Scott S.
Yelp
W Hoboken reminds me of Titanic (the movie, not the ship!). You know the scenes where they show the wreckage of what it is now and then flash back to how beautiful and grand it was once upon a time. I can almost picture a majestic scene, circa 2009, where a hedge fund tycoon in his Patagonia vest and Gucci loafers looks at his young, indifferent fiance and says, "You can be blase about somethings, Rose, but not about W Hoboken".
If for whatever reason you're not a James Cameron fan (maybe you couldn't forgive him for Avatar), it feels like walking into a place that you know in the words of Johnny Lawrence, was once badass, but now it's just sad. Kind of like walking into an Atlantic City hotel (before the remodels) or for my kosher comrades, going back to the Borscht Belt.
And it's true, Johnny Lawrence was right. W Hoboken was once badass, but now it feels like a place you wouldn't even want to sit in a room with a case of Coors Banquets. Hash Brown (#) fall from grace.
I had the pleasure of living right next to W Hoboken as it was being built, and although the noise wasn't fun and i lost my view, it was really an awesome place. So much hype about the W residences, opening night with Jamie Foxx performing, always walking by it and smelling the spa, and of course, the large tinted SUVs always in front. Even larger fellows with dark suits and sunglasses serving as gatekeepers.
But wow, they don't build things like they used to. Well, I guess they thought titanic was unsinkable, I thought the W would just be awesome for a long time. Solid concrete and steel construction, how can it not be?
Well, I stayed in the hotel for the first time and I'm not even going to say something like, oh it wasn't worth the price. Because it's just not worth going to period. If I won my ticket to W Hoboken through a lucky hand at cards, I'd trade it in for Marriott points and stay somewhere else. This is the '93 Caravan that Johnny Lawrence tells Ali is his car. The hotel is just old, worn down, beaten up. Dated. A relic of a bygone era. Doesn't even feel that clean. Not only the rooms, but the hallways, the elevators. Doesn't feel fresh. It feels like one of those 40 year old hotels you stay at when your company doesn't have a very good travel policy. But it's not. It's only 11 or 12 years old or so.
It's disappointing and upsetting because it used to be something great in one of the coolest towns in our country. Cobra Kai is truly a story of redemption, and Titanic has its life lessons too, but pretend your reservation to W Hoboken is like the heart of the ocean and throw it into the Hudson.