Hotel Riu Plaza Manhattan Times Square

Upon check in no one told me that in order to turn on the AC/electricity in the room your key card must be inserted at all times. Upon learning this, we decided to leave the key in while we were out. We were gone for hours and returned to find our room was 80 degrees. Called the front desk and they sent someone up to help fix the issue, they were in and out a few times but the room never cooled. The front desk let us know if we packed up all our stuff and took it down the next morning, when a new room was available they would take our stuff up for us. The next morning we did just that, waited 30 min for an elevator that never came, seemed like only 1 out of 3 elevators was working. Had to leave our luggage in the room and take the stairs from the 7th floor down to the lobby. We spoke with a woman who claimed she was one of the managers about our issues and she explained that the elevators take long because they use one to take people up to the 5th floor for breakfast, breakfast was included in our reservations but we never attempted to go because you have to go check in on the 1st floor and they take you up to the 5th floor with a special key card, line was always long. I let the manager know I wanted a key card left in the room they switched us into so the ac could be left on and she acted like that was too big an ask. I have 3 children, I could not walk into a hot room again. The new room temperature never got below 72. Worst experience. Never staying here again.

We have been very comfortable; the hotel is fantastic and the staff is super attentive. The room was spacious; even though there were 4 adults, we did not feel a lack of space, and the beds were very comfortable. The buffet breakfast was fabulous; they have everything very well organized, and we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a table any day, with a wide variety of quality food. We stayed for 5 nights in July, and if we return to New York, this hotel will undoubtedly be our first choice. It is literally two blocks from Times Square.