Hilton Garden Inn Secaucus/Meadowlands in Secaucus, NJ

As a Hilton Honors member, I’ve come to expect a certain standard of service from your hotels, this experience fell shockingly short of that standard. In fact, by a wide margin, it was the worst hotel stay I’ve ever had and I have stayed in hotels in over 20 cities around the world. The issues began before I even arrived. I called Hilton reservation line to confirm that a shuttle would be available to pick my family and me up from ERW. The booking agent assured me that one would be, even asking for my exact terminal location. I asked again for specific instructions, explaining that Terminal C at ERW is large and chaotic. Rather than offer clarity, the agent became impatient, told me to "just listen," and insisted that someone would contact me on my phone once they get to the terminal. No one ever did. After waiting outside the terminal for nearly an hour with no contact or sign of a shuttle, I placed a long-distance call to the hotel reception, only to be told that the hotel doesn’t offer any shuttle service at all. At this point, I had no choice but to take a taxi to the hotel at my own expense. Unfortunately, things only got worse after arrival. At check-in, I was given key cards for room 332. When we got there, the keys didn’t work, and there was garbage sitting outside the room. Back down to reception I went, and I was given a new room 322. This time the door opened, but what I walked into was far from acceptable. After spending nearly eight hours in the airport due to four separate flight delays and a cancellation, all I wanted was a hot shower and a clean, quiet place to sleep. Instead, I found a bathroom with barely functioning water pressure, a clogged tub drain, and a sticky, visibly dirty floor. I contacted the front desk, and a staff member did come up, he offered to send maintenance, but by then it was too late in the evening, and I just wanted to go to bed. As I moved around the room, I stepped near the air conditioning unit and discovered that the floor was soaked, not just wet but soaked. At that point, I called reception again to request a different room, but I was told the hotel was fully booked. Needless to say, the night was extremely uncomfortable. My family and I checked out at 8:30 a.m. the next morning — exhausted and incredibly frustrated. To summarize: I was misled during the reservation process, left stranded at the airport, charged for a taxi I shouldn’t have needed, given faulty room access, placed in an unsanitary and water-damaged room, and offered no real resolution throughout. I’ve had better experiences in youth hostels and budget motels — and that’s not an exaggeration. To add insult to injury, I contacted Hilton Customer Service shortly after the stay. Their only response was a generic apology. I followed up, expressing that this response wasn’t good enough especially for a Hilton Honors member and that I expected more than a form reply. I decided to wait two weeks to give Hilton the chance to make it right. I heard absolutely nothing back. At this point, it seems the company doesn’t stand behind its motto, “For the Stay.” @HiltonHotels I expect Hilton to take this matter seriously. I’m requesting a full explanation of how this was allowed to happen, along with reimbursement for the taxi fare and compensation for the unacceptable condition of the room. If this is how Hilton treats its Honors members, I can’t imagine how non-members are treated. Please let me know the next steps for filing a formal claim and receiving reimbursement. @HiltonHotels #CustomerExperience #TravelFail

I was quite disappointed with my stay at this hotel. Overall, the rooms feel worn and poorly maintained. When things break or get damaged, they simply don’t get fixed — and it seems management has accepted a rather low standard from both housekeeping and maintenance. My first room had an extremely sticky carpet — it was genuinely disgusting. I requested to change rooms, but unfortunately, the second room had the same issue. It felt unpleasant walking barefoot, and even my shoes became sticky. This became very noticeable once I walked across the tiles in the lobby. To add to the frustration, friends of mine stayed at a nearby hotel with a beautiful view of the Hudson, and they paid the same rate. Considering the condition of this hotel and what’s available at the same price point, I won’t be returning.

As a gold members, one of the perks are two bottles of water at arrival. We were told the hotel could not give out water at the time. The lobby is pleasant, tastefully decorated. The rooms are dingy, dirty, old dated carpets with stains and ripped at some places. The shower was terrible. The water pressure was awful. One minute the water temperature was hot and the next, without any warning, it was cold. The bathroom door did not stay opened. It slammed close after you. It’s a heavy door so you have to be careful. The bathroom floor was sticky. The room’s door did not close behind you. You have to pull it from the outside to close the door. If you are not on top of it, the door stays semi open. We stayed 3 nights and I regret choosing this hotel. Management is useless. They asked how our stay was. After sharing our experience, all they said was, “ we know .” Stay away from this hotel. Go find another one. There are plenty of hotels in the area.

For the price point decent product. The room was spacious and clean. We also used the pool and hot-tub was oke, could have been more clean. Location was convenient only point of attention is enforcement of the diamond member parking spots, 10 spots where full every moment of my stay.

We stayed here with my family w/ 2 kids while touring NYC for 3 nights. We had booked 2 queen bed room. Let me give my points of Pro's and Con's of this place and will let the travelers decide whether this place is the right one to suit their needs/desires. Pros: 1. Parking is free and included in the room rent. There is also a parking garage which is safe and right next to the door. 2. Hot Breakfast available for a reasonable surcharge (not free),but it is the same breakfast menu everyday. 3. The room size is quite sufficient & spacious for a NYC/NJ metro hotel. 4. The hotel is < 15-20mins drive from Times square (thru Lincoln Tunnel), (of course there route has toll). For St.George's Ferry terminal it is about 40-50mins drive. 5. There is a nearby bus-stop to NYC but given the fact that the bus-stop was close to freeway we didn't feel like trying it with kids. We did notice few other guests (not w/ kids though) walking to bus stop. Cons: 1. The room carpet is old and seemed very old/dirty. Room had very fluffy pillows and queen bed were not comfortable. 2. The bathroom was rustic, no exhaust fan/vent. The shower was a disaster as we couldn't get hot water as we liked (instead only mostly warm water all-time) or even direct it to the angle we liked. 3. Our room was right by the ice-vending machine & elevator which was very noisy. If that was not enough we could even hear the freeway noise and people chatting in the nearby hotel smoking area. 4. Though there are enough positives with the location, I have to be honest, for a first time visitor, you could easily miss the entrance to the hotel and end up back in to NJ Turnpike. Also, if you miss the exit you will have to be prepared to do a round about drive of atleast 10-15mins before you could get back to the hotel. The location gets the job done (or more suited) if you plan on driving your car to NYC, if not you will have to pay parking in Secaucus metro station and catch NJ Transit. Staff: If not for the staff in the breakfast area, I would have rated this hotel far lesser. They made an honest attempt to make our stay comfortable in-spite of the odds in this property. The front desk people were ok and helped us to their best with the information we needed. We chose this stay as we made our trip plans in the last minute, that too during a christmas holiday weekend, knowing what to expect from this place. Its not that we haven't stayed in budget hotels before but this stay was a hit/miss at times. So set your expectations before you consider this location.