Nice, Clean Holiday Inn - Friendly staff
We stayed from Thurs Feb 17 to Mon 20th 2012 over President's Day weekend. We booked 2 rooms online found through a Travelzoo.com 40% off deal as the hotel was new. At the time we booked this there was only one trip advisor ad online for it (and I think even that was for the wrong hotel) so we took a bit of a chance on it, plus we'd never been to New York so didn't know the neighborhood even though we wanted to stay Midtown. We were not disapointed. 
We were very pleased with the hotel. Every staff person we came in contact with was very friendly. The hotel, was new & clean. Our rooms were spotlessly cleaned daily. 
We had a king room, & our 3 teenage sons had the double room next door. The double rooms have a small fridge and microwave. We were on the third floor above the street and could not hear city noise - great windows kept sound out. The windows did open a crack too, which was nice for fresh air & city noise when you wanted it. 
A few things to know: there's free wifi, the ice & pop machine are in the basement. There is a restaurant on site, which we didn't try. There's a convenience store 1/2 a block up towards with Ave and a CVS on the corner of 5th Ave & 34th street if you need any incidentals, snacks or drinks for the room. 
It was a good location for a family trip, a couple blocks from the subway (Penn station) and withing a 10-15 block walk to Rockerfeller Centre & Time Square. With lots of stuff to see along the way on 5th, 6th or 7th street. 
One thing to note, At night I found the walk from 7th or 6th along 31st to the hotel a bit dark & sometimes a little too quiet...so if I was solo female traveling I'd either cross to 5th on a busier street up closer to time square if coming from there (or take a cab at night). I wouldn't be nervous of the walk from 5th to the hotel at night. At no point in our trip was I nervous though, but wasn't traveling solo. At night the outside the hotel is well lit & has a fun green glow from the holiday inn signs. 31st street was a fun street through the day, lots of stuff to see and people watch if you get a window out front. 
We would stay here again, especially at that price. Expect a simple, clean modern hotel without a lot of bells and whistles but with free wifi, fridges & microwaves in the double rooms and LCD TV's. The beds are comfortable & they allow up to 4 in a room. Note: this hotel doesn't have connecting rooms but will strive to put you side by side. The bathroom products, shampoo conditioner, lotion & soap had a nice, pleasant smell and was higher quality that I expected.