Millenium Hilton New York, the location is TOP but everything else is forgettable

Please note, this hotel is no longer part of the Hilton portfolio; it is now simply called The Millenium Hotel.

The Millenium Hilton New York made history on the tragic morning of September 11, 2001: during the attack on the Twin Towers, this hotel that is located directly in front of the north tower remained untouched by the devastation wrought by the collapse.

Its glass and concrete facade, covered with dust and debris has been featured in newspapers and TV in every corner of the world. Today the location is the same and the entrance to the hotel is exactly opposite the Cataltrava Oculus, the structure that houses the New York subway terminal as well as a shopping mall.

Reservation

We stayed at this hotel in early December, in fact the U.S. borders had just reopened and prices in NYC had started to spike upward.

I have stayed using points in some hotels, for example in the beautiful Conrad Downtown Manhattan which is on the opposite side from this Hilton. Very nice and fine facility, but in my opinion not worth the 90k points required for an award night. Points that can be easily accumulated by using every day American Express Platinum, a card that also gives the status Gold in the Hilton Honors loyalty program.

It was also a cash reservation because our stay was for 4 nights. The fact is. Hilton Honors members, when they book a hotel for four nights using points, get the fifth night free, and so I was sorry to lose a lot of points. Last motivation was that at that time A promo was active that doubled Hilton points for each stay.

The location

New York City is spoiled for choice., having been there several times already I started to prefer hotels toward the Wall Street area and areas around Ground Zero. I never liked the Times Square area, too much chaos. While the area around Central Park too boring.

Downtown, on the other hand, is close to the more fashionable areas, and above all, one moves quickly to Brooklyn, Staten Island or Jersey to explore places less frequented by tourists.

Below the oculus is one of New York City's main subway hubs, and that means taking almost every major line and especially that all express trains stop at this stop making it quick and easy to get around the Bronx as well.

Check-in

As soon as we stepped into the small hotel lobby we knew it was not going to be our best experience in a Hilton hotel, in fact we probably should have run away. There was no hint of welcome warmth at the desk, but that's the least of it; it was late at night and we were tired from the intercontinental flight, and that probably factored in as well.

The lobby was upside down, the bar closed with boxes on top and stools propped up and full of dust.

I know very well that having status in America is not worth as much as in the rest of the world, and the reason is simply the fact that in the U.S. having status, even Diamond (the highest), is very easy because of the many credit cards that offer this benefit.

The staff did not explain anything to us except that the hotel did not offer catering due to covid. And that therefore only room service would be available.

The room

The only good thing about this stay was our room, I had booked a corner room because in Manhattan they are absolutely the best as a category. Often larger than the others and especially with a super view. Only downside: hard to get an upgrade when booking these types of rooms.

The tower is all glass and we had a wonderful view of the Hudson and lower Manhattan. Had we had the other corner, our window would have faced Freedom Tower and oculus, but personally I was fine with our view from which to enjoy a fantastic sunset.

Rooms in New York are never large; this one, however, was definitely spacious.

The two windows were definitely the best thing about the room, a room that could use a definite makeover because it shows all the years it has.

Like the bathroom on the other hand.

The worst thing was that the room adjoined the elevator shaft, and this condemned us to having the constant noise of movement, which was really terrible.

Services

Pool closed due to covid and gym only accessible to two people at a time. What is unbelievable in all of this is that all of these limitations were not explained when booking.

Food & Beverage

Here we have hit rock bottom. Not only was the bar upside down, but the only restaurant on the property was closed, again due to covid. Which was absurd since all the other hotels in Manhattan were operating regularly, One example is the TWA hotel where we moved before we left To return home.

Room service was a joke. One expects the waiter with the tray, everything nice and perfect and elegant.

Instead, the service here was "doggie bag" model, and breakfast, if you can call it that, was served in decomposed mode. With the guest having to assemble their own bagel or whatever else they ordered.

Of course, one could say that we were not obliged to eat breakfast, and so we did. Only that as a Diamond/Gold you are entitled to complimentary breakfast, in the U.S. this benefit has been replaced by a voucher to spend in the hotel restaurant. It is precisely too bad that the hotel offered no alternative but to spend on room service, among other things at 5-star restaurant prices.

In conclusion

I wrote to Hilton to complain about the stay and in partial apology I was credited with the following 20k Hhonors Points, enough for a free night in Milan or 5 nights in Bali. Of course, one cannot offer such a low standard when booking a hotel in a chain with a sign like Hilton. By far the worst Hilton I have ever stayed in, ill-advised until fully renovated.

This is just one of many reviews you can read on our site. Every Wednesday we publish a review of a lounge airport, while every Friday you can read the review of one of our flights or a hotel where we stayed.

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