Swiss 1291 Hostel

once you get past the fact that it looks like you are walking into a drug addict’s apartment building this place is actually charming. it might just be the fact that i love all that east coast architecture you can’t get in cali. brick walls, parquet floors, fire escapes, the busy sounds of the city… sigh. i felt so at home here, like i lived in the center of it all (even through hurricane sandy). this place is located in mid-​town right near amazing restaurants, times square, an easy walk to broadway, opera, museums, galleries, central park, and i can’t leave out the soup guy! love love loved this place.
i stayed in a two bed studio fully equipped with a kitchen and private bathroom. the price for two nights stay was 178.00. that is equivalent to staying one night ant a hotel here in Manhattan! the people who work here are really sweet and accommodating. eddie was kind and made me feel very welcomed.
i have absolutely no complaints about this stay. and reading some of the other reviews all i have to say is, hello, this is a hostel people! its not the waldorf astoria. considering all the hostels i have stayed in this was the best!

Ok — so New York accommodations ain’t cheap and the price point at 1291 lured us in, but in retrospect I think we’d have been better off paying more for a better place.
The suite, in short, was broken down. Stove didn’t work, Fridge barely worked and apparently never got cleaned — a freezerburned chicken part was our surprise gift. Beds were hard, thin mattresses. Beat up plaster walls patched with ductape and painted over. The place was quite filthy, and while we didn’t find bedbugs, we became quite paranoid about finding them here. Linens/​towels were threadbare and not clean — we had to walk back to the office (one block away) and get all new.
On the upside, the suites were pretty five-​star when compared to the hostel side of the business. The suites also a nice (big) size and the location is generally pretty decent walking distance from Columbus Circle and Times Square. There’s a great 24 grocery store ½ bock away that offers a great selection for the budget traveler to DIY (shame the suite’s stove and fridge didn’t work though!).
Amazingly, they had a ‘rule’ about no alcohol in the suites — pardon me?
Fortunately, the 24 grocery stocks cold beer, so I didn’t have to worry about some room cleaner finding a few bottles of beer in the fridge –not that anyone was cleaning the rooms or the fridge would keep beer cold anyway.
Bottom line, recommended if budget concerns supersede hygiene.

UGH. If you are gonna stay here, ask for an apartment room. We walked in to the hostel room and nearly puked. They upgraded us to the apartment which is a big studio. Its a good size with 2 beds, kitchen and bathroom. Its pretty clean, except we stayed for 9 nights and they gave us no fresh sheets, no extra garbage bags and no fresh towels throughout our entire stay. PLUS, at the beginning of our trip, we were taking a nap in our nighties and two maintenance guys just walk in even though we yelled at them through the door to WAIT when they knocked. Then they stood there creepily staring at us when we told them to come back later. PLUS, the lady running it feels like she can just walk in whenever she wants. She also made us pack up all our belongings and straighten out the room because the landlord wanted to come and «look at it». Wtf? Right now? She didnt even give us notice. She just shows up! Location is convenient. Ten min walk to Times Square, 5 min walk to Central Park, a short walk to plenty of pubs and clubs around, including McGees across the road. The doors the get into the place are complicated and the elevator is scary. Not to mention, you arent supposed to have alcohol in your room. Really? In the city the never sleeps? I dont think so. Ridiculous.
Overall, if you are gonna stay here, request an apartment. Request extra sheets and towels and trash bags. Take the stairs. And… If you get time, climb (steathily) onto the roof with a couple beers and enjoy a reasonable view. Just dont fall.

If there was a way to give this place 0 stars I would. Words can not describe how awful of an experience this was. First of all when I couldn’t find the place because the name listed online is not the name they use on anything else. Then I go to check in and they tell me that there is a $ 20 key deposit and they charge an extra 5% if you pay with your credit card. When I ask where the closest atm was they told me that it was 2 blocks away (lie I discovered later it was on the corner) and they wouldn’t hold my bags so that I could go get the money. So rude. Once I paid (using my credit cars because I didn’t want to drag my suitcases up a flight of stairs and trip blocks over) I am then escorted almost 2 blocks away to my room. Being that it is a hostel I didn’t expect much so the accommodation were fine until I realized that I had to completely spaz out to get the minimum cleaning services like the overflowing trash taken out. My room also doubled as a supply storage closet so multiple staff members were in and out and everytime I asked about getting the trash taken out I was told they would send someone over. Someone didn’t come until 3 days later. then it comes time to check out and I get to the office and no one is there so I call the posted number only to have Chris tell me that he is asleep and I can leave the key but I won’t get my deposit back. When I checked in I was told that the only way to forfeit the deposit is to check out late (after 11). I told the clerk that I would be checking out really early because I had an early flight and was told it would be no problem. I also told them when my friend checked in and was again told no problem. When I relayed this information to Chris he basically called me a liar and told me that he wasn’t getting there until 8 so if I wanted to check out then I could get my deposit back otherwise I should have checked out the night before. I advise no one ever stay here unless you like to be screwed in a dirty room.

Pretty nice, clean and safe, though the bathroom ceiling leaked (It was pouring in New York when I arrived) and the en suite shower didn’t work. Yet and still, the room was cozy and nice, and there was another bathroom complete with shower next door Staff were Swiss and very nice, they gave me nice tips for my trip to Zurich next month, and kept my laptop locked up and safe It was very well located in Midtown, and it was quite affordable, with nice bars, restaurants and shopping located all around. Will definitely consider staying there again when next I am in NYC.