One employee made our day
We reserved two rooms, asking for adjoining which we did not get, more than a month ahead. Neither room was ready when we arrived, one was not ready by 4:00 p.m.! (check-in time) and we had to take a room on another floor. Front desk staff was indifferent, short with us, not courteous or helpful at all. Concierge personnel was much better, helping by getting us ice and lending us a corkscrew, but when they called housekeeping to request additional glasses for us, as we all had to wait in one small room, the glasses did not arrive for one whole hour! The hostess in the restaurant was downright rude, never speaking to us except to say, "Wait here." She was bored and disinterested on two separate occasions. The lobby is old and run down, sparse furnishings are shabby, no place to wait for rooms to be ready. Front desk, you have to wait on one line where a large column blocks your view of other employees who call you over when they're ready for you as if you are kindergarteners. No one tells you where the elevators are or which ones to take for which floors. Rooms were on the small side, clean, but shabby. They need new furniture, tables were scuffed, fabrics seemed faded, beds super hard, but our room on the 34th floor was quiet for sleeping. The one saving grace was Tim, our doorman, who took care of us, bringing the luggage cart, taking us to the front desk, showing us who to bring our luggage to in order to wait for our rooms, (front desk personnel did not tell us anything). He was polite, courteous, amiable, extremely competent at his job. He greeted us as though we were old friends and conversed with us every time we saw him on both days of our stay. If not for Tim, I wouldn't even call this hotel poor, but terrible. Yes, it has a fine location, but that doesn't mean it should take advantage of its paying guests. And, by the way, how about providing one measley cup of coffee in the morning for free?! (Our rooms cost $422 each per night.) There's no coffee maker in the rooms (almost every other hotel I know of has that these days--some have free coffee all day in the lobby) and 1 cup of coffee each for our group of five in the restaurant cost $25.00, not including tip for our waiter. Yes, there is a Starbucks and other coffee shops across the street, but I like to have coffee before I have to dress and go out, as I suspect most travelers do. We were in NYC to see a Broadway show and visited two outstanding restaurants and an art exhibit, as well, and so we decided not to let our terrible hotel ruin our experience too much, but next time we visit (and we are all native NYers) we will DEFINITELY NOT stay at the Millennium Broadway!