Late Night Room Service at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square

Chicken Quesadillas.

Lime Marinated Shrimp Cocktail.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

Ordering food from a hotel's room service menu is usually seen as an expensive way to eat when traveling. I generally agree with this but there are times the traveler will find once in a while this is probably the most convenient way to enjoy a meal.

After brunch I had back to back plays to see today. Naturally all that running around got to me and I fell asleep upon returning to the hotel after my evening play finished at 8:30pm. When I awoke it was already nearing 11:30pm and I realized I had not had dinner. I honestly did not feel like searching for someplace to eat this late Sunday evening or eating fast food at the nearby McDonald's.

So I picked up the phone and ordered food from the Doubletree's late night menu which lists primarily appetizer items. I ordered the chicken quesadilla ($15; marinated chicken breast, onion and pepper on flour tortillas, served with sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo) and the lime marinated shrimp cocktail ($17; served with virgin bloody mary dipping sauce and salad). Combined with a sparkling water and cola the total with service fees and tip was $56.55. Such is the price of convenience.

I have to admit this meal was way better than the Jambalaya I had the other night at Gingers, the Doubletree Times Square's sole full-service restaurant.

Hours for room service is daily from 6:00am-11:30pm

Gingers Restaurant at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel New York City - Times Square

The red colors of Gingers flows the elevator bank on the DoubleTree
Times Square 5th Floor. A framed picture of Ginger Rogers and Fred
Astaire decorate a wall.  (photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

Ever since I lost my gold level benefits in the Hilton HHonors Rewards program by not meeting the required minimum stays or nights at Hilton hotels, I've not dined at the main restaurant at the DoubleTree Times Square. Albeit I only went there for breakfast since it was complimentary for gold level members. Since the restaurant was recently renovated and now called Gingers I decided to give it a try.

Advertised to pay tribute to the Roaring Twenties when Broadway was in full swing with light-hearted musicals, the restaurant takes its namesake from actor/singer/dancer Ginger Rodgers, who at the age of 19, starred on Broadway in the musical 'Girl Crazy'. In spite of its name, there are just hints of Asian decorative accents in the color, wall paper and dining furnishings.

As usual I chose to dine shortly after Gingers opened for dinner to beat any crowds. Though I was seated and my order taken quickly, it was slow going for bread and butter to be served that it came after my order of Onion Soup Gratinee ($10). Topped with melted Gruyere and Parmesan, the broth was flavorful and the cheese melted perfectly.

I finished my glass of Iced Tea ($5) and was on the verge of finishing my water when I had to request for a refill of both drinks before my entree arrived. I chose the Jambalaya ($28; blackened chicken and shrimp in spicy jambalaya sauce with andouille sausage and tasso ham served in a linguini fini and topped with fresh greens). The dish had far too much salt that I could not taste anything. I did finish the sausage and some of the pasta but the chicken was tough. I did not finish the dish. Even the though the server advised he could wrap it to take away noting that my hotel room has a microwave, I declined.

The crusty bread and butter filled me up and I was finished. I thought for sure the restaurant would be filled with a dinner crowd trying to get a meal before the curtain time of a Broadway show this Friday night but the room remained sparsely filled with diners. All of the servers were pleasant but for the food I will be hard pressed to dine at Gingers again.

Gingers Restaurant is opened daily from 6:30am-10pm (breakfast 6:30am-11:30pm; buffet breakfast 6:30am-11:00am; lunch 11:30am-5:00pm; dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm). Located on the 5th Level of the DoubleTree Times Square Hotel.
Gingers Breakfast Menu (PDF)
Gingers Lunch Menu (PDF)
Gingers Dinner Menu (PDF)

Jambalaya

Onion Soup Gratinee

Bread and butter

The host's station at Gingers.

Entry to the dining room at Gingers.

The renovated restaurant at the DoubleTree Times Square now called Gingers.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square: Main Lobby

The Doubletree's front desk. The hotel concierge desk is to the left.

Updated touches in the renovated lobby of the Doubletree Times Square.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler) 

This is one in a series of posts about the DoubleTree Times Square.

The renovated main lobby of the DoubleTree Times Square located above street level has given the hotel a modern feel to match the updated interiors of its name brand competitors in the area. The edgy decorative features brings the eye up to make the space appear much grander than before.

The lobby still remains functional within a compact space. Two elevators take guests from the ground floor to this upper lobby where guests walk past the concierge desk to reach the guest room elevators.

The front desk provides the expected services including the hotel's brand of complimentary cookies. Behind the desk are a pair of updated restrooms.

Most obvious and taking up a big corner of the lobby is the hotel bar which during the day is a place where visitors can take a break and enjoy their morning coffee but in the evening becomes a hangout for imbibers. In the morning a coffee kiosk appears and then disappears at one end of the bar closest to the elevators.

By the way watch out, people working in the area sometimes use this lobby as an oasis to take a break from their work during the day.

Like others hotels with similar sky lobbies, the property feels secure and safe. In the late evenings guests are required to show their room key cards on the ground level to get past hotel security.

A chandelier (right) comprised of strings of lights highlights the few floors
above the lobby that hold the restaurant, meeting rooms and fitness
facilities.

The lobby bar called Ad Lib.

The lobby bar is open daily from 1:00pm-1:00am.

The coffee kiosk is open daily from 6:00am-11:30am. It advertises
"We proudly brew Starbucks Coffee".

Unfortunately the updated design of the main lobby was not extended
to the halls of the guest floors.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square: Room Artwork

(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

This is one of a series of posts about the Doubletree Times Square Hotel.

Call them cheesy, I always find interesting the artwork chosen for each hotel room I've been assigned.  I'm sure these pieces are produced by the hundreds for almost every room which make them far from rare or irreplaceable. At the Doubletree Times Square Hotel all the artwork are renderings of New York City. The familiar sights pictured include the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Buildings and Rockefeller Center. There is one piece in each room including one in the bathroom.

These framed prints are probably bolted to the wall but I wonder if any visitor has attempted to smuggle them out along with the bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square: The View from Room 3409

Above and below: the view of buildings north of Times Square.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

This is one post in a series about the Doubletree Times Square.

Some would consider the most prized rooms at the Doubletree Times Square are the ones facing Times Square. Those views are unbeatable. But as a whole rooms are not created equal. I tried to get a Times Square room this hotel and asked for a corner room, all of which are situated at the 7th & 57th corner of the hotel building. The view is indeed spectacular but the room layout is different and cramped. Worst of all the noise from the hallway would be funneled through the bottom of the living room door since it faced said hallway. Such was the price for the view. I would book this corner type of room again. Perhaps the non-corner rooms on the Broadway side of the building are much better.

In the meantime, I've stayed at this hotel several times since 2005. Each time my king-bed room always was on the north side of the building or the side that faces 57th Street though on different floors each time. I believe this may be because the rooms with king beds are on one side of each floor and rooms with double beds on the other side of the hallway.

I won't complain. Though 45 stories high, the 460 guest rooms begin above those massive billboard that flank the hotels lower levels. So my view these years have been the relatively the same but from different heights.

Looking straight out from the 34th floor, my view begins in the west from the Renaissance Times Square hotel and the buildings north of Times Square including the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Allianz Insurance Building, crossing to the east past the Barclay Bank Building to the towering buildings along the Avenue of Americas which completely fill the view to the east.

The alternative view from each floor is the one afforded by looking down towards the street. See the bustle of taxi cab roofs and dots of people along the sidewalks all dwarfed by the billboards and buildings of Manhattan.

Today I was resting after lunch when a blimp appeared over the Barclay building. Being from Hawaii, we don't get the sight of blimps often so just watching it cruise the sky was a small treat.

The shape of the Doubletree Hotel building is mimicked in these
room signs. The hotel curves at the corner of 7th and 57th.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

Above three photos: street view from room 3409.

Above two photos: the buildings that tower on the 6th Avenue (Avenue
of the Americas). At one point they completely fill the view.

Probably nothing to many people, it's an unusual sight for me to see a blimp.

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotels New York City Times Square: Room Amenities

Coffe maker with coffee by Wolfgang Puck. Nice that the cups can be
taken to go (photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

It's a nice touch for the hotel to supply provide paper towels.

This is one in a series of posts about the Doubletree Times Square.

Some of the basic amenities available in each room:
- Single/Double serving coffee maker with coffee by Wolfgang Puck.
- Paper Towels
- Bottle Opener
- Mini-Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Crabtree & Evelyn products (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, bath soap, face soap)
- Radio/Alarm Clock with MP3 connectivity
- Two flat-screen televisions
- Iron and ironing board

Of course the one thing everyone wants and needs in this day and age is not free unless you're a top tier (gold and diamond) Hilton HHonors member. For most of us the cost is about $13 daily added to your room rate.

The mini-fridge located beneath the bar sink.

My bottles and cans of drinks staying cool in the fridge. Okay to keep
leftovers from dinner but be sure the temperature is cold and safe enough.

Microwave and room safe.

Crabtree & Evelyn products for the bathroom.

Clock/Radio with MP3 connectivity.

DoubleTree Suites By Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square: The Bathroom

The galley-like bathroom at the Doubletree Times Square.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

This is one in a series of posts about the Doubletree Times Square.

If a hotel bathroom should be a couple of things, those things should be clean and efficient. I've been in bathrooms that were so tiny that I would trip over myself or had problems opening and closing the bathroom door. Clean corners on the counter, tub and floors is something I notice immediately. But nowadays I travel with a pack of disinfecting cloths to add my own touch of house cleaning to the room. However housekeeping does a good job of keeping the space sparkling each day.

The galley like of the bathroom spreads the purposes of the room into distinct areas. The bathroom also has two doors: one door from the living room and one from the bedroom that makes it practical when guests are sleeping in both rooms. This is a king bedroom so the vanity has only one sink but double bedrooms have two sinks. When you count the bar sink in the living room, that makes three persons who could be brushing their teeth at the same time.

Basic bath necessities include shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap from Crabtree & Evelyn. As for the bath itself it includes the standard shower curtain but a curved rod helps to make the tub space feel a little wider. Hopefully the trend of glass-enclosed showers will eventually land at this hotel.

I'm guessing in these days of being environmental friendly the standard count is three each of bath, hand and washcloth towels. For those in need of the hair dryer, it no longer sits idly on the counter but hangs in a cloth bag on the bathroom door.

Bathroom view from the bedroom.

No rain shower head but this one does its purpose.

One knob water control.

Towels neatly placed next to the shower. (photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel New York City Times Square: The Living Room

The DoubleTree Suites Times Square living room.

(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

This is one in a series of posts about the Doubletree Times Square.

One of the best things about having a suite, such as this one at the Doubletree Times Square, is not only the extra room but the fact it makes a hotel room feel more like a home. How welcoming it is to open a door into a living room. The added plus is the separate living room means the bed is no longer the only focus point to sit down.

I love the efficiency with which the living rooms is appointed. A large picture window floods natural daylight into the room. A huge mirror on the opposite of the room reflects the light back into the room. The sofa and armchair with coffee tables facing a large flat-screen television completes the living room feel. The room doubles as an office with a two-tiered pull out desk that offers a decent work space area.  I like there's a ceiling lamp above the desk so it offers some kinda of central lighting fixture.

The bar sink and counter holds a coffee maker on top and below is the microwave and room safe. It's a nice touch the hotel supplies paper towels. For those that care to use them and hopefully clean them is the ice bucket and glass cups.

The cabinet below the television is the room bar and a set of three drawers. This storage space perfect for guests who'll be using the sofa bed. Speaking of those sleeping in the living room, a separate door leads to the bathroom so as not to disturb those in the bedroom.

By the way I'm not a video game player but there is a piece of equipment for those who enjoy gaming on hotel television during their vacation.

Beside the room entry door is the bar sink, coffee maker and hidden
below a microwave and safe.

Guests sleeping in the on the sofa bed have their own door to the bathroom.

Counter space and a bar sink in the living room.

The cabinet below the television has drawers and the room bar.

The two-tiered pull-out desk includes a desk lamp and drawer.
(photos: TheHopefulTraveler)

In Other Words, Do Not Disturb

(photo: TheHopefulTraveler)

This sign does say "Do Not Disturb" but the emphasis is on "Later, Please". One the view door signs to have a photograph, albeit of only the top of someone's head. From the Doubletree Suites Times Square.