Gershwin Hostel & Hotel

Horrific
This hostel is badly organised and the staff go out of their way to be unhelpful and offensive. When we arrived they had canceled our booking, a mistake on their part, but since it was 11 p.m. we had nowhere else to go. They sent us to a tiny ten-bed dorm with one bathroom, which supposedly had two free beds. When we arrived in the room there was one bed and when we told the two men at reception they told us to move someone else's stuff so we could use their bed. I refused to go through a stranger's possessions, and to be confronted by whoever was sleeping there in the middle of the night, so we ended up having to share a top bunk bed. Neither of the men working downstairs lifted a finger to help us and they were rude and dismissive, one of them saying, "we are not a hostel, we are a hotel. If we were a hostel I would not be working here." We were charged a cancellation fee and we were both charged for the night, although after complaining the next day we got our cancellation fee back. That morning we also found out there had been four free beds we could have used in another room. Don't stay here. The decor is tacky, the rooms are cramped, the service is nonexistent.

I can't explain how bad our experience was at this hotel. The staff were so terrible, the person who took our booking only booked five days instead of six, so we were told there was no way there would be anything available for our last night. We were dealt with so rudely by the staff who just kept passing us on to the next staff member. After much begging to try and find something they let us stay in a bunk room which miraculously became available for $200, the same room we had already been paying $50 for, even though they had made the mistake in the first place. I can't emphasize how rude the staff were, the thought that they don't have to be polite in there jobs because they know they will continue to be booked out makes me so annoyed. For what you get it is not worth staying.

This is a decent place to crash in the city if you are alone. Yes you can get hotels for cheaper. If you are alone this is a great option. I am a student and often come and crash in the city and have tried many many of these city hostels. This one is actually one of my favourites. Slightly on the mid/upper priced ones but the beds are clean, the toilet is clean, and the people I have met there are pretty decent (trust me, I have been in places where the worst factor was the scary roomies). Finally this is just a hostel. I guess some people here are from suburbs and have no idea what a hostel is like and are overexpecting. This is a nice overlay in the city.

It was $50 for a bed in a ten-bed dorm. There was almost no place to put your backpack in the room. There's no kitchen, and no amenities. Staff are not friendly.

Run away! This is an awful place. The six of us stayed in the dorms because we were not told there was a family package. It was 17 degrees and there was no heat at all! We slept in our coats. The service was very weak, and even after repeated begging for heat no one cared. The walls are covered in amateur sponge painting from a terrible fauvist nightmare. The art (I am an art teacher) around the place is not really appropriate for kids to see; neither is the Sex Museum downstairs. The neighborhood is not the safest. Shop around. For example, during Christmas week, the world-famous and beautiful Algonquin offers a room for $309; we paid 258+ per night at this place. Not such a big difference. The noise from the "club" keeps you up till the wee hours. The place is not clean. One teenager became feverishly sick and threw up everywhere. Sweet revenge.

I've stayed here twice. I have never had problems with noise from different floors. I will say the bathrooms in the dorms are rather grim. The bunks are spacious and wooden, and the room is clean. I shared a bunk with a 'guest' easily. However, the staff are a bit Draconian, and they come round to check on you, especially around kicking-out time in the morning.

The nightclub downstairs has loud music five nights a week until four in the morning, and sleeping is not an option on those nights. The management did not rectify the situation until I complained several times. Other than the noise, there was no real problem. I do not recommend staying on the second floor -- that's where the cheap rooms are. If you like to get a good nights sleep you'll have to pay for the more expensive rooms. The daytime management and staff are friendly.

Very friendly staff and an excellent location for Empire State Building, Chelsea, East Village and Fashion District. There was funky decor with a huge variety of guests. Dorm rooms were located on lower floors which meant noise from the downstairs bar at night, though this stopped at around 11 pm or midnight. Noisy guests meant I upgraded to a double room which didn't prove much more expensive (and came with excellent facilities). The dorms were a little lacking in facilities but when you're in New York all you really need is a place to sleep. I can't emphasize enough how nice the staff were.