7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Stay at the Dream Midtown, a Hyatt Hotel in New York

There are numerous hotels you can choose from in New York City. In fact, there are so many that it can feel overwhelming. Let me help you out by winnowing down your choices by 1.

I’d like to let you avoid the letdown that is the Dream Midtown. From a lack of upkeep to a disappointing breakfast and paltry internet speeds, the hotel was a disappointment in many ways. Plus, the service was anything but stellar on a recent 2-night stay my wife and I had here before heading off to Europe.

Here are 7 reasons why I think this hotel doesn’t deserve a Category 6 ranking and doesn’t merit a stay when you head to New York City.

1. The Hotel Needs a Refresh

Let’s start with the most blunt criticism: Dream Midtown needs upkeep badly. But it would be even better served by a renovation. Loose carpet at the edge of the wall was a recurring theme, as were stains on wood paneling and other touch points throughout the hotel.

The loose spots and tears in the wallpaper in our room were everywhere. On top of that, the window curtain had a rough combination of fading, stains from too many hands touching it, and frayed edges.

Some parts of the hotel looked nicer than others, but the maintenance it needed was more than a vacuum and dust rag could provide. That’s daily cleaning. The Dream Midtown needs a facelift. The hotel opened in 2004, and I can’t tell if any upkeep has been done since then. Just being honest.

2. The Rooms Lack Basic Features

I found the rooms at Dream Midtown to be smaller than what other hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn typically offer. But that isn’t the issue I’m bringing up for this point. The real issue is that the rooms lacked basic features. For reference, we stayed in a Bronze room, which is the hotel’s most basic room type.

I’m not talking about would-be-nice-to-have elements, either. I didn’t wish that the hotel had universal outlets, wireless charging points, or other modern touches. No, I found myself wishing the hotel had space to put my toothbrush and deodorant in the bathroom.

And there was no bar, rack, hook, or anything else you might imagine to hang hand towels in the bathroom. After drying my hands, I put the towel … where? These were basic elements of any bathroom that the hotel lacked.

3. It Was Too Noisy

Are you a light sleeper like my wife? Get ready to not sleep well if you stay here. Despite our room being on the seventh floor, we heard constant noise from the street level outside. I can’t imagine what it would have been like on lower floors, though the Yelp reviews indicate the noise is quite bad.

Plus, we heard every footstep in the hallway and the bing of the elevator just outside our room. The room seemed to lack any type of soundproofing, and my wife woke up constantly both nights. I managed to sleep through about 75% of the noise. At check-in, the friendly desk agent mentioned we were getting a room on a higher floor because of my World of Hyatt Globalist status, but putting us right across from the elevator made no sense for planning guest arrivals.

4. Got Dietary Restrictions? Sorry, You’re Out of Luck.

As I’m a Globalist, we received vouchers for a free breakfast each morning at the Serafina restaurant, which was next door but possible to access from the hotel. A door in the lobby led directly into the restaurant.

New York City is world-famous for its restaurants and diversity, including quality food for people with all types of allergies and dietary restrictions. No matter your limitation, you can find something delicious in New York City. But you wouldn’t know that from the menu at Serafina.

In 2024, in a city with world-renowned vegan options, our breakfast was a plain bagel. I wish I were kidding. The fact that restaurants up and down the same block were teeming with vegan breakfasts while Serafina simply offered absolutely nothing meant to me that it was an intentional choice. We even attempted to customize the avocado toast to make it vegan, until the waiter told us that the bread was soaked in butter and that nothing on the menu could be made vegan. We asked twice to be sure he wasn’t kidding.

If you are vegan or have allergies to dairy or gluten, Serafina has decided that offering something for you isn’t a priority. That’s despite this city being famous for giving you what Serafina can’t be bothered to offer.

5. Wi-Fi Speeds Were Impressively Bad

If New York is the city that never sleeps, then the Wi-Fi at Dream Midtown was sleepwalking. These speeds were a constant issue when we tried to watch YouTube videos about tourist sites and travel tips while preparing for our upcoming trip to Europe.

6. Service Was Bad

I will highlight one solid element of service before moving into several issues. At check-in, the lone agent working the desk was very friendly and did a good job of explaining the breakfast hours, where to find our room, and other details.

However, he was working the reception desk alone while roughly 10 families (including my wife and I) were in line trying to check in. The line crawled, especially considering the language barriers with some of these families. There needed to be additional employees at the desk at 4 p.m. on a Saturday.

But other elements of service also missed the mark. Our reservation clearly stated that there were 2 people, but we had 1 robe and 1 towel in our room when we arrived. We had to ask for another towel, which indicated poor planning by staff.

On our day of departure, I stopped by the front desk to ask if we could have a late checkout of 2 p.m. — and I specifically stated our room number. Without batting an eye, the desk agent said that we’d have to pay half a day’s room rate for staying in the room this late.

“Even with my Globalist status?” I asked.

“Oh, well, you didn’t tell me that,” he responded.

“You didn’t ask.”

Rather than acting like I was bothering him and responding before he knew the context of my question, the employee should’ve looked at our room information or asked a clarifying question before trying to pretend it was my fault he gave an ill-informed response.

This same employee conducted our checkout, if you can call it that. My wife was having coffee with a friend, so I rolled our luggage down to the desk and spoke with a friendly bellhop who asked if we needed a hand getting a taxi. Instead, I told him we wanted to leave our luggage until later, given that our flight departed at nearly midnight.

The employee at the desk shouted across the lobby at me to ask my room number. He then yelled at me again that we were checked out and that an email receipt was on the way.

I walked over to hand him our key cards, and he could barely be bothered to look up from what he was doing to take them from me. Whatever he was doing on the computer seemed way more important than customer service.

“Gruff” would describe my 2 interactions with him. Forget about asking, “How was your stay?”

7. There Are Better Hotels Nearby

If you’ve read this far, you’ve realized I don’t have a good opinion of the Dream Midtown. However, you might be thinking, “It’s near where I want to be.” I’ll tell you that you can have better in the same vicinity — including 2 Category 6 properties from World of Hyatt.

Just 2 blocks away, you’ll find Thompson Central Park New York. This hotel underwent a massive renovation and reopened in November 2021. You can use the same number of World of Hyatt points to stay here as you would use at Dream Midtown, and everything inside should be newer.

You’ll find The Time New York 6 blocks south of Dream Midtown. This property opened in 2023 and offers points and cash rates similar to the Dream Midtown.

You can reserve both properties at the same hotel category as the Dream Midtown. Both are much newer inside and should provide a better stay in the same area.

Final Thoughts

I could only recommend staying at Dream Midtown if you are absolutely desperate to check Dream Hotels off your Hyatt Brand Explorer chart but can’t make it to Los Angeles, Miami, or Nashville anytime in the foreseeable future. We wound up here to get credit for this brand while being in Midtown Manhattan, but nearly every aspect of the stay was a letdown.

You’ll be better served staying elsewhere when visiting New York City. And the good news is that better hotels are abundant in this city.