Hard Rock Hotel New York City Times Square

I normally stay at Marriotts or Hyatts when I travel, but NYC's offerings are so often overpriced and underwhelming, especially during the summer. So, for my recent 3-night stay in NYC, I decided to use my Platinum Card's $200 credit at the Hard Rock Hotel, which is listed under Amex's The Hotel Collection. For the most part, this was a fantastic choice. The location was superb, right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan, walking distance to so much of what I needed to get to during my trip. The hotel is also quite new, so the lobby and the room felt great to walk in to every day. Additionally, the perks that come with the Amex benefit were honored (for the most part). You're supposed to get 12pm check-in, when available, late check-out up to 4pm, when available, a room upgrade, when available, and a $100 credit for eligible charges. I was able to get a 12pm check-in, a 12pm check-out (instead of 11am, but not 4pm), a room upgrade to a Superior Room, and of course, the $100 credit that I applied to food. Let's start with the lobby. The ground floor is mainly a gift shop and the bell service. You need to get to the 2nd floor to find the Reception Desk, Concierge, and one of the hotel's restaurants (Sessions). It's a beautifully designed lobby that gives off the impression that you're staying at a fancy hotel without it being ostentatious. I wouldn't say that Hard Rock is my cup of tea when it comes to the theme as it feels like I'm at a theme park, but the hotel pulls it off very nicely. In spite of the theme-parky feel, you still feel like you're staying at a really nice hotel. As for the room, the first thing you'll notice is the interesting way it's planned out. I liked it a lot because it made a lot of sense to me. When you walk into your room, you're walking right into the bathroom. As soon as you walk through your door, it's a closet, sink area, and bar area to one side and the toilet and shower to the other side. This is the entry area doubling as a bathroom. Once you get past this entry/bathroom, it's the bedroom, and the far end is a table with one free-standing chair and one built-in bench. The size isn't large, but two people will feel just fine in my opinion. No more than two people though. As a solo traveler, I really appreciated their use of space. The entry area doubling as the bathroom allowed the bathroom to be big enough to feel comfortable but not awkward at all. And the desk area, with both a free-standing chair and a built-in bench, made the whole room feel well-thought out, unlike some hotels that feel like the furniture was picked up at a Goodwill. Everything felt deliberate. I should add that the room's lighting was GREAT. If you needed brightness, you could have it. If you needed something more dim and relaxing, you could have it. If you needed complete darkness, you could have it. You could control it with controls on the wall by the door and by the bed. It wasn't overcomplicated like some fancy hotels make it, and it wasn't basic either. Also, I have to say I loved the shower. It's a standing shower, which I loved. Very well lit. Very roomy. And the big surprise was the shower heads. You have a choice between a rain shower head or a handheld shower head. Both were great, but the handheld shower head had one of the coolest options I've ever come across. I can only describe it as a strong mist. Imagine the softness of a mist combined with strong water pressure, and that was what it was. It felt fantastic. Now, let's move on to what I found to be annoying about this hotel. First, they charge a Resort Fee of $40 per night that pays for the following: $20 daily food & beverage credit, WiFi, in-room coffee, in-room bottled water, use of their gym, use of their yoga equipment upon request, musical amenities, and unlimited domestic calls. I hate Resort Fees because I think it's a trick hotels play on their guests to make their room rates look lower than they really are, but that is not what I'm complaining about here. My beef is two-fold: First, they do not print out a list of what you get for that fee. You're supposed to dig for it on their website. Otherwise, you won't know what you're paying for. When you ask the front desk, they only mention the food & beverage credit. This is annoying because I can imagine people making ZERO use of these amenities that they're being charged for since no one tells them about it. Second, the $20 food & beverage credit expires at midnight, not at checkout time (11am). So, if you don't make use of this credit on your first day by midnight, you will forfeit your first night's $20. This makes no sense to me. If I was only staying one night, and I didn't know it would expire at midnight, I would have lost my chance to use it since it wouldn't be available for breakfast in the morning. And the worst part for me is that they won't tell you upfront. You have to ask. Let's move on. I tried the breakfast buffet at Sessions. Don't waste your time. It's nothing special. And with taxes, it comes out to around $45 per person. Complete waste. On the other hand, the food offered through Room Service was quite good. I only tried their omelette, but it was delicious enough that I ordered it two days in a row. And, I've never had room service delivered so quickly. Every single time, my food was delivered in about 15-20 minutes. But, here's are my complaint: I expect room service prices to be on the high side, but when you're charging $40+ for a simple omelette, can you be a little flexible when it comes to sides? I didn't want bread or potatoes, but I was given a hard "no" when I asked if I could substitute them for other side dishes offered on the menu. I'm assuming here, but I think the reason for this is that the front desk takes orders for room service, and front desk personnel have no familiarity with one kitchen staff can do. So, they just say "no" when guests requests modifications. And, that's it. All in all, I would very gladly stay at this hotel again in the future. It's a beautiful hotel in a superb location with lovely amenities offered at a reasonable price for NYC. Their front desk personnel could do a much better job at explaining how things work at their hotel to convey that they want their guests to make the most of their stay. But this is by no means a deal-breaker. Thank you, Hard Rock, for a great stay! Read less

A great hotel with a great location, we booked a balcony room and were very glad we did, we enjoyed spending time outside in the mornings and a drink before going out in the evenings. We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful around the hotel, we did go up to the RT60 bar but it wasn’t our thing, we were asked if we had a reservation which we found odd as we were guests staying at the hotel, we went outside there were tables free with a reserved sign on them and whilst we were there they stayed empty, so perhaps if it is your type of thing make sure you do make a reservation so that you are not left disappointed, we did go down for breakfast at 9am one morning and were told there would an approximate wait of 20-30 minutes before we would be seated so we decided to go elsewhere as we did not want to wait and there were tables free, so again if you want breakfast be prepared for a potential wait. Our room was great, the shower was excellent and the bed was very comfortable, we were staying for my husbands 60th birthday and the hotel did arrange for some balloons and cakes (at an extra charge) to be in the room when we checked in and I was very grateful for the help in arranging this, so again thank you so much. It was a brilliant stay and we would definitely stay at this hotel with a balcony room again, there was a brilliant deli a few doors away from the hotel which was great for snacks and drinks and also a great pizza shop if you fancied a pizza slice (we had a few), also if you need a taxi back to the airport the staff will arrange this for you, thank you for a great stay. Read less

In many ways this hotel is awesome. Once you're inside it looks fantastic. The memorabilia around the lobby and bar (and also inside the corridors to rooms) is really good, and we loved the fact that you could buy special 'merch' in the hotel shop, different to the main Hard Rock Cafe. The room is on the small side but there were three of us and it didn't feel too crowded. Air con in the room is a bit noisy, with a weird heavy clunk, like a door slam, every now and again when it is running. Beds were comfortable, amenities fine and the bathroom and shower all good. Staff in general were really friendly - especially the guys in the street-level lobby, and also in the shop and on reception. Bar staff not so good, with service a bit slow. One thing I wasn't too happy about was the rooftop bar, which we were told by reception that we should definitely check out. First night we tried to go up there it was closed for a private event. This wasn't shown anywhere and it only became apparent when the lift wouldn't take us there...because they had shut it off. We walked up to the floor from the one below, and then were told rather abruptly by a staff member that we could not go in. Next evening we went up, and were immediately asked if we had a reservation. When we said we were staying in the hotel and just wanted to check out the view, we were made to feel like second-class citizens. They lost interest in us entirely, and we felt like naughty kids when we asked if we could go to the outside area. Come on guys, treat your guests equally. I loved the fact that you can hire a guitar/amp for your room, which I did. Sadly the neck on the thing was so warped that neither of the two E strings worked above the third fret, so it was essentially unplayable! But, despite a few minor niggles, it was still a really good hotel, and would definitely consider it next time I'm in NYC. Read less