Central Park Hostel

Not so bad
Not that expensive for NYC. Location is excellent, near the subway, from Central Park, and minutes' walk from museums. Even if room wasn't renovated (noisy heating, room sometimes chilly/hot, beeping every five minutes), reception always responded quickly.

The hostel was an ideal location. The subway is one hundred feet away, which is great when you're wasted and coming home at 6 or 7 in the morning. Pretty cheap for NY as well. I will be staying there again.

When I came there on Friday, I was told that there were no more beds, even though I had a reservation. So they sent me away at 9.30 p.m. at Friday night in New York -- alone. After telling me that it would be impossible to find other accommodation at that time. Very poor service. Avoid at all costs.

The price per night includes blankets and even linens. They have only one requirement and it is your ID. In order to check in they want to see your foreign passport or student ID. This turned out to be a problem because I was with a friend who was from Texas and didn't have none of these.

Dirty hostel. They stole some money in our cases. The area is not so good as it seems.

My daughter and I stayed four nights at the hostel (June 2006) and had a great time. Tony, one of the workers, was a great help to us and is quite a character. The subway is about two blocks away and is easy to get to. We always felt safe. The bathroom was right across the hall and we never had to wait for a shower. The air conditioning is wonderful and served as "white" noise. We had no trouble sleeping later in the morning as the rooms were dark. Central Park is one block away. As a bonus Jodie Foster was filming "The Brave One" two blocks away. We were able to spend two nights watching the filming. We would highly recommend this hostel to those who are on a budget and just want a shower, bathroom, and a comfortable bed.

Positives include it's relatively cheap for NYC and almost always rooms available (wonder why?) and it's very close to subway station. The negatives are the staff (both day and night managers as well as cleaners) -- very rude and not willing to do anything more for you than make sure you pay your money in time, no kitchen, and rooms very dirty and smelly.

Pretty decent place, not too bad for the price. The neighborhood is ok, but they are definitely better places. Close to subway. Only some of the bathrooms were clean, the rest were dirty; find the clean ones. ;-) The hotel staff were rude, but you do not have to deal with them too much. There is nothing in the kitchens to cook with. Air-conditioning works, but is loud. The common area is fun, but dirty, and really, really hot in the summer. If you play your cards right, you can stay a few night for free, and get away without paying.

I got in a fistfight with the big woman on the staff. I caught her stealing my socks and shoes and then she tried to deny it. When I told her I was going to call the police she laughed and told me that they would not believe me. She then proceeded to push me and told me to get the hell out of their hostel. She said they don't like my type. I spit at her, as is custom in my country to convey insult. She punched me in the mouth and dug her nails into my arms. I screamed in horror and ran for the door abandoning my possessions. I never turned back.

The staff kept me waiting half an hour to check in simply because they wanted a break. There was nobody waiting in line behind me and when I did eventually get to check in, the process lasted all of two minutes. The rooms are of decent size, air-conditioned and cheap. The hostel is one block from a subway station and close to the park. Be prepared to wait for a bathroom, though!

Not a five-star hotel, but for 26 dollars, it is what you get. This is one of the many hostels I have stayed in, and it is one of the best for the value. The kitchen...do not bother. But there are plenty of cheap places to eat a block away. It is in a residential area, a little suspicious, but overall we had no problems. We checked into a 10-bedroom dorm and had a nice time. The staff are not smiley, but they are very nice and helpful. The bathrooms do smell and they do not give towels. But the rooms are clean and nice. I recommend it for the money.

Lots of fun. Clean, quiet room with good air-conditioning. It's close to the PJ's, easy to score. There are shops nearby, right across the road from the park. Cool common room downstairs but they kick you out once it gets late. And you can't smoke there, which kind of sucked, although we managed to get around it. Yeah, this is a fun, clean and reasonable hostel to stay at.

I had never stayed in a hostel before, but my friend had and we both agreed that this hostel was perfectly fine. The staff were really friendly to us and we saw a lot of cleaning being done in the morning, which is definitely comforting! Most importantly, we felt safe and we had a warm place to lay our heads. The only thing keeping me from giving it a fifth star is that we did hear some loud fighting downstairs at one point in the night, probably from people who may have been living there. That was a little shady, but we did not have any personal encounters with anything bad whatsoever. I would recommend this hostel, but only if you are not expecting a five-star hotel and are conscious of what a hostel really is expected to be.

The worst part about this strange hostel is the staff. They are rude, indifferent and callous. Yes, the day manager is the worst of all. She makes it clear that she could not care less about you and is so incredibly unpleasant. This is a dirty hostel in a dangerous neighborhood, but it's not the dirtiest I've seen and it's actually quite clean for that area. It is, however, the least friendly and least professional. My advice is to avoid the reception area and make sure they don't overcharge you as they tried to overcharge me!!

This was my first time staying in a hostel, and I was very anxious. Fortunately, I was very satisfied with this place. I didn't spend much time here. I just crashed in a bunk bed (which was comfy with clean sheets) and took a shower (it had hot water, which is always good). I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't disappointed. All in all, it is a good place to crash when you're short on cash. What more can you ask for?