Jazz on Lenox Hostel

Great for the money
This was my first hostel experience and I was extremely satisfied. The staff was friendly and helpful. It was very clean and safe. The showers were tiny and the water wasn't very hot but for $18 total I can't complain! I will definitely stay again.

Worst organization of any hostel I ever slept in!
For the unbeatable price of around 20 bucks, you can't really expect much. And if you are a flexible Backpacker who has been around the world, you definitely have been in this type of hostel before -- narrow hallways, tiny rooms, even tinier bathrooms. So far, so cheap. But if you factor in the tremendously f***ed up showers/toilets (half of them being "out of order"), things start to get really ugly. All that would be bearable though, if it wasn't for the incredibly miscommunicated organization. Even if you reserved your bed days before you actually arrive, if you are perfectly on time on the date of your arrival, even after you moved into the room and put your stuff on your bed -- even then will this hostel screw you over. There is nothing like coming home in the middle of the night, only to find your stuff scattered around the room and someone else sleeping in your bed! Once you find out that the staff allowed, or rather encouraged, the other traveler to just "conquer" your bed, you will learn to hate this place. And when the exact same scandal happens to you every night, in different rooms, you will never want to come back. There are way more relaxing ways to spend the night in New York.

the best part was price and nearness to the subway. luggage storage room has sewage pipe leaking on your luggage. rats live in the building. some people who stay in the hostel have personal issues (hostility) and are dangerous. some homeless new yorkers live at the hostel. showers temperature may not be adjustable, only cold or boiling. key cards to room often don't work, so you have to climb many flights of stairs to get a new one. the dorm rooms have foul odor. some staff are apathetic. some staff and their friends are homosexual and are loud when advertizing it. large television blasts louding continuously. there is no comforable seating, only hard seats around a table for eating. the kitchen has no oven or stove and very few utensils. right now it is the cheapest place in the city to sleep.