The Hostelz.com Review
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel is a contemporary, mid-rise hostel conveniently located on the Upper West Side (two short blocks from the One-Hundred-Third Street Station and five short blocks from the Ninety-Sixth Street Station). Central Park is within walking distance, as are a variety of top-rated (yet inexpensive) restaurants. The hostel's dark modern Asian-themed décor contributes to its low-key, uptown atmosphere.
The Broadway offers private rooms with double beds as well as traditional four-bunk hostel rooms. A substantial discount is offered for rooms booked online. At the time of this review, the only acceptable forms of payment are cash, traveler's check, or money order. The guest room pros slightly outweigh the cons. The rooms have contemporary Asian-style furniture (dressers, nightstands, bedside lamps, and bed frames) and modern paint finishes. They have crisp white linens, lots of pillows, warm blankets, and soft duvets. Each room has a radiator, a ceiling fan (but no air conditioning), and a keyed lock with deadbolt (but no chain). Private rooms have small televisions (without remotes), but the reception is terrible.
The rooms have horizontal metal blinds (some with missing links), but no draperies. And although there is plenty of drawer storage in each room, there are no closets, no shelves, no hanging hooks, no towel bars, and no toilet paper holders. There is also no lockable storage in the rooms. School-style communal wall lockers are provided on each floor (you must provide your own padlock).
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's website is rather misleading. It is billed as a "newly renovated New York City hostel," but the owners really should disclose that they are still in the midst of a major renovation. Some floors haven't been touched at all, and although those floors may not house guests, it is impossible to ignore the sounds and smells of full-blown construction (especially when you have to walk through them to get to the upper guest floors). The website further advertises "attractive amenities" such as "Ecco natural bath products" and a "hair dryer" in every room. In reality, rooms come with two miniature bars of generic, plastic-like soap and a ceiling fan (but no hair dryer).
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's worst sin is its deplorable plumbing. Toilets leak from the cisterns and the water pipes knock like jackhammers every time a sink is turned on. It is unclear whether or not the staff actually responds to complaints. We complained about our leaking toilet cistern and the staff member on duty listened with great compassion (and even took detailed notes). But after two days of waiting, it was never fixed (even housekeeping staff ignored the substantial puddle on the bathroom floor). While we were checking out, we overheard people complaining about the communal bathrooms on two separate floors.
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's ground floor common rooms are so luxurious they almost make you forget all the problems upstairs. Hit movies are played simultaneously on three large flat screen televisions which seem to float on the bare brick walls. The theater-quality surround sound system makes every seat a great seat -- especially the wide soft leatherette chairs and sofas. A large, dark wood bookshelf offers a variety of books for the studious. A pool table and kitchen area (with large refrigerator, two microwaves, and café-style seating) make for a busy, but cozy common space. There are no stovetops or ovens, but there are plenty of local restaurants offering exceptionally good cheap eats. The common area vending machines offer snacks and sodas for those who don't want to venture outside.
There are eight computers available for prepaid internet access, some with USB ports and VoIP handsets. The computers are densely packed into a dark notch of the main common area. When movies are playing, the powerfully loud sound system can make VoIP conversations difficult (and also challenge your concentration). The computers can be a bit flaky (rebooting without warning), but if you notify the reception desk they will compensate you for your lost time. The common areas -- including the internet area -- don't open until 8 a.m. each morning.
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel has a single elevator, but it is small and very slow. It is faster to use the stairs, although beware that the hostel has nine floors -- and the luggage storage area is on the fourth floor.
There are pay phones mounted in the stairway of every floor, and prepaid calling cards are available for purchase from a machine in the ground floor common area.
There is a communal bathroom on every floor (with a single shower and single toilet in each room). Miniature bar soaps and liquid soap are provided. As mentioned before, the private rooms have bar soap only (no shampoo). The bath towels, hand towels, and bathmats are replaced daily by housekeeping (who also make the beds and clean the bathrooms daily).
It is hard not to like the Broadway Hotel & Hostel, despite its serious shortcomings. The staff at the hostel is genuinely friendly and always available (although their authority and responsiveness is debatable). A full-time security guard and locked luggage storage rooms (complete with numbered luggage tags) provide a tremendous sense of safety in an often unpredictable city. The common areas are simply sumptuous and worthy of praise, but they cannot completely redeem a falsely advertised hostel with bad plumbing.
The Broadway offers private rooms with double beds as well as traditional four-bunk hostel rooms. A substantial discount is offered for rooms booked online. At the time of this review, the only acceptable forms of payment are cash, traveler's check, or money order. The guest room pros slightly outweigh the cons. The rooms have contemporary Asian-style furniture (dressers, nightstands, bedside lamps, and bed frames) and modern paint finishes. They have crisp white linens, lots of pillows, warm blankets, and soft duvets. Each room has a radiator, a ceiling fan (but no air conditioning), and a keyed lock with deadbolt (but no chain). Private rooms have small televisions (without remotes), but the reception is terrible.
The rooms have horizontal metal blinds (some with missing links), but no draperies. And although there is plenty of drawer storage in each room, there are no closets, no shelves, no hanging hooks, no towel bars, and no toilet paper holders. There is also no lockable storage in the rooms. School-style communal wall lockers are provided on each floor (you must provide your own padlock).
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's website is rather misleading. It is billed as a "newly renovated New York City hostel," but the owners really should disclose that they are still in the midst of a major renovation. Some floors haven't been touched at all, and although those floors may not house guests, it is impossible to ignore the sounds and smells of full-blown construction (especially when you have to walk through them to get to the upper guest floors). The website further advertises "attractive amenities" such as "Ecco natural bath products" and a "hair dryer" in every room. In reality, rooms come with two miniature bars of generic, plastic-like soap and a ceiling fan (but no hair dryer).
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's worst sin is its deplorable plumbing. Toilets leak from the cisterns and the water pipes knock like jackhammers every time a sink is turned on. It is unclear whether or not the staff actually responds to complaints. We complained about our leaking toilet cistern and the staff member on duty listened with great compassion (and even took detailed notes). But after two days of waiting, it was never fixed (even housekeeping staff ignored the substantial puddle on the bathroom floor). While we were checking out, we overheard people complaining about the communal bathrooms on two separate floors.
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel's ground floor common rooms are so luxurious they almost make you forget all the problems upstairs. Hit movies are played simultaneously on three large flat screen televisions which seem to float on the bare brick walls. The theater-quality surround sound system makes every seat a great seat -- especially the wide soft leatherette chairs and sofas. A large, dark wood bookshelf offers a variety of books for the studious. A pool table and kitchen area (with large refrigerator, two microwaves, and café-style seating) make for a busy, but cozy common space. There are no stovetops or ovens, but there are plenty of local restaurants offering exceptionally good cheap eats. The common area vending machines offer snacks and sodas for those who don't want to venture outside.
There are eight computers available for prepaid internet access, some with USB ports and VoIP handsets. The computers are densely packed into a dark notch of the main common area. When movies are playing, the powerfully loud sound system can make VoIP conversations difficult (and also challenge your concentration). The computers can be a bit flaky (rebooting without warning), but if you notify the reception desk they will compensate you for your lost time. The common areas -- including the internet area -- don't open until 8 a.m. each morning.
The Broadway Hotel & Hostel has a single elevator, but it is small and very slow. It is faster to use the stairs, although beware that the hostel has nine floors -- and the luggage storage area is on the fourth floor.
There are pay phones mounted in the stairway of every floor, and prepaid calling cards are available for purchase from a machine in the ground floor common area.
There is a communal bathroom on every floor (with a single shower and single toilet in each room). Miniature bar soaps and liquid soap are provided. As mentioned before, the private rooms have bar soap only (no shampoo). The bath towels, hand towels, and bathmats are replaced daily by housekeeping (who also make the beds and clean the bathrooms daily).
It is hard not to like the Broadway Hotel & Hostel, despite its serious shortcomings. The staff at the hostel is genuinely friendly and always available (although their authority and responsiveness is debatable). A full-time security guard and locked luggage storage rooms (complete with numbered luggage tags) provide a tremendous sense of safety in an often unpredictable city. The common areas are simply sumptuous and worthy of praise, but they cannot completely redeem a falsely advertised hostel with bad plumbing.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
June 2007
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Broadway Hotel & Hostel Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Least Favorite Hostel I stayed in Broadway for a conference in June 2010 and I expected it to be like all the others I had stayed at in the past. It's a very odd place, not near any of the tourist spots, on a side street. The staff weren't terribly friendly, but they weren't outright rude either. Not good at all for socializing. Everyone sits in the common room in front of the tv or computers, not saying a word to each other. The kitchen was very small for how many people they have. They've gotten in trouble for having too many people in the past. The rooms are odd, with only one bunk bed and no other furniture, with cheap Ikea decorations. No drawers, no table, just the floor to put your bags. No lockers either. The hallway bathrooms were fine, but didn't seem like enough for how many people were staying there. Not impressed. Would not go back. — Caroline , USA (2011-09-04) Not quite what the pictures make out... Well we stayed in a 4 bed dorm for 10 days when visiting New York and altho the room was very clean it is nothing like what the pictures make out!!
First of all the lift was broken when we arrived and carrying a 28kg suitcase up to the 7th floor was not much fun (or having to take the stairs everytime you left the building wasnt great!)
The bathrooms were very 'used' and kinda grungy but the main problem was that you were sharing 5 bathrooms with about 50/60 people so unless you got up at 6 in the morning you had to wait in line to get into them!
There was not much social interaction in the hostel, the common room was great with the tvs but there was not really any where to just sit and chat to other backpackers. And the kitchen didnt have any utensils which didnt make cooking very easy!
All in all its a clean hostel and for the price its not bad if you want somewhere quiet to stay and the location is excellent. — Ashley , Scotland (2009-12-07) awful, not very clean, I wont stay here again. we were there for 4 nights,. Beds were just springs with a little bit of covering. Things went missing, staff in general didnt seem to know what they were doing. It took us the full holiday to get problems sorted out. staff julio and brian were thew best many thanks to them. The rest, less said the better. The rooms were nothing like in the pictures. the rooms were clean but not the bathrooms. We asked for a room change as we were — anita , england (2009-09-22) Well just say never judge book by its cover Was not bad, but not good either. Room we got was clean, but nothing like what the photos advertised. Bed linen was changed each day for us, which was a plus point. Maybe if it had an en-suite bathroom would have rated it more. Lock on door was not really secure. Overall would not stay here again. — Patrick Foley & Morgan Cronin , Ireland (2008-08-28) Oh. My. Gosh. I visited this hostel with my college choir group this past Easter holiday, and I must say that the pictures on the website do not tell the truth! The rooms we stayed in were four dirty white walls, anywhere between one and four sets of bunked beds, a nasty sink, and a window. The floor in the room I was in had holes in it, and the window of at least two other rooms was entirely missing, and it was about 39 degrees outside at night. There were about ten rooms on the floor, each holding between two and eight people (most of them were six to eight person rooms), and there were four absolutely disgusting bathrooms. So, at least fifty people were sharing four toilets and four showers. Talk about inconvenient. The elevator didn't work properly, and it was teeny, so those of us who were on the sixth floor had to haul their stuff up and down every day. There was also the matter of them overbooking their hotel and making people switch rooms every night. I'm still waiting to see the inviting rooms that are on the website -- as far as any of us could tell, there is no comfort in the Broadway Hotel and Hostel. They spent all their money on the lobby, so if you're interested in pulling up a blanket in one of their comfy lobby seats, this place is for you. If you'd like some actual comfort, I will suggest you look elsewhere. — Irritated , USA (2008-03-25) Good Hostel I was there last summer and I must say that this hostel can really be recommended if you look at the price. Staff is ok, it's clean, close to the subway. Only disappoint are the beds, but that's in every hostel, isn't it? If I go to New York again, I'll definitely choose this hostel again or at least recommend it to others. The only thing I would bring along would be an extra blanket, because the night there were bloody freezing, though it was July. — samfinch , German (2008-03-09) Ok but disorganised, kitchen bad The rooms and bathrooms at this hostel were good -- spacious and clean and serviced everyday. The staff were friendly but always flustered as they tried to deal with the constant queues of people asking questions -- there is no information about the hostel facilities so people have to interrupt staff to ask, and it was missing useful information like how to get to/from airports, subways that you usually find at hostels. The common areas are ultra modern but you can't escape the movies blasting at full volume in all areas. The most annoying thing for me was that the kitchen, equipped with a fridge, sink, and two microwaves, had no cutlery, no crockery, no cooking utensils, no kettle, no toaster -- basically no way for you to make food except to heat stuff in a microwave (assuming you brought your own plate/knife/fork). you couldn't even make a hot drink. Pretty annoying if you are on a budget/don't want to eat out for every meal. — Mel , NZ (2007-10-01) Ok for price This hostel is ok for the price in New York ($30 for a twin room). The staff were ok and had no hassle of the security. Hostel was clean and tidy and close to subway station and supermarket. The surrounding area felt safe and central park is not far away. We would stay here again. — Helen & Sion , Wales (2007-05-29) Well, I stayed there for ten nights and was more and more disappointed. The common room is nice, but rather small and there is no place to escape the TV (three screens, speakers are everywhere). There was a fridge and microwave, but they weren't plugged in, and when I asked them if they can do it, they were like "yeah, sure, in one or two days, the kitchen will be all done." This never happened.
They charge $2 per bag for storage upon departure, which is totally inappropriate. The staff wasn't really helpful or friendly. But the rooms are clean. Choose a different place. — **** (2007-04-28) Let me start out by saying that I am an extremely easy person to please when it comes to hostels. all I need is a clean and safe place to stay! I stayed at this hostel for four nights last week. I have been to many hostels throughout the years, and I've never been so disappointed. First of all, the pictures online made the place out to look absolutely gorgeous, but I did not see anything that even remotely resembled the pictures. For example, it shows the walls painted in fresh, cool colors. The walls weren't painted. It shows cool drapes and curtains in the lobby. These don't really exist either. There is a very strange man who acts as the "security guard," but he really only sits on his ass and hits on every girl that walks by -- not fun! I knew the second I stepped into the tiny, smelly (yes, smelly) elevator, that it seemed like it was going to break any moment. Well, it broke the next day, but they never even posted a sign telling the hostel guests that it was broken. In addition to this, the good for nothing "security guard" just sat there and watched people waiting for the elevator, knowing that it was broken! Every time I walked to and from my room, I found myself having to tell a group of individuals about the elevator because the staff did not care enough to do it. Lastly, the most disturbing part about this hostel was the foul odor -- you smell it the moment you walk in the door. You smell it in the hallways. In the bedrooms. I'm not sure what it is, but it's bad. As for the positives, it is located on the upper west side, which is a good area. It is just a couple of blocks from two subway stations (Ninety-sixth and One hundred-third streets). They hold your important belongings for you for a charge of $2 a day. I used this service (I even left my laptop with them) and I had no problems. They were also good about holding my bags for me before check-in and after check-out (my flight left late at night, so they held my bags until I was ready to pick them up to go to the airport). The bathrooms are single bathrooms, and pretty clean. I enjoyed this more than the dormitory style bathrooms with multiple stalls and showers. I have not visited any other hostels in nyc, but I am sure there are better options than this one. — Mallory (2007-01-25) I had low expectations due to the price. Mostly it was acceptable, except for a few things. At 7:53 a.m. last Saturday morning, the security guard came into my hostel room and tapped everyone on the shoulder while they were sleeping to ask them to write their names on a piece of paper. I guess having a lock on the door wasn't exactly effective in this place. The interruption was inappropriate, intrusive and too early in the morning. The next day, the same security guard was knocking on all the doors asking if anyone knew some woman. He was waving a photocopy of her passport around. Although I had sheets on my bed, the hostel ran out and three bedmates didn't have a top sheet. When one of the girls asked the guy at the front desk for a top sheet, he said he "didn't have anything for her," but promised to call around to other hotels to try to locate some and then said he'd come up the our room in fifteen minutes. When he didn't come, she went back down. He looked at her and repeated "I have nothing for you." I didn't get a towel the whole time I was there, which was ok, I guess, but it would have been better for the hostel to indicate that they didn't provide towels instead of repeatedly indicating that they didn't have any more. In light of all this, the location was safe, convenient and the place was dirt cheap for N.Y. accommodation. If you can put up with the intrusiveness of the security staff, I guess its an ok place to stay. — anonymous (2006-09-05) The rooms are as clean and spotless as the pictures on the web site. Newly renovated, so no built up dirt. Clean sheets and linen everyday. View of Broadway. Bus stops outside hotel, Subway to downtown two short blocks to one hundred third street. Two restaurants on same corner, and many others all along Broadway street. Always felt safe at all hours walking from subway. Room includes sink in room for four people. Great friendly clean, educated, foreign roommates, no offensive odors. Bathrooms were spotless, all new fixtures, clean floors, and walls. For fifteen dollars/night, its great for a bed to sleep in, just don't expect any extras. No table or chair in room. Lobby still has rolls of carpet and linoleum for renovation of other floors so no place to relax and gather. Elevator was nice for carrying luggage up to third floor, but stairs was fine the rest of the stay. Only one pay phone in hotel at this time -- long wait, two would be helpful. Staff was very efficient, and helpful, and friendly. Guard always on duty all night long. This place makes it more affordable to visit nyc more often and stay longer. Eliminates the pain of high overpriced dirty hotel rooms. Will bring my wife next time for a fun weekend or more. Oh, no a/c and nyc was in the nineties last week which is rare, but I'm from Florida so am used to the heat. Room was comfortable with the open window. Beautiful shade trees outside the window. — Q-man (2006-07-21)