West Side Inn Hostel & Hotel

The hostel is a fucking shithole
i think the hostel was really dirty and a mess. what you see in the pics is different to when you see when you get there. the staff are rude and don't care -- it's not worth the money.

Yes, it is not a five-star hotel, but what are you paying for? seriously, if you think of it if you're in NYC, unless your rich and money doesn't matter to you (which you wouldn't be staying a hostel) but seriously you are barely in your room unless you're sleeping or showering. The staff were very nice and said sorry if their cleaning supplies were in the hallway. The beds are a little unstable, but seriously for the price? you cant go wrong! I would definitely go back there, actually I am booking a stay for May. I definitely recommend this hostel for anyone who wants to experience NYC not their hotel.

I have had good experiences staying at this hostel.

You pay crackhouse rates, you get a crackhouse. What do people expect? The location is great, it felt fairly safe, and it was cheap by New York standards. The reception was friendly and I was allowed to take my pick of the empty rooms. (Yes, it was also dark, dank, and dirty. But I had my own bedding and made sure never to touch any surface with my bare skin.) I stayed for four nights and came away with a solid belief that all accommodation in New York is a rip-off. This was especially highlighted to me by the fact everyone else I saw staying at the West Side Inn seemed equally shocked and confused by how low they had sunk. Families, middle-class couples, retirees, all of them very decent looking people, all of them reduced to staying in the crackhouse.

The entrance is appealing, but once you get to the front desk, everything from then on is terrible. It's like the place Tom Hanks moved into when he first got to New York in the movie Big. The first thing is the ridiculously small elevator that was built probably fifty years ago. You immediately question if you will make it to the floor you want to go to. The hallways are sketchy. We stayed in a bunk bed room that stunk of something I don't know how to describe. When we were checking out, the front desk people were very rude trying to tell us that we did not pay when we arrived two nights before -- which we had.

It was an alright place for sombody who didn't want to spend alot of money. I had two thousand dollars on me ond only five hundred ninety-nine ninety-five was used on me there -- you know, what the place was pretty nice for the budget. I don't know what people expected it's not like the Hilton or somthing. For Petes sake. So overall you get a little over what you pay for.

This is the worst hostel I have ever stayed in. Despite making a reservation and confirming it on the day we were to arrive they still did not have a room for us. We had arranged for a late check in but when we arrived at one-thirty a.m. they told us they had booked our room out to someone else and that we could stay at a hotel around the corner -- which happened to be twenty blocks away in the middle of Harlem. They did not seem to understand how this might be a problem for three white girls. They did not offer to pay for a cab or even book a cab for us to move to the new hotel. They never even apologised for their mistake but seemed to think they were doing us a favour by finding a new hostel. The staff spoke minimal English and were not helpful at all. (If you are looking for friendly insider advice from the hostel staff on what to do and where to go this is not the place.) The room looked nothing like the one on the website. It was dirty and the window (aside from being plastic and not glass) would not stay open. The sheets were ultra thin and dirty. And the bathroom looked like it was only cleaned once a day. The worst thing was that the beds squeaked like a moth** f*****. I was on a top bunk and couldn't roll over or hardly even breathe because of the horrible noises the bed made. It was almost impossible to sleep at all. I would certainly not recommend this hostel to anyone no matter what budget you are on. Cr** hostels don't like this one don't deserve to have your custom.

My friends and I stayed there for 4 nights. I have to say that I did not see any cockroaches or rats. We had an air-conditioner in our room that worked, as well as a fridge. The other people and I brought our own sheets, pillowcases and towels with us. I wouldn't recommend using the elevator, as it is very small and sounds like it is ready to die. The place wasn't the greatest place I have ever stayed in. But it was cheap and close to Central Park and the subways. Being so cheap it allowed us to do everything that we wanted to do as well as see a couple of Broadway shows. All in all it wasn't that bad, the room was clean and free of any kind of bugs.

I enjoyed my stay at West Side Inn. The rooms and bathrooms were clean, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. If you are expecting 3-star service at a budget hostel stay away. I don't think West Side Inn wants you there.

Somebody stole my shoes at this place and I was left walking barefoot in Manhattan for three weeks. I taped magazines around my feet and begged for money to get a Greyhound Bus ticket to get the hell out of here. I fought with the rats every night and I actually got bit really bad on my ass by some weird bug with orange and black fur.

You want the slum sh*t hole experience then this is the place to be. Rudeness, dirty — those are the good points. The bad without doubt is the stench, and the ugly — please don't ask. The verdict: I LOVED IT. Life is about PERCEPTIONS. Don't believe other people's view. What do you think??? Stay here, it's worth it — NOT. I'm staying again next year.

This hotel is the worst I have ever seen in my life. I protested loudly at the front desk and left. Don't go there!

I don't know how I found this page. But being from New York City, I know this place. It's a crack hotel — meaning people go there to smoke crack and have sex.

Don't ever make a reservation with this hotel. I booked an online reservation with Cheaptickets (dot com), as a package deal with my flight. The morning I was supposed to leave, I thought I should call the hotel just to confirm my reservations and make sure everything went through okay. It was a good thing I did, because the man on the phone acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. He said I had no reservation, and that I needed to get Cheaptickets to call them with my confirmation number. I was still on the line when the agent from Cheaptickets spoke to the same man, and the man at the desk proceeded to tell him that I was trying to cancel my reservation, which was an obvious lie, and fraud on their part. Had I gone to that hotel, I would have been told that I still had no reservation, or that Cheaptickets had cancelled it, and they probably would have told me if I wanted a room, I would have to pay more money. I also do not recommend Cheaptickets, because they stood behind this fraudulent hotel that they do business with, and I did not receive my money back. I am in the process of reporting them both to the Better Business Bureau, and going out of my way to put a posting on every single travel Web site that has reviews.

I just returned from this armpit; I stayed one night and left. It is by far the worst room I have ever stayed in. I spent the night sitting in the middle of the bed looking for the bugs. There is no clock radio, though they advertised it. Bathroom? Is that what they called that room? Please refrain from this place.