. That level of dust and filth does not accumulate from one bad cleaning. 
A couple of other things to note, the beds were adequate. The breakfast was awesome and plentiful. Only two elevators but they were adequate. The location allows for a quick ten-fifteen minute walk to the best of Times Square-yet it was quiet and peaceful at the same time.