Review of Hilton Garden Inn Rockaway 3*

WEDDING/GROUP PARTIES BEWARE! I am a frequent Hilton guest and have seldom had a poor experience until this last weekend. My brother booked a block of rooms for his wedding at a set rate, this rate was quite a bit pricier than the AAA rate (about $30 more per night), and we needed about 25 rooms. After talks with the sales manager, who was very nice, they gave everyone the AAA rate and everyone was happy… Until we got there for the wedding… Upon arrival, our first room had the terrible stench of cigarette smoke. They were kind and accommodating and moved us to another room with unfortunately, a busted air conditioner. Being that it is mid-August, this was unacceptable. After having people come up to the room at 1am, they finally moved us the following morning. The same was not true for 12 of the other wedding guests who had faulty air conditionings, as well. This was all due to, what they say, an energy saving sensor. I guess it worked too well… My brother's (the groom's) room, also smelled like smoke. Not a good way to get ready for a wedding. PS, the entire hotel in non-smoking. The icing on the cake is when the front desk staff gave away our wedding party's welcome bags to guests who were not there for the wedding! I alerted the front desk that they were doing this after I saw strangers in the elevator with our bags, and yet, they still continued to give out the bags. The hotel manager made up some more bags for us, but at that point the damage had already been done. I appreciate that they comped us one night's stay but I can't figure out why they have not done anything for the bride and groom. A wedding is stressful enough, this shouldn't have been another stress factor for them. The hotel was not well-run and while everyone was very nice, it did not make up for all of the issues that we faced. If you plan on booking rooms here for a large group, be aware that these are issues that you WILL run into when staying at this Garden Inn.