The Good: Good room size, Some nice amenities, Friendly staff
The Bad: Difficult to find, Uninspired breakfast
The Basics: The Comfort Inn Edgewater underwhelmed me on breakfast and finding the place, but it remains a decent, affordable option swimming distance from New York City!
There are only a few rules I have for traveling anymore: I stick to my chain for lodging (Choice Hotels, which are pretty much everywhere in the United States) and I don't stay anywhere with my new partner that I've been with a prior partner. So, when my partner and I were planning our trip to New York City as my gift to my fiance, when it came time to find a place to stay, some of my less-expensive options were immediately eliminated. After all, I could not stay at the Comfort Inn & Suites Airport in Maspeth (reviewed here!); that's where I stayed on my last adventure to the City and that certainly violated my second travel tenant. The only other place I knew that was close to New York City from experience was over in New Jersey in the Meadowlands, the Quality Inn there (reviewed here!) and when I reread my review of that hotel, I knew we would not be staying there.
So, I set to exploring the Choice Hotels website and I quickly discovered something about staying in New York City; it's never cheap (even in the middle of winter) and there are often unmentioned additional costs associated with staying on the island, namely parking is seldom included in the price of the hotel stay. So, faced with violating my second rule and returning to Maspeth and staying in New Jersey, I began a serious hunt of Choice Hotels right over the bridges and tunnels in New Jersey. That was how I found the Comfort Inn in Edgewater, New Jersey, a hotel I spent four consecutive nights at for the last few days of February and the first few days of March.
Location
The Comfort Inn Edgewater is an annoying mix of convenience and difficulty as far as the location goes. The convenient aspect is that it is located just south of the George Washington Bridge, less than five miles. The last possible exit on the expressway before hitting the toll booths for the George Washington Bridge veers south to Edgewater on River Road, which is where the Comfort Inn Edgewater is.
The Comfort Inn Edgewater is located at 725 River Road in Edgewater, NJ. This is Choice Hotels #NJ082 (that number can make things easy when making a reservation online or over the telephone). What is nice about the location is that Edgewater is just over a bridge to one of the easiest access points to all of New York City. Staying in New Jersey makes a big difference; room rates drop on average one hundred dollars a night for being in Edgewater as opposed to Manhattan. That does not even factor in the parking fee most hotels in New York City add in and that can be the difference between going to New York City for a few days and having money to do anything in New York City while there!
Moreover, Edgewater, New Jersey is actually a fairly nice area as far as that goes. The Comfort Inn Edgewater is located right near a shopping plaza right on the river. That shopping plaza is adjacent to other shopping plazas that are well-lit and have recognizable stores like Target and Barnes & Noble. Why, then, does this location get bad marks from me? It's simple; finding the Comfort Inn Edgewater is a Herculean task, especially at night. Armed with precise directions, driving down River Road, my fiance and I drove by the access point to the hotel twice before we saw the appropriate sign on the third pass. The only way we knew we missed the hotel was that the numbers were off (and later, River Road turned into another street). The problem is that the Comfort Inn Edgewater is not only set back behind several buildings, but it is set back behind buildings and the only sign for it is under several signs for stores in a strip mall a quarter mile away AND that sign is unlit at night! Even during the day, the Comfort Inn sign, which is so far away from the main building, is basically a banner hanging beneath ads for the jewelry store and sushi place, so it's hard to see.
There are no "grounds" for the Comfort Inn Edgewater to speak of, only a parking lot. The parking lot is big and continues into the parking lot for the nearby strip mall. Out back is a little patch of grass which separates the hotel from the river. This is clearly intended to be a hotel one stays at while going to the City or elsewhere for fun and entertainment, it is not a resort location by any means.
As Choice Privileges members, we were upgraded for free to one of the King bed rooms in the V.I.P. Wing, which amused both my partner and I, but we got a bigger room with a patio, so we weren't about to complain or mock it in any way. The room had a king bed, nonsmoking, and was $132.99 per night ($152.94 after the three various taxes) and given that we ended up in the best rooms this hotel had to offer, it didn't seem bad at all. The V.I.P. wing was generally quiet (though we could hear our neighbor's hotel at odd hours, just as I'm sure he could hear our . . . noise) and the Comfort Inn Edgewater had a feeling of safety, if not luxury. From the second of the hotel's two floors, we were able to see our car in the parking lot, not the river or most of the New York City skyline.
Room Size
Checking in at the Comfort Inn Edgewater was easy and the staff was both friendly and knowledgeable, even late at night, which is when we arrived the first time. We found our room, which was at the furthest point from the front desk (we actually liked that) without any problem. The room was over seventeen feet wide, extending back at thirty feet from the doorway. The room included a bathroom with adjacent powder room and opened into the bedroom which had a desk, chair and workspace. At the far end of the room from the door was the sliding glass door that opened onto the balcony. The balcony had a small table, two chairs and an umbrella and was separated from our neighbor's balcony by a metal divider.
Like virtually all hotels these days, the door opens with a key card, with the door swinging inward. The door has both a chain and a deadbolt, making the occupant feel quite secure indeed. Upon entering the room, to the immediate right was the powder room and open closet (basically a bar with hangers to hang clothing and coats on) and the door to the bathroom. Taking three steps in puts the visitor in the bedroom and while the king-sized bed dominated the room immediately, when one walked around it, there was plenty of space.
Cleanliness
One of the superlative qualities of the Comfort Inn Edgewater has to be its cleanliness. The ideal hotel (to me) always lacks the sense that anyone else has ever occupied the rooms. The room I stayed in perfectly lived up to this expectation. Everything was clean, though there was the sense that the room had not always been a nonsmoking one, perhaps the lingering odor in the wallpaper. And while the room was perfectly clean, the wallpaper in the hallway was scuffed and dirty at a few points, even in the V.I.P. wing. As well, the hallways were underlit compared to the lobby and rooms. One of the first things I do in every hotel is flush the toilet (years on the road taught me that this is a good idea!). The Comfort Inn Edgewater passed the first flush test with as much ease as it passed my partner's bed-jumping test (my fiance jumps on the bed at every hotel we stay at for the stated reason of testing the hotel's fun).
All of the linens were fresh, soft and wonderful. There were plenty of linens available in the room for multiple trips to the shower without having to call the front desk. As far as the bedding goes, the Comfort Inn Edgewater appeals to environmentalist by providing an option to have the beds simply made up as opposed to stripped and cleaned each and every day. My partner and I took advantage of the service both ways (depending on the day) and it is clear that the hotel honors the "change linens" and "make bed" options equally.
The dining area was kept clean and that was no mean task considering that there was coffee and tea available in the dining area at all hours of the night. Our room did not have a microwave or refrigerator (truth be told, it was cold enough in our car's trunk to keep the spanikopita we brought refrigerated), but we used the dining area's microwave at various points and it was kept clean. Generally, the walls and rugs were clean.
All of the mirrors in the room were spotless as well and as the room had additional lights over in the powder room, it was quite easy to see.
Amenities
As a vacation hotel, the amenities were important to me and unfortunately, this is what dragged the hotel down into average territory. First, there was no upgrade option that would have afforded us a whirlpool and to the best of my knowledge, this hotel did not have one. As well, there was a pool somewhere in the hotel, but I never found it (to be fair, my partner and I spent most of our time in the City or in our room).
On the plus side, the bathroom did not feel claustrophobic at all and it had a decent sized tub and shower. The adjacent powder room has a memorably nice paneled mirror and there was plenty of room for two people to move around one another in it.
The television had less than fifty stations and there was the option of on-demand movies. Come to think of it, we never figured out what the keyboard on the television went to . . . The desk and other furniture was near the foot of the bed, but the room still did not feel confined. There were nightstands on either side of the bed. There was no microwave in the room, but there was one in the lobby's dining room (where one would get breakfast).
But breakfast, though, was a bit of a disappointment. While there were restaurants in the area, the free breakfast provided by the Comfort Inn was one of the most uninspired in the entire chain. Primarily grains and carbohydrates, breakfast included bagels, make-your-own waffles, a choice of four types of danish and a choice of two types of muffins. There were no cereals, nor oatmeal choices. There was a choice of cranberry or orange juice, milk, coffee, or tea. My partner partook of the hard-boiled eggs (one morning, one of them was not boiled enough!) and there were apples and oranges as well. For a free continental breakfast, this was underwhelming, especially compared to the places we usually stay. For those inclined to eat in the breakfast nook, there were only four tables and chairs, two designed for couples, two for four people.
There was an air conditioner in our room, which we did not use (as it was March). It also served as a heater, but I noticed the room never got excessively warm, which just encouraged us to stay under the covers. The lobby had a public internet terminal and that was a nice touch.
Overall
This hotel offers the price-conscious consumer a decent option right outside New York City and I am sure in the summer, sitting out on the balcony would be fun, but for the most part, this is just a decent place to crash right outside one of the biggest cities in the world.
For other hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Sleep Inn O'Fallon - O'Fallon, IL
Comfort Inn Independence - Independence, OH
Comfort Suites Lakeside - Houghton Lake, MI
6.5/10
For other hotel or travel reviews, please be sure to visit my Travel Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the hotel reviews I have written!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment