West End Studios

5 stars based on more than 5 times staying here (most recent stay was March 2011).
It looks as though they are now a standard hotel and not a hostel. Hope that’s not the case, or if so, they haven’t jacked up the rates. Their website will no longer allow reservations and they show up on
.

I went there with my sister and it was fine for a place to crash at night. The upper west side is a great neighborhood and the hotel is close to the 1,2 &3. There are 2 or 3 bathrooms per floor but for $ 299 for 3 days you can’t expect the Ritz. Oh and the Wi-​Fi only works in the loby.

I have to agree with Amanda, the advertised AC in every room is NOT TRUE. However, my story is rather different so let me explain.
My boyfriend and I came up to NYC from DC for the weekend and decided to stay at the Continental Hostel, about five blocks away from the West End Studios. We had booked a private room with twin beds, as the Continental was out of queen beds. However, the check-​in dude was cool and offered us a queen bed, just in another hostel by the name of West End Studios. He called over to verify they had room for us, and off we went.
The receptionist at West End was also equally courteous. But here’s where I made a rookie mistake. She offered to show us the room before we paid, since there were absolutely positively no refunds. Since it was almost midnight, insanely hot, and the elevator was broken (our proposed room was on the fifth floor) my boyfriend and I declined. I mean, it’s a hostel, we weren’t expecting luxury. Stupid stupid stupid. Of course we got up to the room, and had one of the rooms without an AC unit. Not even a freaking fan. It felt like the fourth circle of hell in there.
Since we stupidly declined to look at the room before we paid (and who knows if they even had another room for us) we didn’t complain or ask to be switched. Instead, we just slept on wet towels.
Other than the horrible heat of the room, West End Studios was fine if you don’t plan on hanging out at the hostel all the time. And frankly, why would you do that when you are in NYC? The location was good, very close to the subway, and plenty of little restaurants and bars all one or two blocks away.
I would consider coming back, but maybe not in the summer.

Wassup Ilya! That was my West End Studio roomie for two nights when I stayed up in this joint. Good times, good laughs — just had to give my German homeskillet a one-​love shout out seeing as how we shared a bunkbed.
Yeah, a bunkbed. I’m 29, probably a little past the whole backpacking, living with one change of underwear and a t-​shirt lifestyle, but I’m not too old to be on a budget. So that’s how I ended up at this place.
This was actually the first time I stayed in a hostel. With all the traveling and studying abroad I did when I was younger, I never once stayed in a hostel, so this was my first experience. Yeah, I was on a budget, but I felt I should at least get the experience. Plus, come on, I don’t think I’ll ever be too old to slum it.
Not that this place was a slum at all. Way upper west side, by Columbia U. The west side reminds me a lot of some Chicago neighborhoods and so I liked it. Whatever, east village and all the cool stuff isn’t that far. It’s all relative.
I was the only American staying there I think, but that was cool… and I guess expected. WiFi available, but you have to pay for it, just like everything else in New York.
Shared bathrooms… whatever, if you’re me, you can get over it. It’s a bathroom! People are trying to get clean just like you, so there can’t be too much to worry about. So everything’s wet — big deal. It was probably water anyways.
So I guess 3 stars just because it was a little dirty, elevator broke, and a little off the beaten path… and to be honest, the dude who checked me in — he must’ve had a bad day with all the foreigners or something, because he didn’t receive me all too nicely. Come on, I was the only one who wasn’t foreign, tried not to act all «lost, please help me in this big-​ass city because I didn’t come prepared at all and was just going to rely on strange people to help me anyways like they do in Joor-​up,» and he still was kind of lame. So that’s why 3 stars.
Would I stay there again, though? Yes. Just because you meet people like Ilya and will remember those experiences probably for some time to come. Lord knows he’ll remember his sweet bunkmate from Chicago — I’m awesome.

This hotel with shared bath facilities is marketed as hip and urban. In reality, it’s more of a hostel and it is pretty awful. I’ve given it a 2 instead of a 1 because you won’t find cheaper accommodation anywhere in New York and, as long as you’re pre-​warned and don’t believe the hype at
, it’s okay.
Where to start? The building is 1 block over from Broadway, near 110^th street station so you’re only 10 minutes away from anything. It needs a lot of work. There are many layers of paint on the walls, all of which is chipped. The carpets are filthy and I refused to walk on them in my bare feet. The bedding, thankfully, was clean but that was the only thing that was.
Our room was 120 degrees and there was no way of turning the ancient radiator down. Instead, we had our window open the whole time so the room was only semi-​stifling. Having dealt with the temperature in the room we were dismayed to find that our radiator knocked, banged and hissed all night long. We had a toilet and sink in our room but I was frightened to use it — the carpet dipped rather worringly just in front of the toilet so I was worried that the bathroom was going to end up on the floor below at some point.
I seemed to be one of the last people to use the shared bathroom on our first morning and that was a huge mistake. It was absolutely filthy by the time I got there and I hunted around until I found cleaning supplies. The following mornings I made a point of being the first in there so it was fine.
Our expectations of the West End Studios were low but we knew we would be out from 9am to late so weren’t fussed about amenities. I didn’t mind the basic or dilapidated rooms but it could have been a lot cleaner — I’ve since seen some horrendous pictures on Tripadvisor of people’s bed bug bites after their stay at the studios although we didn’t experience any problems.
New York is a city where you truly get what you pay for and we paid $ 136 (total) for a double room for 4 nights so we can hardly complain that it wasn’t 4 star.

I stayed here for a week when my boyfriend came to NY, and I was surprised at how decent it was for the price. If your looking for one of the cheapest deals in NY then this is a go, We stayed here for a week for just $ 650.
It was clean, the bathrooms are shared but there are so many of them that it usually doesn’t matter. The maids clean them everyday so thier decent enough.
If its the summer you may be unhappy with the fact that some rooms don’t have acs, even thought they advertised our room had an ac it didnt, just a fan.
The room did have a fridge which was very helpful.
The area is great, it’s easy to get anywhere from here and it’s a nice neighborhood.
I would rate 4 stars but the ac thing pissed us off, as it has been a pretty warm fall.

As far as hostels go, this place was a find. (Ignore the price. It’s NYC, what are you looking for?!!) It’s about a block in a half from the nearest metro (the 1 line) and close to plenty of good diners and breakfast spots. The neighboring area isn’t all bad at night and the people are friendly.
You get a small private room with a personal sink. The bathrooms are shared but one is usually just down the hall from you.
The elevator is old and given to sticking. If you’re hardy, take the stairs.
That aside, the staff is nice and the small lobby inviting on long nights when you want to blog. (For those bringing laptops, there aren’t any three-​prong outlets in the rooms.)
Bring extra towels, and don’t expect someone to come in and clean your room. Also, the earlier you wake up, the better — if you like hot water in the shower, anyway.