“People, people everywhere...cannot believe the great reviews...did not feel safe”
My husband and I recently spent a few nights here in June 2011 while attending my niece's high school graduation in Scotch Plains NJ. Because of the hotel's proximity to my sister's house and the great Tripadvisor Reviews, my husband and I decided to stay at this Crowne Plaza hotel. I initially decided I was NOT going to write a hotel review for our stay because I do not like to say negative things about anything or anyone. However, because I pride myself on my Tripadvisor contributions, I decided to brave it and write an honest review about our recent stay at the hotel.
While nice enough on the exterior, my husband John and I were a bit shocked when we entered this property because we were told it was "practically new and recently renovated." To us, the common areas and lobby seemed tired, unkept and somewhat unclean. Actually, the common areas seemed extremely worn, weathered & cramped, which we came to understand after our weekend stay.
One factor about our stay that my husband and I disliked the most was the relentless unmonitored traffic that flowed in and out of the hotel's restaurant & bar (and the hotel itself) throughout the weekend, ALL weekend. Without going on-and-on with details, I can just say that the crowds of partying people roaming the entire hotel throughout all hours of the evening and night proved to be disturbing. This issue, along with the obnoxious room condition, created an uncomfortable weekend stay...one I will never repeat. In general, I did not feel safe & secure at this hotel...not one bit.
Just too many people, too many "common" areas, too much going on...ALL OF THE TIME! People, people, people EVERYWHERE! Not just guests of the hotel...lots of people in all places, at all times!
For starters, we had an awful time finding the hotel, although we did arrive very very late at night. Parking was extremely hard to find 'cause on arrival, the parking lot was jammed. Eventually we managed to snag a far-away spot. All is good. Common area impressions were already given above. A bit worn, a bit tacky...and cramped. No biggie 'cause we are not staying in the common areas, right? WRONG!
I think because we arrived quite late, we were probably penned as "no-shows." Given this, when we finally arrived, which was well after midnight, we were given this end room on an uppermost floor that in a previous life, was some sort of conference room or other function room. In one word, the room was weird. Well, two words UNCOMFORTABLE & WEIRD.
The room appeared to have been converted into a sleeping area, as it was tucked waaaaay away in a dark corner of the hotel, an area that was kinda remote and dimly lit. The location of the room was troublesome to me and further added to our safety and security concerns throughout the weekend. It was just odd and very weird entering the room...hated the location. Hated the room!
In all fairness, it was so late and we were so tired (having just driven 12 hours from Michigan), we decided to grin and bear things...we didn't say anything about our room or the location. Honestly, we RARELY if EVER complain about our facilities. Given this, we decided to enter the room and attempt to sleep.
Our room was cavernous (HUGE) with very little furniture in it...a bed, a dresser and a worn out couch...I do not think we had any chairs to sit on except for a little desk chair. Due to the nature of this "room," all of the furniture looked lost and out-of-place. Our curtains were little-short things that barely swept the window-sill, not full sized drapes, which we thought odd.
Our bed was univiting...ditto for the pillows. The mattress was not at all comfortable. Our bathroom was extremely small and not that clean (mold and some dirt in the corners, etc). Towels were small and worn (???). My husband and I just looked at each other upon entering the room and could not believe the price we were paying per night.
The air-conditioning malfunctioned all night, which made our room very cold and uncomfortable. Additionally, the air-conditioning was loud and noisy...it was not good at all. The little microwave in the room was broken and constantly humming & beeping, so we finally decided to just unplug it from the electrical outlet. Our room safe did not work. A few lamps did not work. The view from our room (of a parking lot area) was kinda weird and the street noise from below was loud (although I'm not sure which establishment owned the parking lot that our room overlooked).
Finally, we were woken a few times on both nights to loud inebriated people "talking" in the hallway. Talking is being used as a kind understatement, btw...sigh.
I could go on-and-on but I think you get the point. For the number of hotels in the New Brunswick-Edison-Woodbridge area and the COST of this place, you can do much much much better. Honestly, I could not wait to leave. If it we had not arrived so late at night and we did not have to be somewhere at 9:00 am the following morning, we probably would have requested a refund and left. OR JUST LEFT!
Save your money and stay somewhere else. We visit New Jersey a lot because of family; however we will never ever return to this hotel. For the price, the accomodations are simply not that nice.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
