It's ok, needs some remodeling
Great location (midtown east) to many attractions. Short walk to Rockefeller Center, (3-4 blocks), 5th avenue shopping area (3 blocks), Grand Central Terminal (7 blocks), Time Squares (8-9 blocks), and Central Park (9 blocks). If you don't like to walk more than 5 blocks, there are subway stations nearby, hop-on hop-off tour busses stop right at the hotel (Lexington and 49th St., you need to purchase tickets in advance, they take you to Time Squares where you can transfer to other bus tours), rickshaws, and it is easy to get a taxi at the front of the hotel. There are many shops, restaurants, cafes, pharmacies (CVS, Duane Reade) within walking distance. The Lobby is beautiful. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Many are from other countries. The house keeping staff gave me extra shampoo and lotion, constantly asking if I needed anything else. Rooms are a little bigger than most in the city for the same price. However, I agree with some comments about the need to remodel some rooms. You can see the cracks on the edges of the ceiling, doors, windows, etc. Paints are falling off the ceiling especially in the bathroom. You can get complimentary coffee maker or tea kettle if you are Hilton Honors member, but you have to request it in advance. They rather you order from room service or purchase at Starbucks nearby. You need to call for late check-out or luggage storage. The entrance on Park Ave is closed for remodeling, it was confusing at first since the hotel address is on Park Ave (front). On the confirmation, they asked us to enter through 50th St. for valet parking ($60 per day). The other walking entrance is on Lexington Ave, it took us awhile to figure out which is the front and which is the back entrance. My daughter got sick after one night stay, she slept through the next two days of vacation. I am not sure if it was due to what one of the reviewers mentioned of allergies. My daughter never had allergies but the room was very clean, perhaps was the construction or just the heat (95+ degrees, it was reported heat wave in the city during our visit.) The room was very cold and we adjusted the temperature on the thermostat but it didn't seem to work, so we turned it off and then turn it back on when the room got hot. It was the same with both rooms- too cold. We decided to stay at Waldorf because of the 4-star rating, the reasonable room rate (promotion or AAA) at the time and we want to have the experience of staying at the well known historical place. There are many nearby hotels; Marriot and W Hotel are right across the street. Intercontinental, The Roosevelt, and a few other hotels are nearby. Grand Hyatt is not too far. Overall it was not too bad for us, we pretty much were out visiting many attractions and exploring the city all day and basically came back for shower and sleep. It really depends on what your purpose of stay and what kind hotel you want to stay in.