Overloaded
I am a Diamond Member of Hilton Hotels and consider myself to be a real admirer. But unfortunately this is very definitely not one of the best. When we were there in late May/early June, not only was it completely full but there were two very large conferences taking place. Sadly I have to say it was mayhem. There were long queues stretching down the corridor for the EXECUTIVE LOUNGE (unbelievable). We were given tickets for a take-away Starbucks deal or for the very simple continental breakfast in the buffet. We opted to wait in the 20-minute queue for the Ex.Lounge because the breakfast there was marginally better than the Market Restaurant but it was still the absolute minimum with no alternatives to hard-boiled eggs, cereals, doughy buns and toast. There were queues for the coffee machines, especially long on Saturday morning when one of them broke down and wasn't fixed until the next day. Only soft drinks were offered, otherwise it was a pay bar. The barman didn't hesitate to show his displeasure at people who only wanted Cokes. Out of three lifts serving our floor, only one was ever working so more long queues, although there was a notice saying you could travel by service lift but that never seemed to be available either. Leaving the hotel with luggage was a nightmare. The only way to get into the lift was to take one going up and then travel down again, stopping at every single floor as dozens of frustrated guests realised that yet again there wouldn't be enough room for them to get in. Whilst we were there there was an electrical shutdown for three hours and a water shutdown for three hours - in an hotel of this standing? Extraordinary. The room was dated and looked in need of redecoration. Once again, fine for a cheapo on Times Square but we're talking about Hilton's New York flagship. The hotel's infrastructure and personnel numbers couldn't cope with this number of people and the cost-cutting in the restaurants was shameful.