A real find
Quiet, safe neighborhood on Upper West Side. Hotel is across the street from Riverside Park, sort of a mini-Central Park. Amsterdam (2 blocks east) has a night-life with nice bars/restaurants, some music and outdoor seating. There are several nice delis nearby. Caesar's Palace Pizza on Amsterdam has great hero sandwiches, pizza (including gluten free), burgers, etc., very reasonably priced. Essentials Plus on Broadway has snacks, some groceries, toiletries, etc. which was a life saver. Make sure to get to Zabar's on Broadway (zabars.com). Bus goes by the hotel and #1 subway is on 79th/Broadway. Staff was very friendly and helpful. There is no internet in the rooms but there is a large, pleasant common room with chairs and sofas near the front desk where you can log in. There's a printer as well. They have a locked storage room for your bags if you get in too early to check in or need to check out and pick up your bags later. We were allowed to check in at 10:00 am. Elevators are small and slow. No air in the halls or elevators, can get very stuffy in the summer. For $149 ($175 total) my son and I had a 3-person suite - two rooms connected by a simple bathroom (toilet and shower). Bring your own shampoo, conditioner, body wash and blow dryer. Each room had a TV (local channels), AC unit in the window (worked great), sink with mirror and outlets, dresser and closet with hangers. I had a double bed, his was a single with a trundle underneath. Mini fridge and microwave!! The only other comparable hotels I could find listed online were Hotel 17 ($179, Union Square) and Hotel 31 ($160, mid-town east/Grand Central). Although they both got excellent reviews, the deal breaker was no fridge/microwave and you share a bathroom with other guests. Some might like being closer to the action, but I loved being able to hop on the subway, leave the city behind and walk up a quiet (mostly residential) street to our hotel. Beds were clean, had squishable pillows, were reasonably comfortable and I slept like a rock. I heard nothing from the other rooms. We had great views of the Hudson. The rooms are quite small, and not much to look at. Some may be put off by this. To me, it's clean, safe and comfortable. I don't like it that a guy compared it to a hostel for students. NYC has lots of hostels and this is not one of them.