NY Westchester County Hilton Rye

[thereuare]

A non-priceline stay as i was there with my wife who was there on business.

The hotel is fine, apparently one of the better ones in the area, but is a bit tired in some areas.

Positives:

Both indoor and outdoor pool. It appears that some local residents stay here on the weekends and use the outdoor pool area as their 'beach club'. It seemed a little surreal, but i almost felt as if i was thrown in with the adult crowd from "Dirty Dancing" (the ones that take their family to the mountains for the summer)... it all just seemed a bit antiquated. I went in the outdoor pool on Monday and it was a bit chilly, but i virtually had the entire place to myself.

The indoor pool is nice and sits inside a glass area just off the lobby (so guests can peak in as they walk to the elevators). At the end of the pool is a hot tub which i got a lot of use out of. The hot tub and pool are only separated by the hot tubs tile so it was easy to litteraly roll out of the hot tub and into the pool (refreshing).

Fitness area was ok, with a bit more than the average hotel.... a square universal-type machine with 4-5 devices attached to it (lat pulldown, benchpress, cables, etc), maybe 4 lifecycles, 2 rowers, couple of treadmills. I assume this is a bit more extensive than the typical property as it provides a bit more of the 'summer club' feel to the locals that come for the weekend. There is also a sauna, but it didn't seem very appealing (or widely used) since it's litteraly in the bathroom area and directly across from the toilets and urinals (what were they thinking?)

Check-in was friendly and due to Gold Status we were given coupons for the breakfast buffet. The buffet wasn't very good... hot dishes of eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, (one morning there was french toast, another this was replaced by blintzes). Also some assorted cakes, bagels, cold cereal, etc. The second morning i put cream cheese on my bagel and the cream cheese was bad (had turned sour). At $14 they should be ashamed of themselves, but i guess it's a captive audience and the typically overpriced hotel food.

Biggest complaint was that the hotels were not well kept. On the way to our room we saw trash (candy wrappers, streamers, empty soap boxes, etc) in the hallways. Upon entering our room there was also an empty soap box and a wet washcloth by the door so that we had thought the room was occupied, but upon further inspection these items must have just fallen off the housekeeping cart as they exited the room. There was 'something' on the nitghtstand that i don't want to think about what it was, so i just covered it with newspaper and put my glasses, watch, etc on top of the newspaper. Remote control didn't work but i managed to take it apart and fix it myself. The litter in the hall remained there well into the next afternoon when i finally saw much of it gone... although a cork near the elevators remained there for the 2+ days i was there.

Internet access is $10 day (wired only in the room) and wireless internet access is available in the lobby and bar area for free... a big perk for somebody like me. There is a nice sitting area just off of the main lobby, infront of the pool area, where the internet works. Electrical outlets are hard to come by but if you look closely you can find one or two.

Service was friendly throughout and although i mention some complaints above, it's not a bad hotel to receive. I deduced that they have a large business crowd Sun-Thur and then the locals come for the weekends. On Monday the place was empty for the entire day... but once 5:30 came all the business people started to pour in and the hotel started to get crowded.

Although i have a few complaints that i listed above, this really isn't a bad property, but they probably just need to retrain housekeeping and some of the staff a bit (ie - if you work at a hotel and you see some trash on the ground, i don't care what your position is, you should pick it up!... as well, room service trays were in the hall for what seemed like extended periods).

I met a gentleman there who was on a Priceline stay (he has many of them in the area... doing some contract work and has lived in area hotels for the last few months) and he says they don't treat Priceline customers too well. He claims that the HHonors rooms are some of the worst in the hotel, he doesn't get any members perks (i don't know his status), and that he feels looked down upon due to his rates... but he still says he's thrilled to get win this hotel as it's one of the best in the area.

My wife is due back there in a few weeks and i'll probably go with her once again for a couple of the days. I'll be sure to take my camera with me next time and post some pics at Real Hotel Photos, and if for some reason i don't go i'll at least send her with the camera.