Travel Network

So I stayed here in April 2023 and the location was selected due to proximity to local offices and there are a handful of restaurants nearby but typically you need to organize a hotel shuttle transfer or catch an uber to visit them. This 3 star Marriott property is located out in New Jersey halfway between Parsippany-Troy Hills, Denville and Mountain Lakes. The hotel is 28 miles or about 35 minutes in an uber from Newark Liberty International Airport and about 35 miles from Manhattan, NYC. The 3 story property is fairly well laid out but during the stay one of the lifts failed so you had to walk to the other side of the property if you wanted to use the lift instead of the fire stairs.

The property has a small onsite store that stocks plenty of comfort items such as lays chips, Doritos, Cheetos, Hershey’s chocolates, Twix, snickers, Cheez-its, Clif bars, ritz bits, planters peanuts, pringles, cup noodles, cereal. This is also important to note as breakfast wasn’t included in the rate so if you don’t like the limited options from the hotel bar the cereal or protein bars might be a decent option to start your day.

Their store also has plenty of softdrinks, water, ice team, juice, Lean Cuisine Chicken, Mac & Cheese, Hot Pockets and even Häagen-Dazs ice-cream. This is great for travellers who are suffering from jetlag and need something to snack on when the onsite bar is closed. There are microwaves in the hotel shop but also more microwaves next to the ice machines on each floor.

It’s also great to see the hotel has stocked basic medical items such as Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, DayQuil, NyQuil, Crest Mouthwash, Benadryl, Emergen-C and Band-aid as there are no shops nearby. This is important as recently at a stay at DoubleTree by Hilton Royal Parc Soestduinen in The Netherlands my wife had a migraine during the night but there was no options until the shops opened at the train station in town.

The venue has a small bar area that does a handful of food choices for lunch/dinner and breakfast but it’s not too extensive and is a little expensive. But don’t worry you can get Starbucks coffee if you need a caffeine hit. There are plenty of couches to relax in the hotel lobby but also several lounge chairs outside to enjoy a drink on a warm sunny day.

The gym facilities are reasonable and modern compared to the hotel rooms and there is a 4x4m swimming pool to relax in but sadly the jacuzzi was out of order. I didn’t try the pool but it would be a good option after a busy day in the office or a workout in the gym.

The hotel is a 3 story hotel that was reasonably quite and didn’t hear much noise from the other rooms but there was issues with the lifts when I stayed so you had to walk to the other end of the hotel building to use the lift. On each floor there was an ice machine and a small microwave to heat up snacks purchased in the hotel shop such mac n cheese.

It was a reasonable sized room but slightly dated bathroom and I found the bed a bit uncomfortable to get a good nights sleep with but that could also have been jetlag. The sink was in a weird place between the living room and the bathroom and had carpet which didn’t really seem like a great idea. There was a small fridge in the room which was good for keeping the leftovers you seem to get given to take home for later after eating in any American restaurant.

There was a good sized desk area with an extendable desk and a reasonable amount of lighting. The LG smart TV was slightly older but still smart so you could watch Netflix, Prime etc but smaller compared to most Marriott properties but still was good for watching from the bed. The bed was a decent size but again not the most comfortable bed or pillows I’ve slept with. The bathroom was slightly dated but decent water pressure for the toilet but sadly less water pressure for the shower. Still a decent enough shower but could have been a bit better, towels were soft enough which makes a difference.

There was only 1 small complimentary bottle of water which usually there are atleast 2 bottles of water, it seems more and more Marriott properties are reducing the benefits offered to Marriott Rewards members.

There was a reasonable amount of powerpoints around the hotel room but sadly no USB charging ports and you need to remember to pack a US plug convertor. I really dislike the US plugs and find they often fall out without too much effort. The room had no in-room safe which was a surprise but not as much as inhabit southwark where the safe was loose and not bolted to the floor.

Overall the property is good value for money, good location for meetings in the Parsippany area and there is a large Walmart about 15 minutes drive away at Cedar Knolls Plaza if you need to do some gift shopping. But yes reasonable hotel location and if you want a good range of restaurants it’s a short drive to Morristown which also has NJ Transit trains into Manhattan but given an option I would say I prefer the Hanover Marriott.