Nice hotel, well worth the price despite location

I just stayed here for two days on business, and while I agree that the location isn't the easiest, (follow Hilton's directions, NOT mapquest's!), it's a great hotel for the price.

Good points: VERY clean, friendly front desk staff, free parking, NYC transportation (bus). Coin laundry on premises, along with a restaurant right outside. Definitely do try the restaurant - La Estrella del Caribe. The food was *great*, and service very fast and polite. The pool looked nice and very well kept, though it was too busy for me, and I didn't go back.

I stayed in a king room on the 5th Floor. The room was average-sized, but immaculately clean. Microwave, mini-fridge, work desk and internet access. Note that the wireless isn't a strong signal here, so ask for a cable when you check in.

Not so good points...the location isn't really convenient. Do have a rental car if you stay here to get around the area. The walk back from where the bus drops off from Port Authority is somewhat far and across busy roads. The items available in the pantry and in the vending machines are somewhat overpriced and limited - make a trip to a convenience store instead if you need to buy laundry supplies, toiletries, drinks and snacks.

I would absolutely stay again.

Fine Hotel...Transportation Logistics May Be Problematic for Some

I stayed at the Hilton just last week. The hotel is clean & safe & I found the service overall to be acceptable. However, I can't emphasize enough (as others have mentioned) the walking distance from the bus stop drop off to the hotel. If you are not in good walking health or have young children, you may want to consider another hotel as crossing the main street to get to the hotel often involves jogging between traffic. If either is the case I would suggest renting a car & driving to & from the PATH station or staying at a hotel that provides a shuttle to & from the PATH subway.

But if you don't mind the walk the hotel is a great savings from the city prices. The 190 bus from Port Authority (from gate 233 when I was there) takes you to the drop off point adjacent to the hotel. Although travel times vary immensely based on time of day, a rush hour ride might take 40 minutes or more while an off-time ride might be only 20 minutes. You'll see the hotel on the left side of the highway before exiting & coming to the stop. Among others the 129 and 190 busses will take you back to Port Authority. You can pay cash or buy a 10-pass ticket book at the Port Authority station for $19 (zone 2 pass). Also, private commuter/tourist shuttle services will take you into the city for $2/person at random times. So it's best to depend on the bus and take a shuttle if it arrives more quickly. If you need to take a cab from the city to the hotel, it will run about $60.

If you're arriving by car, heed the warnings of previous posts. I rode the bus about 20 times back & forth I'm still not sure how to navigate the series of exits & frontage roads required to actually get to the hotel.

I was worried that being so far outside NYC would be an inconvenience for my trip, but I found the savings far outweighed any inconvenience. Additionally, in contrast to the NY transit workers, I found the NJ drivers to be extremely helpful and accommodating. In fact, when I was mistakenly directed to the wrong bus from Hoboken, NJ to the hotel, the driver of the bus went outside his route to drop me off.

The hotel will store your luggage if you arrive and/or depart outside of checkout times.

Also, I would skip the hotel breakfast & head for a coffee shop in Midtown. It's a decent breakfast but service can be slow if a lot of people are eating & it's not a particular bargain over NYC at around $10/person.

Great Hotel Great Price

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice this hotel, considering our low price - just over a hundred dollars for a Saturday night. Our room was spotless, the linens were great, the bathroom was nice, and the service was excellent.

Nice hotel, bad location

This is a very nice, clean hotel. Overall, I found management eager to please and staff friendly and helpful.

Free parking is a major plus.

The hotel can be difficult to get to by car. There is a bus stop just outside making it easy to get into NYC, but note that the return bus stop is somewhat far and the return walk is along and across very busy streets.

The area around the hotel is commercial and not very attractive.

A great place to stay when visiting NYC

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Secacus 4 nights for the July 4th Holiday. The hotel was clean, the furnishings were well mantained and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Although they do not have a free breakfast we were given coupons for the breakfast and the cost of the full buffett was only a couple of dollars per person when using the coupons or if you only wanted continental then it was free with the coupons. The pool was nice as well as the hot tub. The hotel is close to the city and public transportation was easy to use and picked up right in front of the hotel. We booked a day bus tour and they picked us up and dropped us off at the front of the hotel. The staff was good to give directions and help with tours and local information.

My only advice is to take a good pair of walking shoes if you plan to walk around in the city. The roads going in and out of the hotel are confusing at first but once you understand the system they are not a problem.

We would stay here again. This hotel is a great baragin for the price compared to others in the area and especially when compared to those in New York City.

Surprisingly clean and upscale for the money.

Stayed one night in process of retreiving my daughter from college in Manhattan. Room and premises were cleaner and brighter than the more expensive Hampton Inn I had stayed at previously (on other side of freeway). Bathroom had upscale fixtures, counter, tile etc that I didn't expect at this price point. I would recommend that one become knowledegable about the road system around the hotel as it is indeed confusing. There are numerous good eating spots and stores nearby on Route 3 but you will need a car to get to these.

Am giving it an excellent rating despite the fact that the young lady (who I won't name) at the front desk was not too enthused about checking me in (late afternoon time) or helping with directions driving into Manhattan, but that could be attributable to her sleepiness (frequent yawning).

No free breakfast either, but the $ savings more than offset the free calories which I didn't need anyway. I would definitely stay here again.

I wish I'd paid attention to the guy who said it was difficult to get to

The staff was friendly and the hotel was clean and comfortable. However, we felt like we'd been sold a bill of goods about it being conveniently located. Once we got off the Turnpike, we were snarled in a maze of service roads and on and off ramps for another hour before we actually made it into the hotel -- we could see it, but we couldn't get to it. Plus the bus that takes you into NY picks you up right in front of the hotel but on the return trip it drops you off across about eight lanes of freeway and down the street -- not too swell when you're 8 months pregnant in June. We ended up going home a day early because we didn't want the hassle of getting to and from NYC again.

Very nice hotel, loved it

We stayed in this hotel on April 2005, for two nights. The hotel looks new or newly renovated, our room, kingsize bed non-smoking, was spacious and very pleasant. We had our breakfast at the hotel which is not complimentary but rich and very reasonably priced. There is a bus in front of the hotel that goes to Manhattan, on the way back though, it leaves you a few minutes walk away. If you come by car, be sure to have your directions rights, the hotel (although easily seen from the main roads) is very easy to miss.

We'd love to stay there again.

Nice hotel but difficult to get to!

Family of 5 stayed here in two rooms in July, 2004 as last stop on cross-country trip. What is most memorable about this hotel is how hard it was to get to it. There are frontage roads and lots of merging and splitting. It's one of those situations where you can see the hotel, but you can't get to it. And there is the very reasonable fear that if you don't pay attention, you will end up on the New Jersey Turnpike or in the Lincoln Tunnel heading to NYC! Once you finally make it to the hotel somehow, and park in the parking garage, you can relax and enjoy what it a very nice place to stay. Part of my family was attending a sporting event at the Meadowlands, and we found that this hotel was very conveniently located for that. The staff was very friendly and made an excellent suggestion for a local pizza restaurant that delivered true, New Jersey pizza to our room (we decided not to try to drive anywhere, in case we couldn't find our way back!). The free high-speed Internet worked very well. My only complaint with Hilton Garden Inns in general is that the breakfast is not complimentary, as it is with Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Springhill Suites and other similar "entry-level luxury" business hotels. I also was surprised that there was no express check-out, even though I'm a HiltonHonors member. Finally, I noticed that the pool seemed mostly populated by people who did not appear to be hotel guests (they let each other in since they didn't have rooms keys) and I wondered if they were friends of the hotel employees. As I was checking out, I overheard another guest discussing a security problem in the pool area the previous night. The hotel management might want to take some steps to insure that the hotel's facilities are used only by hotel guests. I hope not to spend much time in the future in New Jersey, but if I do, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again.

Lovely and convenient at excellent value

For a relatively small hotel and the lowest price, I found the Hilton Garden "Inn" a class higher than "2-stars" for two main reasons. First, this place includes almost all the amenities one can think of--swimming pool, jacuzzi, whirlpool, 24-hour pantry to buy food for the frig and microwave included in the room, small office with computer, printer, copier, and fax (everything except fax is free I think). The free high-speed internet and ability to print right from the room is a definitely plus. There is a good Caribbean restaurant right next door. The NJ Transit Bus is ideal for those without a car because it runs frequently and late and reaches the Port Authority Terminal within 15-20 minutes.

Second, I thought the decor very beautiful. The lobby is open and bright with an elegant Pavilion as well as a spacious and comfortable sitting area. There is even a small hidden patio outside to enjoy the sun. The room was visually pleasing as well, with both a work desk and an ottoman to read by the large window. Staff is professional and courteous.

Only a few points make this hotel less than perfect. The breakfast buffet is not included. There is nothing much around; only thing to see from the window is the horizon and highway and the parking lot. Not a pedestrian-friendly area; I arrived on the NJ Transit bus at 9pm exhausted from a full day of travel, only to find I had to drag my luggage across major roads, various parking lots, and grass in the dark with no sidewalks or crosswalks in order to reach the hotel. TV in room has only a few channels plus HBO, strange in a time when cable TV in hotel rooms has become standard. Could use ceiling lights as the lamps are too low to illuminate the room. The work chair was not adjustable and too low for me.

Other than that, this hotel is perfect, especially if you're a business traveler looking for something low-profile at a great value.